WASHINGTON, D.C. (KMOT/KFYR) – Washington D.C. residents cheered on our nation’s heroes as they arrived at the Capital Sunday morning for the Western North Dakota Honor Flight.

Two D.C. residents, Scott and Deb Gould spent their morning welcoming our veterans at Dulles International Airport.

While they don’t have ties to North Dakota, they said they have an absolute respect for those who served.

It’s also their first time doing something like this, and they said it will definitely not be the last.

As the veterans came in, the Gould family couldn’t hold back their tears.

“It’s just a little bit of giving back and these men and women didn’t necessarily get this when they came back. It’s a honor and a privilege to do that. We’re glad they’re here to be able to come to DC for the day,” said Scott Gould.

The veterans spent most of today touring D.C.

On Monday, they’ll be visiting the U.S. Capitol among other sites before they return to Minot.

They’re scheduled to arrive at 7 p.m., and everyone is encouraged to gather at the airport and welcome them home.

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On this date in 1950, Uncle Sam was $500 richer, thanks to a grateful North Dakota businessman who had a deep and lasting love for his country.

Here’s the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:

Uncle Sam was $500 richer this week, thanks to a grateful North Dakota businessman who has a deep and lasting love for his country.

J. S. Lamb, internal revenue collector for North Dakota, said in Fargo Wednesday that the money was enclosed with a federal income tax return.

With the form was a letter which read: “The other check for $500 is to witness our gratitude to a free, good land for its opportunities and blessings enjoyed by us and our enumerated exemptions.

“Considering the prosperity and freedom we have known and wishing to do more than is required of us, we make this gift to help keep our country free.”

Lamb said the $500 is being forwarded to Washington where it will be credited to the national defense fund.

MINOT — It’s been a long time coming, but North Dakotans are getting some justice for what was perpetrated on them by left-wing extremists during violent protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

First, a jury in Morton County found Greenpeace civilly liable,

to the tune of some $660 million,

for assisting the frequently unlawful protests. The plaintiff in the case was Energy Transfer Partners, the company that built and operates the pipeline.

Now, a federal judge has found the federal government, then under the control of President Barack Obama,

liable for more than $37 million in costs

incurred by the state of North Dakota while responding the protests (the court awarded roughly $28 million, subtracting a $10 million grant awarded during President Trump’s first term in office).

Judge Dan Traynor excoriated the federal government in his ruling. “The United States left North Dakota alone to defend itself from the violent and tumultuous protests,” he wrote.

“While North Dakota was drowning in the chaos of the Protests, the United States dropped an anvil into the pool and turned up the turmoil,” he continued.

The Obama administration “encouraged [and] supported protesters to remain and be at the DAPL Protests,” and because of these things, the federal government is liable for the heavy costs incurred by North Dakota taxpayers as a result of the months-long demonstrations.

Traynor found that the federal government allowed protesters to occupy federal land illegally, against its policies, despite being fully aware that the land was being used to launch violent and unlawful attacks against the pipeline project and law enforcement.

The Obama administration did not intervene to assist our state in putting a stop to the violence, despite apparent unlawful activity and a clear federal nexus. They didn’t enforce the law when protesters used federal land as a launch pad for their attacks. The Obama administration even

refused to send federal law enforcement resources to assist.

This was a dereliction of duty on par with President Donald Trump watching,

on television,

his supporters violently assault Congress on Jan. 6, 2021. But the Jan. 6 riot went on for a day. The Dakota Access Pipeline protests lasted for months.

Nor was it only the Obama administration that chose to stand aside while North Dakota burned. Our state’s law enforcement resources were completely overrun, yet when our state put out a call to other states for personnel, many states with Democratic leadership refused to assist,

bowing to pressure from left-wing activists.

“Early on, we had a number of states support our request for peace officer support,” Maj. Gen. Al Dohrmann of the North Dakota National Guard

told me in a December 2016 interview

. “Unfortunately, all jurisdictions that supported us were subject to protest in their own cities and capitols for providing support to North Dakota, along with intense pressure from various groups to not support North Dakota’s efforts to maintain the peace and rule of law.”

President Obama could have helped put an end to the protests swiftly and peacefully, but he didn’t.

As the nation’s top elected Democrat, he could have urged state-level Democrats to put politics aside and help, but he didn’t.

For that, he owes North Dakota an apology.