DOT says ‘no go’ to 4-way stop on Hwy. 200

By MICHELLE MCLEAN
Pull out the stop signs.
The four-way stop at the intersection of Hwy. 200 and Caledonia Avenue will be changed to a two-way stop if the north-south highway is reconstructed as planned in 2008.
Hillsboro city leaders finally heard from state DOT officials on the contentious matter last Friday.
“It appears we’ve lost the four-way stop,” said commission president Kevin Burg at Monday’s meeting. “I’m very disappointed.”
“It’ll be very upsetting for a lot of people in town,” added commissioner Lorraine Tibert. “It’s upsetting to me.”
“Me, too,” Burg agreed.
“It’s too bad they (the DOT) don’t listen to the townspeople,” Tibert added. “People aren’t going to like a two-way stop.”

Street dance may be moved back to Main

By MICHELLE MCLEAN
Quiet please.
Hillsboro resident Jim Lambert wants to move street dances out of residential neighborhoods in town.
“It’s not an appropriate venue,” he commented at Monday’s city commission meeting, suggesting a downtown street was a better site for the musical festivities.
Lambert, who lives on Caledonia Avenue just west of the Vets Club, told city commissioners his house was “uninhabitable” because of the loud music during the annual event outside the local bar.
“I can’t sleep in my home,” he said. “I have to leave town.” Lambert said he works a job at the sugar beet plant that typically starts at 7 a.m. in a “hazardous environment” and needs his sleep.

Access to county Poor Farm denied

EDITOR: This is a message to the people of Traill County.
There’s a cemetery at the old Poor Farm in Caledonia, N.D..
I called the landowner to gain access to the cemetery so that I could stake it out and find old grave markers.
The landowner didn’t even know there was a cemetery there and denied me access.
I lived neighbor to the Poor Farm 1938 to 1957, so I am well acquainted with the cemetery.
Now it is forgotten and nobody gives a damn.
Traill County buried these people and now should be responsible for the cemetery.
Call your county commissioners.

Merlin Koppang
West Fargo, N.D

Commission’s suggestion on wording of Home Rule Charter questioned

EDITOR: After reading last week’s report on the Traill County Commission meeting in which the Home Rule Committee provided their preliminary recommendations, I thought it worth the time to evaluate . . .
Among others, there were two key points brought to the commissioners for consideration — the first is whether our commissioners should be elected by district or by the county at large. The second is whether our current elected offices should continue as elected officials or if they should be appointed. Both of these items were quickly dismissed by our commissioners — the decision being that things should be left alone.

Party provided but no one came

We suspect a conspiracy.
While we have no fool-proof evidence to the claim of conspiracy, which renders our allegation groundless, we nevertheless register our complaint. Here and now.
Lot of good it will do.
The two daily papers in our midst, those being in Fargo and Grand Forks, shunned us recently for no good reason.
Granted it wasn’t a veterans potato feed in Barnesville, Crazy Days in Fergus Falls, a model airplane show in Kindred, a summer festival in Dalton, or the county fair in Ada, or any of a number of events north of Highway 200, all or some of which received ink in the two regional dailies, but to us, our Hillsboro Days celebration, was a weekend worthy of mention. We were inducting our fifth Hall of Fame class, staging a Saturday morning parade, hosting the state’s antique tractor pull and drafting horses to pull heatedly on a dirt track that would make any dusty road proud.

They’re at it again, the terrorists.

They’ve got London on edge.
And our alert level spiked.
Where the hell is Osama?
Obviously, he’s bin Laden low.
Keeping a low profile and all that jazz.
He might be in the Minnesota Twins less-than-fearsome batting lineup for all the attention it’s getting.
I swear, Osama could stroll up to the plate, swinging a machine gun for a bat in any Major League city, New York City, especially, and no one would notice.

What summer ought to be.

Lazy summer weekends spent wasting time. Hectic summer days making sure the work got done.
I must admit my memories of childhood are colored by an idyllic happiness (imagined or real, I’m not sure) and 25 years of hindsight.
Life on the farm — 10 miles from the distractions of “town” — was simple — most especially in the summer . . . . At least that’s the way I remember it.
My summer job was helping in the house or on the farm. As the oldest daughter in a family of seven kids, it was understood that I was expected to lend a hand with the childcare and the housework. I didn’t think twice about it, let alone question the fairness of it. There was always laundry to hang on the line or a little brother or sister to keep an eye on.

Summer social

Toe-tapping old-time music greeted guests at the Plummer House’s 24th annual ice cream social Wednesday.
A 4th of July tradition, the social remains a delicious and entertaining respite from the summer’s heat.
Volunteers dished up an afternoon of relaxing fun and opened the museum’s doors to a steady stream of company.

Hot Dog! Main Street Block Party will dedicate new sign

Hillsboro Business Association members are planning an old-fashioned block party Thursday night to dedicate the electronic billboard sign downtown at the intersection of Main Street and Caledonia Ave.
The electronic billboard, costing $14,000 and paid for by contributions from the community, has been operating since April.
Complete with a time and temp digital readout, the sign operates 24-7 and is a “beautiful addition to our downtown,” said HBA president Neil Nelson.
So often looked at, it’s become common place, said Nelson.

Houseboat in a yacht’s clothing

By ANNA AUSTIN
If you’re looking for some good old-fashioned family fun this summer — without having to endure countless mind splitting “are we there yets?” — Tom and Ellie Williams have the answer for you.
Load the kids in the car, (if there aren’t any kids, load yourselves) and drive west — a short distance, really — to Golden Lake and ride the magnificent Miss Ellie.
The Williams purchased the Kenner Suwanee houseboat two years ago and have since transformed it into what could be described as a dreamboat.
If there are any worries regarding lack of space available on Miss Ellie, one can rule that out as well. The boat can seat up to 26 passengers.