Around the State: October 2, 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.

Crash claims life of spray pilot

Tylor Lee Johnson, 33, of Grand Forks, son of Lynn (Cathy) Johnson of Grafton and his mother Tracey Ebertowski, died Tuesday, September 12, when the crop duster he was piloting struck a power line southeast of Ardoch and crashed in a corn field in Grand Forks.

Johnson, like his dad and his dad before him, was a commercial spray pilot. The plane crashed near the intersection of 20th Street NE and 35th Avenue. It is believed the Thrush S2R-T66O struck a power line and went down about 1:30-1:45 p.m.

This was North Dakota’s first reported aircraft death of the year. There have been six in Minnesota, two of which were agricultural pilots.

Johnson married McKenzie Bruer of Fisher, Minnesota in 2017. The couple had no children.

(Story taken from the Walsh County Record)

An amazing animal

Avid hunting enthusiast Trace Armstrong recently got a once in a lifetime opportunity, and he didn’t miss.

Armstrong owns and operates Tall Tines Taxidermy Studio in Rolette. For years he’s purchased a raffle ticket for a statewide moose tag. Armstrong beat the odds earlier this year, learning he won the grand prize on Father’s Day. The timing of the news was even more poignant for Armstrong because he and his wife, Dawn, were expecting their first child a few short months later.

Months of meticulous planning and scouting eventually landed Armstrong in a field near Powers Lake. He, along with some friends, had zeroed in on their prized moose just a few days before the season opened on September 1.

Armstrong ended up with a successful hunt, which was so remarkable he was asked to author a story for Eastman’s Hunting Journal.

The bull moose had shedded antlers of between 57 and 59 inches wide. Armstrong is waiting for news on whether or not the animal will qualify for any records in terms of size.

Armstrong’s whirlwind adventure continued just a few days later when he and his wife welcomed their son, aptly named Beau, into the world on September 9.

(Story by John Rosinski, the Turtle Mountain Star)

Tribal members get $7 million

On September 30, 2023, the Pembina Class Action Settlement Administrator began distribution of $59 million in negotiated Settlement Proceeds to four Pembina Tribes, which includes the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.

There are more than 30,000 individuals eligible for settlement as class members.

The Pembina settlement is the result of a lawsuit brought in 1992 by the Pembina Tribes and eligible individuals to compensate for alleged mismanagement by the United States government of two Indian Claims Commission (ICC) judgement awards to the Pembinas.

The ICC judgment awards were additional compensation for millions of acres of land that the Pembinas ceded to the United States in the 19th century, for which the United States paid pennies per acre.

The United States, as trustee, was responsible for managing the ICC judgment awards as trust funds until they were distributed to the Pembina beneficiaries in the 1980s and 1990s.

(Story taken from the Turtle Mountain Star)

Non-profit groups file lawsuit against hate group

Two nonprofits have sued a white nationalist hate group in North Dakota, alleging that it committed racial intimidation by defacing business and public property around the city of Fargo with the group’s logo and other graffiti.

The lawsuit filed against Patriot Front in federal court alleges that the group, two of the group’s leaders and 10 others violated the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which the complaint says “was designed to prevent precisely the kind of conspiratorial racist activity that defendants perpetrated in this case.”

Patriot Front “is probably one of the most active white nationalist hate groups in the U.S.,” said Rachel Caroll Rivas of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors such groups, but did not participate in the lawsuit.

The group emphasizes “public actions” such as posting racist flyers, holding demonstrations and engaging in public displays “meant to make people fearful,” said Carroll Rivas, deputy director for research and analysis with the center’s Intelligence Project.

The lawsuit filed Friday alleges that Patriot Front members vandalized businesses and public property in the summer and fall of 2022. It specifically cites Patriot Front logos and designs spray-painted on the International Market Plaza, an indoor market area for immigrant business owners, and defaced murals, including one depicting Black women wearing hijabs.

(Story taken from the Turtle Mountain Star)

Large crowd shows for budget hearing

Government budget hearings don’t usually draw large crowds. Historically they can be held in council or commission chambers which could hold 10-20 people and have plenty of room.

But not this one.

The Lisbon city council decided to hold their 2024 budget hearing in the Lisbon High School commons area on September 18.

It was a good decision.

Between 125 and 150 Lisbon city taxpayers showed up to express their feelings about the preliminary tax statement. That statement indicated that most property owners in Lisbon will be paying nearly 25 percent more in taxes for 2024.

State law requires that these statements be sent out to give property owners the chance to air their feelings. The final budget is due on October 10. It can not be higher than the preliminary, but it can be lower.

Councilman Rob Waletzko presented financial numbers and said that the city had not had a significant increase in taxes in four years. He also said that the city had used their share of sales tax money and other funding sources to cover some of the shortfalls in the budget.

People in the crowd were not shy with ideas as how to lower their tax bill.

The mayor asked for people who would be willing to sit on a committee to discuss ideas for cutting expenses and finding sources of revenue. Many signed up.

(Story by Lynn Kaspari, the Ransom County Gazette)