The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
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Step out of the darkness and into the light. On Sunday, Sept. 10, Carrington City Park will host the second annual Out of the Darkness Walk with a goal to raise awareness and funds for suicide prevention. The walk is organized locally by the Carrington Healthy Communities Coalition with support from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). Funds raised from the Out of the Darkness Walks allow the AFSP to invest in research, create educational programs, advocate for public policy...
There's something hot off the press at the Foster County Museum. The 3D printing press, that is. A 4-by-8 foot replica of Carrington's Rainbow Gardens, as it was in the 1930s, arrived at the Foster County Museum on Wednesday, June 21, just in time for the 91st annual Foster County Fair. The Independent got a close-up view of the impressive diorama today thanks to Foster County Historical Society board member Mike Larson. It was built by Renee and Bill Cochran of BridgeTown Imprints in Valley Cit...
“Mom, wanna be on my BeReal?” my 16-year-old daughter asked me one day. “Um, sure,” I replied sheepishly, because frankly I didn’t even know what she was talking about. She told me to look at her camera phone, and she quickly snapped a photo of us. I didn’t really give it much more thought at the time. Since then, my husband and I have made guest appearances in both our daughters’ BeReal feeds several times. What is BeReal, you ask? Well, it’s just another social media app that all the kids ar...
Carrington School District voters had their say Tuesday about who would represent them for the next three years, and they appeared to be sending a message. Fifty voters took the opportunity to write-in and unofficially elect local dentist and business owner, Dr. Ben Garr, to the at-large member position. Garr's 50 votes represented 78 percent of the total vote, as a mere 65 people cast ballots in the annual election. The incumbent for the three-year at-large position), Randy Hooey, received 11...
This time of year, there’s a produce patch in my backyard that requires no maintenance other than a regular cutting. It’s none other than rhubarb, and I don’t enjoy it nearly as much as I should. Botanically, rhubarb is a vegetable. In use it is considered a fruit. That’s according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who also notes that rhubarb actually belongs to the buckwheat family. Most of the nation’s rhubarb is grown in Washington, Michigan and California. There’s even a grading sys...
Competition will once again take a backseat to compassion on Tuesday, June 20. Swing Fore Charity is back after a three-year hiatus, and this year the recipient family is one of Carrington's own – Chuck and LeaAnn Hoppe. Swing Fore Charity is a benefit golf event started in 2006 when farm equipment representatives and implement dealers joined forces. Now in its 15th year, the event has found a home right here in the Central City, at CrossRoads Golf Club. All proceeds from the 2023 Swing Fore Cha...
Newspaper publishers were recently told that our postage rates are set to increase by 8 percent in July. This is the third rate increase since August 2022, and a total of 35 percent in increases in just over two years. The cost of printing newspapers has also increased, by 24 percent since the spring of 2021. Annual subscription rates, meanwhile, at the Independent and Transcript have increased by $6 in the past 8 years I’ve been a publisher. In order to fully cover the costs of printing and p...
Summer is a great time to relax with a good book, whether it be under a cabana on the beach or in a chair on your patio. Our local libraries in both Carrington and New Rockford are hosting Summer Reading Programs, and their kick-off celebrations are coming up this week as we officially start summer break. A staff member in the Carrington office was chatting with one of her book club buddies last week. They had finished their latest title before everyone else and were so surprised by the ending....
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and it’s time to get real. Here in the newsroom, we struggle too. No matter how many positive stories we publish, the “bad news” stories seem to rise to the top for readers. Yes, we must report on these topics, however unpleasant. It’s our job as journalists to read through the police reports and court filings and help citizens make sense of the crazy in our world. And when we do publish all the details, we know those stories will get read. However, it’s th...
Stadium renovations have resumed. The new press box got Internet access this past month, and electrical work is underway in preparation for installation of the sound system. The Carrington school board took action on one of the last remaining projects at their Tuesday, May 9 meeting. Superintendent Janelle Helm presented a bid from Dakota Fence of Minot for repair/replacement of the fence around the grandstand and football field. She said a representative walked all the way around the track and...
Every year for Mother’s Day I give flower pots from a local greenhouse to my mom and my mother-in-law. It’s a great way to show our appreciation, and it brightens their yard and gives them something to enjoy all summer and into the fall. I typically choose an arrangement of common varieties, such as geraniums or petunias, that has already been potted and ready for purchase. This year I decided to take it up a notch. The theme is kindness and gratitude, and I’m planting the pots myself so I can...
After nearly a full school year of effort, the new weight room at Carrington Public School (CPS) is open for use. The idea for the new weight room took shape this past summer, almost as soon as Superintendent Janelle Helm and High School Principal Connor Weber first came to work at CPS. Parents, coaches and students approached them about the need, and The C-Club and Boosters donated funds for two new squat racks and benches, a cost of $10,300. Upon recommendation from Helm, the school board...
My trip to Salt Lake City was one I won’t forget. Breathtaking scenery, great food, and family time were among my favorite parts of the five-day excursion west. Leaving work behind was definitely the hardest. I knew it would be a challenge, and so I made lists and meticulously tied up loose ends before we hit the road. I left the keys in my vehicle in the garage, just in case the newspapers didn’t make it to Carrington on Friday and needed to be picked up in Jamestown or Fargo (as has been the...
Dozens of area archers converged in Sandy, Utah, for the NASP Western National Tournament on April 28-29. For the first time in school history, Carrington High had archers qualify for the national tournament. Three to be exact. Seniors Gavyn Anderson and Braden Kruse competed in the high school boys' 3D and bullseye divisions, respectively. Sophomore Brekka Kuss represented high school girls in the bullseye competition. Anderson kicked things off with his 3D flight on Friday at 12:45 p.m., and...
Just before 7 a.m. on Friday, April 21, the Carrington Police Department received three calls within minutes. Residents reported a male walking down the middle of Main Street with a gun, yelling at passersby. Chief Christopher Bittmann arrived on scene at 7 a.m., and observed a male walking east down the street carrying a gun case, just two blocks from the school. Bittmann identified the individual as 36-year-old Andrew Jager of Carrington. Jager flailed his arms rapidly and repeatedly yelled...
Where did the month of April go? That’s what I find myself wondering. So much for April showers. May we please get May flowers anyway? Surely the April snow had enough moisture in it to help them bloom. The next day that I’ll wake up in North Dakota is Monday, May 1, the publication date of this newspaper. I have sticky notes all over my MacBook and more on my desk, to remind me of all the things I must finish before we leave for the NASP Western National Archery Tournament in Utah. As I pre...
There was a full house at CHS Honors Night on Tuesday, April 25. High school students involved in a variety of academic pursuits were recognized for their dedication. Here are some of the highlights of the annual event, noting those who received special awards while recognizing the efforts of students involved in co-curricular activities that haven't previously been highlighted in this newspaper throughout the school year. Allison Jarrett, Emma Hone, Max Beumer, McCoy Beckley, Kael Kovar,...
With 25 Carrington students qualifying for national competition, the matter of how much of the costs the district would cover was again up for discussion by the Carrington school board. At the Wednesday, April 12 meeting, board members learned that 23 FBLA members recently qualified for the National Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, in June, and two archers are headed for Sandy, Utah, to compete in the NASP Western National Tournament this week. Last spring, after a thorough discussion...
We said goodbye to the Golden Stratus last week. The 2005 Dodge Stratus that was supposed to last through all three teenage drivers in our household was hauled away to the scrapyard. When I started working in New Rockford again, my husband and I told the kids that the Stratus would be their car when they got their licenses. We’ve made many repairs to it over the years, and I even backed into it with our pickup once. I joked several times that it was a lemon, and that’s probably true considering...
The City of Carrington's proposed restaurant tax was a hot topic last week. Carrington Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) hosted an informational meeting to give residents and officials the opportunity to debate the pros and cons of the proposed 1 percent tax on prepared food and beverages in the city. Mayor Tom Erdmann opened the meeting and delivered a prepared statement. Board members of Carrington CVB, Carrington Chamber and Economic Development Corporation (CCEDC) and the Rainbow Gardens...
“Death, taxes and childbirth! There’s never any convenient time for any of them,” writes author Margaret Mitchell. I second that, and I will add blizzards to the list, especially after the winter we’ve had in good ole NoDak. Tax Day is April 18, and this year it’s a doozy. The IRS changed the W-2 form a couple of years ago, and since then many of us have been trying to crack the code that tells us exactly how many extra dollars to have deducted from each paycheck to avoid paying a boatload...
The west side of Carrington is about to get more fun; once the weather straightens out, that is. The city-owned park located at 202 15th Avenue North in Carrington, now known as "West Side Park," is on the cusp of a major update. Planning and fund-raising for the project, led by the Carrington Area Healthy Communities Coalition, has been ongoing for about a year now. New playground equipment was purchased for the park at a cost of $104,000, paid for by grants and donations. The equipment was del...
During the entire month of March, the air temperature did not get above 32 degrees in Carrington, according to data from the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network (NDAWN). The normal maximum air temperature for March in Carrington is 36 degrees, four degrees warmer than the highest temperature on record for this March. The normal maximum air temperature is calculated by averaging the maximum air temperatures for the same month from the past 30 years, 1991-2020. The average soil temperature...
It’s City Government Week. In the Transcript we are running essays written by third graders at New Rockford-Sheyenne School. The topic is “If I Were Mayor” and each student had the opportunity to write about what makes their city great and what they would do if they were mayor for a day. In honor of City Government Week, I decided to write the same essay and print it here as my column. So, here it is, folks! If I were mayor, I’d never hold meetings on Wednesday nights or Thursday morning...
It’s officially spring. Well, at least that’s what the calendar says. We observed the Spring Equinox on Monday at 4:24 p.m., in the midst of piles of snow and a temperature below the freezing mark. At least the sun was out in all its glory, blinding me as I made the short trek from New Rockford to Carrington and back home. Little more than 24 hours later, our area got yet another round of snow, and with it came “challenging travel conditions,” in the words of the meteorologists tasked with gi...
