The Alberton Papers, Vol. II, #1
By Dick Darne 5-18-06
The high/low cost of amusement
I have noticed for sometime now that most people can’t amuse themselves without spending more money than necessary. Toys for young and old have to be the newest and latest models with all the gadgets. Kids toys are bright plastic, mostly crappy, not made to last, imported from china, guaranteed to break, causing said kids to whine for another. Grownups toys are designed to be obsolescent , and/or break causing grownups to whine for another. When my own kids were young, they seemed to be happy with a dirt pile and a 89 cent bag of 1000 or more little teeny army men. This also provided amusement when I stepped barefoot on one of the little buggers (the army men, not the kids). Education too, new words to add to their vocabulary gushed forth with each barefoot episode. When I was a kid, we had one golf ball and one club. We lived next door to a farm, so we played "Farm Golf". After deciding which of us would go first, we alternated whacking the ball across the back yard, thru the woods and into the cow pasture. You had to play the ball where it lay, and whack it with gusto, which made for some interesting drives. Whacking away, across the pasture, across the creek, toward the barn, victory in sight, the manure pile looming ahead. All drives "con mucho gusto" toward the manure pile. The winner was he who drove the ball deep into the pile. Of course the loser had to retrieve the ball. Sometimes a sore loser would start a manure fight, sometimes the winner would. We learned to make do without spending money, which was easy because we didn’t have any. We also learned to take care of our toys. Nobody in their right mind would attempt to retrieve any cheap plastic crap from a manure pile, much less 1000 little army men. Dick Darne
722-4575 aldermandarne@hotmail.com Http://albpap.blogspot.com

The Alberton Papers #20
By Dick Darne 5-14-06
In this column, lets talk about libraries. In the early days of our republic, only the well to do had libraries of their own. As cities and universities grew, their libraries grew also, but the common man was pretty well shut out. Not everyone could read, and if they could, libraries were far from their rural homes and small towns. Of course, working from sunup to sunset as a normal work day didn’t leave much time for reading. It was late in the life of one of the original "robber barons", Andrew Carnegie, when his conscience caused him to fund libraries throughout the U.S.. After public education, most schools had libraries, as did most counties. When I grew up. Libraries were taken for granted. Growing up six miles outside Wash. D.C., I had the privilege of using the Library of Congress to do my high school term paper. (Actually it was a chance to get out of a stuffy old classroom and attempt to romp around the L of C, but they had the world’s strictest librarians, backed up by armed guards) Our librarian here in Alberton is pretty tame by comparison.
So, do libraries still have a place in today’s cyber-world? Absolutely! Besides being one of the last bastions of freedom in our besieged democracy, libraries are very much in the computer age.
For those of us who like to relax with a good book, you will probably find it in the local library. Like to study the ancient tomes of the classics, we have ‘em too. How to do things? Right here. Composting? I’ll bet Rodale’s book of composting is there. Politics? Ditto. Taking a trip? Try books on tape. Right here. But wait, there’s more, stop in and chat, the librarian is fluent in the local dialect.
So how to support your library? Give the library first pick of the books you no longer need. Buy books for the library. Donate to: Friends of the Library, mineral co. Become a volunteer. Use the library. Best of all, encourage a kid to read.
Dick Darne
722-4575 aldermandarne@hotmail.com Http://albpap.blogspot.com/
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The Alberton Papers # 19
By Dick Darne 5-5-06
" In the end, we are all compost" A. Sloane
Today we will discuss composting for fun and profit. Some of us have green thumbs and can grow anything. Although I have tried, the best I can ever hope to be is a green thumb wannabe. I have tilled and cultivated successfully but the stuff just don’t grow for me. I did have some success with composting, but it was a financial disaster. After supervising the unloading of load after load of leaves, mixing, turning and watering (by hand with some paid help), I watched 8 yards of material rot down to a little over one yard (30 bags, retail=$2.00 ea, total=$60). Since I had invested $80 in hired help and donated all my time, I contacted the North Dakota Institute of Financial Technology, who kindly advised me to make a bigger pile, reduce my price and make it up in volume. I looked all around Alberton and saw more leaves than I could ever use, most of which is raked up and disposed of in ways other than composting by the citizenry, some of whom will then go to Missoula and buy compost. The same for grass clippings, of which a considerable amount just gets dumped somewhere. It sure looks like Alberton could be a net exporter of "Albie-compost"
I have been composting right here in Alberton for at least 15 years and have learned a few things. It don’t smell at all, ever, if you only use leaves, grass and old manure. A pile should have green stuff (nitrogen) and brown stuff (carbon). It needs moisture (not soaked) and air (oxygen). The more you can turn it, the faster it will work, but if you leave a pile of leaves alone it will take 5 years. When it’s working it gets hot (a pipe or rod shoved in makes a crude thermometer).
My record is 10 deg/day up to 168 deg, but Mr. Tocci actually had his erupt in flames from spontaneous combustion, resulting in a visit from the Fire Dept, resulting in a little excitement in our daily "humdrum existence".
After all these years, I have come to realize that the reward is not monetary, but the satisfaction of seeing what would normally go to waste be put to a good use. When the first graders came to my compost pile for a field trip, I finally got the big reward, recognition. If I had never accomplished anything worthwhile in my life, seeing those kids playing in the compost and thanking me for it was worth the price of admission.
Dick
aldermandarne@hotmail.com On-line http://albpap@blogspot.com/ 722-4575

The Alberton Papers #18
By Dick Darne 5-2 06
This is in response to the unsigned, ill informed, and erroneous letter circulating around town. Obviously, this person has never read Alberton Paper #7, or is concerned with the truth. Lets address this in their order in the letter. A reading of the minutes of the meetings will reveal that Mr. Rufus was a participating member of the now defunct alberton planning commission, actively preparing for the building of the "gazebo-pavillion". A check of the bills associated with the gazebo shows one for $1379.40, 8-14-05, paid to MG enterprises, Mr. Rufus’ company. A further check of the minutes reveals an estimated cost of $6000.. It appears we have spent so far, from available records, at least $6319.21. At this writing, I don’t know what funds were available, but we do know that the costs have exceeded the original estimate, with the material not installed. There has been no discussion of "not wanting it completed", rather I have called for qualified volunteers at two town meetings and in Alberton Papers #7. The materials were originally left on the ground, sinking well into the dirt, before my term began. I, along with James, re-stacked the materials properly. Finally, all my postings are signed and I can back up all my statements. Do we have here the makings of a sequel to the chickens#!^ essay? Come out in the open. Dick Darne
722-4575 aldermandarne@hotmail.com On-line http://albpap@blogspot.com/

The Alberton Papers # 17
By Dick Darne 5-1-06
Lets discuss law enforcement, our local constabulary, as procured from our county sheriff’s department, particularly "community based law enforcement" (or lack of). It seems like way back 25 years or so ago, we had agreed to pay a little more to have a deputy live here. For a while we even had the Sheriff living here. He would have coffee in the café, attend school functions, stop and talk to people, keep up on the latest happenings, (some would refer to this as gossip, I prefer to think of it as "discussion of current events"), check on the bars in person (even picking and singing a tune or two, our resident sheriff of that time was also known as "the singing sheriff". To my knowledge there was no speed traps or junk gestapo. If anything was stolen, the victim usually got his stuff back quickly. The sheriff and his preceding and succeeding deputies were part of the community and so most crime was prevented or at least solved easily.
Somewhere along the line things began to change. New deputies were rotated through never really becoming part of the community, mostly putting in time and learning enough, along with sufficient on the job experience, to move on to a better paying county. Alberton’s payment for it’s "community based law enforcement" became a necessary part of the county budget and a substantial increase was asked for each year to help fund an inadequately funded sheriff’s dept.. We are reminded each month of the considerable amount of "non-community based law enforcement" hours we are receiving including the highly visible "church time jaunt" where the deputy-mobile blasts up and down each of Alberton’s boulevards on Sunday morning. Saturday too. Some week days too. Real high crime time. Must be working, I haven’t heard of any armed robberies of the collection plates.
What’s the real point here? As county residents aren’t we entitled to every bit as much law enforcement as any other resident? Perhaps all of us as county residents should support proper funding of the sheriff’s dept.. An underfunded dept. is unable to properly focus on prevention through community based law enforcement, but instead is tempted to focus on the ill conceived "war on drugs" in hopes of obtaining funds thru seizures.
The preceding is my opinion, but I don’t think I’m alone. Maybe the sheriff should stop in for a cup. Or sing a song. Or discuss current events. Or visit sometime besides contract time.
Dick Darne
722-4575 aldermandarne@hotmail.com On-line = http://albpap@blogspot.com/
back issues available don’t forget they make a nice gift!!