701 Rundown: April 18, 2022

Here’s your weekly rundown of some of the most interesting headlines from newspapers across North Dakota.

Tribe secures major grant to fund care center for children

The Turtle Mountain Tribe received a $3.29 million grant to construct a foster care facility, which will address a severe shortage of housing for children in need.

Tribal Councilman Blaine “Slugger” Davis, said the project was at the top of his mind when he took office in 2020.

“When I became a councilman, my focus, passion was to build a facility for our foster care children,” Councilman Davis said. “When the council discussed what our wish wish list was for our tribal members, I expressed the need for a foster care facility, and I am so excited that now it will become reality.”

With the funds now secured, the planned facility will allow for a 20 to 26 person foster care facility for youth ages birth to 18 years old. The building will be 9,000 to 10,000 square feet.

“Not only will the tribe provide a safe environment for our kids, but the proposed facility will also offer care, stability and support, medical care, a highly trained workforce of at least 12 to 16, family reunification if determined by the court or guardian ad litem and will ensure our children continue their education and cultural learning,” according to the grant application.

(Story by Jason Nordmark, Turtle Mountain Star)

County infrastructure in disrepair

Walsh County Commission finalized language that will appear on the June primary ballot at its April meeting held on Tuesday.

Commissioners are going to ask voters of the county to allow them to reinstate existing funding for roads and bridges and ask for an additional 10 mills to maintain the jail, corrections center, county park, fair buildings and road system.

In November of 2008, voters approved a levy of an additional 10 mills to maintain the county road and bridge system. Currently, about 40 percent of the county’s bridges are in need of repair.

That vote passed and is due to sunset in the next couple of years.

It is the thought of the commission to put it on the ballot in June of this year and try to garner the necessary support so if it fails they can put it on the ballot again next year.

(Story by Todd Morgan, The Walsh County Record)

Ranchers feel the pain of the drought

If you’ve ever noticed the drastic differences of textures and colors that the badlands beholds, it almost symbolizes North Dakota’s weather and its extremes. Extremes that local ranchers know all too well after being hit with the hard blows of an ongoing drought.

Spring calving season is usually a time of the year they look most forward to. Lately, however, there seems to be a preoccupation with making sure the bare minimum needs are met due to a lack of moisture, which has drastically reduced forage and other aspects of agricultural life.

Though no rancher ever looks forward to reducing their herd, sometimes it’s a decision that has to be made.

“We should be running 320 cows or so and right now we’re at about 240,” says Pete Best, owner of Best Angus and Quarter Horses. “And we’ll probably have to send our replacement heifers away to move some cows on that grass.”

After years of making the necessary cut-back and adjustments, Best says the lack of moisture is beginning to get down to the wire.

“Getting enough feed is probably the biggest challenge,” he says. “For us personally, we try to hold a lot over from previous years.”

With extra reserves to fall back on, Best says one year isn’t so hard to overcome, but ranchers are in year three of the drought.

(Story by Ashleigh Plemper, McKenzie County Farmer)

Electrical system failure causes student evacuation

Carrington Public School students had just barely enough time to take off their backpacks and take their seats for the beginning of another school week when the fire alarm went off.

But the normal alert sound was accompanied by an automated voice, “This is not a drill.”

Students and teachers were forced to evacuate the school building at around 8:15 a.m. Monday morning, April 4, upon the discovery of smoke coming from a maintenance room adjacent to the school’s art and elementary music rooms.

Carrington Fire and Rescue was dispatched to the scene and arrived shortly thereafter.

“A power transformer failed in the electrical room near the elementary music room,” Fire Chief Ken Wangen said. “There were no flames, but there was a lot of smoke.”

Assistant Chief Jason Wolsky said that when the fire department arrived, school officials, led by Superintendent Kris Kuehn, had already identified and isolated the problem.

(Story by Erik Gjovik, Foster County Independent)

Pipeline plans concern landowners

Wells County landowners and township supervisors had the opportunity to ask questions and share their concerns about plans for a buried pipeline that will be placed through the county to transfer water from the Missouri River to the Red River Valley.

About 50 landowners attended an April 5 meeting at the KTL Building in Fessenden. State legislative representatives from District 14 John Nelson, Robin Weisz and Senator Jerry Klein were also in attendance.

Garrison Diversion contends that the $1.22 billion-dollar Red River Valley Water Supply Project is necessary to plan for a 1930’s-style drought that would cause extreme water supply shortages and devastating impacts.

Landowners at the meeting did not contest the value of the project for the Red River Valley, but they did express distrust regarding the impact the pipeline will have on land and on the roads it crosses.

Pipeline and construction equipment crossing cropland, rangeland and roadways have caused problems for these landowners in the past.

When Garrison Diversion attempted to assure landowners that contractors will have to repair any road damages their equipment or the pipeline cause, Richard Lies, a landowner, said, “I don’t believe you because we’ve been lied to every time.”

(Story by Anne Ehni, The Herald-Press)

Railroad Park lease effort still at the station

Ongoing efforts to give Railroad Park in Hillsboro a facelift haven’t been derailed - although the project may not be picking up steam and leaving the station for a while yet, either.

Hillsboro City Commissioner Levi Reese told fellow city leaders Tuesday that he’s in the process of trying to secure a long-term lease for the property with BNSF Railway, which owns the land.

However, those talks took a sideways turn the past two weeks after a leasing agent for BNSF requested that the city pay $4,500 per year to lease the land, Reese said.

City officials at their commission meeting on Monday, April 4, grumbled about BNSF’s representatives asking for compensation to lease the land after allowing the city to access it for decades.

(Story by Cole Short, Hillsboro Banner)