Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883

701 Rundown: Jan. 16, 2023

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

Montana woman killed in accident south of Williston

Around six miles south of Willison on Monday, Dec. 26, Betty Lee, a 61-year-old from Sidney, Montana, was killed in a car accident on Highway 85.

According to the reports of the accident, Lee was driving northbound in her 2008 Ford F-150 when she lost control of her vehicle and slid into oncoming traffic. She then struck a 2021 Ram 500 head on.

The highway was covered with ice that day, and is reported to have played a role in the accident.

Lee, who was not wearing her seatbelt at the time of the crash, was ejected from her vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the Ram 500, a 31-year-old male who was wearing his seatbelt, was uninjured.

(Story by Kristen Jones, McKenzie County Farmer)

Scammers almost hook local resident

The holiday season is often an active time of year for scammers, and in the worst of cases innocent people, especially senior citizens, can lose thousands of dollars, their life savings or even their homes.

One resident in Walsh County almost got a terrible Christmas surprise after nearly losing $9,500 to a scammer, who would have also received the bank information they’d have needed to withdraw everything from their victim’s account.

The victim who nearly lost everything had received a call from a man who identified himself as an attorney representing the victim of a crash that her son had caused. He told the Walsh County resident that the father of the fake crash victim wouldn’t press charges if she agreed to pay $9,500.

The scammers even went so far as to have someone pose as the Wash County resident’s son, and had them speak on the phone. The person spoke briefly to say he only had a few scrapes, bruises and a broken nose, but convincingly enough to trick the resident into believing the whole thing was real.

In the space of 90 minutes, this scammer called a handful of times, and eventually convinced the Walsh County resident to pay the $9,500.

Thankfully, an alert teller at a local bank stopped the transaction before all was lost, and she passed it onto the bank president who advised the resident not to transfer the money. That advice was heeded.

The resident was embarrassed to have been tricked by the scam, but came forward to the newspaper anyway to share their story, hopefully stopping anyone else from falling for the same trick.

The reality is that these scammers are good, and their scams can be more elaborate than you might suspect. Anyone can fall victim, and others have fallen for the exact same scam as this Walsh County resident.

“A couple of days later my son’s wife called me and said the same thing happened to her mother and she lost $5,000,” said the Walsh County resident. “The point being is that these scammers are good and it can happen to anybody.

“That’s why I want others to know and be aware of these things because before you know it, you’re heading to the bank with a bunch of routing numbers. I mean with this information I was prepared to give them they could have cleaned me out.”

(Story by Todd Morgan, The Walsh County Record)

Winter park has lots of fun activities

All of the snow that’s fallen in recent weeks and months has been beneficial for at least one place: the winter park in Bottineau.

Dan Fett of the Bottineau Winter Park, said, “At the present moment we have 36 inches of snow. We are in full operation.”

While many complained about the snow and extreme cold, the Winter Park and those that love outdoor winter sports, were happy to see the weather adding to the natural snow base, which is ideal for grooming conditions.

“We had a good base with making snow before it started to snow,” Fett said. “With the snow we received we have lots of it everywhere with great conditions.”

The Winter Park in Bottineau, also known as the Jewel above the Prairie, has all eight slopes open, not to mention the tubing park, snowshoeing trails, and even a terrain park where individuals can practice jumps and other tricks.

The park is open from 3 to 9 p.m. on Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

To get more information, such as up to date information on the condition of the slopes, individuals can visit the Bottineau Winter Park’s Facebook page.

(Story by Scott Wagar, Bottineau Courant)

New Year’s Day fatal vehicle/pedestrian crash near Oxbow

On the first day of the new year, on Interstate 29 near Oxbow, N.D., a 19-year-old female was struck and killed.

At around 5:47 a.m. on January 1, the 19-year-old was stuck by 20-year-old Gabriel Schroeder of Wahpeton, who was traveling southbound in the left lane. Schroeder observed a pedestrian, identified as Destinee Tuttle of Nebraska, standing in his lane of travel.

Schroeder braked and swerved to avoid the pedestrian, but he was unsuccessful. His 2014 Chevrolet Malibu struck the teenager before entering the median and getting stuck in the snow.

Tuttle was pronounced dead on the scene, having been thrown and coming to rest in the right lane and outside the shoulder.

The crash is still under investigation by the N.D. Highway Patrol.

(Story by Angela Kolden, Cass County Reporter)

School discusses possible addition

Recently, the Rolla School board began discussions about potentially constructing an addition to its existing building.

Brad Nash, superintendent, told the board that the estimated cost of a 5,00 square foot structure would be approximately $1.7 million.

Following the board’s regular meeting back in October, Nash had said issues regarding space motivated the process of looking into an addition. More specifically, the school is dealing with overlapping winter sports seasons and new activities popping up, resulting in somewhat of a squeeze.

Nash said the addition would include three large areas for activities and have floor heat. The possible addition could potentially end up east of the current gymnasium, but it still has to go through committee approval and “discussion stages,” said Nash.

(Story by Jason Nordmark, Turtle Mountain Star)