Around the State: May 9, 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.

Many resign at McKenzie County School

In what seems to be a never ending battle to keep teachers, the McKenzie County Public School District has begun the process of filling the positions of 22 teachers who have submitted their resignations effective the end of this school year.

So far this year, Holen says that 16 elementary school, four high school and two middle school teachers have submitted their resignations.

“There are many reasons for the resignations, especially with the elementary teachers,” states Holen. “But the major reasons seem to be that they are making family choices and deciding to stay at home with their families, they are moving closer to their home, or they are choosing to find a different career.”

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

Westby district moves to four-day school week

Westby School District #3 has joined the growing number of districts across Montana adopting four-day instructional calendars, beginning with the 2022-2023 school year.

The change, adopted at the school board’s April meeting is probationary and will be up for review in three years.

Westby is by no means alone. Statewide, a total of 175 schools in 42 Montana counties have adopted the four-day calendar, according to information on the Montana Office of Public Instruction website.

Montana is one of 25 states where four-day calendars are in use by at least one school district.

Changes like this are due to changes in how instructional time is calculated. Many states historically have required 180 days of instructional time. Montana lawmakers changed that requirement, instituting a minimum number of hours.

(Story by Brad Nygaard, the Journal, Crosby)

It makes no census

During the next decade, the results of the 2020 Census are estimated to cost Rolette County more than $35 million.

“That’s over all the different funding sources that come into effect,” said Val McCloud, Rolette County Auditor.

To put that number in perspective, the amount of money the county will miss out on during the next decade amounts to more than five years of its entire budget.

“It will affect our general fund revenues from the state,” McCloud said of the decreasing revenue in the years ahead. She said the state uses population counts to determine financial contribution amounts for the county’s general and road funds, just to name two.

The 2010 U.S. Census had the county’s population at 13,937. The recently released number from 2020 is 12,187. McCloud echoed the response of many in the area when asked if that decrease was possible, he flatly said, “no.”

With the prospect of millions of dollars falling away from a county budget that’s already balancing on a razor’s edge, the only option left to try and correct the potential under-count, is soaked in irony.

(Story by Jason Nordmark, the Turtle Mountain Star)

Low count will hit tribe

For the next 10 years, the Turtle Mountain Tribe will feel the ramifications of the 2020 Census in nearly every facet of life.

The official 2020 population numbers for the reservation itself are difficult to find. A decade ago, the Census Bureau put it at 8,556 and the 2021 estimate was 9,247.

According to Rolette County’s census numbers in the two townships that make up the reservation along with the six townships surrounding it, the final count for 2020 was 8,508.

Tribal Chairman Jamie Azure and Anita Blue attended a pre-census meeting of key stake holders across the state to help get accurate numbers and count as many people as possible. Now, after the final numbers have come in, neither agrees with the results.

“It’s so obvious to us that a lot of people were left out,” said Blue of the Turtle Mountain Tribal Planning office, which was heavily involved in organizing a “complete count committee” leading up to the census. Blue said many tribal programs, ranging from health care to law enforcement to housing, will likely see a negative financial impact due to the lower population count.

(Story by Jason Nordmark, the Turtle Mountain Star)

Donating money is big business for Gaming

Operating 24 gambling sites in 17 small towns and villages, Vet’s Gaming of Kenmare has grown into a big enterprise. In 2021, Vet’s Gaming donated over $1.5 million to area communities’ charitable causes.

The money they collect and redistribute as donations comes from gaming activities, primarily the playing of electronic pulltab machines which resemble the big casino slot machines.

Other gambling activities conducted by Vet’s Gaming at some, but not all, of their licensed sites include black jack, traditional paper pulltabs, paddlewheel, and bingo.

Vet’s Gaming has grown quite significantly since its earliest days, more than 60 years ago. Today, the organization officially known as Veteran’s Club of Kenmare, Inc., has a new headquarters, as they recently moved into a brand-new suite in the East Side Plaza.

(Story by Terry Froseth, the Kenmare News)

Board member disputes hire

A Dunseith School board member voiced his displeasure towards a recent hire by the district at the last regular meeting.

The hiring in question involved Lloyd Counts III, who was brought on as a substitute teacher in March. Peltier said he did not approve of the hire because Counts did not pass a background check.

Board member Gaillord Peltier provided the board with documentation involving Counts and a legal matter in 2010 centered around distributing marijuana. According to those records the defendants Lloyd Counts Jr. and Lloyd Counts III distributed marijuana on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation since approximately 2002. The court documents also include Counts III “admitted to distributing approximately six pounds of methamphetamine on the reservation during the time frame of the conspiracy.”

Several board members stated that Counts III did pass his background check.

“No one sitting around here is without some skeletons,” Chairperson Lori Davis said.

(Story by John Rosinski, the Turtle Mountain Star)