Around the State: February 28, 2022

The counties and cities within the state of North Dakota hold many interesting news stories.

Here are just a few of the feature stories that others are reading in communities around the state.

Kenmare office mines bitcoin

A small computer churns away 24 hours a day at a downtown Kenmare office, generating $800 per month for its owner. The computer is mining for bitcoin, a digital currency.

Aside from the computer, which doesn’t really resemble a common office computer, the office is empty. It’s also unmarked. No business sign out front. No desks. No chairs. No phones. Just the little computer sitting on the floor.

Kenmare native Wayne Lagorin and son Taylor Lagorin rent the office from the Kenmare Community Development Corporation, as a North Dakota presence for their engineering firm, Resolute Engineering of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The Lagorins sometimes have projects in North Dakota, but haven’t yet had a business-related need for the office. In the meantime, they’re content to use it for bitcoin mining.

(Story taken from the Journal, Crosby)

Students prompt change of mascot name

A name change that has been discussed for years was made official.

Citing a recommendation from the student council, the Turtle Mountain Community School Board voted unanimously to drop the Bravette nickname and instead, unify all teams under the Braves moniker.

According to Turtle Mountain Community High School Athletic Director Shane Martin, the change was initiated by the Student Governing Officers, or student council.

“The student council and board of directors have discussed being united and have the ‘ette’ removed from our name for a few months,” Martin said.

“At a recent student council meeting, they agreed to remove Bravettes stating they wanted to be known as one single name going forward and that was Braves,”

Martin said the biggest issue centered around the suffix “ette.” Martin stated the council felt like ette is a diminutive suffix that not always means less than, but can certainly feel that way. It is described in the dictionary as, “the ette suffix is normally applied to women, not objects designed specifically for women. Thus suffragette, your dudette, usherette and the like.”

Martin added although the Bravettes will no longer be used, what has been accomplished by Bravette players and teams will still be recognized.

(Story taken from the Turtle Mountain Star)

Farmers Union asks for $28,000 tax refund

The City of Kenmare appears to have mistakenly billed $28,000 in special assessment taxes to Farmers Union Oil Company since 2014. This according to a letter to the city from the Farmers Union Oil’s manager Rick Harris.

The city assessed the special taxes at the time the new sidewalks, curb and gutter, and street lamp posts were constructed around the downtown business square. All the properties surrounding the square, as well as the outlying properties extending from the corners of the business district square, were assessed the specials to pay for the improvements.

According to Harris, the specials should have been billed to the current owner of the former oil station location adjacent to the southwest corner of the downtown business square. Instead, Harris maintains the specials were assessed in error to leased property across the railroad tracks, south of the CP Railway depot, where Farmers Union has an abandoned fertilizer plant that is scheduled to be torn down.

Farmers Union Oil has paid the special assessment taxes since 2014, and Harris is asking the City for a refund.

Discussion by the city council was brief. Having nothing more than property parcel numbers to reference at the meeting and no property descriptions, the council tabled any action until they can get clarification on the issue.

(Story by Terry Froseth, the Kenmare News)

City accused of holding airport board hostage

Tioga city commissioners have delayed the appointment of a fifth airport board member while they solicit alternative candidates for the position, leaving airport leadership crying foul.

Chris Norgaard, president of the Tioga Airport Authority, recently accused city commissioners of holding the entire board hostage to exert pressure on him.

“You’re holding him hostage purely because of some comments that I made on ‘fakebook,’” said Norgaard, referring to the social media platform Facebook. “You’ve left Steve hanging out there. You’ve left us without a full board to make important decisions that are coming up.”

City Commissioners, after reviewing letters of interest from Wayne Knutson and the incumbent, Steve Jensen, for the vacant seat on the airport board, chose to table the matter in January to seek additional candidates.

“I think it’s pretty unfair to allege, to make shots, that because the airport has undergone some scrutiny of late because of some of its own actors have drawn themselves under scrutiny that this is suddenly the problem of the city,” said Liz Pendlay, city attorney. “Don’t throw rocks when you’re standing inside a glass house. This is not a retaliatory move.”

Jensen, the positions incumbent, was the subject of a public hearing before city commissioners in September due to allegations he had threatened Knutson, the other applicant for the position.

No action was taken against Jensen as a result of the public hearing, but city officials claim they were told at the time Jensen would not seek reappointment when his term expired in December.

(Story by Jacob Orledge, the Tioga Tribune)

‘Small Town Big Deal’

The Mayville State University campus community, Mayville-Portland and Traill County communities, and many others came together for an all-out effort to make Farmers Bowl 2021 memorable for all.

With a schedule that began bright and early on September 18 and lasted well into the evening, the much-anticipated annual Farmers Bowl event was extraordinary in 2021. Rodney Miller and Jann Carl, along with their production crew for Small Town Big Deal, joined in the celebration and recorded highlights for a future episode of the television show.

The show is scheduled to air on the cable network RFD-TV on Wednesday, February 23 at 5 p.m.

(Story taken from the Traill County Tribune)