Bravo to Bergquist on his award

The Jamestown Sun hands out these bravos and buffalo chips this week.

* Buffalo chip to whoever was responsible for the automated political calls that annoyed residents all over North Dakota earlier this week before the state’s Republican caucus. Such “robocalls” are illegal in North Dakota, and the state attorney general’s office is investigating.

* Bravo to Jerry Bergquist, Stutsman County emergency manager, who received an Achievement Award for “outstanding contributions to the field” from the North Dakota Emergency Management Association.

* Buffalo chip to Silas Lee McHenry Jr., Grand Forks, who lied about his father’s death while cashing his pension checks for 26 years. McHenry collected more than $1.2 million in that time and was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison this week for theft of government property.

* Buffalo chip to the rising loads of debt students must take on to earn college degrees. The average amount for students with debt is now $34,000, which is triple what it was 20 years ago.

* Bravo to Jamestown College senior Travis Burley, who was named Most Valuable Player by the Association of Independent Institutions last month. The Dakota Athletic Conference gave him the same honor earlier this year.

* Bravo to efforts by Jamestown Public Schools staff to alter the bonds that paid for Jamestown High School. The changes mean Jamestown taxpayers will save about $1.9 million and the school will be paid off several years earlier than originally planned.

* Bravo to Jamestown Regional Airport having its best month in three decades. The airport had 797 outbound passenger boardings in February, which is the best month the airport has had since the airline industry’s deregulation in 1978.

(Editorials are the opinion of Jamestown Sun management and the newspaper’s editorial board)

Tags: opinion, editorials, bravos