Around the State: March 21, 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.

Ukrainians stand united in Parshall

A fundraiser was held recently by Ukrainian families at the Parshall American Legion where local residents were able to enjoy the Ukraine cuisine and hear firsthand details on the current situation with the war in Eastern Europe. The food was excellent with homemade Borsht and several other Ukrainian dishes.

One of several Ukrainian men who work for a local farmer, Volodymyr Zavalniuk spoke on the war and how it has affected them. They are all worried about their family and friends who remain in Ukraine.

Zavalniuk’s mother is still in the city of Vinnytsia, which is in west-central Ukraine. The population is approximately 400,000. About the time Zavalnuik, his wife and young family returned to North Dakota was when the attack on his home city began.

(Story by Logan J. Davis, the New Town News)

Commissioners come out against 30x30 land grab

McKenzie County became North Dakota’s first county to officially come out in opposition to an executive order, titled “America the Beautiful,” that was signed by President Biden in January of 2021. The administration’s executive order has the goal of conserving at least 30 percent of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030.

“The federal government already controls 28 percent of the land in the U.S. or about 640 million acres,” stated Lee Geiger of Grassy Butte, as he presented a proposed resolution in opposition to the executive order to the McKenzie County Commissioners during their last meeting on Tuesday, March 1. “They want to take the amount of controlled acreage to 681 million acres.”

There are currently 1,735,756 acres of federally owned land in North Dakota, the vast amount, approximately 1.1 million of which are managed by the U.S. Forest Service. In McKenzie County, the federal government owns 27 percent (503,000 acres), which are managed by either the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Land Management.

“They want to increase the federal control of land by purchasing conservation easements or through CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) of private lands,” stated Geiger. “It’s a way of control.”

According to Geiger, 12 percent of the federal land is considered protected.

“They want to make that 30 percent,” stated Geiger. “That is what is scary.”

Geiger also told the commission it could become even worse as there is a proposal to increase the federal ownership to 50 percent by 2050.

(Story by Neal A. Shipman, the McKenzie County Farmer)

Counterfeit electronics seized

The contents of a rail shipment bound for North Dakota, recently inspected by agents of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was seized when agents discovered counterfeit goods.

According to a press release, agents discovered more than 6,400 mobile entertainment systems, that violated intellectual property rights regulations.

Simply put, the items were fakes, or counterfeits.

Had the goods been genuine, a news release from CBP put their retail value at more than $2 million.

The items seized, purported to be Furion brand mobile entertainment systems, are widely used in RV’s and boats.

(Story taken from the Journal, Crosby)

Ukrainian mom and kids are safe now

After escaping Russia’s invasion of her native Ukraine recently, it feels already to Maryna Pustovit as if these snapshots are from “another life” almost as if she were watching a movie from the outside.

Sitting in her adult daughter’s apartment in Atlanta, she recounts how she was suddenly able to cross the Polish border, take a free train to Krakow, get a flight from there to Amsterdam and then direct to Atlanta.

With her 18-year-old daughter to help and a friend traveling with them, Maryna couldn’t imagine trying to navigate the wait, or walking on foot with baby Ivan to the border.

Her husband Vlad drove them from Lviv to the point where a 25 mile-long line of cars waits to cross and suddenly it is time to separate from her husband of 22 years.

“I even could not hold and kiss him. Because we saw this bus... and it was almost full,” she said. “He just pushed me in with Ivan.”

The quick farewell belies the wrenching reality that Vlad’s next steps were uncertain. At age 48, he is among men who can’t leave Ukraine.

He is now effectively homeless - unable to get back to their house in Kyiv, unable to run his business, expected to sign up with the Territorial Defense force.

(Story by Cecile Wehrman, the Journal, Crosby)

Local residents rally in support of convoy

Community members gathered along Border Lane in Washburn on the morning of March 3, to wave Old Glory in support of the American Freedom Convoy of trucks that came in from Minot and traveled south into Bismarck and east into Hudson, Wisconsin. Their final destination was Washington D.C., as this domestic team of truckers have modeled themselves after their Canadian trucker allies who are advocating the reopening of the country by lifting all mandates related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Story taken from the McLean County Independent)

Kuehn joins Ray School District

The Ray school board believes they’ve got their man.

The board voted , after four hours of interviews, frank discussion and a lengthy negotiation, to hire Kristopher Kuehn as Benjamin Schafer’s successor.

Kuehn, currently the superintendent of the Carrington School District was offered a 12 month contract that includes a $156,300 salary, fully paid family medical insurance, contributing the district’s portion of his Teachers’ Fund for Retirement, 20 days vacation, 12 days sick leave and receiving the same days off as teachers while school is in session.

After touring the school he complimented the school as “really nice” and “welcoming”.

(Story by Jacob Orledge, the Tioga Tribune)

Should students kiss summer breaks goodbye?

With the amount of learning loss that has happened because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, states like North Dakota have started discussing what can be done to best help students.

One idea that was discussed with North Dakota lawmakers and State Superintendent Kirsten Baisler in January 2021, was extending the school year to a 10-month or 11 month year-round school.

Though that idea has not been followed through on as of yet.

(Story taken from the McLean County Independent)