Ardell E. Landa

Ardell E. Landa, 72, Reynolds, N.D., died Saturday, February 17, 2007 at Altru Hospital in Grand Forks, N.D.
Funeral services were Thursday, February 22 at St. John Lutheran Church, Hatton. Burial was in Washington Prairie Cemetery, rural Hatton.
Bilden Funeral Home of Hatton was in charge of arrangements.

Let your voice be heard Tuesday

Speak now or forever hold your peace.
Tuesday night the public is encouraged to attend a hearing on the ND200 improvement project. State and local officials and the engineers in charge of the road rebuild want to hear what local residents and propertyowners have to say about the handful of plans and options available for the 2008 project.
All options are still on the table, the city commissioners have been told. The final plan will be decided by weighing what the public wants, what the city can afford and what best fits with engineering guidelines.

Hey, Coach.

High above the floor of the Fargodome flashed the Jumbo-tron screen. Keeping tabs on the action at the state high school wrestling tournament, team scores and the like scrolled across the two extra-large color monitors, interrupted by special salutes to certain coaches who had reached “milestones” in their careers.
Ten years, 20 years, 25 years, 30 years. It was just a handful who earned their names up there in lights. I smiled with pride when I saw that one of them was my husband. Twenty years of coaching.
Mark is a grade school teacher who happens to coach. Coaching wasn’t something he sought to do; it’s something teachers in small schools must do — if they’re to do their part.

Who really cares if Britney Spears shaves her head?

Apparently, everyone.
She drops out of rehab the next day and the country goes wild.
I don’t understand it; then again, maybe I do.
We love trashy news.
Anna Nicole Smith still hasn’t been buried; there’s something deathly wrong in Florida.
She can take her money with her, for all I care.
An investigation proved I’m not the father of the baby. We were in different cities on the weekend the baby was reportedly conceived. I was in Nielsville, Anna Nicole was in Shelly.
Too bad, bucko, I was told.

Sheriff offers contrasting cost figures

In the case Traill County is forced to close its jail and house prisoners in another law enforcement center, the cost to the county will be substantial, sheriff Mike Crocker reported this week.
Over the last three years, the Traill jail has averaged between four and five prisoners a day.
The cost to house five prisoners a day in the new Cass County correctional facility at Fargo would cost Traill County an estimated $370,040 a year.
The cost to house five prisoners a day in a new Traill County 23-bed law enforcement center would be $378,656 a year, a difference of roughly $8,000.
But, revenues from jailing men and women in the custody of the U.S. Marshal Service would reduce the cost considerably, Crocker reported to the Traill board of county commissioners this week. Housing Steele County prisoners remains a possibility.

Commissioners agree on design, cost of addition

By NEIL O. NELSON
After more than a year of discussions, public meetings, different options and differing opinions, Traill County’s five commissioners have agreed on a design and cost figure for the proposed new addition to the courthouse in Hillsboro.
A price tag of $6.4 million was agreed to by the county and its chief architect at Tuesday’s regularly-scheduled meeting of the Traill board of county commissioners.
The three-level addition designed to house a 23-bed law enforcement center, the county’s Social Services agency, Traill Water Resource District and states attorney offices was submitted by architect Todd Mitzel. Tuesday’s project changes and costs came with the approval of the building committee, which was assigned the task of developing a design that the commissioners are hopeful residents of the county will accept, should it come to a bond issue.

City bill for ND200 rebuild project cut by $500,000

By MICHELLE MCLEAN
Good news.
Hillsboro city commissioners received a bit of good news at their meeting Tuesday night — a message worth about $500,000.
The North Dakota Dept. of Transportation notified the city that the city’s bill for the ND 200 highway reconstruction project would be reduced by about $500,000 because of a change in policy.
“Who do we send the thank you to?” quipped commission president Kevin Burg.
“Somebody must have heard our whining,” he told the project’s manager Chad Peterson of Kadrmas, Lee and Jackson.

State’s best at pinochle

By NEIL O. NELSON
Herbie Todd’s memory is never questioned.
His good friend and pinochle playing partner, Harris Lammers, might quietly question Herbie Todd Fleischer’s card-playing techniques, but he generally follows suit.
Consequently, the two card players generally win.
The two won the 18th annual North Dakota State Pinochle Tournament last weekend in Valley City, taking home the first place engraved trophy and the $1,100 cash prize.
“That was pretty good,” said Herbie Todd.
But then Herbie Todd on Saturday had an inkling he and Harris would win Sunday’s round and take home the money.

Traill County extension agent retiring after 33 years on the job

By NEIL O. NELSON
Clint Gienger’s first job out of the chute was offered in Hillsboro as Traill’s assistant county agent.
The year was 1974.
Thirty-three years later, a career that has never left the employ of the North Dakota Extension Service, Gienger is retiring from the same courthouse he worked out of in April 1974.
The Traill County extension agent submitted his resignation this week, effective April 30.
Gienger has been Traill’s extension agent for the last 16 years.
After he left Traill County on Dec. 31, 1976, Gienger was the county agent at Carrington in Foster County for 15 years.

School district applies for grant for rec district

Hillsboro School District has applied for a $12,000 grant to assist the new city Recreation District with start-up funds.
Sponsored by General Mills, the “My Hometown Helper” grant takes its name from the familiar product Hamburger Helper.
Local residents can “help” too — by voicing their support of the Recreation District and its programs which will include youth baseball, golf and open gym sessions this summer as well as seasonal and year-round programs.
To lend a helping hand, log on to www.myhometownhelper.com and comment about how recreation programs have impacted you and your family as well as the community.