Around the State: February 12, 2024

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.

Williston may allow chickens

The Williston City Commission on Jan. 23 approved the first reading of an ordinance to allow chickens within city limits.

The matter was taken into consideration after the city received a request to consider allowing chickens within city limits, which sparked meetings including Mayor Howard Klug, various city officials and members of the community in support of the request.

According to the proposed ordinance, backyard chickens may only be kept in certain zoning districts, mostly residential or agricultural, and no more than four chickens can be kept on any property. They would also require a permit from the city.

(Story taken from the Journal, Crosby)

Unknown substance spilled on road

A suspicious and unknown substance on the roadway of County Road (CR) 10 and another related site on 125th Ave. NW in McKenzie County prompted numerous calls to officials on Jan. 17. Local officials responded to the site and quickly took action to contain and minimize the impact of the chemical.

"There was a spill on CR10. It stunk worse than a pig farm, I mean it just burned your nose," said McKenzie County Emergency Manager Karolin Jappe. "After being out there, when my road foreman parked his truck in the shop, and a semi that had been out on that road came in and parked in the shop, well, the next morning when the ship guys came in, they couldn't even breathe, it was so bad."

Jappe said that she is familiar with the smell of salt water that is produced by fracking, and while she is sure there was some of that in there, she said there was clearly something else in the substance that spilled as well.

Jappe asked the Williams County Hazmat Team to help her. They couldn't find anything specific about that spill, but the county had sanded twice since the spill and that kind of helped.

At this time the nature and source of the substance are unknown, but officials say there is no risk to the public.

(Story by Kristen Jones, the McKenzie County Farmer)

Gullickson found guilty

Rev. Erin Gullickson's Felony Theft of Property trial began Jan. 29 at the McLean County Courthouse in Washburn. The trial was scheduled to go on for five days, but in a surprise change of events, it wrapped up after only two days.

The jury came back with a guilty verdict after only just under two hours.

Gullickson, who had served as the minister at both Our Savior Lutheran Church in Max and Concordia Lutheran Church in Benedict, was charged with Theft of Property after an audit of Our Savior Lutheran Church found she had deposited funds of nearly $80,000 into an unauthorized account. She then withdrew the money and used it on personal expenditures.

(Story by Tyson Matthews, the McLean County Independent)

School trap team has new life

There is hope the Garrison school will once again be able to field a trap shooting team in the near future.

At their regular meeting on Jan. 22, board members learned Supt. Nick Klemisch had applied for a grant to fund the program.

The trap club lost the past three years to competition when the range they were using, west of Garrison, was transformed into a residence area. Since that time, an area at the city landfill north of Garrison was agreed to both parties to fill the need for a trap range.

But equipment was missing to continue the program since and continues to be a drawback. A key piece of equipment is needed...a thrower, which the Garrison Sportsmen's Club has agreed to allow the school to use.

(Story by Stu Merry, the McLean County Independent)

Native company dubs Lakota language

Grey Willow Music Studios and Production is quickly rising as a leading studio sound production company that works directly with major studios across the nation. Located on Standing Rock Sioux Nation land, Grey Willow's business leaders produce sound and music in the entertainment world.

Mark Ruffalo was a huge help in introducing us to Disney-Marvel Studios," said Lawrence "Larz" Archambault, founder and president of Grey Willow. "When we started talking, we said we wanted everything - our language recordings, translations and our actors - to be 'By Natives, For Natives,' that's our motto."

It took about 15 months for the Grey Willow team to dub 2012's "The Avenger" from English to the Lakota-Dakota language. The local sound creatives hired 62 Lakota-Dakota language speakers to help translate and record the script.

Meanwhile, even though all the Lakota dubbing is complete for "The Avenger" 2012 film, a plan exists for women special recordings with Grey Willow. Robert Downey, Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Chris Hemsworth and Ruffalo plan to act in a scene in which they speak their lines in Lakota. Those recordings are scheduled for this month in California.

(Story by Jodi Rave Spotted Bear and the North Dakota Newspaper Association, taken from the Ransom County Gazette)

Massive drug bust at Canada-U.S. border

An illegal drug seizure with a value exceeding $50 million at the Boissevain port of entry recently served as another reminder of the amount of drugs flowing through the area.

On January 14, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers discovered and seized 406.2 kg of suspected methamphetamine, approximately 4 million illicit doses valued at over $50,780,000, following the examination of a commercial truck at the port in southern Manitoba. It is the largest seizure of illegal narcotics to occur in the Prairie Region. The driver was carrying a shipment destined for Winnipeg.

Assistant special agent in charge, Rafi Mattei, works out of the Minneapolis District office. He said seizures are up, but added while that is good news, it's also a reflection of an issue that isn't going away.

Mattei added in 2023, 64,000 fentanyl pills were seized, up from the roughly 43,000 the year prior. Also, more meth was discovered coming into the state. Mattei said seizures for meth increased by 30 pounds.

Mattei indicated fentanyl and meth are not the only concerns for the DEA. Mattei said officials are seeing more cocaine come into the market. A total of 1.5 pounds were seized in 2022, but that amount increased to four pounds last year.

(Story by John Rosinski, the Turtle Mountain Star)