Bowdon, ND

This past week or so I have had several medical tests that I know will all end up being paid by my deductible. I had put off one test for 5 years because I didn’t feel I had money to pay for it. I say all this because it is not fair that I can have the tests and someone else won’t because they don’t have insurance or money to pay for the tests. Part of the Bowdon Horizons plan is to try and find health insurance for small business owners–those who fall between medicaid and medicare. I’m hoping we can rally the troops and work for univeral health care–a North Dakota plan for all–with preventive medicine incentives and early testing. There are Presidential candidates who support this idea. I believe there is a ND governor candidate who believes the same and District 14 may have a few legislative candidates as well. Lobbying and working for law changes is a way to deal with the poverty of medical availability for all. The US should not be “twenty something” in the world’s advanced nations to offer health care to its citizens. We all feel helpless to make an impact on such a huge issue. Let’s start talking about it and voting for candidates who want to make the changes in this country where all people are treated equally. We can start by providing health care to everyone.

I just want everyone to know that the Housing as a Tool for Rural Community Success in Steele was a great learning experience for me. The idea of a STAT team representing all facets of ND housing related offices is a great idea. I’m hoping to spend a half hour at a future Bowdon Development meeting to educate the board on possible surveys and analysis of our community housing needs and what we can do to improve the housing so more people will stay in Bowdon and new people will have housing opportunities.

I’ll write more about this later, but I must tell you that the BDCI sponsored benefit last Thursday was very successful. I just wish it could have been, as originally planned, to help Tim and Ruth Reberg defray the unexpected costs of replacing their freezers and cooler compressor, instead of helping Ruth and the girls through this terrible time of losing Tim so suddenly. Please keep Ruth, Dawn, and Faith, as well as Tim’s extended family, his church, and his community in your thoughts and prayers.

You can find and article about the benefit at this Bismarck Tribune link.

As a direct result of a Horizons Program based initiative–publication of the Bowdon Guardian–BDCI is the recipient of 200 sturdy, new folding chairs for the Bowdon Auditorium. After receiving the first issue of the newspaper, a generous former Bowdonite gave a challenge grant that was matched by other local groups and people for the purchase of chairs. This means that there will be no more moving of chairs to and from the Community Center or borrowing them from the local churches for large occasions. How nice and convenient for our next All School Reunion!

Thank You!

Wednesday night, April 2, a group of Bowdonites gathered at the Library and learned about circles–the circles of recycling and composting.

As we move toward a Green Bowdon, recycling has become an important part of our efforts. Angela Boeshans, Executive Director of the North Dakota Solid Waste and Recycling Association, gave us a rousing presentation of all aspects of recycling and how we can easily integrate it into our households, our businesses, our farms and ranches, and our community. We learned that when we recycle, we put our refuse and waste back into the circle of manufacturing and use, instead of having it wind up in the dead end of the landfill. Interest was high, and the group asked lots of questions. The answers will be a great help in moving us forward to becoming the little green town on the prairie.

Following Angela, Ron Wiederholt of the NDSU Research Station at Carrington gave us important information about how we can keep even more stuff out of the landfill and move it back into the circle of life by composting. We found out that composting is simple and easy and will result in a 70% reduction in the volume of organic waste, while helping us to grow fruits, vegetables, and flowers that are vigorous and healthy. According to Ron, anything that is derived from something once living can go into the compost pile/bin/barrel. He did caution us, however, that we shouldn’t recycle potato or tomato vines because of the possiblity of plant diseases. With anything else that goes through the composting process, though, the heat from the process will break down toxins, weed seeds, and all the rest of that bad stuff. What we get at the end is clean, crumbly, rich, organic, earthy-smelling compost–manna for the garden. To illustrate, Ron passed around a two-year-old bag of compost that was made from manure.  It smelled, according to Gary Heintz, “earthy–like rich soil.” The group concurred that it was black gold!

All this information will be a great help in our community gardening and beautification efforts. Thanks Angela and Ron! 

This really isn’t about politics but about what it is that makes the Horizons Program so successful in our rural areas. That said, I’m very excited about being a delegate to the ND Democratic-NPL state convention this coming weekend and hearing two of the three major presidential contenders speak.

When I lived in Maryland, I voted, of course, and read about and listened to the candidates and the issues, but I didn’t feel that I–and other “little people” like me–could be easily heard or have much influence.  Here in North Dakota, however, our voices are heard, our legislators are friends and neighbors, and we only have one or two “degrees of separation” between us and those we elect to serve us. Horizons taps into that nearness of power and gives us tools to access programs, agencies, and people who can help us make a difference and move toward thriving communities.

No matter what our political affiliation, we are gaining the skills to make ourselves heard and to influence our own destinies. What a gift!