Around the State: October 3, 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.

Election officials tired of requests

Election officials across North Dakota have been inundated with hundreds of requests for records over the past several months from activists alleging unproven vote count manipulation related to the 2020 presidential election.

The trouble is, most requests ask for information that does not exist, and the flood of requests are tying up and frustrating state and county officials as they prepare for upcoming midterm elections on November 8, 2022.

Officials in Barnes, Burke, Burleigh, Divide, Pierce, Slope, Steele, Towner, Wells and Williams counties confirmed they had received a multitude of these requests in recent months, often with similar wording and frequently threatening court action if documents are not produced.

The phenomenon stems from allegations made by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell at a symposium in South Dakota in August 2021, where he stated that results of the 2020 presidential election were electronically manipulated broadly across the country.

(Story by Michael Standaert, taken from the Journal, Crosby)

Bragdon arrested in theft at Walmart

A Upham man and employee of Bottineau’s Walmart has been arrested for theft inside the Walmart store.

According to Seymore Jordan, the states attorney for Bottineau County, Brian Bragdon, 48, was arrested in Bottineau’s Walmart store on August 31 after law enforcement from the Bottineau County Sheriff’s Department was called to the store to investigate the theft of money that had taken place inside the store for a total of $22,190.

On Saturday, August 31, a Bottineau deputy was called to Walmart regarding the theft of a large amount of money. The deputy was met by Tim Checkette, the store’s lead, and Ben Knight, assistant protections employee, who informed the police officer they had an employee who had been stealing money from the store from May 20 to August 19.

The deputy was then introduced to Rafael Ramirez, Walmart’s asset protections operations lead from Fargo, who turned over paperwork that detailed the dates of the discrepancies of the money.

Ramirez also showed the deputy security footage from June 5, where it showed Bragdon opening the cash door, counting out a small amount of money, then setting it out of view of the camera while placing the remainder of the money in a security bag before sealing the bag.

Ramirez also told the deputy that they researched other employees’ records, and no cash was missing from them and there were no discrepancies between the bank count and store count.

Bradgon denied taking the money. When asked if any other employee had his login information, Bragdon stated no.

Bragdon was arrested and charged with a Class B Felony.

(Story taken from the Bottineau Courant)

Auditor has no right to refuse commission

The Rolette County Commission held a special meeting recently aimed at solving some issues surrounding the road department.

The biggest question mark facing the board was who will be handling road department administrative duties. The work has been done by the auditor’s office, but Rolette county Auditor Val McCloud informed the board earlier this year her office either wanted more help or additional compensation by August 31, or they would stop doing the work.

The issue was brought up at a regular meeting on September 6 where commissioner Allen Schlenvogt opened the discussion by citing North Dakota Century Code. Reading from the law, Schlenvogt said the auditor has no right to refuse the wishes of the county commission.

The board spent some time discussing the responsibilities, but never came to any firm conclusions until Schlenvogt made a motion for the auditor to continue performing the time keeping duties. The motion passed without a dissenting vote and Schlenvogt followed with another motion stating the auditor’s office needed to keep paying the bills, and that too passed unanimously.

(Story by John Rosinski, the Turtle Mountain Star)

Linton instruction among ‘the best’ in nation

Linton Public School is gaining national recognition after being named as a Blue Ribbon Honoree, just one of three schools in North Dakota, and one of just more than 200 across the nation to receive the award.

“If you are a Blue Ribbon school, it means the instruction the students are receiving is among the very best in the country,” said North Dakota State School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler in a release. “It also means the teachers and administrators at the school collaborated to do the work that’s required to earn this honor. It takes a great deal of effort to become a Blue Ribbon School.”

(Story by Kelli Ameling, the Emmons County Record)

Set in stone

Keeping the residents of New Town safe and protecting property is a neverending job for the New Town Volunteer Fire Department and neither is raising the money to keep the lights on and department’s firetrucks running.

That’s why about 250 people lined up for hot dogs and fresh picked sweet corn at the Department’s annual Corn Feed recently. It’s also when Fire Chief John DeGroot was manning a table with a couple of large bricks.

The red bricks are pavers that will go around the tower that will eventually house the Fire Department’s Memorial Bell. For $200, the pavers will be embossed with a message of the donor’s choice. DeGroot said he got the idea on a trip to South Dakota.

“I saw something like this in Sturgis and we were looking for something for the front of the fire station,” he said.

There are two rows of pavers around the bell tower that were installed so donors can get an idea of what the finished product will look like.

Eventually the entire area between the town and the sidewalk will be covered with about 250 of the pavers.

(Story by Jerry W. Kram, the New Town News)