Around the State: March 18, 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.

Johnson pleads guilty to child neglect

After spending five months in jail, Ashley Marie Johnson, 37, of Grand Forks, reached a plea agreement with prosecutors on Feb. 28, pleading guilty to child neglect and reckless endangerment. In exchange for the guilty pleas, the charge of child abandonment was dismissed.

The charges stemmed from an incident that occurred Oct. 3, when Johnson left her four-year-old child on the interstate near the 63rd Street overpass on I-29. According to court testimony, the child was left there for about 45 minutes before she came back looking for her. By that time police were already on scene and arrested her at approximately 4:30 in the afternoon.

Johnson was in court Feb. 28 for a change of plea hearing. The hearing became convoluted due to the fact that after five months of being incarcerated, she hadn't had a preliminary hearing, meaning she hadn't been arraigned or entered any pleas.

The hearing on Feb. 28 was two hours long, but by the time it was over, a plea agreement was accepted.

Johnson was sentenced to one year in prison, with credit for time served, which was 148 days on the charge of child neglect, all jail time was suspended on the condition she abide by the terms of her supervised probation, which was set at 2½ years.

(Story by Todd Morgan, the Walsh County Record)

Farm girl finds career in film, TV industry

Rebecca (Peterson) Tozier's chosen career is one both foreign and intriguing to most of us.

Tozier, who grew up on a farm between Wildrose and Alamo, works in the film and television industry.

Lifelong residents of northwest North Dakota will likely remember Rebecca as one of the children singing her heart out on stage with the Peterson Family Band. These days, Tozier works mostly behind the scenes.

"I usually work in the costume department," Tozier said.

On smaller projects, she often serves in the role of costume designer, which is the person in charge of the costume department. On larger projects, she is usually one step down from that: wardrobe supervisor.

Working in the costume department, Tozier spends a lot of time with the actors on a project.

"That's a huge part of my job: interfacing with actors," said Tozier. "I spend more time with the actors than most people, outside of maybe the director and other actors."

Being in love with writing her own stories, at 13, Tozier heard of a video contest hosted by author Chuck Black of Williston. The contest called for videos recreating a scene from one of his fantasy books. Tozier made a video.

At 26, Tozier attended an art camp in upstate New York.

"I went one year for acting and the next for filmmaking," Tozier said.

It was at this camp that Tozier met film director George Escobar, who brought her on to work on his next feature film. She was 17 at the time.

She ended up meeting her husband Calder who works in the grip and electric departments, on a film set in North Dakota.

(Story by John Bayer, the Journal, Crosby)

Progress being made on Great American Lodge

On the north side of Hwy. 85, between Watford City and Arnegard, there is a red and white building that was formerly known as The Great American Lodge. Since the closure of the facility in 2015, many residents, as well as the current landowners, have wondered what would happen to the facility. It appears that some headway may finally be made in the reclamation of the property.

This property has set vacant for nearly a decade as the courts have figured out what to do with it after its owners were convicted of running an International Ponzi Scheme. Investors from 66 different countries gave money toward this and a few other similar properties.

In total, 980 individuals invested $62 million into the company and their six housing projects before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shut them down for their illegal activities.

The Great American Lodge was supposed to be a high-quality mancamp for workers and some families during the oil boom of the early 2010s. There are still a few places online that show amenities that the Great American Lodge claimed to have, however, the reality of the property is very different. Most of the pictures used by North Dakota Developments LLC were not even of their properties, and none of the developed amenities that were listed were actually a part of the Great American Lodge facility within McKenzie County.

The county has asked the court which is handling the seized assets of the now defunct company, to have access to the escrow money to reclaim the land, but until recently, there has been no approved way to access those funds.

Ariston Johnson, the county's planning and zoning attorney explained that the court has recently set up guidelines for the county to access the money in escrow to help reclaim the property.

(Story by Kristen Jones, the McKenzie County Farmer)

County entering uncharted waters

Wells County Commissioners meeting this week, acknowledging they're entering uncharted straits financially, agreed to alert township officers of the road department's budget of diminishing returns, while at the same time do some belt-tightening of their own.

Auditor Dan Stutlien impressed on commissioners that they need to change their spending ways, or face spending in the red in the not-too-distant future.

There's enough money in the bank, Stutlien indicated, to cover the county payroll for the next five months, after that the commissioners will have to be creative and inventive in generating more revenue or cut spending drastically.

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

Minot will close two schools

The board of Minot Public Schools voted 3-2 at a special meeting to close two elementary schools as part of a cost-saving measure to address a district-wide budget deficit.

Board member Sabrina Hermann proposed the board hold off on the decision to close the schools and instead consider dipping onto the district's $21 million reserve.

Board President Mike Gessner responded emphatically, saying if the decision to close the schools is to be made, it must be made now. The board then proceeded to the vote, which passed.

(Story taken from the Mountrail County Promoter)