Around the State: October 30, 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.

Producer with local roots bring Native American stories to the screen

Crafting images and interviewing people is what Pam Belgarde does to shine a light on Native American people and communities.

“I wanted to help bring our stories to the screen,” Belgarde said. “Indigenous people are still here. We aren’t going anywhere. Our stories need to be told.”

Belgarde’s family is from Dunseith. She’s the daughter of John and Margaret (Gillis) Belgarde and attended school in both Dunseith and Belcourt, graduating from Turtle Mountain Community High School.

It was there, that Pam saw her future in the industry.

“I really enjoyed participating in plays, competing in the speech club and hosting the High School Radio Show at KEYA-FM,” Pam said. She enrolled at the University of North Dakota and worked for the school’s radio station.

Those experiences motivated Pam to branch out and after graduating from UND, she met Deb Wallwork, a North Dakota filmmaker, who introduced her to another form of communication.

Pam has aided in the production of several projects. The most recent is season two of “Native America,” which has four, one-hour episodes.

Special free screenings of “Native America 2,” the latest project in which Belgarde took part, is set for Wednesday, October 18, at Turtle Mountain Community College and will be aired on PBS with one episode every Tuesday from October 24 to November 14.

(Story by Jason Nordmark, the Turtle Mountain Star)

Feds convict 41 connected to drug operations

United States Attorney Mac Schneider announced that Devonsha Dabney, age 29, of Detroit, Michigan, appeared before Chief Judge Peter D. Welte, U.S. District Court, Fargo, N.D., on October 10, for his leadership in a drug trafficking organization targeting two of North Dakota’s Native American Reservations. Dabney pled guilty to Continuing Criminal Enterprise and admitted to forfeiture allegations involving US Currency, jewelry, and more. Dabney was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison with four years of supervised release.

(Story taken from the Turtle Mountain Star)

National Park seeks comments on horse removal

Officials at Theodore Roosevalt National Park (TRNP) held a public question and answer meeting on October 10, regarding the Livestock Plan that has been proposed at the park. This plan specifically addresses the wild horses and the longhorn steer that call the park home. These herds have lived on that land for over 150 years, but recently, park officials have decided to consider removing them from the park entirely.

Many members of the public have expressed their opposition to removing the horses from the land; however, park officials say that doing so would better align the park and its policies.

Currently there are three options that have been presented. Angie Richmond, superintendent of TRNP, gave a synopsis of the three plans during the first part of the public meeting.

The first option or option “A” would realign to the management documents of the ‘70s which has a population objective of 35-60 horses and up to 12 cattle.

Under this alternative, the horses would remain in the south unit of the park, while the cattle would continue to reside in the north unit. Contraceptives would still be used to limit the size of the herd, and excess animals would be sold.

Alternative “B” would include active capture of horses and cattle to reduce the population to zero, selling off all the horses and cattle.

Alternative “C” is more of a phase reduction of livestock over a longer period of time with the same capture method and selling off the horses.

Under this alternative, animals that can not be placed would be given contraceptives and would be allowed to come back to the park to live out their lives.

The public comment period expired October 25, but there have been requests for an extension.

The final decision will be made in late winter or early spring.

(Story by Kristen Jones, the McKenzie County Farmer)

Kenmare paid $261,000 over failed development

The City of Kenmare has received payments totalling $261,000, as settlement of a lawsuit over a failed residential real estate development that got its start a decade ago.

It was noted that the law firm representing the City in the suit has not submitted a bill for several months, and those legal fees and past fees over the years, would likely eat up a sizeable portion of the settlement.

Seven years ago, in September 2016, the City of Kenmare paid a retainer fee of $70,000 to the law firm of Fredrikson & Byron to take legal action against the failed developer and force them to turn over a $1.2 million performance bond.

KDAK, the developer of the failed real estate project and its bonding company issued the payment of $261,000 to Kenmare Community Development Corporation.

The property in the dispute was sold to KDAK for $300,000 with the intentions that KDAK would develop the property with water, sewer, curb and gutter, sidewalks and paved streets for numerous residential housing lots.

KDAK had promised development of 28 duplex homes, five single family homes, and 24 apartment units.

The City of Kenmare brought water and sewer to the site and considerable expense.

When KDAK failed to complete development of the property the City of Kenmare filed a lawsuit against KDAK.

Only two of the lots were ever sold. All of the remaining lots in the development, 61 total lots are on a list of foreclosed properties which will soon be offered for sale.

(Story by Terry Froseth, the Kenmare News)

Proposed bridge over Missouri River

Emmons County Commissioners said they are open to discussions regarding the possibility of a bridge being built over the Missouri River.

In the early 1970s a bridge was authorized to be built, however, “ran out of steam” by 1977. Discussion began again in 1984, where two years later, Congress passed funding mechanisms to help with the project.

After an environmental study in 1994, the effort lost its momentum by 2000.

Recently, steam has been picked up again with a heavy notion to make the project a reality.

(Story by Kelli Ameling, the Emmons County Record)