Around the State: March 27, 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.

Hwy. 91 is the shortest in the state

It’s now official: Highway 91 has been declared by the state legislature as North Dakota’s shortest highway.

Highway 91 is a little more than a quarter-mile long and runs between U-S Highway 52 and State Highway 3 on the west side of Harvey.

The bill carrier, Fargo Rep. Laurie Beth Hager, explained: “The request comes from city officials in Harvey who are exploring ideas for developing a mini-tourist attraction. Perhaps a ‘91 Fun Run’ or the ‘Mini-Harvey Marathon,’ or maybe (a) ‘Get it Done on the 91’ sack race.”

After the bill passed unanimously in the Senate, the House approved it on a vote of 85-2.

Signs will be placed along the road, designating it as the state’s shortest highway.

(Story taken from the Herald-Press, Harvey)

Fair board struggling to contract carnival

Joleen Swang knows she isn’t alone in desperately trying to find a midway for the 2023 Wells County Fair.

Frankly, she’s concerned the search could be a struggle every year.

The president of the Wells County Fair Board, however, isn’t giving up hope on contracting a carnival for the June 22-25 summer show in Fessenden.

“We’re working on one in particular,” Swang said.

“We’re calling every week, but we’re having to be patient.”

Crabtree Amusements worked the fair last year, ”They’re not doing small fairs this year,” according to Swang.

Still hopeful of securing a carnival, the fair board nevertheless is “tentatively” preparing to go without a midway by bringing in different events to fill the void.

A collection of bouncy houses and obstacle courses will attract kids from “tiny kids” to youth 18-19 years old, said Swang.

The new events will be part of the summer show this year, regardless if a carnival is found or not.

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

Wildrose native launching Wild Rides TV

With years of producing content for the Cowboy Channel and RFD-TV under his belt, Wildrose native Kevin Holten is preparing for an explosion of new content - on his own streaming television channel.

Wild Rides TV, at $6.99 per month, will offer viewers a wide array of programming of particular interest to rural people.

After successfully producing dozens and dozens of Special Cowboy Moments and Wild Rides episodes for RFD-TV and the Cowboy Channel, Wild Rides TV, Holten said, is the next logical step when you look at what’s happening in the industry.

“You’re going to have to change because cable TV is going to be gone in about three years,” he said.

Based on the description of the types of shows already finished, in production or coming soon, the programming should have wide appeal.

The baseline in most every show Holten is involved in is aimed at gathering “rich western history for generations to share. And to tell real stories about real cowboys and gowgirls in real life.”

One only need to look at the success of the television series “Yellowstone” to see the interest in rural/western content. Holten has interviewed members of the Yellowstone cast for a Wild Rides episode that aired last summer.

“Wild Rides TV is made up of people that come from ranching, rodeo and rural background who have also competed in urban and big business arenas. Those arenas include newspaper and magazine publishing, advertising, marketing and television and event production,” according to a press release.

You can subscribe to Wild Rides TV by visiting the channel’s website: http://www.wildridestv.com.

(Story by Cecile Wehrman, the Tioga Tribune)

Books affected by legislative bills

Due to House Bill 1205, there are certain books that are either being removed or placed into an Adult Section Only location at public libraries.

Most of these books contain explicit sexual content and include the Holy Bible and Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize winner, “Beloved” among others.

(Story taken from the Bottineau Courant)

Former Rolla HS staffer convicted for sex crimes

A former Rolla teacher and coach will spend nine months in jail after pleading guilty to felony charges related to luring minors by computer and attempted solicitation of a minor.

Davy Zinke entered a guilty plea for both counts recently in Barnes County Court in Valley City.

Zinke was arrested in August 2022 on the charges and pled not guilty. He decided to change that plea earlier this year. He was facing a maximum of 15 years in jail and $30,000 in fines.

The deal will put Zinke behind bars for 270 days in the Barnes County Jail and the fine was lowered to $5,000. He will also be on supervised probation for five years after his release and is required to register as a sex offender.

The plea deal allowed Zinke’s felony charges to be lowered to misdemeanors.

The complaint filed by the Barnes County State’s Attorney says police were contacted by a high school student in April. She said Zinke and her had been communicating on Snapchat for nearly 900 days beginning when she was 14. She told a police officer Zinke sent her numerous pictures of his genitals.

Zinke’s home was searched. Court documents say a recliner Zinke was sitting in when he exposed himself was in the house.

Zinke was a wrestling coach and physical education teacher at Mt. Pleasant School in Rolla for 23 years before leaving in 2011.

(Story by Jason Nordmark, the Turtle Mountain Star)

Forgery, theft charged

New charges have been filed in district court against a woman already in jail on other charges.

Allison Elizabeth Zachary, charged in connection with a 2022 stolen vehicle case in Crosby, now faces charges of forgery and theft of checks. Zachary used checks stolen from Crosby businesses and organizations to falsely obtain money. The affidavit of complaint against Zachary alleges she forged signatures on checks belonging to the Crosby Area Chamber; First National Bank and Trust; First State Bank and Crosby Apartments. Nothing in the documents explains how Zachary gained possession of those checks.

(Story by Brad Nygaard, the Journal, Crosby)