Around the State: February 19, 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.

Paleo Art-Iculations

Most people grow out of dinosaurs and fossils by the time they hit puberty. This is not the case for Jeanette Reim. From a young age she was introduced to fossils and was taken on digs to ignite her passion. Often, she could be found wandering the rock-strewn creeks of her childhood home in Tennessee in search of fossils. She saved her allowance for purchasing stones and bones as a teenager. While most kids her age had a bedroom with posters of bands, hers was filled with shelves of fossilized creatures much like a miniature museum.

Fast forward to 2020. She and her husband Mike, travel to far flung places in search of adventure and the love of fossils, Pleistocene fossils in particular. They traveled to Fairbanks, Alaska to visit John Reeves. He is the largest private landowner in Alaska. This gold miner has something even more priceless than gold on one of his claims. He has found hundreds of thousands of Pleistocene fossils of mammoths.

In October 2021, Jeanette stumbled onto a discovery that would allow her to share her love of ice age fauna. She taught herself the art of lapidary by happenstance after acquiring a box of woolly mammoth molars and ivory. She began making pendants and earrings for friends from the fossils that were not deemed museum quality. The small shards of ivory and broken molars turned out to make stunning jewelry.

Most of these pieces were discovered by Inuits in Alaska and are around 20,000 to 40,000 years old.

Jeanette honed her art and felt ready to launch her business Paleo Art-Iculations.

Each piece is made by hand in Underwood, North Dakota.

(Story by Brenda Beran, the Hazen Star)

Have you seen this rock?

A Gazette reader has asked us to seek information about a rock that was once on the banks of a big slough once called Lone Tree Lake. The slough is south of Highway 27 and just east of 118th Avenue near Englevale.

According to the Englevale History book, there was once a large rock weighing several tons on the banks of this slough with the name and date: “Jean de Baptist, 1723” carved on it.

It is generally suspected that due to high waters, flooding conditions, and erosion, this large rock has been pushed under the water of Lone Tree Lake.

Anyone with information on the rock is asked to reach out to info@rcgazette.com.

(Story by Mattie Richardson, the Ransom County Gazette)

Undlin meets her fans in Bottineau

Lindsey Undlin came to Bottineau recently where she spoke about her novels which she had written and had published at a young age. She is presently gaining a lot of attention in the literary world.

Undlin, who is from Mohall, started writing in the fifth grade, but just prior to starting the eighth grade, she stepped it up and wrote her first novel, “Ruby Authur” through Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon.

“Well, I began writing just for fun, “Undlin said. “I kept writing every chance I got until I had this 300 page novel.

“I was told that there was a self-publication feature through Amazon, so I did that. A few months later, JuLee Brand, a publisher, contacted my mom through Facebook.

Brand showed interest in Undlin’s writing and a contract was signed.

At that time, it was decided to re-edit “Ruby Authur” which then became “Stolen,” the first book of a four book series called the Priders Series.

Her second book, “Spiral,” was published soon after and she is presently writing the third book of the series called “Split.”

“Stolen became a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards for Young Adult Fiction 12 to 16 years old category. The novel also has a ranking of four out of five stars on Amazon.

(Story by Scott Wagar, the Bottineau Courant)

Rocket bus parked by NR-S

After many years of service, the New Rockford-Sheyenne school district’s infamous “Rocket Bus” has been retired.

With recurring mechanical problems and significant repair costs, the Rocket Bus has long been a thorn in the side of school administrators and board members, but they learned at their regular meting on Monday, Feb. 5, that it won’t be an issue any longer.

“We did decide to park the old Rocket Bus,” school board member Mike Schaefer told board members.

“So we removed the decals and we’re going to be asking for approval tonight to sell it.”

He added that a recently-purchased activity bus has arrived and put to good use in recent weeks, providing a more reliable option for student athletes to continue attending out-of-town events, and allowing NR-S to finally park the old Rocket Bus.

(Story by Nathan Price, the New Rockford Transcript)

Donor’s heart arrives in time for Fessenden alum

In a remarkable tale of resilience and urgency, John Neuenschwander, formerly of Fessenden, underwent a life-saving heart transplant thanks to the swift action of Minnesota State Troopers and the generosity of a donor family.

Neuenschwander’s heart had been failing for decades, with 40 years of medical treatments for what he describes as a genetic malfunction of the heart pumping system. However, the need for intervention became dire in October 2023. He sought interventions at the Mayo Clinc in Rochester, Minnesota.

“I went for a consultation and to plea for approval to be on the heart transplant list,” Neuenschwander said.

He passed Mayo’s criteria after nearly two weeks of workups and assessments. The call for a donor heart came sooner than expected.

“They started surgery before the heart arrived at the hospital, but my caregiver became worried about how long the surgery was taking. What had happened is the heart was delayed in the Twin Cities because of construction and traffic,” he said.

“The surgeon got on the phone and called the Minnesota Highway Patrol. He told them, the heart is delayed and he needs help.”

That call triggered a chain of events where the troopers intercepted the Mayo organ transport vehicle, took the cooler containing the donor heart in their front seat, and traveled 80 to 100 mph to get the heart to Rochester. Three patrol officers relayed their vehicles, and the heart arrived at Mayo with no further delay.

(Story by Anne Ehni, the Herald-Press, Harvey)