701 Rundown: March 27, 2023

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

Teacher arrested during school hours for alleged felonies

A Dunseith teacher was arrested last week and is facing six charges, including child abuse and retaliating against a witness.

Federal authorities took Rhawnie Marcellais into custody during school hours and transported her to Minot for a court appearance. She appeared at last week’s hearing via video from the Ward County jail, where she is being held without bond.

According to federal court documents, Marcellais is facing two counts of “willfully inflicting mental injury and bodily injury upon a minor child.”

One count specifies an incident in January 2021 in which Marcellais is alleged to have thrown a glass bottle at a child.

Marcellais, who is listed as a reading instructor at Dunseith Middle School, is also facing two charges of retaliating against a witness.

In August of 2022, she’s alleged to have caused bodily injury to Shadilyn Demery, who provided information relating to the child abuse charges.

The other alleged offense of retaliation came in January of this year when Marcellais was accused of threatening to cause bodily injury to Demery for providing any information to authorities about the alleged child abuse.

Two other charges are related to Demery. Marcellais is accused of assaulting Demery with a dangerous weapon with the intent to do harm as well as committing malicious mischief by damaging a vehicle belonging to the alleged victim.

Marcellais requested a jury trial which a judge set for May 9 in federal court in Fargo.

(Story by Jason Nordmark, Turtle Mountain Star)

Governor cites oil impacts as justification for bill’s passage

The impact of the oil and gas industry on North Dakota’s economy can be measured in the tens of billions of dollars on an annual basis, according to a new study.

The industry’s $26 billion contribution to the state’s gross domestic product accounted for 29 percent of North Dakota’s economy in 2021.

“The industry now accounts for almost $43 billion in gross business volume, nearly 50,000 jobs and $3.8 billion in state and local tax revenues in 2021,” said Gov. Doug Burgum at a press conference last week. “The oil and gas industry continues to be a game changer for North Dakota.”

Burgum added, “We have to make it attractive for companies to invest here.”

Specifically, he explained in response to a question, he supports House Bill 1286, which would eliminate the “windfall profits” tax that kicks in when crude oil prices rise above a certain threshold.

The number of jobs supported by the oil and gas industry, according to the study, is nearly 50,000, directly or indirectly.

(Story by Jacob Orledge, The Journal)

Tempers flare at Hillsboro meeting

Discussion over hiring of a city utilities auditor turned into a fiery back-and-forth exchange between Hillsboro city officials and members of the public at a meeting on Monday, March 6.

The Hillsboro City Commission had kicked off talks on whether to interview candidates for the position Monday when discussions were sidetracked by questions over the state of the city’s finances.

Chuck Punton, who served as a city commissioner from 1987 to 1992, interrupted city commissioners’ discussion to ask City Auditor Ashley Frederick if she had finished a months-long reconciliation of the city’s books dating back to 2020 with assistance from former city auditor Mark Forseth.

Frederick responded that she recently wrapped up the accounting review with Forseth and notified city commissioners in an email that the work had been completed.

Punton, a regular at the city’s meetings, took exception to the tone of Frederick’s response, and asked why she needed to respond “with an attitude.”

The terse exchange proved to set the tone of the rest of the meeting, as commissioners disagreed and voiced some of their concerns/frustrations regarding the utilities auditor position. No decision was made.

(Story by Cole Short, Hillsboro Banner)

Walsh County getting some reprieve on bridges

Walsh County Highway Superintendent, Jason Johnston, updated the Walsh County Commission on a number of bridges around the county.

Johnston said he had the opportunity to visit with Collins Engineering, the firm the North Dakota Department of Transportation (DOT) has contracted to do bridge inspections, at a recent conference in Bismarck.

According to Johnston, there are 432 bridges in the state that have poor ratings.

“Fifty of them are in Walsh County,” he said. “We basically have 12 percent of all the poorly rated bridges in North Dakota. That’s not necessarily anyone's fault, the bridges are old and were put in 100 years ago and we have a bunch of them.”

Johnston had some good news to report to the commission as he is hoping to reopen some bridges in the county. There are six bridges on the DOT list for funding in the 2024 season.

Besides those six bridges Johnston informed the commissioner that 10 of the 50 bridges on the county’s poor list are going to be rectified. “So out of the 10 bridges there will be three removals and seven replacements, meaning repairs.”

(Story by Todd Morgan, Walsh County Record)

Former Rolla school staffer sentenced for sex crimes

A former Rolla teacher and coach will spend nine months in jail after pleading guilty to felony charges related to luring minors by computer and attempted solicitation of a minor.

Davy Zinke entered the guilty plea for both counts last week in Barnes County Court in Valley City.

Zinke was arrested in August 2022 on the charges and pleaded not guilty. He decided to change that plea earlier this year. He was facing a maximum of 15 years in jail and $30,000 in fines.

The deal last week will put Zinke behind bars in the Barnes County Jail for 271 days and the fine was lowered to $5,000. He will also be on supervised probation for five years after his release and is required to register as a sex offender.

The plea deal allowed Zinke’s felony charges to be lowered to misdemeanors.

(Story by Jason Nordmark, Turtle Mountain Star)