North Dakota

Having lived in North Dakota for 25 years, I understand the people there. They are conservative and independent. When Grand Forks was hit with a flood, a blizzard and a fire that destroyed the town it only took a short time to rebuild it. They are mostly second generation Scandinavian and German stock and understand the work ethic and being responsible for your own behavior. There is an oil boom going on there and this past week the citizens were given an option to use oil money to replace property tax and they turned it down by a vote of 76% to 24%. The reason is that they want to keep control of the schools close to home and not allow the state to but in which would have happened if the state started paying. This shows that they are willing to walk the talk. They were willing to pay out of pocket for principal. I am not sure how many other communities would do this but my guess is not many.