Quickies: Scenic views of Grand Forks, doing business with East Grand Forks

* The City Beat went out and took some photos of fireworks last night and was pleased to find all the downtown parking ramps packed. Those ramps were definitely helpful. The cars would have otherwise taken up all the parking in the surrounding neighborhoods.

* Speaking of photos, anybody besides me and young Rick Abbott posting their photos of Grand Forks online?

I found a couple of cool photos, like this one (Hard to remember the "thrills" of winter at this time of year. Here's a reminder.) from Lazy~Lightning; or this one (Indy Day fireworks) by The Angel Frog; or this one (Great Flood of '06) by Cpod the Elder; or this one (I had the same shot!) by Vaseeharan.

Then there's this guy who's OBSSESSED with Dairy Queen. Scroll down to see all the photos of the Columbia Road DQ.

Don't forget, the city of Grand Forks has this photo calendar contest. Deadline is Aug. 15.

* I noticed two funny items on the East Grand Forks City Council agenda today.

13. Consider adopting Resolution No. 06-07-64 a Resolution authorizing the City of East Grand Forks to approve purchases from Bert’s Truck Equipment for #615 Packer Repair and #733 Fuel Filler Cup for a total of $1,173.53 whereas Council Member [Wayne] Gregoire is personally interested financially in the contract.

14. Consider adopting Resolution No. 06-07-65 a Resolution authorizing the City of East Grand Forks to approve purchases from Hardware Hank the goods referenced in voucher 29691 and 29692 for a total of $1,803.01 and $252.71, whereas Council Member [Craig] Buckalew is personally interested financially in the contract.

Nothing sinister here. It's just a really small town and the city wants to do business only with Eastside businesses, if at all possible (I don't think Grand Forks has this policy). When it says "personally interested," it means the person named will abstain from voting.

* My good buddy, reporter David Dodds, stopped in recently to visit after several months of hardcore training at Ft. McCoy, Wis. Doddsy, a National Guardsman, is headed for the Middle East for a while.

He'll be back but, man, it makes me think of the changes in this business. I've been here six years and so many faces have passed by. Who remembers weekend anchor Herryn Riendeau? Or the Herald's political reporters Ian Swanson and Sam Black? Or Herald reporter Xiao Zhang? Or WDAZ anchors Jane Joyce, Sara Groenberg and Jenny Frederickson?