COMMUNICATIONS CENTER

Dispatchers Dorothea Tufte, Kim Folstrom, Stacy Ernst and Kathy Hansen are part of a six-member team that mans the communications center 24-7.

By NEIL O. NELSON

The late afternoon 911 call, not unlike others arriving at the Traill County Sheriff’s Department dispatch center during a winter blizzard, requested assistance.

But Tuesday, March 10 proved to be like no other day on the job for dispatchers Kim Folstrom and Stacy Ernst.

Told two young women were stranded on I-29 somewhere north of Hillsboro, Kim Folstrom dispatched sheriff Mike Crocker and Hillsboro police officer Laverne Aventi.

The unexpected blizzard of calls on that stormy day in the Red River Valley started when the two girls called back, asserting that their vehicle had been hit by a truck.

There was panic in their voices.

Folstrom contacted North Dakota Highway Patrolman Tracy Buzick, explaining the developing situation eight miles north of Hillsboro. Buzick indicated he was en route.

The next two calls fielded by Folstrom were from the semi-truck driver, who hit the South Dakota car “stuck” on the interstate and who was staying at the scene, and the girls again: “Where’s the help you were sending?”

They’re on their way. Stay calm, stay in your car.

Kim Folstrom will never forget the next call. 

Disaster assistance available to state residents hit by flood

Residents of Traill and 25 other North Dakota counties can use a toll-free telephone number and on-line registration to apply for disaster assistance from damage caused by the recent severe storms and flooding.

Traill County has been included in the emergency protective measure declaration signed on March 24 by President Barack Obama.

The Individual Assistance program includes a wide range of aid, including emergency home repair, temporary disaster housing, replacement grants for serious disaster-related needs and expenses not covered by insurance or assistance programs.

FEMA disaster assistance covers basic needs only and will not normally compensate eligible applicants for entire losses. For those needs, the government may help pay for basic needs not covered by insurance companies. 

School to buy ‘instant alert’ system

By MICHELLE MCLEAN

Hillsboro schools will adopt a high-tech “announcement” system next school year.

School board members approved spending about $1,100 to implement an “Instant Alert” system to notify students, staff and parents through phone and email messages.

The most obvious use for the system would  be to alert the public to school closures such as storm days, supt. Mike Bitz explained. Other potential uses include messages that notify parents of early dismissals or changes to scheduled activities.

Elementary principal Paula Pederson said the emergency dismissal March 31 prompted an angry response from one parent who was unaware his child would be sent home early. 

Neil O. Nelson

Not surprisingly, the decision to come home 10 years ago was not a difficult one to make.

I needed a full-time job and returning to the newspaper industry after a brief hiatus away from the weekly grind was what I needed to do. Doors outside newspapers, I discovered, weren’t exactly opening.

And where better to start up again than my hometown?  And where my first job in the newspaper industry was at the Banner way back in the early 1960s.

I had last stepped foot in the Banner when it was located across the street on the corner of Caledonia and 1st St SW, where

Dakota Heritage Bank now stands. We’re talking more than a few years, something like 35 years ago, if not longer. 

A hint of spring.

Michelle McLean

Easter is past and the calendar says it should be Spring. The sun was shining brightly and I purposefully skipped my coat when I left the house this morning. The thermometer read 39 degrees but I was banking on the promising forecast for a 60-degree day. My theme was:  Come on, Spring, we’re waiting for you!
The snow’s gone — except for the giant drifts packed into the shelterbelts. They’re slowly dwindling, basking in the warm sunshine. They’re shrinking and my tulips are pushing through the dirt ready to announce, “Spring has sprung!”
My lawn is still beige but I can see a hint of green, eager to burst through. I don’t think it’s my imagination. There’s still water in a couple low spots but that’s disappearing day by day. I’m holding the negative thoughts at bay — sort of like contingency dikes. 

Raymond Berg

Raymond Berg, 83, Hawley, Minn., formerly of Hillsboro, N.D., died Sunday, April 12, 2009 at his home at the Hawley Senior Living Center under the care of hospice.
Funeral services will be Saturday, April 18 at 11 a.m. at Hillsboro United Parish UCC-UMC in Hillsboro. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery, Hillsboro.
Wildeman Funeral Home of Hillsboro is in charge of arrangements.

Gerald Schlichtmann

Gerald Schlichtmann, 65, Red Lake Falls, Minn., died Monday, April 13, 2009 at Innovis Hospital, Fargo, N.D.
Funeral services will be Saturday, April 18 at 10:30 a.m. at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Red Lake Falls. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery, Hillsboro, N.D.
Johnson Funeral Service of Red Lake Falls is in charge of arrangements.