Around the State: January 1, 2024

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.

Ukranian family set to arrive in Bottineau

The Bottineau Area Christian Ministerial Association is delighted to announce that a Ukranian family has accepted the invitation to come to Bottineau. The family is expected to arrive between Dec. 14-30.

Oleksandr and Keniia Shevchenko have a 10-year-old son, Nazar. They left Ukraine after Russia invaded their homeland and have been living in Italy since they left Ukraine.

Oleksandr works in IT and Keniia is a photographer. They speak English and will be financing their flights to Bottineau.

(Story taken from the Bottineau Courant)

County tries to recover taxes for trust lands

The Rolette County Commissioners will vote on sending a contingent to Washington, D.C., to address the issue of county land being purchased by the Turtle Mountain Tribe.

The issue of the Tribe purchasing taxable land in Rolette County and then turning it into trust status has been discussed by the Commission at length over the last year. A host of residents attended a meeting earlier this year to discuss a decision by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to transfer approximately 1,200 acres into trust status, which removes the property from the tax rolls.

(Story by John Rosinski, the Turtle Mountain Star)

City balks at proposed increase in policing costs

Crosby City Council members of December 4, remained non-committal on a proposed new policing contract from Divide County that would increase the city’s cost by nearly half.

The city and county are now in their third month of negotiations at each other’s meetings over a new contract for 2024 and beyond. County commissioners have asked the city for a higher annual payment that they say better reflects the costs for the two sheriff’s deputies typically assigned to Crosby.

The council has so far not agreed to the county’s terms, with some members wanting the city’s payments in the proposal - going from about $202,000 in 2023 to $250,000 in 2024 and $300,000 in 2025 - to be smaller or more gradually increased.

“It just seems like a tremendously large increase,” said Kjell Vassen, council president.

(Story taken from the McKenzie County Farmer)

Time is running out for art installation

Divide County is running out of time to host a proposed Arts Across the Prairie earthwork installation, with local stakeholders struggling to find a new location before grant funding is lost.

KayCee Lindsey, Divide County Community Development Director and a member of the project steering committee, shared that news with the county Job Development Authority at its meeting December 13.

Lindsey said the committee has met with some landowners near the original proposed location, Writing Rock State Historic Site, but no one thus far has agreed to move forward.

“We’re running up against a significant time crunch and potentially losing the project,” Lindsey said.

The JDA is the fiscal agent for some of the entities funding the $150,000 project.

(Story by Jody Michael, the Journal, Crosby)

St. John School receives national award

A classroom full of St. John Elementary School students read aloud in unison with their teacher.

Officially, they were practicing and using English language arts and, by national standards, the students have improved to the point in which they’re receiving national attention.

Recently, the school was honored for exceptional academic achievement and growth during the past two years.

“Receiving this recognition for our achievements brings us so much joy and happiness,” said Catherine Anderson, St. John Middle School Principal. “It is a true honor to be acknowledged. It is a reflection of the collective efforts and dedication of the school community.”

St. John received a Distinguished School Award from the National Association of ESEA State Program Administrators.

St. John Elementary was chosen for academic achievement and growth of at least 10 percent annually in English language arts over two years.

The honor marked the second year in a row that students in Rolette County’s northern most school earned a national honor.

(Story by Jason Nordmark, the Turtle Mountain Star)

Unity hosts first robotic surgery in state

Unity Medical Center (UMC) in Grafton continues to break ground and be a leader in care and innovation when it comes to critical access hospitals, otherwise known as rural hospitals.

UMC has been named one of the Best Places to Work the last two years by Mondern Healthcare magazine.

So, it’s not a stretch to say that UMC in Grafton/Park River is a leader in rural healthcare, not just in North Dakota, but perhaps nationwide.

Recently, the hospital acquired an Intuitive daVinci Surgical System, which is an incredibly high-tech machine that uses four thin robotic arms guided by the surgeon to perform surgical procedures. The robotic instruments have a wider range of motion than the human hand. Intuitive Surgical, the current market leader in robotic surgery systems, reports that more than 12 million robotic surgery procedures have been performed and more than 60,000 surgeons around the world have been trained on its daVinci systems.

Recently, UMC CEO Alan O’Neil announced that the hospital performed its first two surgeries on Monday, Dec. 11, using the daVinci system.

(Story by Todd Morgan, the Walsh County Record)

Former FHS cheerleader writes short book

A 1959 Fessenden High School graduate and published author living in Bristol, Tennessee, who spent much of her life in Southern California, has vivid and mostly fond memories of growing up in North Dakota.

Carol Owens Reynolds last visited Fessenden in 2009 for an all-school reunion.

Fessenden was still the Orioles at the time. She was an Oriole cheerleader in high school and her recently pubished book is titled “Stores from a North Dakota Cheerleader.”

“It’s just a little book about little things that happened to me in my life,” Reynolds said in a recent phone interview.

“There’s a lot of Fessenden in the book,” she testified.

The 14 short stories captured in 61 pages have been received wonderfully, according to Reynolds. It is available through Amazon, Target and Walmart websites.

(Story by Neil O. Nelson, the Herald-Press, Harvey)