Around the State: March 28, 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.

Turkey relocation begins in Mayville

Too many turkeys in Mayville? Aldermen and city employees have noticed and are in the process of having a contractor thin the flock through relocation of the birds. Thirty-four of the 300 turkeys, according to Auditor Gail Olstad had been relocated by the March 7 board meeting, as the process to remove the in-town visitors begins.

(Story by James R. Johnson, the Traill County Tribune)

City weighs options on controlling deer numbers

Prior to 2012, seeing a deer in Watford City was a rare occurrence. Today, it’s hard to go from one place to the next without spotting 10 to 15 of them.

Without a doubt, the deer population has grown immensely and as the city limits and ETA expanded, it pushed them further into the heart of the city and with a huge surplus of food, security and shelter, they’ve had no reason to leave.

Now, the community of Watford City has a love/hate relationship with the deer as many residents view them as assets to the community, while others consider them pests.

Recently, the Watford City City Council held a special meeting to address the matter and weigh its options on how to reduce deer numbers.

“To hunt the deer and remove some of them out of city limits, that’s how we manage population throughout the state,” said Casey Anderson, North Dakota Game and Fish wildlife division chief.

But according to City Attorney Wyatt Voll, gun use within the city limits for hunting purposes is prohibited.

Residents who wish to speak up on the matter are encouraged to do so.

“We’d like to let the information flow in organically,” said city council president Kenny Liebel.

“We need to hear all - do we do something, or not? If we do, do we support a bow season?” Liebel said.

(Story by Ashleigh Plemper, the McKenzie County Farmer)

Local author, Mattie Richardson. publishes book

‘Blue Skies West’ follows the Oregon Trail and had it’s official release on March 10. It is available to order at http://www.appaloosybooks.com or by calling Richardson directly at 701-680-2136. They are also available at Lisbon’s Petals and Pages store on Main Street.

“To make things simpler, I tell people the books are similar to ‘Black Beauty’ only they’re set in American history and they aren’t as depressing,” Richardson says with a smile. “These books are to get kids to love history and to read more.”

The Horses in History books are directed for kids ages eight to 12, specifically, but kids as young as four enjoy the series, as have many adults.

Another book by Richardson, ‘Blackberry Blossom’ a book for young adults dealing with a young girl who leaves home to travel around the country playing her fiddle. This was a bit different from the Horses in History series, yet it too was from a period in time, the Great Depression.

Richardson stepped out of her comfort zone when she and her husband, Dan Schmitz co-authored a fantasy book which was her first foray into a different genre. This book is titled ‘The Secret of the Hemlock Forest.’

Richardson travels extensively for research, but also to speak to school groups and conventions. She currently has 5,000 books in print.

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

Bowbells student sells hats

What started out as a craft project for 7-year-old Hannah Sandberg, dreamed up by mother Casey, has since blossomed into a business.

Hannah, a first-grade student at Bowbells Elementary School, has always struggled with being extremely shy, Casey said. While Hannah is comfortable and very chatty with her family, the outside world causes severe anxiety.

Casey began looking for ways to boost Hannah’s confidence and make it easier for her to break the ice with people.

Casey purchased a knitting machine, and Hannah learned to create crochet hats. A few weeks later, Hannah has made 30 hats for various customers, with orders for about 25 more.

(Story taken from the Tioga Tribune)

Support for oil sanctions; not domestic policy

Most Americans support oil and gas sanctions placed on Russia, even if those sanctions mean paying more at the pump.

That’s the result of a CBS News poll released recently, where 63 percent of those responding said the sanctions are necessary to “punish” the Russian government.

Locally, people say rising prices at the pump is a bigger issue than placing blame solely on President Biden’s recent decision to ban imports of oil from Russia.

“No, the president doesn’t control gas prices, but his policies have an effect on gas prices,” Donovan Haugland said.

Now that the U.S. isn’t importing Russian oil, Crosby residents Mark Hibbard, Stephanie Crotts and Scott Wigness said they think the administration should be doing more to help bring prices down.

“Why were we buying anything from him (Russian President Vladimir Putin) anyway? It makes no sense,” said Hibbard. “Let’s do it domestic and let’s not rely on anybody else,” said Wigness. “We can outdo the world if we want to.”

The Bakken oil patch is primed to play a significant role in addressing the shortage of global oil and gas supplies, but national politics and corporate investment strategies may prevent its potential from being fully realized.

North Dakotans should expect a measured and possibly significant amount of growth in the local oil and gas industry this year as a result of rising crude prices.

“I think we’re going to see a busy, busy spring, busy summer here in North Dakota, and I think this is not going to be short term,” said Kathy Neset, owner of Neset Consulting, an oil field services company in Tioga. “This is going to be long-term and I think we will see an increase.”

(Story taken from the Journal, Crosby)