I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
Sept. 6, 1996
By Devlyn Brooks
Staff Writer
Let the stumping begin.
In the first of several visits to be paid to Bemidji by high-ranking Republicans in the remaining days before Tuesday's primary election, state Republican Party Chairman Chris Georgacas and Deputy Chairwoman Moonyeen Boongaards spoke Thursday about the need to get voters out Tuesday to a small crowd gathered at the Beltrami County Republican Headquarters.
Georgacas said, to about a dozen Republicans, their party has a "prime opportunity" to finally win a majority of the seats in the state Senate after many years of Democratic control.
Senate District 4, which includes Bemidji, is one of the key elections this year that could turn the tide for which the Republicans have been waiting, he said, and that is one of the reasons he was stopping in Bemidji -- home to Republican-endorsed Senate 4 candidate Brad Nord.
"When one political party holds office uninterrupted in the state Senate and in the House, it breeds a power of arrogance, Georgacas said of the DFL majority in St. Paul. "Taking control of the state Legislature is the single, biggest goal of the state Republican Party."
Georgacas encouraged the gathering to get a high number of voters to turn out for the primary election, mostly because of a challenge posed by unendorsed Republican candidate Becky Livermore, who also was at Thursday's GOP gathering.
"With all due respect to Becky, I feel it's important that Republicans support Brad Nord," Georgacas said. "Here in Senate District 4 we have a strong endorsed candidate who we think will win (in November)."
Georgacas -- who said he supports the party endorsement system -- said endorsements produce "better issue-oriented and community activist candidates," and that is why Republicans of Senate 4 should vote for Nord.
In a conciliatory effort, Nord, a Beltrami County commissioner, announced that should he lose the primary he will do everything he can to help make sure the general election produces a Republican state senator.
Livermore also spoke, commending Nord on their hard-fought but cleanly operated campaign.
"The primary is an open process. The people must make sure their voices are heard," she said. "Not only the voices of the few who have been attending the caucuses lately, but all of the voting Republicans."
Today finds GOP U.S. Senate candidate Rudy Boschwitz in Bemidji. Boschwitz, currently on a statewide "Achievement Tour," is scheduled for a 12:30 p.m. news conference at the Beltrami County Courthouse and then will take a walking tour, starting with Griffy's Restaurant in downtown Bemidji.
Boschwitz, who has meager primary challenges in Tuesday's GOP election, has set his sights on U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, DFL-Minn.
Later today, GOP 7th Congressional District candidate Darrell McKigney is holding a news conference in Bemidji to announce former U.S. Rep. Arlan Stangeland, R-7th District, as his campaign manager. McKigney, who faces no party opposition Tuesday, wants to unseat 7th District DFLer Collin Peterson.
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