The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
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Kristopher Abshere, 33, has pleaded guilty to a Class AA felony charge for impregnating a 14-year-old girl in 2022. Abshere was arrested last June after it was revealed he'd impregnated the 14-year-old, and was charged with gross sexual imposition of a minor under 15 years old, a Class AA felony. According to Court documents, Abshere had been living with the girl and her family since May 2021, at first in Carrington and then in New Rockford. Throughout that time, court documents say Abshere was...
A pair of allegedly unruly customers were charged with terrorizing Carrington businesses in March. Most recently, a man from Tuttle, N.D. was charged with Class C felony terrorizing after threatening to kill a Runnings employee on Tuesday, March 26. Court documents say the heated exchange occurred over the phone when an employee from the Runnings in Carrington called Walter Albert Leno to inform him that a box of ammunition he’d special ordered was at the store. Upon picking up the phone, c...
"You took away my sweet baby. We now have to sit here in constant pain, seeing other kids his age do everything for the first time, as tears run down my face wondering who our sweet son would be today." Those were the gut-wrenching words of Brittany Nelson, as she fought back tears to deliver an intense victim-impact statement in front of a packed Foster County Courthouse on Tuesday, April 9. Listening was Patricia Ann Wick, the former Carrington daycare owner accused of murdering Nelson's... Full story
A local farmer near the town of Cathay, N.D., is doing things a little unconventionally. Brad Wolbert, a native of Minnesota who now works on the Bibelheimer family farm with his father-in-law, has begun operating an organic regenerative farm. Requiring significantly more work and dedication to manage than conventional farming, it's a style of growing crops not commonly seen in North Dakota or anywhere else for that matter. But for those with the passion to make it work, farming organically whil...
Ryan Baron, former superintendent and high school principal of the Midkota School District, is facing even more charges for possession of child pornography and for allegedly directing a 12-year-old to send explicit photos. Back in November of last year, Baron was initially arrested and charged with five felony counts of "possession of certain materials prohibited," which came after a cyber tip was received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. That tip led to the...
Voters in North Dakota may soon face an interesting choice at the ballot box this November, and not just between the various candidates. Right now, efforts are underway to place a new initiative on the ballot, one that would essentially eliminate property taxes in the State of North Dakota. The effort is being led by Republican Rick Becker, a former state representative and current candidate for U.S. House. Becker and the initiative's supporters are currently soliciting signatures to qualify...
POSTED January 12, 4:30 pm On Friday, Jan. 12, Patricia Wick was at the Foster County Courthouse in Carrington for a sudden change of plea hearing, just weeks before her murder trial was due to begin. Wick, a former Carrington daycare owner accused of killing a 5-month-old boy in her care, amended her plea to guilty on all charges. Originally, she had pleaded not guilty to a Class AA felony murder charge, after the infant was found unresponsive in her home and later declared dead at a hospital i...
On Friday, Dec. 29, Governor Doug Burgum declared a state of emergency after an ice storm that began on Christmas day caused significant damage to infrastructure and farmland. According to a press release from the Governor's office, the emergency declaration encompasses the three-day event Dec. 25-27 that caused the National Weather Service to issue its first ice storm warning in North Dakota since 2016. Roads were virtually impassable in the immediate aftermath of the storm, and several...
On Tuesday, Dec. 26, Ryan Baron appeared alongside his attorney via Zoom for his initial appearance after being accused of child pornography possession. Baron was charged on November 29 with five counts of "possession of certain materials prohibited," each a Class C felony. Baron was the superintendent and high school principal for Midkota Public Schools at the time of his arrest, which occurred after a search warrant was executed on his home when a "cyber tip" was received from the National...
A Carrington man is behind bars for possessing fentanyl and fleeing a police officer in Foster County this summer. On August 13, Joshua Voigt of Carrington was arrested after reportedly leading law enforcement on a brief police chase through northeast Carrington. The chase occurred when Carrington Police Officer Christopher Ormiston attempted to initiate a traffic stop after observing Voigt make aggressive turns without using his blinker, and going 53 mph in a 25 mph zone. Court documents say...
Andrew Jager of Carrington, accused of carrying a weapon just blocks from the nearby school, has pleaded guilty to several felony and misdemeanor counts. Jager was first arrested on Friday, April 21 in Carrington after multiple calls were received about a man carrying a gun case and yelling at passersby, just two blocks from the Carrington Public School. After Carrington Police Chief Christopher Bittmann struggled to place him under arrest, Jager was charged with disorderly conduct, preventing...
UPDATED November 30, 2023 On Wednesday, Nov. 29, the Superintendent of the Midkota Public School District was charged with several felonies for the possession of child pornography. Ryan Baron, also the school district's high school principal, was arrested on Tuesday, Nov. 28 and officially charged the next morning with five counts of "possession of certain materials prohibited," each a Class C felony. According to a press release from the Griggs County Sheriff's Office, Baron was arrested... Full story
Here in North Dakota, there are few things better than the charming nature of a small town. It's one of the qualities many North Dakotans are most proud of, and for some towns, it's something they're trying desperately to hold on to. As the years go by, rural communities have struggled more and more to retain the local fixtures that provide that elusive charm, and many have lost them entirely. But some towns, like Grace City, N.D. with its population of around 50, are still holding on to their...
Shane Stegeman of Carrington has been charged with several crimes, including child neglect, after his dog allegedly attacked his 3-year-old stepdaughter last summer. The child, referred to as “A.H.” in court documents, reportedly suffered injuries after the household dog suddenly attacked on Friday, August 25, 2023 at their Carrington home. Stegeman was officially charged on Oct. 24 with reckless endangerment, a Class A misdemeanor; false information to law enforcement, another Class A mis...
Would it surprise you to know that a significant amount of the newspaper has been written via iphone these past few weeks? Well, unfortunately it has. In fact, any article written by me since the Oct. 16 edition appeared in your mailboxes has been typed out from my living room and on a cell phone app, and I’ve hardly been at the office for over three weeks now. It’s all because I’ve been dealing with severe lower back pain, which has had me in and out of the doctor’s office, chiropr...
Rachael Otto, a 1993 NRHS grad who's among the most successful athletes to ever come out of New Rockford, is taking on the fight of her life. On Sunday, Sept. 17, Otto was enjoying a weekend at her lake cabin in Minnesota when she experienced a blood clot in the lower portion of her brain. She was immediately rushed to a hospital in Detroit Lakes, Minn. and later taken by ambulance to Fargo, N.D. where she underwent several surgeries to remove the clots. Then came a devastating diagnosis:...
At approximately 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 19, a fatal airplane crash occurred south of New Rockford, N.D. According to Eddy County Sheriff Paul Lies, several witnesses traveling on Highway 281 reported seeing the plane crash into a cornfield west of the highway, and just a few yards north of the Eddy-Foster County border. The plane was reportedly traveling west when it clipped the power lines east of Highway 281, said Lies, and ultimately went down in the cornfield immediately west of the hi...
On Tuesday, September 12, Lawrence Sansone and Kellie Barton were once again on the docket at the Foster County Courthouse in Carrington. Sansone and Barton were charged with multiple felonies and misdemeanors after a multi-agency operation to execute a search warrant discovered $21,000 worth of drugs on a Carrington residence. Involved in the operation were the Stutsman County Narcotics Task Force, Carrington Police Department, Foster County Sheriff's Office, N.D. Bureau of Criminal...
Nearly a year after 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson was tragically killed following a street dance in McHenry, Shannon Brandt was at the Foster County Courthouse in Carrington on Friday, Sept. 8, for sentencing. Brandt was charged with murder after running over and killing Ellingson on Sept. 18, 2022. But, after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors in late May, 2023, Brandt's murder charge was dropped and he pleaded guilty to manslaughter, a Class B felony. Now, following the completion of a...
Sometimes I wonder what people expect from local newspapers like the one I work for, and from local reporters like myself. While readers regularly thank us for our great coverage, we've also been told we're too negative, and that our only job should be to "build up" our community with positive news. Recently I was reminded what it means to be a good reporter, and why I work for two of the best newspapers in North Dakota. Some may have heard about the small-town newspaper in Kansas that was...
The Fessenden Cooperative Association and CenDak Cooperative will officially merge. It was made official on Monday, Aug. 21, when member-owners met separately with their respective cooperatives in Maddock, N.D. to vote on the proposed "Unification Agreement," which was announced earlier this month and already approved by both boards of directors. Despite concerns being expressed by some member-owners, the "yays" won out, as both cooperatives voted to approve the unification. Had the...
Andrew Jager was first arrested on Friday, April 21 in Carrington after multiple calls were received about a man carrying a gun case and yelling at passersby, just two blocks from the Carrington Public School. After Carrington Police Chief Christopher Bittmann struggled to place him under arrest, Jager was charged with disorderly conduct, preventing arrest, two counts of carrying a concealed weapon, and three counts of unlawful possession of a firearm. After posting bond, a status conference...
A Binford man was killed in a fatal motorcycle crash on Wednesday, July 19. According to a press release from the N.D. Highway Patrol, 56-year-old Brian Swanson was reported missing at 7:45 p.m. on July 19. The Griggs County Sheriff’s Office was told that Swanson was last seen in McHenry at around 6 p.m. on Tuesday, July 18. “On the evening of July 19 around 10:00 p.m., a Griggs County Deputy was out searching for Brian and located his motorcycle on the south side of 11th St. NE in a slo...
North Dakota motorists beware, the laws are changing. As of press time, N.D. state law dictated that a driver in North Dakota could not be ticketed for being unbuckled unless first pulled over for a separate violation – but that won’t be the case for long. Beginning Tuesday, Aug. 1, not wearing a seatbelt in the state of North Dakota will be a “primary” traffic violation, meaning a police officer can initiate a traffic stop and issue a citation if they spot a driver without their seat belt. Addi...
Two individuals are facing serious jail time after a drug bust in Carrington resulted in the seizure of notable amounts of methamphetamine and fentanyl. On Monday, July 17, the Stutsman County Narcotics Task Force, in concert with the Carrington Police Department, Foster County Sheriff's Office, N.D. Bureau of Criminal Investigation and James Valley Special Operations Team, executed a search warrant at 175 1st Avenue North in Carrington. According to court documents, they were going after variou...
