Thursday morning, trucks will pull alongside Reineke Fine Arts Center on the North Dakota State University campus and crews will begin laying cable for an historic event that night.
Throughout the day, workers will prepare the auditorium for a prime-time, statewide television broadcast from 7 to 9 p.m. on ABC-TV affiliates in Fargo, Grand Forks, Bismarck and Minot.
WDAY-TV anchors Dana Mogck and Kerstin Kealy will introduce viewers to 33 people, all of them 21 to 34 years old.
During those two hours, this panel will discuss what needs to be done to keep people, primarily in their age group, from leaving North Dakota.
Some of the panelists, like Clint and Robyn Bueling from Colorado Springs, Colo., have thoughts on what needs to happen so they can return to their beloved home state.
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If the future of North Dakota concerns you, this is a program you will not want to miss.
If the program does nothing else, I am certain it will show the passion these young adults have for North Dakota.
I am equally certain we'll hear pleas to legislators, who begin meeting Tuesday in Bismarck, to put the political posturing aside this session, work in harmony and do whatever is needed to save North Dakota from its documented decline.
Having a Roundtable of people ages 34 and under was suggested by The Forum's Readers' Board.
For years, politicians and business people with good intentions have debated issues and come up with studies about the depopulation of the state.
Yet, the problem continues more so in North Dakota than any state in the nation; in fact, North Dakota is the only state to have lost population last year, according to annual census information released last month.
Instead of having the same people involved in the same discussions of the past, Readers' Board members said to seek those most likely to leave -- people who represent North Dakota's future.
And what I'm hearing from the panelists is:
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No more studies are needed. The problem is real, the need for solutions is urgent, the time for action is now.
At times, from my correspondences with panelists, it seems their opinions on Thursday night could represent an almost last-gasp, 11th-hour appeal for leaders to show political conviction for fixing the problem.
Continuing until the Roundtable, personal information about the panelists will be published daily on the Metro & State page.
WDAY-TV is running a nightly series on depopulation; you'll want to make sure to catch it.
If you want to attend Thursday's Roundtable, meet the panelists, feel the energy of the moment, you are welcome. Please arrive by 6:45 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. There is no charge.
The program is in the Fine Arts Center's Festival Hall, at 12th Avenue North and Bolley Drive. Parking is to the west and south, across from the building, in the "T" and "T-2" lots.
If you have an Internet connection and download "Real Player," you, and others around the world, can view a Webcast on www.in-forum.com .
So, if at all possible, take two hours Thursday night to watch the program.
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You've never seen anything like it.
Ziegler can be reached at lziegler@forumcomm.com
