You are currently browsing the daily archive for December 22nd, 2008.
By Holly Jessen
GWINNER – The first week of Bobcat’s 6-week production shutdown has come and gone.
Bobcat officials first announced on Oct. 23 that negative economic conditions would mean suspended manufacturing production in its Gwinner and Bismarck plants. The shutdown, which began Monday, Dec. 15, will continue through Feb. 2, with a week of holiday pay from Dec. 24 through Jan. 1, 2009.
Jason Allison, president of the United Steelworkers Local #560, was one of the many Gwinner plant workers laid off this week. He’s been at home, spending more time with his 7-month-old son, he said.
The big concern now was whether Bobcat would actually be able to open the plant up for business again in February, as is planned. The company has said that if enough orders don’t come in that Feb. 2 re-open date will have to be pushed back, Allison said. Read the rest of this entry »
by Jan Hansen
The Lisbon School Board, meeting on Monday evening, December 15, heard a statement from a concerned grandfather who wished to voice his opinion about how an alleged incident involving a special education instructor and student at the Lisbon Elementary School had been handled.
Before introducing the district patron who had asked to be placed on the board’s agenda, Board President Kara Carter read a statement which addressed the board’s position on the issue to be brought up. Carter stated that board meetings are open and may be attended by anyone at any time. She went on to explain that it had “never been our (the board’s) intention to disregard any issue.” However, the board had, she said, been advised by legal counsel that there were certain aspects of the incident that should not be discussed at public meetings. She added that the incident which the patron was about to discuss is being handled by the South Valley Multi-District Education Unit, although the Lisbon School District is monitoring the situation. Read the rest of this entry »
by Janet Hansen
Ransom County State’s Attorney Fallon Kelly reported that he had reviewed case law in order to find out how to handle a recent real estate transaction involving the county. He reviewed the fact that some McLeod lots had reverted to the county for back taxes. The lots in question had been among those available during the annual tax delinquent property sale conducted this fall.
At the board’s December 2 meeting, Harry Gruba, former owner of the lots, came to the board to protest the fact that he had not received notice that his former property was being offered for sale. Gruba stated that he had intended to buy back the property, but had recently learned that it had been sold. The reason that he had not received notification of the upcoming sale was that the notification was sent to the wrong address. Read the rest of this entry »
Terri Kelly Barta
Ransom County, along with the rest of the state of North Dakota, hunkered down to wait out an approaching blizzard on Sunday, December 14. It began snowing on Saturday evening and by Sunday morning, the winds picked up, gusting at times over 40mph.
This made for decreased visibility. Interstate 94 was closed from Jamestown to the Minnesota border and I-29 was closed from the Canadian border to the border of South Dakota. The North Dakota Highway Patrol advised no travel in the entire state on Sunday.
John Carlson, McLeod, reported 11 inches of snow on the ground by Monday, December 15. He recorded a high temperature of 0 degrees on Sunday with the low at -10 below. On Monday morning the low was -18 below, and the winds had died down.
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North Dakota State College of Science students Adam Christofferson, Amber Nelson, and Nikki Urbach, all of Lisbon, recently participated in the annual Christmas Concert presented on December 11.
Christofferson and Nelson play trumpet in the NDSCS Concert Band and Urbach plays percussion. Christofferson also plays trumpet in the NDSCS Stage Band.
The North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) Music Department celebrated the Christmas season with its annual Christmas Concert on Thursday, Dec. 11, in the Harry and Ella Stern Cultural Center. Featured were the Concert Band, Wildcat Stage Band, Concert Choir, and Wildcat Singers.
The Concert Band performed “The Nutcracker Suite,” made familiar to all from Disney’s Fantasia, in addition to medleys of other Christmas favorites.
The Stage Band opened their portion of the program with “O Holy Night,” done in ballad form, along with “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and, an appropriate ode for college students, “I’ll be Home for Christmas.”
The Concert Choir presented a variety of traditional as well as contemporary Christmas music. They opened with “We Need a Little Christmas,” written in 1966 for the Broadway musical Mame, and “Lo, How a Rose/The Rose” arranged by Craig Hella Johnson, thereby merging the sacred and the secular into a beautiful tapestry of sound.
“A Festive Christmas Celebration” is a medley of well-known Christmas carols in which the audience was invited to participate with the Choir.
NDSCS is a two-year, comprehensive, residential college with its main campus located in Wahpeton, ND, and a second site, referred to as the Skills and Technology Training Center, located in Fargo. NDSCS offers degrees, certificates, and diplomas in over 80 academic options in traditional career and technical studies as well as the liberal arts. The college also offers a variety of Distance Education courses. Approximately 98 percent of graduates from its technical programs find jobs in their chosen fields.
Unlike most two-year colleges, NDSCS boasts a university atmosphere for its students, complete with residence halls, 35 affiliated clubs and organizations, music groups, theater productions, intercollegiate athletics, intramural athletics, and numerous social activities.
The Lisbon Fire Department received a total of $30,000 in U.S. Forest Service grants, recently.
Bryan Stotts, district ranger, U.S. Forest Service, Lisbon, assisted Fire Chief Joe Billing and Ryan Kenyon, secretary/treasurer, Lisbon Fire Department, in writing a $20,000 equipment and safety grant. The Forest Service has a contract with the Lisbon Fire Department for the fire department to provide fire protection on the Sheyenne Grassland.
The grant was used to purchase a 6×6 Polaris, trailer, and skid unit with pumper, 12 sets of Wildland Gear (fireproof overalls), and three Fire Shelters. They also purchased one portable foaming unit to increase their capability.
In addition to that grant, Missy Schmidt was contracted to write three grants for $5,000 each from the ND Forest Service Cooperative Fire Protection Assistance Grant Program. Billing and Kenyon assisted her with those. The fire department was notified that they received all three grants. They purchased a 2007 Dodge pickup, a skid unit with power, and a flatbed with lights, radio, and 12,000lb. winch.
“We want to thank everyone involved and especially the Forest Service for providing us with the equipment we need to do the job, safely” said Rural Fire Chief Tyler Schock.
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Veteran Bronco boys’ basketball Coach Kim Mark saw his charges open their season with a pair of victories, with wins over LMM and Northern Cass. Lisbon also had a game postponed with Lidgerwood.
On the dark side, Lisbon lost senior guard, Nick Horgeshimer, to knee and shoulder injuries. Horgeshimer has been plagued with injuries since his sophomore year in football. Since Horgeshimer’s loss, Mark and his assistants, Mark Moss and Robert Bubach, have been developing more depth to help replace their point guard.
Leading by just six at halftime, 29-23, the Lisbon boys’ team made the extra pass and held home-standing Litchville-Marion-Montpelier to just 13 second-half points as LHS won their first game of the year. Read the rest of this entry »
by Joe Howell
*Brent Qvale of Williston scored 38 points for the Coyotes in their win over Dawson County.
*Valley City edged Carrington 33-20 on the wrestling mat last week.
*Bismarck placed fourth at the Rapid City wrestling tournament won by Sturgis. Mandan placed 21st.
Campbell County finished a strong second. Campbell is a team that the Broncos faced twice at the Hettinger tournament under Jon Aberle at the turn of the century.
*Carrington won their team dual tournament. Lisbon and Napoleon were absent for the first time.
The Cardinals flattened both Hillsboro and North Border-Cavalier.
Harvey’s Bob Bartz competed at 215 for the Hornets. Bartz is the two-time defending state heavyweight champion.
Thief River Falls and Perham tied for first at the Grand Forks Sertoma tournament. Perham went home because of the blizzard, and both Minnesota squads had identical 4-0 records.
Central Cass competed at Sertoma.
*At the Minot Shoot-out on the Prairie girls’ basketball showcase, three-time defending state champion Bottineau defeated Dickinson Trinity 60-45.
The second day of the Prairie and the Bismarck Hoopster shoot-outs were cancelled.
*Kidder County won the New Salem girls’ basketball tournament.
*Hettinger won the crown at the Mott girls’ hoops tournament.
*New England vs Killdeer at Roughrider.
*Carrington vs PBK at Stutsman County. Carrington defeated Central Prairie in the opening round 95-9.
*Finley-Sharon-Hope-Page vs LMM at Barnes County.
*The results of the varsity Warbird girls’ basketball tournament hosted jointly by Wyndmere and Lidgerwood: FCT and Lidgerwood 3-0, Wyndmere 2-1, Milnor 0-3, Wahpeton JV 0-1, Moorhead Park Christian 1-2, Wheaton 1-2, Breckenridge 1-2, and Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 0-2.
*The Northern State University men’s basketball team earned their Coach Don Meyer his 900th career victory as the Wolves upset number 6 ranked Mankato.
*Number-one ranked Linton edged Turtle Lake-Mercer by four points at the Lions Shoot-out in boys’ basketball.
*The Hazen girls have a new basketball coach in Leland Opp. Opp has guided the Bison to seven state track titles and has served as an assistant in both the boys’ and girls’ programs, but this is his first team as a head basketball coach.
Included on the Bison roster is Opp’s 6’ junior daughter, Allison.
*Mike McFeeley of the Forum wrote an interesting article last week. McFeeley urges all parents, coaches, and athletes to compete in as many sports as possible. The encouragement should be “the more sports the merrier.”
McFeeley goes on to write, “high school athletes – heck, all young people – should be encouraged to play as many sports and be involved in as many activities as they can possibly fit in. Their experiences should not be limited because somebody else wants to benefit from them specializing in one sport or another.
“It is all about the big picture, encouraging young people to have as many varied experiences as possible. Hockey? Sure. Football? You bet. Baseball? Go for it. Soccer? Absolutely. Volleyball? Yes. Softball? No doubt.
“That sort of variety will only expose kids to different teammates, different disciplines, different skills, different coaches. What matters is that the youngster gets a chance to try an assortment of activities and can decide for himself or herself what is enjoyable. Or not enjoyable.”
I would not agree more.
*NDSU landed three North Dakota high school football standouts that are all multi-sport athletes.
• Ryan Drevlow of North Sargent (football-Milnor-North Sargent Bulldogs). Ryan is a two-time all-district basketball player, a three-year state qualifier in track and field, and a dominate offensive and defensive lineman.
• Andrew Grothman of Hillsboro is a two-time state wrestling champion. Grothman is currently undefeated at 215 for the Burros.
Grothman rushed for 1500 yards and 27 touchdowns.
• Brandon Jamison of Fargo South football and track and field. Jamison will be used at linebacker while Drevlow is being looked at as a defensive end, and Grothman a fullback.
*The Minnesota Vikings are leading the NFC Central Division, and three players from Dakota are providing lots of help.
Linebackers Ben Leber and Chad Greenway are from South Dakota, and Jim Kleinsasser is from Carrington, North Dakota.
All were small town multi-sport athletes.
*West Fargo’s Jessie Gust was chosen as North Dakota’s Gatorade volleyball player of the year.
by Joe Howell
The Lisbon wrestling team earned a long Christmas break with a very busy December. The Broncos dualed against Oakes, Linton, Wahpeton, and competed at the Wahpeton and Valley City tournaments along with the Barnesville team duals. The Barnesville duals replaced the Carrington team duals.
Oakes and Napoleon also did not return to Carrington for the Cardinals tournament.
Lisbon defeated Linton HMB in a dual in the Bronco gym on December 12 and competed at Barnesville on the 13th before the force of the blizzard hit in full force.
On December 18, Lisbon hosted Wahpeton, and on December 20 the Broncos competed at the Valley City Individual tournament.
The biggest highlight of the month of wrestling was Michael Nord joining brother, Patrick, as a member of the Bronco 100-WIN club. Michael, a sophomore, is a two-time state champion and has reached 100 wins faster than any previous Bronco. Read the rest of this entry »
by Joe Howell
The Lisbon girls’ basketball team needed a win and delivered with a 48-26 victory over LaMoure in the Lobo gym on December 16.
Michele Hoistad led all scorers with a game high 15 points and Veronica Munkeby added 10. Bronco Coach Brad Bittner will need this type of production in each and every game from his two leading scorers, and the other six girls that see significant playing time will need to add an additional 30 points per game.
Bittner had six other players contribute to the scoring column, led by Whittney Berube’s 8. Kayla Rotenberger, sister Jess Rotenberger, Karlee Dick, Morgan Van Well, and Taryn Wagner also scored, and each of the eight players that scored have the ability to put up bigger numbers. Read the rest of this entry »
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