MSU will ask for $90 million over decade for facilities
Driving drunk: victim mother, killer driver speak at MSU
Novelist Erdrich Reads at MSU
Toothpick Engineering Contest
Msu prof offers new help for Ritalin decisions
Cooking in the shadow of Mt. Everest
$90 MILLION TO IMPROVE AND ADD
FACILITIES OVER THE NEXT DECADE
Moorhead, MN…Moorhead State University will request nearly $90 million from the Minnesota Legislature over the next decade for upgrading academic facilities and building new ones.
 MSU’s President Roland Barden and David Crockett, vice president of administrative affairs, recently presented the university’s facilities master plan—a 58-page document--to the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees as part of a system-wide effort to get a handle on the status of facilities at all 36 MnSCU campuses.
 Moorhead State’s request includes $48 million for deferred maintenance on existing academic buildings; $26 million for a new science laboratory building that would be constructed between Hagen and Weld Halls; $4.1 million to complete the five-block expansion project west of campus; and $11 million to renovate the Frick-MacLean-Bridges Hall complex.
 That doesn’t include the demolition and replacement of the recently condemned Neumaier Hall, which is in the hands of the MnSCU system.
 The biggest chunk is dedicated to long-overdue maintenance of MSU’s academic buildings that surround the mall. "Most were constructed either in the 1930s during the Depression, after Old Main burned to the ground, or during the Sixties and Seventies when enrollment on campus skyrocketed by 500 percent," Crockett said.
 Obviously, that deferred maintenance can’t be accomplished in just a year or two, Crockett said. "It would totally disrupt the campus. So we’d like to spread it over several years. But we hope to ask the Legislature for the entire funding next year."
 MSU has more deferred maintenance needs than any other campus in the MnSCU system, Crockett said, and it’s become a system priority, even though MnSCU has more than $800 million in deferred maintenance costs to consider throughout the state.  "But some of our buildings are getting pretty long in the teeth," he said. "We desperately need to maintain them."
 The  new science laboratory building, a three-story structure, would provide labs for biology and physics students. It would include more than 90 fume hoods, a safety requirement for such a research facility.
 "We’re planning to move the biology and chemistry laboratories into that building," Crockett said. Hagen Hall will then focus on general classrooms and faculty and departmental offices.
 MSU plans to ask the legislature for $26 million to build that teaching and research lab facility next year, with the hope that it would be completed in four years.
The five block expansion project west of campus is an on-going eye-sore. "We need $4.1 million to completely remove 38 of the buildings that remain from the original 87 and to prepare parking for the area," Crockett said.
           "Since we began the project in 1989, we’ve spent more than $5.25 million on the expansion area, some with state appropriations and our own parking  and other reserve funds. Now we’ve got the city and area Legislators pushing for the money. We hope to get it this year, if it qualifies as an  emergency capital improvement. But if not, then next year when the Legislature takes on capital funding requests."
 Crockett said the university has added 540 new gravel parking spots in the expansion area between 1991 and 1998. "We’d like to asphalt them and, once all the houses are removed, add another 340 parking spaces west of campus."
 The city of Moorhead, Crockett said, has been incredibly helpful in developing plans for the expansion project. "The city’s planning and economic development offices have agreed to do design work and some project management, which in effect amounts to about a $400,000 contribution."
 MSU also will request $11 million to renovate Flora Frick, Bridges and MacLean Halls. "They were chopped up and divided when we moved our business and accounting programs from those buildings to the new Center for Business. Frick and MacLean Halls were built in the 1930s. Frick was actually a physical education facility, with a gymnasium and competitive pool. We need to update those buildings and consolidate offices and departments."
 Other long-range plans:
* Using private funds, construct a new building along 9th Avenue South at the corner of 11th Street in the expansion area that will house MSU’s speech, language, hearing sciences department and clinic; nursing department; and early childhood, daycare and pre-school programs. "It would be kind of a human services facility that would serve several public functions," Crockett said. "This will be the first real test of our ability to have the community invest in us. We do not expect to have state money involved in this building."
* Move the New Center for Multidisciplinary Studies from Murray Commons to King Hall after the biology department moves to the new research building. Murray Commons would then be converted into other uses, perhaps a wellness/fitness center.
* Create shared practicum laboratories for counseling and student affairs, social work, sociology, criminal justice and the special education departments in Lommen Hall after the early childhood, daycare and pre-school programs move to that new human services building in the expansion zone.
* Construct a building on the south end of the Center for Business dedicated to the growing fields involving digital technology and graphic communications. "We have about 24 computer laboratories spread throughout the university," Crockett said. "It would be nice to consolidate some of them and dedicate space to this new and growing business technology."
* A long-range project to build a multi-purpose center between 7th and 6th avenue west of 11th street that would serve as a regional continuing education center. It would be used for short courses, conferences, and targeted education projects for regional businesses. It may also include an IMAX theatre, admissions, financial aid, the alumni foundation and the bookstore.
* Eventually, connect all academic buildings with skywalks or walkways.
* Finally, the university wants to convert an obscure open courtyard in the Center for the Art’s southwest corner into sorely needed space for art faculty offices.

These facilities requests are in addition to the $12.25 million the university received from the state’s Higher Education Asset Preservation and Renewal Fund that is currently being used to replace roofs and refurbish several campus landmarks, including Nemzek Fieldhouse, the Center for the Arts and Livingston Lord Library.

The event is sponsored by SADD (students against destructive decisions) MSU’s Campus Activities Board, Hendrix Health Center and the university’s criminal justice department.

The talk kicks off Spring Break Safety Week on campus.  Pictures from the accident will be displayed as well as photos of Parrow’s husband and daughter who were killed in the accident.

This is the first public appearance by the two tragically matched speakers. The court ordered Pfarr, as part of his sentence, to talk about his crime publicly. Parrow agreed to join him.

Pfarr is spending two years in the Clay County Jail instead of eight years in state prison because Parrow and other relatives pleaded for mercy in his sentencing. A devout Christian, Parrow forgave Pfarr. The accident occurred just two years after Parrow buried her only other child, Tim,  who also died in a car accident.
 

NEW TECHNIQUE DEVELOPED BY MSU PROF
MAY HELP PHYSICIANS  WITH RITALIN DILEMMA
Moorhead, MN…Bart Simpson could be a poster boy for Ritalin. He’s a hyperactive underachiever, a troublemaker with a short attention span.
 Or is he just a normal kid?
 "That’s a difficult question," says James Hale, a Moorhead State University pediatric and school psychologist who’s been studying the effects of Ritalin for six years.
Ritalin is the most widely prescribed drug for children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Hale says.  But after 40 years of use,  doctors are still debating how and why Ritalin works, and whether it should be prescribed at all.
Yet Ritalin is prescribed to 4 million children in America each year, according to Dr. Lawrence H. Diller, author of the popular book "Running on Ritalin: A Physician Reflects on Children, Society and Performance in a Pill," a number that’s doubled in the  last five years.
 "It’s a huge national controversy," says Hale, who’s developed a new technique to determine if Ritalin is effective, and at what dosage.
"The problem is that ADHD is difficult to diagnose," he said. "It can’t be detected by blood tests, X-rays or EEGs.  So doctors and parents are often forced to make subjective decisions on whether a child has ADHD and if so, whether to use Ritalin to treat the symptoms."
 The results of Hale’s research, funded locally by  Fargo’s Neuropsychiatric Research Institute, were published in a recent issue of The Journal of Learning Disabilities, an 8,000-circulation professional magazine that’s considered the authority in its field. Since the article was released, Hale has received reprint requests from doctors in Israel, Germany, England and throughout the United States.
 What Hale did is develop a technique that can help doctors determine if a child actually benefits from Ritalin, and what the optimum dosage is for a child’s learning and behavior skills.
 Ritalin is the brand name for methylphenidate, a drug that paradoxically calms hyperactive children by stimulating parts of the brain that aren’t working right.
 "Ritalin increases the amount of dopamine, a neurotransmitter, available in the frontal lobe of the brain," Hale said. "And it’s the frontal lobe that basically manages other activities of the brain."
 The theory is that the frontal lobes of children with ADHD are under-active, Hale said. "It’s like a boss coming to work without enough sleep or a morning cup of coffee. Without that stimulation, the boss tends to be a poor manager of employees."
 As a result, children with ADHD can be inattentive, impulsive, hyperactive and disruptive because the manager in their brain isn’t stimulated enough. They may have problems at home, in school and on the playground.
 Ritalin, Hale said,  provides that missing stimulation. And it takes effect within about an hour of ingesting the drug.
 Controversy surrounds Ritalin, Hale said,  because a raft of other causes may be responsible for attention and behavioral problems in children, ranging from medical ailments and depression to anxiety, emotional trauma or poor parenting techniques.
 Then there’s also the specter of potential side effects, ranging from lost appetite, sleeplessness, stomachache and headache.
 And because 90 percent of the world’s Ritalin is prescribed in the United States, there’s the possibility that pampered American parents rush to Ritalin for the quick fix at the first sign of rebellion in their children.
 "As all parents know," Hale said, "almost every child at some time is inattentive and hyperactive."
 Yet the best medical surveys suggest that between 3 and 5 percent of all American children are affected by ADHD, to the point where it significantly disrupts their lives, an important criterion, according to Hale.
 Hale’s solution to part of this Ritalin dilemma involved administering a battery of tests to children with ADHD over the past six years. Some of the studies were conducted at MSU in cooperation with MeritCare Hospitals. Others took place at the Rochester, Ohio State and Northwestern Medical Schools where Hale previously taught and conducted research.
 "I essentially refined and expanded a technique developed by Dr. Jo-Ann Hoeppner, a pediatric neuropsychologist at Northwestern University Medical School who I studied under," Hale said. "It allows a doctor to make a more objective decision about prescribing Ritalin and determining the appropriate dosage."
 The technique is simple. It’s a double-blind placebo study (meaning only the physician and pharmacist know who gets what pill) that takes four weeks to complete.
 "The first week we establish a baseline, meaning no one is on Ritalin," Hale said.
 During the second, third and fourth weeks, he said,  each child is given a placebo sugar pill, a low dose of Ritalin, and a high dose of Ritalin. But no one, except the physician and the pharmacist, knows who gets what and when.
"Every week during the trial we give the children a series of visual and verbal tests to measure their attention, concentration, impulse control and memory," Hale said. "We then have both parents and teachers complete weekly behavior rating scales of each child, judging their peer relations, hyperactivity, attentiveness and impulsiveness. Included are questions about side effects such as decreased appetite, irritability, drowsiness, stomachaches and headaches. And finally, once a week, we do a direct observation of the child in the classroom."
 After the fourth week, Hale ranks the behavior and thinking skills of all the students after matching dosages with the pharmacist’s records.
 "It’s a straightforward technique that takes a lot of the subjectivity out of the decision," Hale said. " But there’s a problem we discovered: behavior usually gets better with higher dosages of Ritalin; but at higher doses,  thinking skills can get worse. The solution is to find some kind of medium. Maybe lowering the dosage to improve thinking skills, and then incorporating behavioral modification techniques to further affect behavior."
 In any case, he says, the results of his tests can provide physicians with a more systematic approach in deciding whether to prescribe or not prescribe Ritalin.
 "I think you need to have multidisciplinary input to make the most accurate diagnosis," Hale said. "That includes input from the physician, the teachers, the psychologists, the parents and the child. It’s a decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly. At the same time, we shouldn’t be afraid of Ritalin. It works in about 70 percent of all cases."
 But the arguments will rage on, whether it’s from organizations such as Parents Against Ritalin and Grandparents Against Ritalin or from doctors who seriously believe that Ritalin is over-prescribed.
  So far, Hale said, no other treatment, including behavior modification, compares to the success of Ritalin in treating ADHD. "But the most effective treatment," Hale said, "is using Ritalin along with behavior modification and learning strategies as part of a multifaceted treatment plan."

LOUISE ERDRICH
READS AT
MSU ON FEB. 18
Moorhead, MN…Louise Erdrich, one of the best known and most widely acclaimed novelists from this region, will read from her work at 8 p.m.  Thursday, Feb. 18 in Moorhead State University’s Roland Dille Center for the Arts Hansen Theatre.
 A guest of MSU’s Tom McGrath Visiting Writers Series, Erdrich will also sit for a book sale and signing following her talk, proceeds going to the White Earth Land Recovery Project.
 Erdrich grew up in Wahpeton, N.D., where her parents both worked at the Bureau of Indian Affairs School there. She’s a mixed-blood (mother a French Ojibwe and father a German American) member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwa who now lives in Minneapolis with her three youngest children.
 Erdrich attended college at Dartmouth and Johns Hopkins, then began her literary career. Her first novel, "Love Medicine," was published in 1984. That was followed by "Tracks," then "The Beet Queen," "Love Medicine, "The Bingo Palace", "Tales of Burning Love" and her most recent novel, "The Antelope Wife," which will be out in paperback this week. All her novels explore the sense of despair, humor and magic in the lives of Native Americans.
 She’s also published a collection of poems, "Baptism of Desire," and a major work of nonfiction, "The Blue Jay’s Dance: A Birth Year," an account of her attempt to juggle the joys and demands of writing and motherhood.
 Her work has garnered a variety of awards, from the Academy of American Poets Prize and the Nelson Algren Fiction Award  to the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Award for Fiction.
 The reading is free and open to the public. (The event was originally scheduled for Feb. 17, but was rescheduled for Feb. 18 so it wouldn’t conflict with the Rolling Stones concert at the Fargodome.)

The object of the event is to build a model span bridge by gluing together roughly 500 round, wooden toothpicks.

The bridges should be strong enough and built to support nine-inch metal weights while clearing a 22-inch span. During the contest, weights are stacked on top of each model and the one that supports the heaviest load before collapsing wins the contest.

Any student—elementary through college—who would like to enter the contest, or receive detailed rules, should write or call Ron Williams at the MSU technology department, (218) 236-2480/2104.

The contest, held in conjunction with National Engineering Week, is a unique introduction to some basic concepts in engineering design, weight distribution and problem solving.

Don’t tell this MSU student that Nepali food is boring…..
COOKING IN THE SHADOW OF MT. EVEREST
Moorhead, MN….Sandwiched between two gastronomic jewels--China and India--Nepal is better known for its mystique than its menu.

In fact, Nepali food has been described as more practical than palatable, limited to yak butter, lentils, rice and roast "buff" (buffalo).

Don’t tell that to Devesh Regmi, president of Moorhead State University’s International Student Club, who grew up in the shadow of Mt. Everest. Born and raised in Nepal’s exotic capitol, Katmandu (pop. 500,000), Regmi is a high on Himalayan cuisine.

"Nepali food is quite diverse," said the 22-year-old computer information systems major. "Although rice, lentils, beans and potatoes are our staples, a variety of spices, vegetables, meats and fruits are raised in Nepal and are part of the national diet."

Regmi is one of eight Nepali students enrolled at MSU. Occasionally they get together, along with the three Nepali students at Concordia College, to concoct some native dishes: mo mo, dhal bhat tarkari, sukuti, chuela and a hodgepodge of other home cooking.

"We all miss Nepali food," Regmi said. "And it’s always nice to talk with fellow countrymen. I was surprised that three of the Nepali students here at MSU actually live in my neighborhood back in Katmandu. I didn’t even know them until I got here."

Nepal—the birthplace of Bhudda, the land where time stands still, a whisper away from Shangri-La—is about the size of Arkansas with a population of 20 million. Its landscape ranges from windswept mountain peaks and dry empty deserts to dense jungles populated with exotic wildlife: tigers, elephants, monkeys, yaks, snow leopards, even the one-horned rhinoceros.

While nothing much grows at the top of the Himalayas, Regmi says,  Katmandu sits in a fertile valley basin that produces lush crops: sugar cane, guava, bananas, cauliflower, giant radishes, papaya, lentils, turmeric (poor mans saffron), coriander and chili peppers. The city’s temperate climate, despite an elevation of 4,300 feet above sea level,  shares the same latitude with Miami and Cairo. World famous basmati rice, a nutty/milky flavored long-grain rice, grows in the foothills of the Himalayas.

"Tourists (160,000 visitors a year) are everywhere," says Regmi, describing the teeming narrow cobblestone streets of Katmandu that reek of history, religion and foods.

Incense, sitar music, tiered pagodas, stupas, shrines, three-wheeled rickshaws, snake charmers and street merchants give the city a medieval and mystic aura. Old hippies and peripatetic backpackers who swarmed Katmandu in the Sixties to tap Eastern mysticism for an elusive taste of nirvana still wander the city, but in smaller numbers.

Fact is, Nepal was hermetically sealed from the outside world until the 1950s, Regmi said.  Back then,  no roads led to Katmandu.  Barefoot porters hauled all imported goods up the mountain paths from India.

But when the political climate changed, roads, airports and tourist attractions sprouted in the Katmandu Valley. Then Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary conquered the 29,028-foot peak of Mt. Everest on May 29, 1953. Nepal entered the 20th century in an avalanche of pop culture, Regmi said, and now the country worries about the effects of Westernization on its fragile landscape.

Today, Regmi said, Katmandu hotels boast discos and casinos and the city celebrates some sort of festival to the  gods nearly every other day of the year. But the ascent to the top of Everest is littered with oxygen cylinders, empty cans, plastic and an occasional frozen body. The air in Katmandu is getting more polluted every day.

But that’s slowly changing, Regmi said, as Nepal adjusts to modernization and tries to narrow the enormous chasm between rich and poor.

"Today you can find just about any kind of food you want in Katmandu," Regmi said. "Pizza, Chinese food, French fries, Indian cuisine, whatever. What you won’t find is a McDonald’s Restaurant. Cows are sacred in Hindu culture so we don’t eat beef. But we do have our own version of fast food restaurants that sell a native dish called mo mo: steamed, stuffed (with buffalo, chicken or pork meat) dumplings that resemble ravioli."

Here’s a sample of some Nepali dishes that Regmi and his fellow countrymen cook when they get together in Moorhead. Their Nepal Interest Group is a new organization on campus aimed at representing Nepalese culture and tradition and bringing together Nepalese students within the Fargo-Moorhead Community. They’ll have a booth at MSU’s Celebration of Nations, scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, March 25 in the university’s student union ballroom, where they may even serve some Nepalese home cooking.

Daal-Bhat  (Lentil Soup & Rice)

(This grain/legume combination forms a complete protein, and is a staple on Nepali tables.)

3 cups water
1 cup Red lentils
1 Tbs. Peeled minced fresh ginger
1 tsp. Seeded, chopped fresh green chili
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Sugar
1/2 tamarind concentrate (available at specialty stores like Tochi Products in Fargo)
1 tsp. vegetable oil
1/4 tsp. black mustard seed
Spice to taste with coriander, cumin, chili power, garlic powder and ginger
Cooked basmati rice
 

Bring water to boil in pan over medium heat. Add lentils. Reduce heat and simmer covered until lentils are tender, about 15 minutes. They should break easily when pressed between thumbs and index fingers. Remove from heat.

Puree this mixture with ginger and green chili in blender until smooth. Return to pan and bring to simmer. Add salt, sugar, tamarind and stir to dissolve the tamarind. Remove from heat.

Heat oil in a 6-inch skillet over medium-low heat. Fry black mustard seeds for a few seconds. As soon as the seeds start popping, remove from heat and pour contents of pan over the lentil mixtures. Simmer 2 to 3 more minutes. Stir in five spices. Cover and let stand for a few minutes to help develop the flavors. Spoon over hot rice. Daal-Bhat is often served with a side-dish of curried vegetables. (Serves four.)

Aloo Achar (potato salad)

(Recipe comes from Krishnarpan Restaurant in Katmandu’s Dwarika’s Hotel.)
1 lb. potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 oz. sesame seeds
4 hot green chilies
2 large cloves garlic
1" piece of peeled fresh ginger
1 Tbsp. minced fresh cilantro
Juice from 4 lemons
Salt to taste
2 Tbsp. mustard seed oil or vegetable oil
1 tsp. fenugreek seed (available in specialty stores like Tochi Products in Fargo)
Lettuce leave as needed

Boil potatoes until tender; drain and set aside.

Toast sesame seeds in a hot oven until fragrant and lightly colored. Cool then grind in food processor with hot chilies, garlic, ginger and cilantro. Add lemon juice and salt.

Mix sesame seed past with warm potatoes and toss lightly.

Sauté fenugreek in oil; pour over salad and mix lightly. May serve on bed of lettuce.

MoMos (Nepali meat dumplings)

Dough
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. oil
1 cup water
pinch of salt

In a large bowl combine flour, oil salt and water. Mix well, knead until dough becomes homogeneous in texture, about 10 minutes. Cover and let stand for 30 minutes. Knead well again before making wrappers.

Filling
1 lb. lean ground lamb, pork or chicken
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. minced fresh ginger
1/2 tsp. szechwan pepper (cayenne will do)
1 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriander powder
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
3 fresh minced red chilies
1 cup Nepali cheese roughly crushed (optional)
2 Tbs. clarified butter
salt to taste

In a large bowl combine all filling ingredients. Mix well, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour, which infuses the mix with flavors and improves its consistency.

Putting it together

Give dough final knead. Take a 1-inch piece of dough and roll between your palms for form a ball. Using a rolling pin, flatten dough ball on floured surface into 2-inch circle. Make several and cover. To ensure the structural integrity of the dumplings, the middle portion of the wrapper should be slightly thicker than the edges. So, hold edges of each 2-inch circle of dough with one hand and with the other hand begin rolling the edges of the dough  out, swirling a bit at a time. Continue until the dough wrapper is about 3 inches in diameter. Repeat with all the dough. Cover to prevent drying.

For stuffing, hold wrapper in one palm, put one tablespoon of filling in the middle, then bring edges of dough together in the center, making a half-moon shape. Pinch and twist the edges of the dough into pleats to ensure the dumplings remain closed while steaming.

Heat steamer, oil steamer rack well. Arrange uncooked MoMos in the steamer rack . Close the lid, steam for about 10 to 15 minutes. (Or just put MoMo’s on some kind of rack that holds them over a covered pot of boiling water.) Serve immediately on a plate dressed with tomato aachar (recipe follows).

Tomato Aachar

2 cups roasted tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 cup roasted red pepper, chopped
3 fresh red  chilies, minced
1 Tbsp. garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. ginger, minced
1 tsp. cumin powder
1 tsp. coriander powder
1 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp. mustard seeds
1 tsp. szechwan pepper (cayenne will do)
1 Tbsp. mustard or olive oil
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
salt to taste.

In blender, combine all ingredients to form a smooth paste. Transfer to large bowl.

Garnish: in a non-stick pan heat one Tbsp. Mustard (or olive) oil with 1 tsp. fenugreek until in turns dark. Add 10 cloves of sliced garlic and fry till light brown. (Do not overcook garlic.) Pour this garlic-oil mixture and 1 Tbsp. thinly sliced green onion over the tomato mixture. Mix well and refrigerate for at least two hours. Serve as a topping or dip for MoMos.

High Altitude Potatoes

Boil as many potatoes as you like
Salt
Crushed chilies
Crushed garlic

Boil potatoes about 15 minutes. Peel skin, cut potatoes into small slices. Mix salt, crushed chilies and crushed garlic together into a paste. Dip sliced potatoes into the seasoned relish and eat. This concoction is eaten in remote places where resources are scarce and carbohydrates are needed for quick energy. For Sherpas, high altitude potatoes are the staff of life.