Around the State: December 4, 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.

Towner woman sentenced for theft

A Towner woman has been sentenced after entering a guilty plea to charges that she committed theft, forgery and used personal identifying information while employed as the bookkeeper for a Rugby business.

Ashley Ryan, 28, Towner, was charged with the three felony charges in April shortly after returning from a vacation to find Bureau of Criminal Investigation agents waiting to interview her at work.

Ryan's employer alerted authorities after discovering she had written and cashed more than $10,000 to herself, telling investigators she had utilized a signature stamp to approve the checks while entering false notations to mask the disbursements as expenses.

Court documents indicated her employer and investigators, estimated Ryan had diverted more than $120,000 to herself, beginning in July 2022, but upon her arrest she claimed she only had $3,000 remaining.

District Court Judge Michael Hurly sentenced Ryan to a concurrent sentence of 10 years in the Dakota Women's Correctional Rehab Center in New England, to first serve two years before consideration for release, with credit for 46 days already served.

Ryan will be required to complete three years of supervised probation upon release and have no contact with, or come within 100 yards of her former employer.

She was assessed $120,000 in restitution to be paid to the victim and must comply with the payment agreement.

(Story by Charles Crane, the Pierce County Tribune)

Narcotics stolen from Crosby drug store

An undisclosed amount of narcotics and money was stolen from Crosby Drug in a weekend break-in.

"It's an open investigation," said Divide County Sheriff Zach Schroeder.

The sheriff's office was alerted to the break-in Monday morning after Crosby Drug employees arrived and noticed the missing narcotics and money and called 911.

Schroeder said the break-in occurred sometime between 5:00 p.m. Saturday and 8:00 a.m. Monday. The store is closed on Sundays.

Evidence shows the suspect or suspects entered through the roof of the store.

"It's very important that if the public saw anything that looked suspicious from that time on, to let us know," Schroeder said.

(Story by Jordan Rusche, the Journal, Crosby)

BNSF trains still blocking both railroad crossings

Buxton city leaders renewed their frustrations with BNSF Railway at a meeting November 8 following more reports that BNSF trains had blocked both railroad crossings in the city.

Mayor Travis Soderberg said he received angry calls and texts from residents on October 27 complaining that BNSF trains sat idle on the tracks in Buxton for nearly 90 minutes.

Motorists reported that a BNSF train blocked the city's north and south railroad crossings from 7:42 to 9:09 a.m. October 27, and more blockages occurred later in the day.

"We had a lot of students, teachers and parents heading to Central Valley School that morning who weren't able to cross the railroad tracks," Soderberg said.

"The buses were deeply affected and I talked to a few bus drivers who said they weren't very happy about it all."

The impassable crossings presented a threat to public safety since Buxton's fire crews wouldn't be able to easily reach Interstate 29 to respond to an accident, he said.

Soderberg spoke with Senator Kevin Cramer about the issue who agreed to contact BNSF to ask that the freight carrier take steps to prevent more blocked crossings.

(Story by Cole Short, the Hillsboro Banner)

Bismarck man found dead in rural area

A Bismarck man was found dead in a field northeast of Linton following a four and a half-hour search November 15.

Emmons County Sheriff Gary Sanders said his office received a report of a missing person, 62-year-old Bruce Hoeger.

According to the 911 report, Hoeger had left his residence to go hunting at 6 a.m. and was scheduled to return in the early afternoon. He was reported to be hunting in an area between Moffit and Linton, driving a 2004 Chevrolet one-ton pickup. He had a rifle and shotgun and was accompanied by his dog.

Hoeger had a heart condition and was scheduled to undergo heart surgery next month.

Emmons County Sheriff Gary Sanders pinged Hoegers phone which indicated he was in an area about three-miles northeast of Linton.

Sanders said Hoeger was not in or around the vehicle, but his cell phone was inside, and Hoeger's dog was in a kennel in the crew cab of the pickup. Sanders said the shotgun was also inside the pickup, but the rifle was missing and there were two spent rifle casings found outside the driver's door, indicating that Hoeger apparently fired his rifle at a deer or other animal from that location.

After a search well into the night, volunteer searchers found the body of a deer which had been shot and killed.

Hoeger's body was discovered about 25-30 yards from the deer and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sanders concluded Hoeger collapsed and died from a medical emergency.

(Story by Mark Weber, the Emmons County Record)

Otter Tail requests to increase rates

According to an Otter Tail Power Company press release, the company has filed a request with the North Dakota Public Service Commission (PSC) to increase its electrical rates.

The filing to the PSC is referred to as a rate case which will now take nearly a year before PSC makes its decision. Through the procedure, PSC will review Otter Tail's costs that occur to provide customers with energy and related services and then determines the appropriate prices that should be granted.

Otter Tail stated that the request to PSC comes through the rising cost within the economy. The last time the power company filed for a base rate increase in the state of North Dakota was 2017, which came because of an increase in cost to maintain a safe and reliable system, while at the same time meeting the growing electrical demands.

(Story by Scott Wagar, the Bottineau Courant)