S erving the R egion S ince 1907
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Parra pleads guilty to felony gross sexual imposition Court cancels jury trial after change of plea By BRYCE MARTIN Pioneer Editor
Southwest Judicial District Judge Rhonda Ellis accepted a change of plea from Jovani Parra on Tuesday, the same day a felony jury trial was set to begin for the Bowman resident. Parra, 20, who was charged with two Class A felony counts of gross sexual imposition and one Class C felony count of luring minors by computer, appeared with his counsel, Robert Bolinske, in a Dickinson courtroom Tuesday for the hearing.
Bowman County State’s Attorney Stephanie Pretzer, who was accompanied by Assistant Attorney General John Byers, told Ellis during the hearing that there was no plea agreement reached, though the state was prepared to dismiss Parra’s charge of luring minors by computer. “We won’t take anything that we can’t 100 percent prove to trial,” Pretzer told The Pioneer after the hearing as the state’s reasoning for dismissing the charge. As part of an open plea proposal to the court, as Byers explained to the judge, he had informed Parra and his counsel what the state’s recommendations were going to be to the court. The Class C felony charge would be dismissed based upon Parra changing his not guilty plea on both gross sexual imposition counts.
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Jovani Parra, left, sits with his defense counsel, Robert Bolinske, as they listen to Southwest Judicial District Court Judge Rhonda Ellis on Nov. 8 during a change of plea hearing. (Pioneer Photo by Bryce Martin)
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2 commissioners keep seats, Jeffers will join board By BRYCE MARTIN Pioneer Editor
In a night full of surprises on the national stage, it was relatively uneventful in Bowman County, with the exception of two races. Bowman County Commissioners Rick Braaten and Pine Abrahamson managed to retain their seats, while Jerry Jeffers will join the board in January, filling Bill Bowman’s vacated seat. “(I was) very nervous,” Abrahmason said Tuesday evening at the Bowman County Courthouse as he awaited election results. “It was very tight.” Abrahamson, who amassed a total of 865 votes, was only 137 votes away from his nearest competitior, Dave Anderson.
WEEKLY FORECAST, 5 TODAY High: 64 Low: 40 Partly sunny
Earlier in the evening, Abrahamson said he hoped to see a large turnout in the election by the county. With 1,814 votes cast, the general election’s total surpassed the primary election in June by more than 400 votes. With the election nerves out of the way, the commissioners said they look forward to resuming their work for the county. “I hope we get higher oil prices to help our revenue in our county,” Braaten said is one of his main hopes for 2017. He indicated he was pleased with the results. “I hope we can keep going forward,” Abrahamson said. “I hope our county can continue on the path we are, but with lower taxes and better revenue.”
1,814 total votes cast BOWMAN COUNTY: County Commissioner (Vote for 3) Rick Braaten 1,145 (23.59%) Pine Abrahamson 865 (17.82%) Bruce McLaughlin 494 (10.18%) Jerry Jeffers 927 (19.10%) Chris Johnson 689 (14.19%) Dave Anderson 728 (15.00%)
LOCAL MEASURES: MEASURE No. 1: Should weather modification be abolished in Bowman County? Yes 532 (29.9%) No 1,247 (70.1%)
(Those in bold won on the state and national levels.)
County votes to keep weather mod By BRYCE MARTIN Pioneer Editor
The weather modification program will continue in Bowman County, per the wishes of the majority of voters in Tuesday’s election. It was a sometimes brutal fight for John Palczewski, who served as the face of the weather modification ballot measure. He had successfully got the item onto the general election ballot, and said was mostly pleased just with
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THE FULL RESULTS
Supervisor, Soil Conservation District Bowman/Slope Jeff Brown 1,562 (99.11%)
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that feat. “We achieved what we initially set out to do which was get it on the ballot,” Palczewski told The Pioneer on Wednesday. “Of course we are disappointed that it didn’t get voted out, but I’m happy to know that the residents of Bowman County were given the opportunity to vote.” But the residents seemed to thoroughly oppose the measure to abolish the cloud seeding program,
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with nearly a landslide vote to deny the measure. About 70 percent of the vote, 1,247 votes, were cast in favor of keeping weather modification, while only 30 percent, or 532 votes, sought to abolish the program. The largest amount of votes in favor of keeping weather mod came from the Four Seasons precint, which encompasses mostly rural townships throughout Bowman County.
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STATEWIDE MEASURES: MEASURE No. 1: Should law prohibit an individual from serving in the legislative assembly unless they live in the district from which they are selected? Yes 1,542 (88.27%) No 205 (11.73%) MEASURE No. 2: Should 10 percent of oil extraction tax revenue be deposited in the common schools trust fund? Yes 972 (56.22%) No 757 (43.78%) MEASURE No. 3: Should
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