The Borderland Press - February 10, 2023

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In this Issue:

February declared Winter Recreation Month Page A2 Langdon Prairie Health welcomes Dr. Ratzlaff Page A2 Electronic posting system for private land available in N.D. Page A2 Red River Farm Network headlines Page A3 NDSU sets Best of the Best in Wheat Production meeting Page A3 The Morning Run: Crumbl crazy Page A4 Musings from Munich: We know what you did last summer Page A4 Bob’s Big Adventure - Part 3 Page A5 N.D. Legislature correspondence Page A5 Munich Tech Systems Class presents surprises Page A6 Northern Lights Arts Council presents Art Students of the Month Page A6 30th annual Snowfest this weekend A6 Walhalla Elementary celebrates Groundhog Day Page A7 Cavalier County holds annual Spelling Bee Page A7 St. Alphonsus School hosts annual spaghetti dinner Page A7 From the Pastor’s Desk - Sue Mackey Page A8 Views from the Borderland Page A10 Eagles fly to high scoring wins over Cavalier, Lakota Page B1 Jake’s Take on Sports Page B1 Blades Junior Gold and 19U teams gets weekend sweeps Page B5

Index:

News Agriculture Opinion Legislative Community Church Obituaries Sports Classifieds Public Notices

Page A2 Page A3 Pages A4 - A5 Page A5 Pages A6 - A7 Page A8 Pages A8-A9 Pages B1 - B5 Page B6 Pages B7

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Friday, February 10, 2023

Volume 2, Number 5

Artist in Residence creates mural with students at LANGDON AREA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, teaches community classes By Hilary Nowatzki

Within one week, the once neutral colored hallway at door two of Langdon Area Elementary School is now colored by vivid nature and seven animals, each of whom have a special importance. Anna Johnson was the local artist in residence this past week in Langdon and spent hours at the elementary school with students of all ages. After the untimely and unexpected loss of Kevin Locke, an indigenous musical artist who performed at Boyd Block just last summer in Langdon, Johnson was asked to fill the role. Melissa Spelchen with CREA (Central Regional Education Association) works closely with the North Dakota Council on the Arts (NDCA). NDCA offers the Artist in Residence grant that allows students K-12 to work with a professional artist. After Locke’s summer performance, the Northern Lights Arts Council decided to bring him back to do a residency with the students. After Locke’s unexpected passing in the fall, Nye reached out to Spelchen for assistance with finding a new artist. Spelchen contacted Johnson about the residency. Johnson’s day job involves operating a dump truck, but art is where she finds her passion. She completed a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Printmaking from NDSU in 2010. Although printmaking is her first love, she’s begun creating large murals these past few years all around North Dakota in Fargo, Minot, and Belcourt. Johnson likes for her murals to tell stories or have meaning behind them. When Nye, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce and executive director of finance of the Northern Lights Arts Council (NLAC), asked the school what kind of message they wanted the art work to portray, they considered something

along the lines of their mission statement or the importance of kindness. While Nye, Spelchen, and Johnson were brainstorming on a video chat, the theme of the Seven Grandfather Teachings of the Ojibwa Tribe came up. The Seven Grandfather Teachings uses animals to illustrate seven important principles of character that humanity should strive for. The wall at the elementary school is now filled with rolling green and yellow fields, a blue sky, trees, flowers, and a pond. Inhabiting the landscape is a turtle that represents truth, a bear to represent bravery, a buffalo to represent respect, a raven perched in a tree for integrity, an eagle soars through the sky for love, a beaver who represents wisdom, and a wolf to represent humility. “I think it went amazing; it exceeded my expectations,” Nye stated upon the completion of the project. Amber Benoit, executive director of marketing and programming of NLAC, agreed and said that the collaboration between all involved went really well. “I feel like there was so much teamwork between Mindi, Anna, the high school art students, and the elementary school and coming up with different strategies,” said Benoit. “And the end result shows,” Nye followed. All grades got to work with the artist for at least one art period at the elementary school. The fourth grade students put in a hefty amount of work with the mural. Fifth and sixth grade classes also assisted in the massive

Cavalier and Pembina Counties eye participation in proposed regional jail facility By The Borderland Press and Walsh County Record Staff Walsh County is hoping to partner with neighboring counties for a regional jail facility. What that partnership would look like is up in the air as some of the counties that they have reached out to are still undecided. The Walsh County Jail Committee formed in 2022 and sent out letters of interest to six area counties: Cavalier, Griggs, Nelson, Pembina, Steele, and Traill in hopes of soliciting financial help to get the new jail built. For Cavalier County, the process is in preliminary stages. “At this point, we’re at a wait and see attitude. We haven’t really been approached as far as how many dollars it will take, how big it will be, would we partner with them or rent a certain number of beds,” said Stanley Dick, Cavalier County Commissioner. “At this point, there’s a lot of information we don’t know about - we’re definitely interested because our jail is closed.” Cavalier County’s jail closed in early 2022. Dick said the Walsh County option would offer more of a regional tie, adding that financially what Cavalier County and its law enforcement are doing reinforces that it was a good choice to close the county jail in Langdon. He said the county commission always has taxpayers in mind when exploring potential projects, and it’s important to weigh the pros and the cons. The Pembina County Commission is also exploring the idea and keeping communication open. “We have indicated that we are interested in being involved. Other than that, we haven’t discussed it,” said Jim Benjaminson, Pembina County Commissioner. “These little local

Photo by Larry Stokke.

painting, while high school art students did the finishing touches. “Everyone got to be a part of it,” stated Nye. “I think it's going to be really neat for them for years to come to say, ‘hey, I made that’ or ‘I worked on the turtle’.” Little kids combined with a lot of paint may seem like a daunting task, but Johnson took everything in stride and said that Langdon has been a lovely host for her first residency. “The kids have been wonderful. They're all so excited; they're all so involved, and everybody has been so helpful and so nice. From the principal to the lunch ladies and ev-

Photo by Mindi Lill.

cont’d. on page A10

BEST IN SNOW:

Team North Dakota wins first place at national snow sculpting tournament

county jails - the state is dropping so many rules and regulations - it’s going to get to the point where we can’t operate.” Pembina County’s most recent jail was built in the 1970s. It can hold 16 male inmates. Female inmates are transported to jails in Minot or Bottineau. The older 1912 jail cells still exist and are used for storage. Benjaminson said the jail inspectors were in Pembina County recently and said effective Jan. 1, the county must have two jailers on duty at all times. “Where do you get the people, and where do you get the money to pay for this?” he asked. “I think they’re trying to cut jails and go regional.” At January’s Walsh County Commission meeting, commissioners and jail committee members heard from the Samuels Group, which is made up of architects and planners. The hour-long presentation touched on numerous issues regarding the study, planning, design, and different avenues the county may want to take in terms of financing and management of a new correctional facility. “There are costs regardless of what you decide,” said Sid Samuels, Samuels Group president. “Obviously there are costs incurred with going forward with construction, but there are also costs associated with doing nothing.” One of those costs is that the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DOCR) will eventually close the existing Walsh County jail facility. DOCR has also been more active in recent years in regards to enforcing standards and regulations of county jails, putting many of them on cont’d. on page B8

Team North Dakota won first place in the U.S. National Snow Sculpting Championship in Lake Geneva, Wisc. Pictured are Jay Ray, Mike Nelson, and Langdon native Josh Zeis. The trio also earned first place honors in the People’s Choice Awards for their sculpture "The Nemean Lion." Photo courtesy Jay Ray.


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