“Business representatives, government officials and citizen volunteers worked together to continue moving Mandan forward on a number of fronts in 2011,” said Mandan Tomorrow Implementation Committee Chair Kirsten Baesler. “From continued local candidate forms, to putting Mandan marketing tools into the hands of real estate agents, holding a business succession planning seminar, to spearheading an outdoor movie night and increasing college dual credit course offerings at Mandan High School, our community was active in self-improvement in 2011. Plans for 2012 promise more growth and progress.”

“Mandan’s comprehensive planning process began in 2009 with community surveys and focus groups providing direction for the future,” explains Bismarck-Mandan Chamber of Commerce President Kelvin Hullet. “Those ideas are becoming realities. Community members have made great strides and are energized to do more.”

Anyone interested in serving on a Mandan Tomorrow subcommittee is encouraged to contact the Bismarck-Mandan Chamber at 223-5660. For more information about the Mandan Tomorrow Plan, visit mandantomorrow.com.

Following is an outline of committee reports. The presentation was video recorded and will be replayed on Government Access cable channel 2. It may also be viewed on demand at freetv.org.

Here are some of the highlights of the Mandan Tomorrow Committee’s Action Plan for 2012:

Leadership, Pride & Image

· Involve Mandan youth in community through volunteerism and education about government and civic processes.

· Foster communication with Mandan businesses to improve cohesiveness and pursuit of common goals.

· Engage key civic organizations by reporting progress regarding community marketing and overall implementation of Mandan Tomorrow strategic plan.

· Continue community marketing under consistent theme.

· Strengthen partnerships with government, business and civic entities to market and improve Mandan citizens’ impression of and satisfaction with community.

· Continue to focus component of overall marketing strategy on capturing I-94 traffic.

· Explore means for more citizen involvement in community beautification efforts.

Economic Opportunity & Prosperity

· Establish Renaissance Fund Organization to stimulate major redevelopment and business projects.

· Capitalize on energy industry growth.

· Nurture entrepreneurs and small business development by hosting two educational sessions on topics such as franchise opportunities, available properties, or ways to benefit from the oil industry.

Quality Places & Destinations

· Continue to gauge interest in an event or expo center.

· Support new community events including Gladiator Rush, a new 5K run scheduled for June 30 at Huff Hills.

· Support second annual outdoor movie event.

· Explore possibilities for restoring and enhancing Ft. Lincoln State Park including possible coordination of a community survey.

· Continue to look at adding winter events to Mandan such as snowmobile drag racing or other snowmobile or motor sports including a Ft. Lincoln to Huff ride offering snowmobile rentals.

Education & Workforce

· Work to secure a portion of funding or to benefit from Hess Corporation grant in support of standards-based education. This effort will be in conjunction with the Regional Education Association and Missouri River Educational Cooperative.

· Provide additional incentive and support for dual credit opportunities for Mandan High School students.

· Look into potential for student internship opportunities.

· Continue to work with the Mandan business community to recognize and provide incentives to students for academic achievement.

Read the full story, including the Mandan Tomorrow’s 2011 accomplishments, online at mandan-news.com.

2011 Accomplishments

Overall Implementation Committee

· Shared news of Mandan Tomorrow 2010 accomplishments and 2011 action plans with media and public.

Leadership, Pride & Image

· Completed first year of the “Great Things: Made in Mandan” marketing campaign to elevate community image for purposes of recruiting businesses, residents and visitors.

· Presented opportunities for collaboration on community marketing to community and civic organizations.

· Secured partnerships in community marketing from at least five non-profit organizations and inclusion of logo and key messages in local government communications vehicles.

· Briefed real estate agents on Mandan progress and provided information to promote community strengths.

· Provided information about Mandan for Chamber packets given to people interested in moving to the area.

· Hosted second annual candidate information forum to encourage citizen interest in serving in local government.

· Conducted school board candidate issues forum to help citizens become familiar with views on pressing issues.

· Presented Mandan Tomorrow strategic plan, accomplishments and projects to Chamber’s Leadership Bismarck-Mandan class to help engage others in community betterment.

· Issued questionnaire at business social to begin gathering input on interest in improving communication with and among Mandan businesses and to improve cohesiveness.

· Sought participation in meetings of city staff regarding topic of community beautification.

Economic Opportunity & Prosperity

· Supported proposed bill to create a targeted retail state income tax credit during 2011 legislative session. Hearings helped bring attention to conundrum some cities and towns face between lack of sales tax and pressure on property tax.

· Began process of organizing a Renaissance Fund Organization to invest in redevelopment and associated business projects.

· Prompted mailing of fact sheet about assistance and incentives to all Mandan businesses.

· Supported lead taken by City of Mandan in application for U.S. Treasury’s Small Business Credit Initiative to obtain funding for expanded business financing programs.

· Hosted succession planning seminar for businesses.

Quality Places & Destinations

· Collaboration with Mandan Progress Organization on additional community events resulted in successful second annual Wild West Grillfest. The Sport and Recreation Show scheduled for May was cancelled due to inclement weather.

· Assisted Mandan Parks and Recreation with first outdoor summer movie.

· Participated in renewed discussions about community interest in an event or expo center.

Education & Workforce

· Increased by 12 percent the number of students taking advantage of after-school supplemental educational services to improve math and reading competencies.

· Increased high school student enrollment in dual credit courses by 84 students taking an additional 384 credit hours due to expanded opportunities and a reduction in the cost by 70 percent for students taking dual credit classes taught at Mandan High School.

· Bismarck State College’s Continuing Education, Training and Innovation program provided training to five Mandan businesses and organizations.

(l-r) Guff Wolfe and his friend, Bill Ternes, recently spent some time remembering their days of youth together. Submitted photos

By Hilda Terner Hinderer for The Mandan News

The friendship that two 90-year-old buddies, Bill Ternes and Godfried (Guff) Wolfe, share goes back to their early days.

Their two families lived near each other close to Shields. They started school together in a country school. Wolfe said that Ternes and he started “running” together in kindergarten. Their parents were friends and always got together.

The following is a fond memory that they both recall – the Wolfe family would come to the Anselem and Deonella Ternes’ (Bill’s parents) farm and leave their buggy there because Ternes had a vehicle. The parents would go someplace and leave all the kids home. One day they took a wagon, or a trailer, up the hill using a pole to help push and all of Ternes’ brothers and sisters were helping. When they got to the top of the hill, they jumped in the wagon and rode it down. The wagon started going so fast that one of kids jumped out, chipping his tooth, and the rest hung on for dear life. When they hit the grain shed, the pole went through the building and wheat started coming out. They all got busy repairing the hole. The story goes that the parents never found out.

Another fond memory is when they were in grade school they would go over to Ternes’ house because they had a corral in the back. There they would round up calves and have a rodeo. Ternes remembers that Wolfe played the Button Key accordian for school dances and for Christmas programs and that “Guff was a darn good player.”

Ternes and Wolfe reunited recently while Wolfe was in town for his sister’s funeral. Wolfe, who passed away on Jan. 28 due to complications from pneumonia, was living in Sheboygan, Wisc., but the two lifelong friends were able to connect one last time and catch up on each other’s lives while remembering their days together.

Even though the veterans were at the age of 90, both were quite astute and continued to share stories with each other and their families about their days gone by. Up until Wolfe’s passing, the two buddies continued to call each other to stay in touch.

These two boys grew up and together both joined the Civilian Conservation Corp two separate times. The first time they were stationed in Aitkin, Minn., and the second time in Custer, S.D.

Wolfe was a Corporal in the U.S. Army Air Corp. In December 1942 he joined the service in Little Falls, Minn., where he did his basic training. He then went to Santa Rosa, Calif., for five weeks and then Abilene, Texas, at Camp Kilmore, where he prepared for overseas to England. He was a member of the Military Police of the 9th Air Force Company 671 Bomb Squadron. His tour took him to England, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. He served from November 1942 through November 1945. He received his Honorable Discharge in West Overfield, Mass.

One of his personal highlights, he said, was seeing the end of WWII and returning home to the United States. After Guff came home, he worked on the railroad in Mandan and the depot was called The Round House.

Ternes enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force in 1942 at age 20. He was stationed in Camp Ripley, Minn., in Little Falls and went onto Santa Rose, Calif. He was a military police officer during WWII. Before they went overseas, he became an automatic weapons instructor. He was in the Normandy Invasion in 1944 and the Battle of the Bulge in 1945. As an MP Squad Leader he patrolled and guarded prisoners and escorted convoys with ammunition to the front lines. His discharge was in 1945.

After Ternes came home, he married Ida Miller from Raleigh. They bought land north and east of Shields, where his son and his wife now reside.

He remembered that in 1943 they got on the gangplank in New York harbor and it took them 14 days to get to England. The English sent over a converted cargo ship due to lack of American passenger ships. They were served kidney stew, which Ternes wouldn’t eat so he bought and ate sardines and soda crackers. When he and Wolfe got off the ship their job was to go on guard duty with Bill as a corporal. They always slept in the same tent. They came back to the U.S. on the Queen Mary and landed at New Port News in Virginia. Wolfe was always chosen as Ternes’ assistant.

Once in France, they had posted 11 guards and their orders were to shoot out any lights, even a cigarette because there was a blackout. At one point Wolfe was told to get a jeep, but since there wasn’t one, he was given a command car and was almost killed by snipers as they shot numerous holes through the back seat of this command car. Ternes got into trouble because Wolfe was using this command car.

Ternes said, “It seems that Guff and I stayed together all the time because we were close in alphabetical order.”

(l-r) Bill Ternes, who enlisted in the Army in 1942, at the age of 20; and Guff Wolfe, during his time in the U.S. Army.

“Winter brings dangerous driving conditions to North Dakota, and impaired driving makes those conditions even more dangerous,” Kyle Kirchmeier, Captain North Dakota Highway Patrol said. “The goal of the Regional DUI Task Force is to keep all drivers safe by deterring the publicfrom driving while impaired or removing those who choose to drive while impaired from the roads.”

According to the 2010 North Dakota Crash Summary, in 2010, 53 percent of all fatal crashes involved alcohol. Annually, there are between 5,000 and 6,000 DUI arrests in the state and the average alcohol content at the time of arrest is .17 – more than twice the legal limit.

“The public may assume the Regional DUI Task Force is out only to arrest impaired drivers,” said Brent Wilmeth, sergeant of the Mandan Police Department. “But it’s much more than that. It’s also about bringing awareness to the public on the heightened enforcement, helping to prevent impaired driving from occurring at all,” said Morton County Sheriff Dave Shipman.

For more information, contact Safety Division Director Mark Nelson at 328-4559.

The Morton County consumer choices 4-H team that placed nationally (front, l-r) Renae Tokach, Rachel Goettle, (back, l-r) Tyrza Hoines, Vanessa Hoines, Dominick Goettle. Submitted photo

A Morton County 4-H team returned home with several awards during the 4-H / FFA Western National Roundup in Colorado in January.

The Morton County consumer choices team, consisting of Dominick Goettle, Rachel Goettle, Tyrza Hoines and Renae Tokach, was third place overall in the consumer decision-making competition held in Denver, with a second place in reasons and fifth places in the placings and group process portions of the event.

Prior to the competition, participants studied 12 different consumer topics in preparation for the event. During the competition team members were asked to evaluate and rank four different items related to one of the topics they had researched, six topics were chosen by contest coordinators for the teams to judge. Given the situation that was posed, they ordered the items from best to worst, prepared reasons for the decisions made and presented their reasons to a judge. Following that, teams were presented with a group situation in which they were required to discuss options, make a decision and present their plan to the judges. They were evaluated on their ability to work together and present their ideas in a clear concise manner.

“This event is a great opportunity for youth to learn to make decisions based on priorities/needs and they learn about items they may be actively purchasing as consumers. Finally, learning to defend their decisions in an organized and confident manner is a lifetime skill,” said Vanessa Hoines, Morton County NDSU Extension Agent. “These Morton County 4-Hers are an excellent example of the talented youth we have in North Dakota.”

Individually, Rachel Goettle finished second overall, with a second in placings and fourth in reasons. Dominick Goettle placed fourth overall and fourth in placings.

NDSU physics graduate student John Harris and Anna Bernhardt, a junior at New Salem-Almont High School, work in an NDSU lab. Bernhardt is included as a co-author about their research group's discovery, published in a major nanotechnology journal. Submitted photo

When 16-year-old Anna Bernhardt, of New Salem, filled out papers to attend North Dakota Governor’s School, she didn’t know it would jump-start her journey to become a young scientist in a major way, leading to a significant research discovery in nanotechnology.

Bernhardt attended an intensive six-week program on the North Dakota State University campus in Fargo this past summer. The Governor’s School program provides selected academically-driven North Dakota high school sophomores and juniors an opportunity to learn about science, mathematics, English, business and performing or visual arts at the university level.

The science portion of the program pairs students with a mentor scientist and a research group to further develop laboratory skills. Bernhardt wrote “physics” as her lab preference. That led to the opportunity to work with Erik Hobbie and his research team in a lab in NDSU’s Research and Technology Park.

“I had never worked in this type of setting before and didn’t really know what to expect on my first day,” Bernhardt said. “The biggest benefit of working in the lab was getting a taste of the true research experience. Without North Dakota Governor’s School, I would never have been able to have this experience, and surely wouldn’t be so certain that I would like to do more research in the future. Also, it was wonderful to meet and work with the people in my lab.”

While working in the NDSU lab, Bernhardt prepared single-wall carbon nanotube samples and participated in testing of the samples. “The experience of working in a research setting has helped me to decide that I would love to do more research in the future,” the young scientist said.

The daughter of Marlys and Leon Morgenstern, Bernhardt has grown up on a farming and cattle operation near New Salem. There are 28 students in her class at New Salem-Almont High School. Bernhardt said while farming operations and single wall carbon nanotubes may not be directly related, “the work ethic and having a persistent attitude definitely applied to my experience in the lab.” When she graduates from high school, Bernhardt currently plans to major in physics.

“Anna is a very hard working and focused young woman,” Hobbie said. He notes that participating in such advanced research is an unusual opportunity, not typically available to teenagers. “I would say it is highly unusual, but it was a great opportunity for everyone involved; and as a young student interested in science and engineering, it gives her a great jump on her career.”

The first day in the lab was eye opening. “Before my first day, I had absolutely zero knowledge regarding nanotubes. My first day was mostly a crash course on the research taking place, and then an assignment to read up more on what I would be working with,” Bernhardt said. “Nothing in my high school setting had brought me close to what I was dealing with here. But I adjusted, and was soon doing experiments on my own. Working in the lab was unlike anything I had done before, and was altogether a pleasant experience.”

A few things were unexpected. “The most interesting thing I learned was probably how much time and thought are put into each experiment done, and how much time is spent waiting,” Bernhardt said. “I quickly learned that research involves much waiting around. For instance, I spent many hours waiting for acetone puddles to dry.”

Bernhardt explains some of her highly technical work in the lab, using examples. “Single wall carbon nanotubes are basically a hexagonal lattice structure of carbon, rolled up into a tube. This is not how they are actually made, but it is a good way to envision their structure,” she said. There are several different types of carbon, including graphite and graphene. “Graphite is pencil lead, and graphene is a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice of carbon atoms. A piece of graphite is put into the middle of a vacuum chamber and then a laser beam is focused on it. The pulsed laser beam hits it with high intensity and gives it so much energy at the contact point that it causes carbon atoms to fly off the graphite and the particles condense on the walls of the chamber. As these particles condense, they build up single-wall carbon nanotubes one layer at a time.”

Bernhardt notes that the driving force behind the research she did is to replace expensive materials that are essential to today’s electronics. “Indium tin oxide is a transparent and highly conductive film used in phone, computer and television screens. ITO is very rare and therefore, extremely expensive. Since it is in such high demand, the resources are being depleted and are expected to be gone in 15 years.”  Bernhardt’s exacting work measured the transparency of the films in the visible spectrum at different film thicknesses for each electronic type.

The research done by Hobbie’s team, including Bernhardt, could one day impact flexible electronic devices such as solar cells and wearable sensors. In addition to Bernhardt, the research team includes NDSU graduate student John M. Harris; postdoctoral researcher Ganjigunte R. Swathi lyer and researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md.

Hobbie and grad student John Harris considered Bernhardt’s contribution to the research substantial enough to include her as a co-author of an article about their research results, now published in a major scientific journal. “I was absolutely thrilled!” Bernhardt said.

Results from the NDSU research team that included Bernhardt appear in “Electronic Durability of Flexible Transparent Films from Type-Specific Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes,” published in ACS Nano, a major scientific journal of the American Chemical Society.

The Mandan School Board has decided to push back the date of its special bond issue election to the fall.

No exact date has been set, but the board voted to hold the special election by Oct. 1.

The board previously voted to hold the bond issue election on April 24, but decided to delay the action in order to allow the community to be more informed of the board’s decision for the bond issue election.

Board member Tim Rector recognized that in the last 10 years enrollment has increased by only three students. However, he said the need for more elementary school space is needed because of state legislation that decreased the ratio of teachers to students in a classroom, coupled with the steadily increasing number of births in Morton County, which continues to rise.

Rector’s concern is that with the numbers continuing to increase, the Mandan School District will be unable to hold the number of estimated elementary school students by the school year of 2015, which is the expected completion date of the proposed new school.

“In the 2014-15 school year we’d need seven new classrooms, we can possibly suffer through one year but not another year on top of that,” he said.

Board President Kirsten Baesler agreed. “Be mindful that this isn’t about elbow room. It’s about our student-teacher ratio and it’s about the student achievement for our elementary students. If you have too many students to one teacher you begin to talk about students’ scores being negatively impacted,” she said.

The board made two motions regarding the election during its board meeting on Jan. 17. The first was to move forward on the election, and the other was set a tentative date. Both motions were approved unanimously.

Agreeing to a delay will not postpone the board’s timeline for the construction of a school.

Architect Al Fitterer said even if an election were held in April, work could not begin until the following spring. He said site work could be completed in the winter, as well as drawings for the school so that bids to contractors could be submitted.

The timeframe to build a new school, Fitterer said, would take anywhere from 14 to 16 months, so the school could be ready for students by the 2014-15 school year.

The district will now move forward with holding public forms and engaging in public outreach, and approving an architect to begin site work and the design of the potential elementary school.

The school board will also hold a special retreat on Wednesday, Feb. 1, to begin plans for the public forums.

The Mandan City Commission has approved a Class A liquor license for Jerry Stryker, for 1005 E. Main St., formerly Kupper Chevrolet. The building is also known as the former McDonald’s.

Stryker says his plans for the building are still in the preliminary phases, but he intends to make the building half off-sale liquor and the other half on-sale. He plans to have the business open by March 1. Stryker says he is still working on design plans at this time.

The approval is contingent on the building meeting all fire, health and safety codes, and upon an inspection of the building.

The approved liquor license was the last one available for the city. Commissioner Thomas Jackson said selling the city’s final liquor license is an indication that there is growth in the city, and that the number of liquor licenses is another element the city must look at during this period. “My concern is that we’re on the last one, and that we’re creating a situation where we’re making this worth more than its value,” he said.

The city commission has decided to consider offering more licenses in the future during its special meeting on Jan. 31.

Volunteers and businesses that sponsored the World's Longest Twist on the Fourth of July in Mandan are honored for making it into the record books. Submitted photo

The Mandan Progress Organization hosted its 20th annual meeting with 150 attending at the Seven Seas Inn in Mandan.

The meeting unveiled the 2012 goals and events scheduled for the year. Awards were given for the Volunteer of the Year and Business of the Year,

And World Record Certificates of recognition were given to businesses that sponsored the World’s Longest “Twist” dance during the July 4th parade.

Volunteer of the Year went to Greg Eckes of Gate City Bank for his work on community projects, MPO events and community betterment.

Business of the Year went to Kupper Chevrolet for its support of Buggies-n-Blues, Mandan Rodeo, Wild West Grill Fest and corporate sponsor of the Mandan July 4th parade, and also the company’s support of various civic, school and military organizations.

Ann Reich, senior VP of Strategic Partnerships North Dakota Bankers Association, presented a talk on the “Climb to Servant Leadership.”

The Mandan Progress Organization meets the first Wednesday of each month at 12 p.m. at the Seven Seas Inn. Meetings are open to new and prospective business members and individuals which comprise the “Friends of Mandan.” The mission statement of the MPO is “Businesses and citizens united to help Mandan thrive!”

For more information, go to mandanprogress.org.

Intended to provide information about serving in local, elected positions and to encourage candidacy, the information session will occur Tuesday, Jan. 31, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Mandan City Hall, located at 205 Second Ave. N.W.

This will be the committee’s third annual information session on running for local office. “Our goal is to promote interest in leadership so that the public has candidates from which to choose for each open position on the city and county commissions as well as school and park boards,” says Committee Chair Laurie Leingang. “The session provides first-hand insight about time and responsibility commitments in these positions. We hope the information session helps result in candidates who have the abilities to meet expectations.”

Attendees will have the opportunity to hear about the roles of the various boards and the position responsibilities to determine if public service is something they should pursue. The session will also include information about the requirements to file for candidacy.

The information session is free and sign-up is not required. If you have any questions, contact Laurie Leingang at 400-8631 or leingangl@bis.midco.net.

Dakota Media Access will record the forum for live and rebroadcast viewing on Government Access cable channel 2 and online viewing at freetv.org.

For more information on the Mandan Tomorrow Plan, visit mandantomorrow.com.

After four years in the making, plans are falling in place for a Walmart Supercenter to be built in Mandan.

The new supercenter is expected to be located at the northeast corner of the Old Red Trail and Sunset Drive in the Terra Vallee area.

Walmart Spokesman Ryan Irsik says Walmart will submit site and building plans by late February. If approved and built, the Walmart Supercenter will be approximately 150,000 square feet and will employ approximately 250 associates with the majority of those jobs being full-time.

The Bismarck-Mandan Development Association reports that Walmart is still in the very early stages of the approval process and does not have a construction timeline. At this time Walmart representatives are working on a variety of permits, final due diligence on the site, site engineering, final store design and related detail. A recent BMDA report states that “although the project is not a 100 percent go, it would appear fairly certain barring any unforeseen event occurring.”

Mayor Tim Helbling says the announcement is “a great thing for the city.” He says it’s important to stop sales tax dollars from “flying across the river” to Bismarck, which has two Walmart Supercenters.

Walmart representatives have indicated they are always looking for good talent and looks forward to creating job opportunities in Mandan.

The BMDA, on behalf of the city of Mandan, has been working with representatives of Walmart on development of this project for the last four years.

The Mandan City Commission at that time believed that securing a major retailer like Walmart would be a major step in providing the lost retail which has been a growing problem for the city for over the last several years.

In July 2011, a delegation of Walmart corporate officials and the contract realtor made a trip to Mandan to look at the various sites which the BMDA had provided them. Their ultimate decision was the chosen site, which was also a preferred site for the city.