701 Rundown: May 27, 2024

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

Ukraine sponsorships fill jobs

The first applications were received and acted upon for the Uniting for Ukraine program offered by the Carrington City Council.

During the Monday, May 13 meeting, chairman Troy Roundy said they received grant applications from Tyler Carr, Mitch Page and Arlo Stedman.

Tyler Carr of Carr Construction and Mitch Page from Golden Acres Manor and Estates jointly applied for sponsorship of one family, with Carr funding the husband/father and one child and Page funding the wife/ mother and one child.

The husband will be employed at Carr Construction and the wife at Golden Acres Manor and Estates. Each individual is applying for $3,200 in funding reimbursements.

In addition, two Ukraine sponsorship grant applications were received from Arlo Stedman.

The first application is for a woman who has arrived and is married to an employee of Stedman Farms. She is employed at the Chieftain. The CCEDC recommended council approval for $3,100.

The second application from Stedman pertains to a wife and two children. The husband is employed by Stedman Farms, but is not eligible for funding. His wife works at Golden Acres Manor. The two children attend school and day care in Carrington.

The CCEDC moved to recommend a reimbursement of $4,500.

A motion was passed to approve funding for Carr's application and Stedman's applications.

(Story by Leasa A. Lura, The Foster County Independent)

Dirt bike crash claims life

Mother’s Day weekend turned tragic when an 8-year-old juvenile died as a result of injuries sustained in a dirt bike crash on Saturday, May 11.

According to the North Dakota Highway Patrol, the crash took place 3.5 miles outside of Casselton around 5 p.m.

The juvenile was driving a Yamaha dirt bike around a rural Casselton farm and lost control, hitting a piece of stationary farm equipment.

Casselton ambulance, Casselton Fire and Cass County Sheriff’s Office attempted lifesaving efforts on scene. Sanford AirMed transported the juvenile to Sanford hospital in Fargo where the juvenile later passed away.

The juvenile’s name will not be released and the crash remains under investigation by the North Dakota Highway Patrol.

(Story by Angela Kolden, Cass County Reporter)

Ambulance district formed per state law

An organizational meeting was held last Thursday, May 9, at the courthouse in Grafton to form an ambulance district that will encompass the service area of Valley Ambulance and Rescue (VARS).

The state legislature has mandated that all ambulance services form a district by 2025 with a few exceptions.

Adam Parker of Sanford Health in Bismarck has been involved in helping these ambulance services get their districts up and running and he ran last Thursday’s meeting.

According to Parker, ambulance districts have been around North Dakota since the 1970s and are political subdistricts with a board of directors and may exercise taxing authority.

“What we find is those ambulance district’s are more sustainable, not that they don’t have some challenges, but they’re more sustainable,” he explained.

“We haven’t had an ambulance district close or a service that’s within an ambulance district close. We have had a lot of other ambulance services that have struggled and have closed with little to no notice.”

According to Parker, during the last legislative session there was an ambulance service that closed very abruptly and caused a lot of questions with the legislature, which has invested a lot of money in EMS over the last 20 years.

“So that’s when a group of people got together and essentially proposed an ambulance district mandate,” said Parker.

VARS is a nonprofit entity with its own board of directors and Parker said it will continue to operate in that fashion.

On May 9, the ambulance district was set up and will contract with VARS to provide emergency services throughout the district.

A special election will be held on July 11 to determine if the district can levy a tax of 15 mills “for the purpose of equipping and maintaining a rural ambulance service district.”

The district believed it was best to ask for the maximum mill levy with the intent of never having to ask for it again. If they were only approved for five mills, and one day found out they needed seven, they would be forced to ask for additional money.

(Story by Todd Morgan, The Walsh County Record)

McDermott sentenced

Travis McDermott of Minot, who was convicted over the death of Grayson Sletto of Willow City, has been sentenced in a Minot courtroom.

McDermott, 40, and Sletto, 32, got into an argument in a Minot bar which led to McDermott pulling out a gun and shooting Sletto twice, killing him.

According to court documents, McDermott was given 10 years in jail for manslaughter and was ordered to serve seven of the 10 years.

He was also sentenced to five years for reckless endangerment. The two sentences will run concurrently.

McDermott will also have to serve 85 percent of his sentence and be on supervised probation for three years.

He has time served for 409 days, which equals 358 days of actual time served, with an additional 51 days due to good behavior while in jail.

McDermott was also ordered to pay $51,000 in restitution.

(Story by Scott Wagar, Bottineau Courant)