By CHRISTOPHER BJORKEBismarck Tribune

The Bobcat Co. will bring backsome production to its Bismarck fac-

tory through the hiring of 35 workersby a logistics company that assem-bles its machines here.

Menlo Worldwide Logistics hasdone support operations for Bobcatat its building at the Northern PlainsCommerce Centre since 2006.Menlo announced Wednesday thatit will hire approximately 35 workersand use 25,000 square feet of the463,000-square-foot production

plant that Bobcat closed in Decem-ber 2009.

Menlo has 120 employees doingcomponent logistics work and sup-ply-chain management in Bismarck.The 35 new positions will be anextension of Menlo’s work here andwill perform pre-productionmachining, subassembly and deliv-ery services, according to Menlo.

“They’ve outgrown their capacity

at the MSC,” said Bobcat spokes-woman Laura Ness Owens, referringto Bobcat’s manufacturing supportcenter at the NPCC.

She said the announcementshould not be taken as a return ofBobcat’s former manufacturingpresence in Bismarck, and stressedthat Menlo would use only a smallportion of the factory. The plant is

68/54Details, 6B

THURSDAY,MAY 19, 2011

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Pressuring AssadObama to use speech to defend new sanctionson Syrian leader — 2A

UTTC fundingMore than $8M isrestored by Dept.of Education — 1B

Bringing back Bobcat jobs35 workers to comeback to Bismarckplant’s former site

“Frankly,some of thesecompanies

didn’t feel wecould get thisamount ofrunoff, but

Mother Natureproved we can.”

Dennis Fewless,director of water

quality for the stateHealth Department

Continued on 9A

SALUTE TO THE FALLEN

TOM STROMME/TribuneIN THE LINE OF DUTY: Jackie Lundstrom, front, and other North Dakota Peace Officers Association Honor Guard members fire a rifle saluteWednesday afternoon at a ceremony to honor peace officers who lost their lives in the line of duty. The annual ceremony on the Capitolgrounds featured messages from Gov. Jack Dalrymple and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem. A memorial wreath was placed at the PeaceOfficer Memorial. Members of the honor guard are from the Department of Corrections, Highway Patrol, Game and Fish Department and theMorton County Sheriff’s Department. There are 59 peace officers’ names on the memorial outside the Judicial Wing of the Capitol. In hisremarks, Stenehjem spoke about Benson County Sheriff’s Deputy Valence Pascal, who died in 1993.

By JAMES MacPHERSONAssociated Press

Nineteen oil companiesworking in North Dakota’soil patch face fines totalingseveral million dollars forfailing to protect waste pitsfrom spring flooding, stateregulators and health offi-cials said Wednesday.

Lynn Helms, the direc-tor of the state Departmentof Mineral Resources, toldThe Associated Press that47 waste ponds wereswamped this spring bymeltwater from one of thestate’s snowiest winters onrecord.

The waste pit breachescame after widespreadwarnings of the springflood potential followingheavy snowfall across thestate. Williston, in the heartof the state’s oil patch, hadnearly 100 inches of snowthis year, topping the pre-v i o u s h i g h o f a b o u t 95 inches set in 1895, theNational Weather Servicesaid.

Helms said at least fiveswamped sites will befined more than $500,000each because no actionwas taken to prevent thespills.

“Their response to thecleanup also was very slowor inadequate,” he said.

Owners of 40 of the siteswill be fined a minimum of$12,500, he said.

Complaints against thecompanies will be filedsoon, and the total amountof the combined fines isstill being tallied, officialssaid Wednesday.

Runoff from the wastepits, which are about thesize of a large swimmingpool and can contain oil,diesel, drilling muds andchemicals, has not threat-e n e d d r i n k i n g w a t e rsources, said Dennis Few-less, director of water qual-ity for the state HealthDepartment.

“Having said that, therewill be a continual processof testing,” he said.

Cleanup is still going onat many of the spill sitesand could take months,officials said. They said thenumber of polluted acres isstill unknown.

Glenn Wollan, a fieldsupervisor with the NorthDakota Oil and Gas Divi-sion, said New York City-based Hess Corp. account-

Big finesfor 47floodedoil pits

Continued on 9A

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIOAP Retail Writer

NEW YORK — High gasprices are driving a widerwedge between the wealthyand everybody else.

The rich are back to pre-recession splurging: SaksFifth Avenue and Nord-strom customers are treat-ing themselves to luxuryitems like $5,000 Hermeshandbags and $700 Jimmy

Choo shoes, and they’repaying full price.

At Target and Walmart,shoppers are concentratingon groceries and skippingeven little luxuries. BJ’sW h o l e s a l e Co r p. s a i dWednesday that its cus-tomers are buying morehamburger and chickenand less steak and buyingsmaller packs to savemoney.

“The average shopperisn’t in the game, except fornecessities,” said FaithHope Consolo, chairman ofretail leasing and marketing

Gap between richand poor growing

By TOM BREENAssociated Press

For some, it’s JudgmentDay. For others, it’s partytime.

A loosely organizedChristian movement hasspread the word around theglobe that Jesus Christ willreturn to earth on Satur-day to gather the faithfulinto heaven. While theChristian mainstreamisn’t buying it, manyother skeptics are milk-ing it.

A Facebook pagetitled “Post rap-ture looting”o f f e r s t h i si n v i t a t i o n :“ W h e n

everyone is gone and god’snot looking, we need to pickup some sweet stereo equip-ment and maybe some newfurniture for the mansionwe’re going to squat in.” ByWednesday afternoon, morethan 175,000 people indicat-

ed they wouldbe “attend-i n g ” t h e“ p u b l i cevent.”

The pre-diction isalso beingmocked in

t h e

comic strip “Doonesbury”and has inspired “Raptureparties” to celebrate whathosts expect will be the fail-ure of the world to come toan end.

In the Army town ofFayetteville, N.C., the localchapter of the AmericanHumanist Association hasturned the event into a two-

day extravagan-za, with a Satur-

d a y n i g h tp a r t y f o l -lowed by ad a y - a f t e rconcert.

“It’s notmeant to be

insulting, but

It’s the end of the worldas we know it ... or is it?

Continued on 9A Continued on 9A

“Christiansare openlyscoffing at this.”Geri Weaver, organizer

of a “Rapture party” in Fayetteville, N.C.

Average shopperssticking to basics;wealthy splurging

Thinkstock