701 Rundown: Sept. 2, 2024

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

Citizens make one more appeal to keep their paved road

At their regular meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 20, Foster County commissioners heard once again from residents unhappy about the decision to turn Club Hall Road back to gravel.

This time, residents of eastern Foster County expressed their opposition in the form of two letters requesting the commission reverse their decision. Both letters were signed by dozens of individuals in opposition to turning the road to gravel.

Both letters make the exact same request, but one was signed by 56 Foster County residents, while the other was signed by 38 property owners who are not residents.

"This petition is to reverse the decision of the Foster County Commissioners to revert Foster County 4th Street to gravel," reads both letters. "The reversion to gravel will negatively impact the area and residents of the county as well as surrounding communities.

"This road is highly traveled and a main roadway in Southeast Foster County. It is a school bus route as well."

The commission had previously held a special meeting on July 10 about the project, at which several eastern Foster County residents were in attendance to express their concerns.

Like they did on July 10, Foster County Commissioners explained their reasoning on Aug. 20, when multiple concerned residents were once again before the commission.

Commission Chairman David Utke told residents that Foster County simply doesn't have the tax base to continue maintaining 91 miles of paved roads. He added that of all their paved roads, Club Hall is in the worst shape and requires the most time and money to maintain.

Each commissioner who spoke on the matter reaffirmed their support for the project, and ultimately no motion was made to renege on the contract they signed with Border States Paving to turn the Club Hall Road back to gravel.

(Story by Nathan Price, The Foster County Independent)

Tarrow and Eastvold purchase Binford Bar

The bar in Binford is under new ownership, and they are excited to be a part of the community.

BinCity Saloon is hoping to become a mainstay in the small Griggs County town and welcomes everyone to stop and visit for a while.

Joey Tarrow tended bar for the previous owners and loved his job there. When Mark and Nicki Willows decided to sell, he and his partner Scott Eastvold made the decision to purchase that bar.

They officially took over on July 1, with Tarrow working full time at the bar, and Eastvold – as a full-time front-end manager at the Walmart in Devils Lake – makes the commute back and forth to help his partner and co-owner at the bar.

“The bar had been for sale for a while,” said Tarrow. “With no serious buyers in sight, Mark and Nicki knew how much I loved it here. They made us an offer we could not turn down.”

While they did not want to change the main feeling of the bar, some changes were necessary, they said.

“We really wanted to keep the western theme that it had,” said Eastvold. “But we did have to do some repair and updates including a whole new floor behind the bar and new plumbing behind the bar.”

(Story by Lisa Saxberg, Griggs County Courier)

Soybean plant holds ribbon cutting ceremony

A white tent, set up in the parking lot of the Casselton soybean crushing plant, was dwarfed in size by the state-of-the-art facility that was its backdrop on August 7 during a ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the completion of the facility.

The soybean plant is expected to process 42.5 million bushels of soybeans in its first year.

Inside the tent was an impressive gathering of ag industry leaders as well as state dignitaries there to congratulate North Dakota Soybean Processors – a joint venture formed by CGB Enterprises Inc., and Minnesota Soybean Processors – on the completion of its Casselton facility.

Throughout the ceremony, sprinkled in the larger conversations about its contribution to worldwide food and energy security, were quieter but equally important comments about its local economic impact.

Of course, it will benefit area producers by creating a strong year-round local market with higher contract prices per bushel than export contracts, resulting in better returns for area farmers and more consistency for local agriculture.

But the trickle down effect is also having a positive impact on area residents in surrounding communities.

(Story by Angela Kolden, Cass County Reporter)

It’s a combine, it’s a tractor, it’s harvest time!

Once the wheels get rolling and those small kinks work themselves out, everyone is quickly reminded why harvest season is the best time of the year.

However, even though fall harvest begins around the same time every year, getting started always seems to be a scramble.

“You can’t just do one thing at a time you know, especially this year. It goes from one thing to the other.”

Brandon Osowski, a third generation farmer who was born and raised in Grafton, has been farming on his own since the year 2017. And since then, his crop rotation has ranged between canola, sugar beets, wheat, soybeans and corn.

For his 2024 crop year, Osowski planted wheat, soybeans, sugar beets and corn.

Getting into this growing season, the very dry turned to very wet in a matter of weeks. And now, conditions are back to being dry again.

“There is some moisture in the forecast and we could use it. If we get too much rain, it might cause the sugar on the beets to go down since they have some growing to do (before main campaign),” said Osowski.

“We did some custom work helping a friend do barley up by St. Thomas and it was dry up there too. We ran into some green spots throughout the field but the moisture was around 13, sometimes bouncing down into the 11s and 12s, which is really where they want moisture to be so it can go in the bin.”

(Story by Steph Cronje, The Walsh County Record)