SANTANA
CRUISES
Twins ace
wins eighth
straight
decision C7
Sunday edition
Bison blast off
in D-I dome party
Above: NDSU’s student
section shows school spirit,
as senior Jodee Elhard,
center, wears a Bison T-shirt,
while senior A.J. Mrozek
painted his chest green.
Ann Arbor Miller / The Forum
Inside

Fans enjoy the
atmosphere while
team wins big. A9

Bison running back
Kyle Steffes rushes
for 175 yards. C1
Online
At www.in-forum.com:

Browse photo
galleries from the
game and tailgating.

Talk about NDSU’s
big day: Did it live up
to expectations?
Bush readies RNC proposals
Convention delegates, protesters converge on New York City
By Ron Fournier
AP Political Writer
NEW YORK – Abortion-rights
protesters and the first Republi-
can delegates descended on
President Bush’s heavily forti-
fied convention city Saturday as
campaign officials said their
boss would use the nomination
spotlight to defend his hawkish
foreign polices and offer a sec-
ond-term agenda for health care,
Today’s
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BISON 52, CRUSADERS 0

Mike McFeely says Northern Colorado
might be true D-I opener for Bison C1

Pregame tailgating went off without a
hitch outside the Fargodome A8

Fargodome attendance: 18,665
Culmination
of planning
a big success
By Mike Nowatzki
mnowatzki@forumcomm.com
North Dakota State University dove
into Division I-AA football Saturday
with a bang.
Concussion bombs exploded
throughout the Fargodome and sparks
shot from the ceiling as Bison head
coach Craig Bohl led his Thundering
Herd onto the field to take on Indiana’s
Valparaiso University.
With Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the
Jungle” blaring over the loudspeakers,
NDSU kicker Cory Vartanian sent the
pigskin soaring. A herd of Bison play-
ers smothered the Crusaders’ kick
returner at the 12-yard line.
“Not bad,” said NDSU President
Joseph Chapman, smiling and clap-
ping.
“That’s a good start,” added North
Dakota Gov. John Hoeven, standing
next to him.
Two years of planning, prepara-
tions, conference searching and
defending the decision to go Division I
came to a head Saturday as NDSU
crushed the overmatched Crusaders
52-0 in the first-ever Division I football
game in Fargo.
The university’s saturation market-
ing strategy appeared to pay off, as a
sellout crowd of 18,665 packed the
dome. It set a Bison home-opener
attendance record.
The all-time record for a home Bison
Below: The NDSU Bison Right: NDSU’s Allen Burrell game was set in 2002, when 19,046 fans
kick off to start their Division heads up field after breaking watched NDSU take on rival Universi-
I-AA game against a tackle following a ty of North Dakota.
Only 20 tickets remained when the
Valparaiso in the reception in the Bison’s Bison ticket office opened at 11 a.m.
Fargodome in front 52-0 win over Valparaiso. Saturday after Valpo fans claimed 120
of a sell-out crowd. Darren Gibbins / The Forum of the 150 tickets they had under con-
Dave Wallis / The Forum tract, said Troy Goergen, an NDSU
assistant athletic director. More than
50 Bison fans were in line Saturday
morning to gobble up the 20.
A stream of students overflowed
from the dome’s south parking lot
more than two hours before the 6 p.m.
game.
Steve “Steve-O” Opat and half a
dozen friends arrived at 2:45 p.m. and
were still 50 feet from the student
entrance.
Wearing a handmade green-and-yel-
low striped top hat, Opat, a sophomore
from Chatfield, Minn., streaked yellow
and green face paint across his cheeks.
BISON: Page A8
‘Dakistan’ plan
spurs controversy
Inside adviser Karen Hughes, aboard
Bush’s campaign bus in Ohio. Maj. Gen. Mock war games could conflict with airlines

Bush will present record of two Mike
presidencies. A4 “The speech is very forward- By Gerry Gilmour Force’s North Dakota Joint Train-

Abortion-rights activists kick off third
looking. It talks about what Haugen ggilmour@forumcomm.com ing Area initiative.
day of protests. A5
another four years of a Bush Commander, A proposal to turn North Dakota First proposed more than a year
presidency would look like.” N.D. Guard into a four-seasons war games zone ago – borne of North Dakota Gov.
Democratic rival Sen. John “North Dakota is gaining ground in the U.S. John Hoeven’s Military in North
education and job training. Kerry said most voters won’t could be the Department of Defense. Dakota task force – the idea today is
“He believes it’s important for look kindly on another term for largest special “North Dakota could be the getting attention from power bro-
operations
a candidate to talk about what the Republican. training center
largest special operations training kers in the Pentagon.
he’s done and, most important, in the world” center in the world,” Maj. Gen.
where he wants to lead,” said CONVENTION: Back Page Mike Haugen said of the U.S. Air DAKISTAN: Back Page
Index Metro
Births A22 Metro/State A13-24 Opinion A18-20 The 28th annual Island Park
Classified D1-26 Movies B2, 9 Sports C1-10 Show brings thousands of
76° Crossword B8 Nation/World A4-11 Valley R&R B1-12 shoppers, strollers and pets
Lottery numbers A2 Obituaries A22 Weather A2
53° Saturday afternoon A13
A8 Sunday, August 29, 2004
Tailgaters flock to NDSU alcohol lots
By Dave Roepke
droepke@forumcomm.com
Three years ago as a North
Dakota State University
senior, Ryan Johansen fash-
ioned a bar with a built-in grill
made out of a keg.
Saturday, he finally got a
chance to serve beer on it at a
Bison football game.
“We’ve been waiting for this
for a long time,” said Johansen,
a 25-year-old Fargo architect.
Johansen was not alone, as
indicated by the vehicles lined
up four blocks deep outside
the lots west of the Fargodome
shortly before the gates
opened at 2 p.m.
Alcohol was openly allowed
during NDSU tailgating for
the first time Saturday, a fact
that for many among the
throngs of revelers was just as
significant as the team’s Divi-
sion I debut.
“I’m not going to lie to you.
That’s a big plus,” said NDSU
senior Andy Nestoss of the
relaxed tailgating rules.
Nestoss and a handful of
friends stocked up with a cool-
er full of Coors Light and a
lone can of Schmidt left over
from last month’s WE Fest
country music festival.
The drunken debauchery
often associated with football
tailgating seemed mostly in
check Saturday, despite the T-
shirts handed out by friends of
Johansen that read: “I know-
ingly participated in scan-
dalous pre-game activities.”
NDSU Athletic Director
Gene Taylor said he “couldn’t
be more pleased” by the con-
trolled festivities.
Fargo police said as of 10
p.m., the six officers patrolling
the lots had cited four people
for underage drinking. There
were two arrests, one for crim-
inal trespassing and another
for gross sexual imposition.
BISON: Fargodome parking lot felt more like a country fair before the game
From Page A1
“It’s all about the D-I game,”
he said during a brief pause
from bragging about how he’d
just beaten the Bison mascot
Thundar in a tug-of-war. “You
pull out all the stops.”
The Fargodome parking lot
felt more like a county fair
before the game.
Greg Parsons tossed a green-
tinted football around with his
6-year-old daughter, Hailey,
and 4-year-old son, Braiden,
who showed off his best juke
moves for dad. Earlier, the
tykes bounced around in a
Blue’s Clues inflatable house
in the dome parking lot’s
southeast corner.
“It’s good that they’ve got
things for the kids,” he said.
Parsons said he’s been a
Bison fan since he was 6 years
old, but this is the first year he
purchased season tickets.
“The Division I move is No.
1,” he said when asked why.
Children and adults alike
gathered around two 3-month-
old bison calves, Willie and
Charlie, which arrived at the
dome Saturday morning cour-
tesy of Walter Zerebko of
Bovey, Minn. One girl trying to
pet the 200-pound animals
through the fence pleaded,
“Here bison, here bison.”
I-AA DEBUT: BISON 52, CRUSADERS 0
Bison alum Katie Heller hauls the gas while North Dakota State University students Jared Heller, left, Andy Nestoss, center,
and Rob Hasey unload a grill from the back of a truck Saturday in the Fargodome tailgating lot. The tailgaters were second in
line and waited in line for about an hour and a half for their spot.
NDSU senior Bridget Dockter “We are so behind on this The possibility for drunken about a dozen Bison fans
said she noticed a more amiable tailgating stuff. They’re final- tailgating did not entice one arrived at the south entrance ment to have fun at 4:45 in the
attitude from police this year. ly letting us live a little,” she group of NDSU students from at 9 a.m., same as they have for afternoon,” he said. “What if I
Saturday’s partying was a said while swilling Miller Lite abandoning their standard rit- the past four years.
marked improvement over from one of the hundreds of ual: being first in line to get
previous years and a long time yellow plastic Bison mugs a into the dome.
coming, Dockter said. local radio station gave away. The earliest of the group of sporting a black top hat and a
”
I think the excitement you’re seeing today is just part
of the excitement you’re seeing all over campus.
Gov. John Hoeven
North Dakota
Fans poured into the alcohol famers, including Jeff
tailgating area when it opened Bentrim, who was a freshman
at 2 p.m., taking advantage of during Dave Swanson’s last
the opportunity to drink beer year at NDSU.
legally in the Fargodome park- Dave Swanson said he never
ing lot for the first time before misses a home game, despite
a Bison game. the 200-mile drive, and he sup-
“The atmosphere is great,” ports the D-I move.
said Mike DeVine of Fargo, a “The people around here
loan officer and 2002 NDSU always have their expectations
graduate, as he loaded charcoal too high, but if we end up 6-5
into his grill. “I just wish they’d or.500, it’ll be a good season,”
opened it up a little earlier.” he said.
Across from the tailgating Kurt Buckwalter and Kevin
area, the College Football Hall Olson, proud fathers of Bison
of Fame Road Show added a players Ryan Olson and Justin
touch of Bison history to the Buckwalter, said they, too, sup-
novelty of going Division I. ported NDSU’s decision to
Dave Swanson of Maddock, leave Division II.
N.D., and his daughter, NDSU “Ryan has just told me he
sophomore Kayla Swanson, wants to play at the highest
were among the first fans to level he can,” said Olson,
tour the motor home, looking wearing a green Bison cap, a
at relief molds of famous foot- green Bison shirt and sipping
ball faces such as Tony Dorsett beer from a green plastic cup.
and Mike Ditka. A cardboard Inside the dome, Madeline
display outside the RV fea- Grimoldby’s white Valpo
tured NDSU’s four hall-of- sweatshirt stuck out amid the
“I’d rather have good seats,” 5:30?”
said Dustin Moser, a junior
steady stream of green and
yellow shirts moving through
the hallway.
Grimoldby, who traveled
from Illinois with her hus-
band, John, to cheer on their
son Kevin, said she was
impressed with the Far-
godome and didn’t expect the
level of hoopla.
“We were a little over-
whelmed when we saw the
signs all over town,” she said,
referring to the Bison bill-
boards and yard signs plas-
tered all over Fargo. “You’ve
really got a lot of support for
your team.”
Bison cheer team member
Chelsey Olivier, who passed
out yellow and gold beads to
tailgaters, said she noticed fan
support was up from last year.
“Some people told us they
didn’t even have tickets,” she
said. “They’re just here to
cheer on the Bison.”
Hoeven said he is happy for
NDSU, not only because of its
athletics program, but also its
growth in enrollment and
research.
“I think the excitement
you’re seeing today is just part
of the excitement you’re see-
ing all over campus,” he said.
Chapman called the sellout
crowd a “celebration of the
The Forum
No trouble
to report
Photos by Darren Gibbins / The Forum
Left: Ryan Overby of Bismarck sits atop his homemade bar
Saturday while talking with Ryan Johansen of Fargo at the
NDSU tailgating site.
Above: Fargo patrolmen Rick Griffin, left, and Dan Bair right,
along with Fargodome security officer Rick Houkom patrol
the southwest corner of the Fargodome parking lot Saturday.
"So far it's been great. We've just have to remind people to
have their alcohol in a paper or plastic container," Bair said.
yellow toga.
The majority of tailgaters
were in the alcohol lots, forcing
vehicles to the grass overflow
area west of lots E and F by 2:30
p.m. Fargodome General Man-
ager Rob Sobolik estimated
there were about 2,000 people in
the alcohol lots at any given
time and perhaps 4,000 through-
out the four-hour window.
Sobolik said he was not sur-
prised by the turnout, consid-
ering the sunny, mild August
weather.
Officials from the dome and
NDSU said Saturday they
might consider fine-tuning
some of the regulations for the
alcohol lots, including open-
ing the gates earlier.
“There’s always tweaking
the first time through,” NDSU
Athletic Director Gene Taylor
said.
Sobolik said he wants the
dome and university to consid-
er opening the gates earlier,
but not if that means more
drinking.
“Four hours before kickoff
is plenty of time in my mind,”
he said. “If you open it up at
noon, they’ll just start lining
up at 10.”
The first Bison fan in line
for the booze lots Saturday
was Mark Williamson, a 41-
year-old NDSU alum who
arrived at 11 a.m. in a full-
sized bus from Northwood,
N.D., with a crew of 18 family
members and friends in tow.
“If we could have been here
at 7 a.m., we would have,” he
said.
Williamson said he thinks
the lots should open earlier.
“It’s like making an appoint-
want to start at 4 o’clock? Or
Readers can reach Forum reporter
Dave Roepke at (701) 241-5535
Ann Arbor Miller / The Forum
NDSU President Joseph Chapman, left, and North Dakota
Gov. John Hoeven celebrate the Bison’s first touchdown.
institution moving to the next a news conference to
level.” He said the added visi- announce NDSU would begin
bility of having a Division I its five-year reclassification
program – Saturday’s game period for Division I-AA.
score moved across the ESPN “A lot of people have worked
ticker – should help the very hard to get us to this
school’s efforts to become point,” Taylor said Saturday
nationally recognized. between chumming with tail-
“It’s going to be a very dif- gaters.
ferent level of activity and “Now, we still have a lot of
level of competition, and I work to do,” he added. “The
think everybody’s going to transition is just beginning.
enjoy it,” he said. But the support of the move is
Monday will mark two years so much higher.”
to the day since NDSU Athlet- Readers can reach Forum reporter
ic Director Gene Taylor called Mike Nowatzki at (701) 241-5528
The Forum I-AA DEBUT: BISON 52, CRUSADERS 0 Sunday, August 29, 2004 A9

“First time I ever heard of North

Dakota State was when I saw it on
the schedule this summer.”
– Joe Riley, attended Division I-AA opener with his
wife, Chris, to watch their son Brad, a defensive tackle
for the Valparaiso Crusaders

Photos by Darren Gibbins / The Forum

Left: The NDSU Gold Star Band forms concentric circles in

the center of the Fargodome Saturday.
Above: A lineup of vehicles wait Saturday along 19th Avenue
North for the Fargodome tailgating lots to open.

On the sidelines at the Fargodome

NDSU, Valparaiso fans fill Bison’s Division I-AA home-opener with cheers, jeers
By Gerry Gilmour
ggilmour@forumcomm.com
The Rileys love their foot-
ball.
”
We couldn’t combine
Proud parents Joe and Chris today anyway, so we took
Riley caught a plane out of
Chicago’s O’Hare Airport at
the whole day off.
noon Saturday, changed
planes in Minneapolis-St. Paul
Joe Karas
and landed in Fargo in plenty Adams, N.D. area farmer, who
attended the game with fellow
of time to see their middle Adams-area farmer Paul Burnston
son, Brad, No. 98 and a defen-
sive tackle, take to the Far-
godome field with the Val-
from Pavek Hall were in line at
paraiso Crusaders.
4 p.m. to make sure they could
“We had the cab driver stop
score seats right above the
at our hotel long enough so we
Valpo runway, where they
could run in and put on our
could loudly jeer the Cru-
jerseys,” Chris said.
saders as they ran onto the
The Rileys were among
field.
about 40 Crusaders faithful
Big football fan?
friends and family sitting
“Not really,” the electrical
just above the field in Section
engineering major said.
23 at Saturday’s inaugural
“I just wanted to support the
Division-IAA Bison football
team.”
game.
The Rileys spent Friday
night watching their youngest
Missing UND
of three sons, Craig, play Kristen Rau, 20, and Linsey
defensive end in the home Gaugler, 22, were loud and
opener for Waubonsie Valley proud in yellow T-shirts in the
(Ill.) High School. student section.
They said they’ll travel to all The Wishek, N.D., sopho-
but two Crusaders road games mores said they’re hyped
this year. Frequent-flier miles about NDSU going D-I, but will
will multiply with ventures to miss watching the Bison play
San Diego; Drake University their traditional D-II rivals.
in Des Moines, Iowa; More- “I’m going to miss playing
head (Ky.) State University; UND,” Gaugler said of the
and Wisconsin Lutheran in other large North Dakota col-
lege 80 miles to the north. Ann Arbor Miller / The Forum
Milwaukee.
This was the first trip to “I think it’s a good thing, but Paul and Pam Boe of Adams, N.D., wearing their Bison hats, watch first-quarter action Saturday at the Fargodome. Paul
North Dakota for the Rileys. it’s going to take a while to get is a 1974 graduate of North Dakota State University. They bought the hats in Medora during a summer outing.
“First time I ever heard of used to,” Rau said.
North Dakota State was when
‘Awesome’ sight games Saturday morning for N.D., unabashedly sported buf-
I saw it on the schedule this the Coyotes in an F-M Athlet-
falo hats, complete with
summer,” Joe said. Garrett Trochman, 11, and 9- ics jamboree. horns, while cheering on the
“And we know that ‘Fargo’ year-old buddy Henry Burke The boys especially enjoyed
Bison from reserved seats in
movie,” Chris added. were in nosebleed general the pyrotechnics and resound-
the Team Makers section on
admission seats high above
The Rileys fly out of Fargo ing explosions inside the dome
the 40-yard line of the dome’s
at 6:50 a.m. today. the south goalposts. They prior to kickoff. east side.
weren’t complaining. And boy was it cool when “I went into a gift store in
‘Support the team’ “Wherever we can get tick- Thundar the mascot arrived Medora (N.D.), saw these and
Dustin Mueller was in the ets,” Trochman said. in a Humvee. said, “‘I’ve got to have one of
front row. The Fargo Centennial Ele- “Awesome,” Henry said.
those,’” said Boe, a 1974
The NDSU freshman from mentary fifth-grader was at NDSU graduate and manag-
Plainview (Minn.) High his fourth football game of the A Medora souvenir er of Bremer Bank in
School and his new buddies day. He played three mini- Paul and Pam Boe of Adams, Fordville.
Did he make Pam wear one?
“Oh, no,” she said. “I’m an
active participant. When he
asked, I told him, ‘Get ’em,
baby.’” Ann Arbor Miller / The Forum

Break from farming
Adams-area farmers Joe order to the Gold Star Marching Band during the second quarter.
Karas and Paul Burntson
walked out of the Alerus
Center in Grand Forks short-
ly after 4 p.m. Saturday, hav-
ing watched the University
of North Dakota Fighting
Sioux defeat Delta (Miss.)
State.
In a moment of spontaneity,
they decided to drive to Fargo
and see what all the D-I fuss
was about.
“We couldn’t combine today
anyway, so we took the whole
Ann Arbor Miller / The Forum day off,” said Karas, a former
Sioux footballer.
North Dakota State University cheerleader Jessica Oleson, a sophomore, places a series “Absolutely spur of the
of cheer cards along a wall before half time. moment,” added Burntson.
Drum Major Emily Hunt, a fourth-year NDSU student, issues
Weren’t they concerned tling over the lot, the 23-year-
about reports of a potential old Morrow, a sophomore
sellout? political science major from
“We walked in and picked up Wahpeton, N.D., was cracking
tickets somebody didn’t pick another beer. The party that
up at the will-call window,” started at 2 p.m. was still
Karas said, right on the going, with groups gathered
50-yard line. around coolers and fans play-
ing catch with footballs.
Bored with the game “I thought Valparaiso was
Jamer Morrow and his gang weak,” Morrow said. “The
had seen enough by halftime. North Central Conference was
With the Bison well in com- a tougher challenge. Val-
mand 38-0, they left the game paraiso wouldn’t stand a
for the alcohol tailgating park- chance in the NCC.”
ing lots. Readers can reach Forum reporter
At 8:15 p.m., with dusk set- Gerry Gilmour at (701) 241-5560