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.
April 24, 1997
By Devlyn Brooks
Staff Writer
Wednesday was a reunion, of sorts, for flood evacuees temporarily residing in Bemidji and East Grand Forks Mayor Lynn Stauss, who was in town on a whirlwind tour of several northwest Minnesota evacuation sites.
More than three orange bleacher sections of the Bemidji State University John Glas Fieldhouse had filled by 12:30 p.m. when Stauss was escorted in the west truck entrance of the building by Beltrami County Sheriff DeeWayne Rognstad.
Displaced East Grand Forks residents cheered and gave their mayor -- who has remained in his city directing last minute flood efforts and struggling to establish a city government in a hotel without running water -- a standing ovation.
Although only a fraction of the evacuees here attended the news conference, it was the first opportunity many of them have had to see and talk with Stauss since the mandated evacuation of both Grand Forks, N.D., and their city began Saturday.
"It's hard to believe that in the central part of America, you would have a disaster like this that would make people refugees," Stauss said. "When the town had to leave the city, we left with our shirts on our backs and maybe a little suitcase."
Stauss' message for the most part Wednesday was upbeat. He talked about the much-discussed "Marshall Plan," in which the federal government will pay for 90 percent of the flood area's rebuilding costs, and he discussed the meetings he had with President Bill Clinton and Minnesota and North Dakota congressmen Tuesday.
He also discussed the importance of taking care of East Grand Forks residents' immediate needs -- an effort he said the congressmen were more than willing to tackle.
"We need help now, not (for them) to wait ... not (for them) to prolong ...," he said. "'How can you expect the people to give something when they don't have anything to give.' I told the President. We're a city without a government without money."
Not everything the East Grand Forks mayor had to say was encouraging for evacuees who have already been out of their homes for five days.
From the information being gathered, Stauss said the original prediction of people being able to return to their homes in about two weeks was wrong. More than likely, he said, the evacuees will not be able to return for at least a month -- a statement that stunned an already emotional crowd.
"We've got to keep the faith, and we've got to have a little humor," Stauss asked of his citizens who were not pleased with the news. "It did happen. There's nothing we can do about it. We have to look forward."
And finally, Stauss had a parting shot for the National Weather Service, whose broken flood meters led to predictions of only 49-foot and 52-foot crests on the Red River.
"I truly believe that if the National Weather Service had helped us with these forecasts, we could have beaten this thing. There were many people who didn't have flood insurance because they had expected a 49-foot crest," he said. "We were ready for a 49-foot crest and 51-foot and a 52-foot crest. The (National Weather Service) not only missed it. ... They blew it big."
The crowd cheered.
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