701 Rundown: September 19, 2022

Here’s your weekly rundown of some of the most interesting headlines from newspapers across North Dakota.

Five-year goal set for new Fessenden fire hall

A Fire Hall Feast was prepared and served to close to 100 supporters during the Fessenden Fire Protection District’s fundraising event held Sept. 4 in Fessenden.

The department is raising the funds to build a new fire hall, something Fire Chief Bruce LaPlant said has been talked about for years. The department has decided now is the time to finally go after it, he said.

“We are outgrowing our current facility. With the equipment we have now, we are bulging at the seams, leaving us very little room when our members meet and train.”

LaPlant envisions a hall that will be large enough to accommodate the equipment that the department currently owns as well as any future equipment they may purchase. The new facility will also have a proper room for meetings and training.

“There are 25 firefighters presently on the roster, and we want to have room to grow our membership numbers as well,” he said.

Adding to the equipment they already have is another reason for the expansion. “One thing we would like to add is a rescue unit which will not only help our department but also our mutual aid partners, too,” said LaPlant.

(Story by Carrie Opdahl, The Herald-Press)

Workover rig explodes southwest of Ross

Emergency crews responded to a report of a rig explosion southwest of Ross on Friday, Aug. 26.

In a release on Tuesday, Sept. 6, Mountrail County Sheriff Corey Bristol reported that on Friday, September 2, 2022, there was an explosion and fire at an oil well site owned by Chord Energy.

The explosion and fire occurred at the Cvancara 11-14H well site at approximately 8:30 p.m. that Friday night.

The well was being serviced by a workover rig owned by Blackhawk, a subsidiary of Steel Energy, when the fire occurred. The fire was contained to the site location and the well has been secured.

All workers on scene that night were accounted for. Three contractors were transported to the hospital with undisclosed injuries.

An investigation into the cause of the explosion and fire is being conducted by the company’s regulatory authorities.

(Story from the Mountrail County Promoter)

Opioid issues lead health agency to offer overdose reversal training

Rolette County Public Health (RCPH) is taking steps to try and curtail an increasing opioid epidemic within the county.

RCPH is offering free naloxone training, which provides information on how to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose. In addition, the training teaches individuals how to administer Narcan to reverse an overdose and includes a free Narcan kit.

The tag line for the training advertisement is ‘be prepared - save a life’ and according to Jodi Hajicek of RCPH, the training is needed because the misuse of an addiction to opioids in the county is only getting more prevalent.

“The concerns associated with the opioid use is death, lives ending prematurely and tragically, the consequences of neonatal abstinence syndrome and transmission of infectious diseases such as viral hepatitis or HIV,” Hajicek said. “Social consequences include loss of productivity, increased crime and violence, neglect of children and expanded health care costs.”

Hajicek described overdose death as “skyrocketing” in recent years mainly because of one drug in particular. Fentanyl is described as a powerful synthetic opioid that is cheap to make, more potent than morphine and has contaminated the drug supply.

(Story by John Rosinski, Turtle Mountain Star)

County continues to discuss plans for new jail

Walsh County commissioners continued to discuss plans for a new jail. What the construction will look like and what those costs are remain fluid, but according to Walsh County Sheriff Ron Jurgens a new jail is a must if the county is going to continue operating a correctional center.

“We don’t have five years to do this. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has given us an extension only because we are talking about building a new jail,” he said.

The commission minus Ernie Barta visited Barnes County Correctional Facility in Valley City on Aug. 23 to get a better idea of what will work best for Walsh County going forward.

Jurgens said he has been contacted by Traill and Cavalier Counties as to when they can enter into discussions about being a part of the new facility.

“They are interested in contracting with us for space,” he said. “Cass County doesn’t have room and the Grand Forks recent expansion is primarily for juveniles so a lot of these counties are looking for space and would like to reserve some room.”

Walsh County Buildings and Grounds Administrator Jason Johnston said it would take a minimum of six to seven weeks to solicit architects and get a list of three to consider.

(Story by Todd Morgan, The Walsh County Record)

Harvey police force soon ‘back up and running’

A new chief of police is expected to be working the streets of Harvey as early as next week, followed by a second officer coming on board in two weeks, according to Shelley Svoboda, city council member.

Efforts by the Harvey City Council to have its police force “back up and running” moved forward last month when two experienced law enforcement individuals expressed an interest in working in Harvey.

Following the resignation of Police Chief Tony Weber and the abrupt departure of Weber’s last officer earlier this summer and a period of time when Harvey was without a police force, the city offered contracts in August to Michael Zuber, Elmhurst, Ill. and another experienced law enforcement individual from Goodland, Kansas.

Zuber, with more than 25 years in law enforcement, will be Harvey’s new police chief.

The second officer offered a contract and a third person are expected to join Zuber’s force, according to Svoboda.

The city is also advertising for a fourth officer.

“We expect to be at full force again - soon, I hope,” said Svoboda this week.

“We really, really put in a lot of time and effort in finding the right individuals.”

Quite a bit of time, actually, was spent on finding the new police chief, Svoboda explained. Between tours and talks with everyone, Svoboda estimates 20 hours were invested in recruiting Zuber.

The new police chief was in Harvey for three days earlier this summer touring the community and school.

“He was very impressed,” noted Rick Eckart, mayor, at an Aug. 16 council meeting.

(Story by Neil O. Nelson, The Herald-Press)