Area farmers patiently waiting to get into the fields

While it’s undoubtedly getting warmer, many of Hillsboro’s farmers are patiently waiting to get into the fields. Maybe the first part of next week, they say. Maybe this weekend, others are thinking. Meanwhile, some were scratching around on Wednesday of this week. One farmer had his young son along. All the more reason to be in the field. Daytime temperatures in the 70s and 80s should have all farmers in the fields next week.

HBA Mother’s Day promotion followed by drawing for Dad

Families on Monday can start registering their mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers in the Hillsboro Business Association Mother’s Day promotion that will reward one woman with a package of gifts and prizes.
The Mother’s Day package, valued at more than $175, includes a dinner for four at the Country Hearth, a dozen roses from Amy’s Floral, candy from Hillsboro Drug and Gift, in addition to gift certificates from Dale’s Food Pride, Uniquely Yours and Dawn’s Hair Salon. Other HBA businesses have contributed to the Mother’s Day package, won last year by Tara Fandrich, Hillsboro.

Hunters share wealth of experiences with youth

By LYNN LEACH
“I’ve enjoyed hunting for years and have gone with my son, my dad, uncles and friends. It’s not just about getting that deer or bagging geese, it’s enjoying Mother Nature to its fullest and it’s a wonderful way to connect and share time with your family and friends.
“I wanted others to share the same kind of experience and that led me to becoming an instructor for the Hunter Safety Course,” explained Glenn Brustad.
With 15 years as an instructor, that’s sharing a lot. Brustad and other longtime teacher, Larry Sinner who has taught for 22 years, were joined two years ago by Richard Johnson. All three men are from Hillsboro.

Groundbreaking Tuesday for medical center project

$2 million fundraising effort nears half-way point; public campaign begins now

By MICHELLE MCLEAN
Hillsboro Medical Center will break ground for a $12.5 million construction project Tuesday, May 1.
The groundbreaking ceremony — complete with a marching band — will celebrate the start of construction for a new two-story 36-bed nursing home, a 16-apartment assisted living facility and a renovated hospital.
Festivities will begin with the HMC Foundation bratwurst feed, an annual fundraising event serving from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the ambulance garage. The groundbreaking ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. on the front lawn of the hospital.
“It’s historic for us,” said Curt Kaufman, president of the HMC board of trustees. “It’s the biggest single undertaking ever in the community.”

Jordin Sparks still in the running to be an ‘American Idol’

Hillsboro is still keeping a close eye on this season’s “American Idol.” After all, there’s a family connection.
Seventeen-year-old singer Jordin Sparks is one of six remaining singers in the national talent competition, televised on FOX Network. She is the great-granddaughter of Jim and Gladys Rutherford, former Caledonia and Hillsboro residents who now live in Fargo. Her grandmother and manager is Pam (Rutherford) Wiedmann, who graduated from Hillsboro High School in the 1960s.
After 15 weeks of competition, Sparks is still singing while 18 other contestants have been eliminated. “American Idol,” now in its 6th season, routinely airs performance shows on Tuesday nights followed by results shows on Wednesdays.

School hires new principal

Paula Pederson, Northwood, will be the new elementary principal in Hillsboro next year.
Currently the superintendent at Northwood, Pederson agreed to a contract offer this week.
She was one of eight individuals interviewed for the job. The school received 29 applications.
Hillsboro Supt. Mike Bitz is confident the school hired the right person.
“She has experience as an administrator and she’s qualified to teach in the classroom. She’ll do really well here.”
All eight candidates interviewed this week were “strong candidates,” said Bitz.
Pederson started her teaching career at St. Thomas, N.D., where she taught first grade for one year. She was a 5th grade teacher at Thompson for five years.

School funding bill ‘pretty good deal’ for Hillsboro

Hillsboro Supt. Mike Bitz was more than satisfied with the school funding package passed this week by the North Dakota Legislature.
The historic funding bill promises more than $800 million in state aid to schools over the next two years.
State legislators are calling the funding bill “monumental.”
Hillsboro’s share of the new money awarded schools statewide is more than $155,000, according to the Department of Public Instruction.
Bitz, however, expects the amount the school will actually realize will be less than the $155,576 promised.

VFW, Legion, Vets Club combine for $10,000 pledge

Members of Hillsboro’s VFW and Legion posts and their respective auxiliaries and officers of the Vets Club have pledged $10,000 to the Hillsboro Medical Center’s expansion and remodeling project.
The respective officers of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Osmon-Lane Post 4172 and the American Legion Lynn Spiering Post 4, in addition to the posts’ two auxiliaries, each pledged $250 a year for the next five years. Officers of the Vets Club pledged $1,000 a year for five years.
The medical center’s capital campaign committee graciously accepted the generous contribution, according to Ang Kritzberger, executive director of the Hillsboro Medical Center Foundation.

DOT official says wide road strong possibility

By MICHELLE MCLEAN
Hillsboro’s wish to maintain a wide ND Hwy. 200 may very well come true.
Kevin Gorder, district engineer for the Fargo District of the North Dakota Department of Transportation, says it is rare that the state rejects a city’s recommendation regarding a state road that’s also a city street.
At their April 16 meeting, Hillsboro city commissioners voted 3-2 to recommend the state DOT reconstruct ND200 (or 1st Street East) as a 56-foot wide roadway surfaced in concrete.

Watch us build; watch us grow

A symbolic shovel of dirt will mark the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Hillsboro this week.
Tuesday’s groundbreaking at the Hillsboro Medical Center will symbolically mark the start of construction of a $12.5 million project that will create a new two-story 36-bed nursing home and a new 16-apartment assisted living facility and renovate the 53-year-old hospital. The project is ambitious, progressive and necessary.
After five years of intense study and careful planning, the HMC board voted last year to move forward — instead of just treading water. They could have opted to make $2 million in mandated upgrades and simply held their ground. Instead they looked into the future and saw what could be, what patients and residents were demanding, what progress was needed if HMC was to thrive and not just survive.