701 Rundown: July 8, 2024

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

Traffic accident claims lives of two Red Willow Ministries staff members

On June 11, at approximately 4:18 p.m., a 1999 Chevy Tahoe driven by 66-year-old Keith Williams of West Fargo, N.D., crossed the centerline and hit head-on a 2005 Chevy Express 16-passenger van driven by 22-year-old Valery Siabato of Bogota, Columbia.

Traveling as a passenger with Siabato was a 17-year-old female, and all three individuals involved in the wreck received fatal injuries from the collision. Both vehicles were consumed by fire after the crash.

The crash occurred on Highway 27, about four miles east of Lisbon, N.D.

The N.D. Highway Patrol, the Ransom County Sheriff’s Office, Lisbon Fire, and Ringdahl Ambulance all responded to the scene, and the incident is still under investigation.

Red Willow Ministries and Park River Bible Camp issued a press release the following day, June 12.

The press release states, “We are heartbroken to share that on the evening of June 11, two of our summer staff members lost their lives in an automobile accident as they were traveling back to Red Willow Ministries from Milnor, N.D., where we had been providing a day camp to the children of the community. They were the only occupants in the camp vehicle involved in the accident.”

(Story by Jill Larson, Griggs County Courier)

Scouting out their future paths

In the space of just over four hours, the next generation of agricultural producers got a thorough grounding in the future fields available to them at the North Dakota State University Carrington Research Extension Center.

The 2024 Junior Crop Scout School was held Tuesday morning and afternoon, June 25, at the center three miles north of Carrington, and is sponsored by the North Dakota Soybean and North Dakota Corn Utilization councils.

The school, which showcases different aspects of agronomy-based careers, is coordinated through the efforts of Barnes County Extension Agent Alicia Harstad, and features instruction and hands-on workshops conducted by county agents from around the region.

Harstad says that the Crop Scout School came about when Foster County Extension Agent Jeff Gale presented a list of learning objectives to help jumpstart the idea of the program.

“The first year of Junior Crop Scout School was in 2021 in a plot behind Jamestown High School,” she said. “I was working as the Stutsman County Extension Agent at the time, and the high school wanted to see the plot get used for hands-on workshops, so it seemed like a great opportunity to start it.”

That initial year, 17 kids attended. In 2022, with Harstad taking the Barnes County position, the school was moved to NDSU’s Dazey plot. Rainy weather marred that year’s event, with enrollment down to 10.

Last year, the program was held at NDSU CREC for the first time, once again with 10 kids. This year was the Junior Crop Scout School’s best turnout yet, with 18 kids enrolling.

“After last year, we realized the CREC is the best fit for the Junior Crop Scout School because of the various plots we are able to use for teaching, the weed arboretum for the identification exercise, and the main building can serve as a rainy-day backup location,” said Harstad.

With time, Harstad sees the school possibly getting bigger in scope, and she is grateful for the NDSU CREC for providing their facilities to host it.

“I think, as we continue to build and improve the Junior Crop Scout School, we will see more interest,” she concluded. “We felt this year the program turned out to be the best yet.”

(Story by Erik Gjovik, The Foster County Independent)

Local woman crowned Miss North Dakota

Many young girls dream of wearing beautiful gowns and tiaras, and a Steele County native has made that dream a reality.

Sophia Mae Richards was crowned Miss North Dakota on Saturday, June 8, in the Bakken Auditorium in Williston, N.D.

The daughter of Tony Richards and Alicia Richards, and granddaughter of Randy and Carmen Richards of Hope, Sophia grew up on a farm just north of Hope. She has two younger singers, and she graduated from Hope-Page High School in 2019.

From there she went from North Dakota State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Strategic Communication in 2023.

She currently lives in Fargo where she works as a host/producer of the daily show, “North Dakota Today,” for Valley News Live.

And now, she’s added one more accomplishment to her already long list of accomplishments: Miss North Dakota 2024.

Richards said it's been her dream ever since she was a little girl, and her win last month was on her third time of trying.

“Being Miss North Dakota has been my dream since I was a little girl, and it is very rewarding to know that all of my hard work to get to this point paid off,” she said.

(Story by Lisa Saxberg, Steele County Press)

Locals attend 80th D-Day anniversary in France

For Al and Barb Wondrasek of Lake Metigoshe, the day of June 6, 2024, will always hold a special memory for them because they were in Normandy, France, to take in the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Otherwise known as the Battle of Normandy, it's the day when the allied forces stormed five beachheads to liberate France from Nazi Germany and ultimately win World War II.

“Barb and I were planning to go to the 75th anniversary of Normandy but we couldn’t get there,” Al Wondrasek said.

“When they started to advertise the 80th anniversary of Normandy we started making plans through an agency and we had a terrific and heartfelt trip to remember what the men and women of the allied forces did on that day.”

For the Wondraseks, they spent most of their time on Omaha Beach, where the Americans had the largest number of casualties and where they spoke to U.S. soldiers who fought on the beaches 80 years ago to the date.

Al Wondrasek spoke with the soldiers and their experiences of getting off the landing crafts and making their way up the beach. Their stories touched him sincerely.

“Their stories were incredible about what they saw and did that day,” recalled Wondrasek.

(Story by Scott Wagar, Bottineau Courant)