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Rail spur
I may be held
By Richard Volesky ~6 acres of land east of
Editor/Reporter ,uld be involved, which has
The matter of zoning changes to zoning mr commercial and two types
allow for a rail spur east of Beach of residential use. The zoning for the
will now be heard at a public hearing rail spur could become agricultural.
of the Beach City Council, tenta- Beach Grain Cooperative asked
tively set for Sept. 15. for the zoning changes so as to create
The city's zoning board on Aug. a site where unit trains of grain can
18 voted to recommend to the coun- be loaded. The co-op estimates the
cil that the land use be changed, project would cost $7 million. How-
15
ever, the project has raised concerns
of property owners regarding the
noise the loading facility would gen-
erate.
The Beach City Council reviewed
the zoning board's recommendation
also on Aug. 18, and City Auditor
Kim Nunberg said she is in the
process of scheduling the council's
public hearing on the matter.
makers to visit
By Stephanie Allums
McKenzie County Farmer
Nearly 40 North Dakota law-
makers will swarm the Bakken oil
patch on Aug. 26 for a North
Dakota Petroleum Council spon-
sored two-day tour event. They will
be exposed to the booming oil
fields and get to see its impacts
firsthand.
Many officials in the western
part of the state have high hopes for
a drastic shift in the distributing for-
mula of the oil and gas production
tax revenue. Currently, 75 percent
goes to the state and only 25 per-
cent goes back to local govern-
ments.
Chairman Ron Anderson of the
McKenzie County Board of Com-
missioners and Watford City Mayor
Brent Sanford both said they want
to see a 60-40 split in favor of the
local governments in all of the oil-
producingcounties.
"Last session we fought for a 50-
50 split," Anderson said. "We were
successful in getting our share in-
creased; however, it was not close
to the 50-50 we thought we needed
at that time. We have now fallen
oil
"We need to at least double our budget for
roads. This would not only include bringing
our present paved roads up to all-weather
status, but paving new haul roads as well. It
makes no sense to regrade and apply gravel
every year to many of our haul roads."
Ron Anderson, Chairman of the McKenzie
County Board of Commissioners
that was designed for 1,000 resi- fic. ....
dents is being used today by more "We need to at least double our
than 6,500 people, budget for roads," Anderson said.
Sanford also said that hundreds "This would not only include bring-
of housing units in Watford City are ing our present paved roads up to
hamstrung by the lack of infra- all-weather status, but paving new
structure that the city can't afford to haul roads as well. It makes no
fund on its own. sense to regrade and apply gravel
Watford City is just one of the every year to many of our haul
many towns within McKenzie roads."
County that need financial support Each county in the state is re-
and help. ceiving some portion of the billions
"A formula change to 60 percent of oil and gas tax revenue. But only
county, 40 percent state is ab- the western portion of the state is
solutely necessary to put our county paying the price.
back together," Anderson said.Sanford said he doesn't want to
The roads are overrun with more come across as egotistical, but the
Bakken is the "golden goose" of the
state, and he thinks more mondy~
should be allocated here.
"We welcome any legislators
that will come and see what we are
dealing with in McKenzie County,"
Anderson said. "That goes for the
rest of the Bakken play, too."
even further behind." traffic than ever. Road construction
Watford City received abrut is'taking place all 6ver the Bakken.
million in state money during the Ten years ago, there were proba-
current two-year budget cycle, ac- bly 5,000 people living in McKen-
cording to Sanford. But the city's zie County, according to Sanford.
infrastructure needs are nearly $284 Now, he said, it can take five min-
million, utes just to make a left-hand turn in
town because of the increased traf-
The city's wastewater system
This is the site of a grass fire that occurred on Aug. 17. (Photo by Jane M. Cook)
Small fi
ppa
ntly started by baler
By Jane M. Cook der.
Reporter Billings County Fire Chief Rod
Despite rain all day Friday, and Job said the fire apparently was
added rain Saturday evening, a caused by a baler which struck a
grass fire broke out late Sunday af- rock, causing a spark which started
ternoon around 4 p.m., about a mile the fire.
west of West River Road along Old Approximately 5 acres were
Highway 10, near the burned, and some trees had to be
Billings/Golden Valley County bor- cut down as the fire had reached
the tops and were burned com-
pletely.
The Billings County and
Medora fire departments, Billings
County Sheriffs Department and
the Golden Valley County Sheriffs
Department responded to the call.
The fire was brought under control
and extinguished by 6:30 p.m.
II at
iF
MINOT - Callie Loftsgard, a She showed her three market vanced to the grand championship
Golden Valley County 4-H member, lambs and received blue ribbons for round. In beef, she placed second in
was a winner at the North Dakota all three. She also won second place her weight class and third in her
State Fair this summer, in the sheep showman class and ad- showmanship class.
Cattle stand along the
water had been about 4 or
High water
By Richard Volesky
Editor/Reporter
A storm system with unprece-
dented rainfall deluged part of the re-
gion on Aug. 15.
While summer storms in past
years have brought rainfall of 3 or 4
inches at a time, storm totals from
Aug. 15 reached the 6 to 9 inch level.
Flood warnings were in effect
through Sunday morning for a large
area of western North Dakota, in-
cluding the counties of Billings,
Dunn, McKenzie, Golden Valley,
Stark and portions of Morton and
Mercer counties.
In Golden Valley County, the high
water problems were mostly in the
northern area, where 5 to 7 1/2
inches of rain was reported.
Pete Wirtzfeld, Golden Valley
County road superintendent, said 2
feet of water ran over a bridge on
County Road 5. There also was a cul-
vert that was washed out from under
a township road and was carried into
a field.
But overall, the problems weren't
major.
"They stood up fairly well,"
Wirtzfeld said of the county roads.
The county implemented a road
closure for vehicles over 20,000
pounds. The closure lasted for 24
hours, until the roads began to dry
out, said Wirtzfeld.
The problem area in Billings
County was also the northern portion
of the county, where there were re-
ports of 6 to 7 inches of rain.
Jeff Iverson, road superintendent,
said crews on Saturday went to a
number of places to add scotia or re-
grade areas where water had gone
over the roads. However, there were
no significant road damages.
Some portions of fences were un-
doubtedly stretched or damaged in
places where the fences cross the
Green River. Cut hay or dead grass
banks of the flooding Green River in Billings County on Aug. 16. The
5 feet higher earlier in the day. (Photo by Richard Volesky)
unprecedented some areas
Rainwater pours from the roof of the mini-mall in downtown
Beach on Aug. 15. There were reports of 3 or more inches of rain
in the area. (Photo by Jane M. Cook)
and other debris weighed down the recall.
fences and bent steel posts as the Severe damage occurred in Dunn
water passed through. County, where a couple had to be
The Green River also carried at rescued from a roof-top of their
least a couple large, round hay bales house in Marshall. As many as 16
from a field along 126th Ave. SW to Dunn County farmsteads were dam-
~a pasture about 1 1/2 miles away. The aged, and the county was consider-
river reached into fields further than ing asking for Federal Emergency
any flooding event that anyone could Management Agencyassistance.
from area honored at H
Two Sentinel Butte native cow- tree in 2011 and instead, decided to Badlands Cedar, written especially
boys, Rex Cook and Bill Lowman, travel the stump around the wOrld to for the event, honoring the local
were honored at the Taylor Horse every continent. In 2012 the Bloch evergreen, is permanently etched
Fest, Saturday, July 26, by having toured Europe. In 2013 it toured into the Bloch's trunk. The day be-
their chosen crafts enshrined on the China, Taiwan and Singapore. This fore, Friday, July 25, Lowman had
"Bloch," a 17-foot long, 4,000- July, North Dakota's Council on the read the poem on the radio.
pound spruce tree trunk from the Arts folklorist, Troyd Geist, success- Saddle maker and leather crafter,
Swiss Region of Appenzell. fully brought the Bloch to North Rex Cook, hand tooled a western
Originally an ancient carnival tra- ' Dakota. leather belt, honoring the North
dition involving of the last logging On July 26 it was the main attrac- Dakota Council on the Arts. It is
tree felled in winter, the trunk known tion of the Taylor Horse Fest Parade, buckled around the circumference of
as the Bloch is pulled by a proces- followed by a ceremony at the Horse the Bloch. When done touring the
sion of men from the villages of Ur- Fest Grounds where Lowman enter- world, it will be on permanent dis-
nasch to Herisau and back. A tained the crowd from the Bloch's play at its starting point in Urnasch,
Switzerland Arts Council bought the platform. His poem, The Beautiful Switzerland.
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