Around the State: September 18, 2023

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.

Juneau gets 30 years for crimes against woman

The man convicted of leaving a Fessenden woman trapped in her overturned car for 11 hours on a frigid night - after he cut off her catalytic converter and stole valuables from her home, has been sentenced to 30 years on prison.

The victim, Vicki Durick, 71, addressed Jordan Juneau, 37, formerly of St. Hilaire, Minn., at a sentencing hearing on August 24 in Stutsman County.

“You left me in my car to die without seeking help. I truly hope you get the help you need to change the path of destruction you’ve been on and appear to have been on most of your live,” she told him. “I’m not here to judge you. That will happen on our final day.”

Durick described how her life has changed since November 29, 2021, when Juneau and Durick’s vehicles met on the highway near the Fessenden cemetery.

She was hypothermic when first responders found Durick the morning after her vehicle left the road and overturned. Her health, she said, will never be the same.

“I am absolutely frozen. My circulation is a wreck,” she told Juneau. “What kind of person would do that? I can’t work or go outside without layers of clothes on. I’ll be like this for the rest of my life. How can you leave someone to die, to not call 911? There is no excuse for it.”

Juneau was also sentenced to five years for crimes committed in Stutsman County including unauthorized use of personal identifying information, theft of property and criminal mischief.

(Story by Carrie Opdahl, the Herald-Press, Harvey)

Creative turn in history

Gary Heyn was recently in Bottineau to be interviewed by the Bottineau Courant about a book he recently wrote on his family history, a book that was never on his mind when he retired from a corporate job in the Twin Cities, but created a spark in him that left him to become a creative writer. His novel has placed him in the top spot of Amazon’s Books in the new release category of U.S. Immigrant History. It also includes pieces of his family history in Bottineau County.

“My book, ‘standing at the Grave,’ is a history book that started out as a normal family history, but then grew into something bigger,” Heyn said.

“I was trying to tell the story of history in a way that the average person, and not just a family would be interested in.”

“So, I novelized it quite a bit. I would take a basic fact and then develop a short story around that fact to make it more interesting to people.”

The writing for Heyn started right after COVID came in early 2020, leaving him at home in his retirement, which left him looking for something to do with his time.

“The pandemic probably prompted the book in the greatest sense,” Heyn said.

(Story by Scott Wagar, the Bottineau Courant)

Add author to Jim Dick’s resume

Jim Dick, lifelong resident of Englevale, has written a book, “The ABC’s of Living, Stories from Birth to Old Age.”

Dick was instrumental in writing the history of Englevale years ago. His paternal grandmother, Mary (Stroh) Dick, was the keeper of stories in their family. She passed that skill on to her son, Lawrence, Jim’s dad. It stood to reason that her grandson would take over that duty.

The book, all 371 pages and 90 chapters were written in long hand by Dick with his daughter, Janna Diggs, typing it into a computer before sending it off to the publisher, Covenant Books.

Dick has an interesting and engaging manner of writing. He set up a notebook with tabs on the sides. He wrote stories according to the tabs which were each marked with a letter of the alphabet. Thus, the first story is “Adjust.”

“You’ll have to buy the book to see what we wrote about for the letter “X”, laughed Dick. “it wasn’t x-rays or xylophone.”

Dick didn’t want to lose the stories he has in his mind, about this area’s homesteaders and local history as well as his own experiences.

Dick is full of stories that have been growing from birth until now. Just shy of 94 years old, Dick has been working on the book since 1998.

(Story by Jeanne Sexton-Brown, the Ransom County Gazette)

Gackle-Streeter school put on lock down

Students and staff at the Gackle-Streeter Public School went into a precautionary lock down on Wednesday, August 30, 2023 and no one suffered any physical injuries. After a student was taken by law enforcement and the school premises searched for weapons, the soft lockdown was lifted.

According to the Logan County Sheriff Andrew Bartholomous, at about 9:58 a.m., a call was made to the Logan County Sheriff’s office in reference to an email received by school officials regarding the potential threat at the school. A G-S student had made threats to other students and suggested that he may bring a gun to school on that day.

School administration discreetly removed the student from class and kept him in the school office until law enforcement arrived. While this was taking place, the precautionary measure of placing the school in a soft lock down was implemented at 10:07 a.m.

The student making the threats was transported to Jamestown for evaluation, his residence was searched and no weapons were found.

(Story taken from the Napoleon Homestead)

Bringing them back home

The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate joined the community of Spirit Lake Nation to hold an informational meeting on August 24 at 5 p.m.

This meeting was to address the topic of repatriation of two children. Repatriation is the process of returning a person to their place of origin. This is a nationwide effort, with not only Sisseton, but with many other tribes at many other Indian boarding schools.

This event came about because of a group of children who were sent to attend the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Penn in November 1879. Their names were Amos LaFromboise, Edward Upright, John Renville, Emily LaFromboise, Nancy Renville and George Walkier.

Amos was the first of the group to pass away at 12, only 20 days after his arrival. His remains were never sent back to his family, but buried in the school’s graveyard. Edward was the second to pass after just under four months of attendance; he was 12 at the time. He too was not sent back to his family. One by one all the students in this group passed away, none of them seeing their homes again, with the exception of George. George passed directly after returning home.

(Story taken from the Benson County Farmers Press)