Dave Moritz and family now own two of the three marinas in Bismarck-Mandan, including both on the west bank of the Missouri River.

The family closed on its deal Monday to purchase Marina Bay from Terry Harris.

The deal includes the entire bay and all of the slips, Moritz said, plus the land on the north side from the river to where the housing development begins. It does not include the Broken Oar bar. Moritz bought Marina Bay with his wife, Judy, and sons, Tim and Eric.

The Moritz family also owns Ricker's Marina, which is adjacent to Moritz Sport and Marine, north of Expressway Bridge. Marina Bay is south of the bridge.

The family wants to clean up the Marina Bay area, Moritz said, and improve the slips. Tim Moritz said the slips should all be new within two years. Also, the number of slips will be increased from 180 to about 250.

Dave Moritz said they have plans for some commercial and residential development in the area.

In a separate partnership, Moritz is developing the 20-acre Bridgeview Bay residential area, which will be connected this spring to Ricker's Marina. Ricker's has 106 slips.

The other marina in town, on the Bismarck side, is Southport.

Beer is big business

As you'll no doubt recall, the North Dakota House of Representatives voted in the week before crossover to allow the state's counties and cities to extend local bar closing times one hour, to 2 a.m.

Fargo bar owners lobbied for the bill, saying they've been watching customers travel across the border to Moorhead, Minn., where bars are open until 2. They said they can't afford to keep losing that business.

And beer is big business in North Dakota.

From barley growers to the malting plant in Spiritwood to wholesalers, distributors, bartenders and more, the beer industry has a major impact on the state's economy.

According to a recent study released by the National Beer Wholesalers Association, the beer industry puts $298 million a year into North Dakota.

The study claims the industry's economic impact in the state includes 5,524 jobs paying $99 million in wages, as well as more than $59 million in federal, state and local taxes generated and paid.

It also shows that the industry's impact increased $39 million from the year before.

"This study demonstrates that the beer industry is made up of more than just those who make and distribute our products," said Jeff Becker, president of the Beer Institute. "We are an industry of farmers, can manufacturers, truck drivers, retailers, among many others."

Watch out, gopher

Work likely will begin this spring on a new cell phone tower in northwest Bismarck.

Plans are in place for Verizon Wireless to erect a tower near the Cenex station at 1160 W. Divide Ave. The tower can be up to 124 feet high, and will go up to the east of the car-wash driveway.

"Verizon contacted us and said they were looking for sites in Bismarck," Cenex General Manager Cy Fix said. "They needed a place to put (the tower). All that's on there (currently) is gophers, grass, weeds and other people's trash when the wind blows."

Farmer's Union Oil Co., parent to Cenex, has a permit to construct a 12-by-30 foot equipment building next to the tower, which will be leased by Verizon.

The estimated construction cost of $75,000 obviously wasn't a deal-breaker last week, when Verizon Communications announced its plans to acquire MCI Inc. in a $6.7 billion agreement.

Timber!

Bismarck's Redwood is coming down.

The city issued a permit for the demolition of the former Redwood Apartments, at 1702 E. Broadway Ave. The business, which consists of 10 units, has been closed since April 1 of last year.

The permit lists the owners of the structure as Bill and Betty Smith; however, when the Bismarck Fire Department responded to two fires at the building last May, it was discovered that Betty Smith had died, and the owner was said to be Lori Smith.

She could not be reached for comment.

Green could mean green

The local chapter of the Sierra Club put out a release Feb. 16 that claims North Dakota could get nearly 50,000 new jobs and enjoy $1.4 billion in new capital investment by 2020 if only the United States would further invest in clean energy solutions.

Those numbers came from a report, "Redirecting North Dakota's Energy: The Economic and Consumer Benefits of Clean Energy Policies," put together by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. The group says the above numbers could be achieved if the country increased its energy production from renewable resources to 20 percent of the total supply by 2020. Also, the subsidies currently paid to coal, oil, gas and nuclear industries would have to be shifted to renewable-energy sources.

If those things happened, the report claims North Dakota also would reap $86 million in new property tax revenue for local communities and $25 million would go to landowners in the form of lease payments from wind-power firms.

Additionally, the report claims, clean energy production would create twice as many jobs and save consumers more than twice as much on their natural gas bills than the current energy bill under consideration by Congress.

(Reach Tony Spilde at 250-8260 or tspilde@ndonline.com.)