“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.

Eighth grade – Danesha Aho, Bobbi Jo Bahm, Austin Barchenger, Sydney Beeter, Alexandra Belohlavek, Richard Bendish, Shiloh Bennett, Joseph Berger, Dante Berrios, Timothy Bjugstad, Deliverance Boehm, Jordon Boehm, Casey Bonagofsky, Laiken Bren, Hallie Burghart, Jake Carlson, Christian Cepek, Kennedy Charvat, Taylor Charvat, Paige Clausen, Liberty Colling, Stephanie Dehne, Brittany Deutscher, Katelyn Duppong, Kyra Erhardt, Jordyn Fairaizl, Austin Feil, Hailey Fitterer, Isaac Fleck, William Fleck, Michelle Franco, Samantha Frank, Megan Fredericks, Anna Freidig, Jeremy Friesz, Alison Froelich, Kathrine Froelich, Samuel Gable, Tyler Gangl, Cole Garman, Haley Geiger, Riley Gerding, Shandra Getzlaff, Nathan Glass, Madison Goetzfridt, Margaret Green, Mirranda Gross, Mariah Gutierrez, Mason Haag, James Haaland, Hannah Hanson, Kelsi Hatzenbuhler, Colyn Haugen, Rebecca Helbling, Emily Henderson, Kristi Hermanson, Averey Himmelspach, Michael Holtz, Madelyn Jablonski, Mercedes Jimenez, Amanda Joyce, Arnela Karic, McKenna Kautzman, Sarah Keller, Jayden Krush, Ryan Larson, Marianna Levingston, Paige Lillis, Miranda Lowman, Mariah Marsh, Lukas Masseth, Addy Mattern, Gabriel Meschke, Leslie Miller, Nicholas Miller, Savannah Miller, Chantell Mindt, Skylar Moody, Amber Morrell, Garrett Murphy, Chelsey Norton, Casey Osborn, Bryce Peters, Corey Peterson, Kayla Pich, Ashlyn Quintus, Taylor Reinhardt, Madison Ripplinger, Zane Ritz, Tristen Sailer, Bailey Schlosser, Mason Schlosser, Joseph Schmidt, Tristen Schwartz, Mindy Shepherd, Taylor Shipman, Shae Skager, Robert Spady, Kayla Stelter, Raymond Ternes, Trevin Tietz, Kimberly Toepke, Kodi Traversie, Erik Velasquez, Stephanie Vogel, Timothy Waldref, Mariah Wanner, Nathan Wanner, Theresa Wanner, Alicia Weiand, Logan Weigel, Sadie Wetzel, Audrey Wilhelmi, Jacey Wilson, McKenzie Zacha, Brandon Zachmeier, Madysen Zachmeier, Sara Zachmeier, Jarad Zittleman,

Seventh grade – Cody Anderson, Nikyla Anderson, Taylor Anderson, Jaden Andresen, Mckenna Baer, Cheyenne Bahm, Evan Barbie, Casey Beck, Trevor Behm, Trae Bennett, Amanda Berger, Delani Berger, Reed Bergman, Mariah Bernal-Haman, Micayla Bitz, Katelyn Blotsky, Braden Bohl, Olivia Borchers, Kailie Bride, MaKayla Burkhardt, Samantha Bussman, Branden Byrum, Jacob Campagna, Tallysa Carufel, Kendall Dietz, Kyarra Dunn, Lynn Duong, Samantha Ell, Sarah Feierabend, Matt Feigitsch, Griffen Fettig, Shantell Frank, Jessica Frey, Hailey Fried, Makayla Frohlich, Noah Garrett, Brodey Geiger, Nicole Geltel, Connor Goetz, Isaac Goroski, Regan Gullickson, Destiny Gutierrez, Sharrie Heinert, Hannah Heinze, Makayla Hickman, Mackensi Higlin, Kylan Hoffert, Alexander Horner, Kyle House, Payne Howe, Nicole Hust, Trinity Kibler, Madelyn Klee, Cheyanne Klein, Landon Kleingartner, Zachary Kopp, Kolton Krance, Austin Leingang, Jacob Leingang, Kailee Leingang, Ty Leingang, Alexa Lembcke, Kevin Ludlum, Casey Mack, Madison Makeeff, Brandon Martin, Maiah McCowan, Brian Meissner, Kiyana Miller, Andrew Morgan, Anna Mork, Karsen Mosbrucker, Sophia Munns, Trevor Murphy, Jackson Nagel, Zoey Nelson, Ashley Ness, Orin Osse, Keyera Papka, Tye Paul, Breanna Pederson, Daniel Peters, Chelsey Peterson, Luke Peterson, Alyssa Pfliger, Lee Phelps, Casey Pittman, Samantha Power, McKenna Quintus, Alex Rath, Hannah Ravnaas, Tyler Rebenitsch, Kambree Reinhardt, Tatiana Rice, Malachai Rickman, Kenadee Rishling, Devan Rohrich, Nicolas Rohrich, Sidney Schaff, Kaitlyn Schaner, Laura Schauer, Morgan Scheid, Garrett Scherr, Emily Schmidt, KayCee Schulz, Cody Seehafer, Courtney Selzler, Kadin Selzler, Jasmine Sheets, Sarah Simpson, Lilette Smith, Jordan Sneed, Dale Spilman, Eric Spilman, Mckaeli Standley, Johan Stenslie, Coltin Storick, Alec Stork, Abigail Tausend, Kiara Teske, Mariah Thompson, Lacey Thunderhawk, Lane Tokach, Kaylin Tomac, Larissa Tran, Curtis Traversie, Tyler Tweten, Carlie Upham, Haily Van Beek, Maddie Vega, Trajon Vigen, Lexi Vogel, Bailee Walker, Dylan Wallace, Cara Weigel, Tyler Wetzstein, Connor Wieland, Gabrielle Wolf, Richard Zander.

Sixth grade – Dexter Aho, Cody Albro, Malinda Althoff, Morgan Anderson, Kaylee Barbie, Mindy Barchenger, Kimberly Bauer, Kaij Beattie, Chloe Bender, Bailey Berg, Sage Berg, Ashton Bergquist, Matthew Blotsky, Aaron Blowers, Dawson Bohrer, Kayne Bohrer, Brenna Bollig, Brock Bollig, Skyler Bossert, Carson Breuer, Keith Bride, Alustriel Brunelle, Marleigh Buechler, Sierra Butler, Emily Cicha, Joseph Clark, Mykenzie Clausen, Alyssa Dailey, Darbi Defoe, Jalyn Duttenhefer, Isaiah Emerson, Sara Emineth, Chance Erhardt, Eric Erhart, Chad Fenster, Ben Fishbeck, Dylan Fleck, Maiya Fleck, Olivia Fox-Ireland, Hana Frank, Benjamin Frederick, John Fredricks, Megan Funaiole, Tayla Gange, Dylan Gartner, Caleb Gayette, Lucas Geiger, Noah Gerhardt, Santanah Gerhart, Carlee Gifford, Riley Glandt, Elizabeth Green, Kyra Haff, Savanna Hagerott, Quinn Halstengard, Gabriella Haroldson, Margaret Hatzenbuhler, Ethan Hauff, Dayton Haugen, Tanya Haugen, Skylar Helfrich, Alexis Helgeson, Beau Hickman, Carter Himmelspach, David Hoffman, Mackenzie Hohbein, Ashton Holzer, Hunter Holzer, Mollie Hostetter, Shantel Jangula, Brooklyn Just, Ammar Karic, Sydney Kautzman, Jacob Kinnischtzke, Kaden Krause, Grace Kuntz, AsLyn Larson, Devon Lauer, Jamaika Lee, Elizabeth Leingang, Caleb Lockwood, Ian Longtin, Lathan Lowman, Rachel Marschner, Sabrina Matthews, Erica McKee, Brenna Meuchel, Karsen Meyer, Kylie Meyer, Easton Miller, Kayla Mittelsteadt, Erika Morrell, Zander Mott, Brittany Nagl, Sabrina Nicholson, LaShae Nolz, Alyssa Olheiser, Courtney Olson, Alan Palmer, Benedict Ponzer, Lakken Remmick, Lilyann Roberson, Tiana Roberts, Layla Rosemore, Benjamin Roth, Natalie Rousis, Savana Schauer, Jacob Schlosser, Myles Schlosser, Katelyn Schmidt, Kyra Schulz, Nathan Schwindt, Isaiah Scroggins, Sierra Seibel, Antoinette Silk, North Skager, Keatyn Skytland, Kathryn Slavick, Jacob Sokolofsky, Dalton Sougstad, Griffing Spady, Shane Spilker, Juliann Spilman, Olivia Spitzer, Camren Steckler, Trae Steckler, Anthony Steele, Charlene Stewart, Jillian Strilcov, Ty Thomas, Harley Thompson, Paige Tibke, Kyllie Trenda, Natasha Troxel, Isaac Watson, Dawson Webb, Delshay Webster, Cody Weinhandl, Hannah Wentz, Jackson Wiese, Donovan Wind, Ryan Wojtalewicz, Grant Woodson-Little, Julio Yokote, Hayle Zacha.

The recent discussion about the construction of a new elementary school has created a number of questions that need to be answered. In this article I will attempt to address several of the questions that seem to come up most often.

What are your current student population growth projections? Identify the need for the new school.

As of Sept. 15, 2011, Mandan had 1,451 students enrolled district-wide in its five elementary schools. This enrollment is similar to the 1,474 students that were enrolled in Mandan in 2000-2001; however, in 2000-01 in addition to operating the five current elementary schools, Mandan Public Schools leased classroom space from St. Joe’s School and operated Collins Elementary School to accommodate its elementary students.

Although we currently have several elementary classrooms in the district that are larger than we would like to see, we would not be considering building if we expected our enrollment to remain at the current level.

Conservative estimates using Morton County birth rates show that in five years (2016-2017) Mandan Public Schools will have an elementary enrollment of 1,769 students. This is an increase of 318 elementary students over our current enrollment. This estimate does not include any estimates of students, born outside of Morton County who move into the Mandan School District.

What are the current and projected sizes of classrooms with and without a new school?

According to the N.D. Dept. of Health, birth rates in Morton County ranged from a low of 284 births to a high of 314 births from 1997 to 2004; from 2005 to 2011, the Morton County birth rates have ranged from a low of 340 births to a high of 402 births. Historically, approximately 80 percent of Morton County births end up in Mandan Public Schools. Assuming no in or outward migration and just counting 80 percent of Morton County births as future MPS students, K-5 enrollment will rise from 1,451 students in 2011-2012 to 1,769 in 2016-2017. That is an increase of 318 students over the next 4 1/2 years. If we do nothing, class averages are projected to change as follows:

Grade                         2011-12     2016-17

Avg. Class Size

Kindergarten                     23.3     25.5

1st Grade                            22.3     27.5

2nd Grade                          19.1     27.5

3rd Grade                           24.1     26.6

4th Grade                           20.7     26.1

5th Grade                           20.3     25.5

We believe these are conservative estimates, because these numbers are based solely on birth rates and do not factor in families moving into the Mandan School District. We also believe that the average class size in 2016-17 would be too large to provide students with a proper education.

If four additional rooms could be added to Fort Lincoln, why wasn’t that option selected?

The board believes adding four classrooms to Fort Lincoln is insufficient to meet the future classroom needs of the district. Adding four classrooms to Ft. Lincoln would not eliminate the need for a new school. Therefore, the board believes it would be a wiser decision to commit the dollars it would take to build four classrooms on to Ft. Lincoln toward a new elementary school.

In addition, the three schools with the highest average classroom sizes (Lewis & Clark, Roosevelt, and Custer) are all in the northern half of the district.  Bussing students from north Mandan to south Mandan is problematic, because all buses need to stop at the high school and middle school, which are in the northern half of the district. This means the natural flow of bussing is from south to north.

Where would the location be for the new elementary school?

At the present time the school board is planning to locate the school on land the school district owns in the northwest part of the city. The school is hoping to sell 6 acres of the 30 acres it owns in this area so that lots can be developed and new homes can be built next to the school. The revenue from the sale of these lots should cover the infrastructure costs associated with the new school.

As we continue our discussion regarding the new elementary school, new questions will come up. I will try to provide answers to many of those questions in the months ahead. We will also be scheduling several public meetings to provide you with information regarding the school. We will inform you of those dates once they are scheduled.

Okay, so mom’s planning on moving back home after the carpenter in our family completes his tasks on her house. For the record, not much has been done around her house for somewhere close to 30 years.

Thus the interior needed painting, cleaning, and we had to remove the roots that had grown through the sheetrock on her basement wall. Never mind the 20-some odd boxes of books we hauled out along with the overflowing pickup full of trash that’s now in the landfill… the roots were rather disturbing. Carpenter Ben had to tear off the siding to the house, replace some studs, re-channel the water that fed the roots that insidiously crept through the wall. (BTW – yes this is a plug for Ben… he’s turned out to be a really good carpenter.)

So it’s fixed now except for the dirt that slid down the hill and covered the aforementioned basement wall 20 years ago. As you know, the ground freezes fairly solid in January, we’re talking frozen like concrete from the surface to the frost line… 4 feet down. All we had to do was remove the top 18 inches of this frozen tundra.

Like I was saying, the water flowed in this direction for the past 20 years, so the roots and the rock and the mud was/is fully encased in ice… and we had to remove 18 inches of this rocky frozen muck… i.e. dig an 18 inch deep trench that is 25 feet long and 3 feet wide… with a pick ax.

I will leave out the fact that we also have to dig out the steel mesh fence/dog kennel that my dad constructed for his dog, Prairie, 25 years ago. And wouldn’t you know this had to be one of the few projects dad really did right. The fence is 6 feet high and the bottom is buried 1 foot into the ground to prevent Prairie from tunneling under it. After 25 years trees have intertwined into the mesh of the fence… some of these Chinese Elms, Poplars, and vines have grown to a height of 20 feet… their removal will have to wait until spring thaw.

We had to get the water, snow and ice away from the house to protect the aforementioned carpenter work… so back to the pick ax. I don’t know if you’ve ever had to operate a pick ax but I do recall not enjoying the last time I had to use one. For you tool challenged types, a pick ax is a skinny 24-inch long skinny pointed chunk of steel with an ax handle inserted in the middle of it… and it weighs about 10 pounds.

Ten pounds doesn’t sound like much until you foist it over your head and slam it into the ground as hard as you can. My first strokes managed to loosen three gravel-sized rocks per swing. At this point you have no choice except to keep swinging until the pick sticks itself far enough into the ground to crack it. Then you leverage a chunk of frozen dirt and swing again and again and again and again and again… and at this age I found 10 swings at a time was all I could handle.

Once you get the dirt loose then you grab a shovel to remove it and once you remove it then you return to the pick ax for 10 more swings… then you remove that and take 10 more swings and then remove that and you should get the drift by now.

In short order, your sweat glands burst open and even though it’s below freezing outside your undershirt is soaked, your lungs will be chugging like a steam engine, sweat will drizzle down your nose and blur your eyesight… It’s here that the only good thing I could think of was that at least I could skip my trip to the gym for the day and swung on.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that this project would require more effort than I was capable of giving, so I dug for an hour and half. My reward was a pitiful 3-foot square of dirt, thus leaving me another 22 feet of digging… so I went home and napped on it.

I woke up to every muscle in my body angrily expressing themselves via grunts, groans, and aches. My arms ached so bad I could hardly get my hand high enough to pick my nose. While secretly hoping that this project would fix it self I heeded my muscle warnings and decided to wait until they quit complaining before returning. My calculations at this juncture indicate that at 3 feet per attempt I only have seven more tries, or 12 more hours, before I’m done, and since this is a description of day one I have no idea when my muscles will allow me to return to this task… and then there’s that dog pen…

Sure hopin’ you’re able to survive whatever you get yourself into.

25 Years Ago – 1987

On a split vote of 4-1, the Mandan City Commission has named Bryan Giese as municipal judge at a salary of $1,150 per month. Others candidates included Bill Engelter, Chub Ulmer, Tom Kelsch and Judith Atkinson.

Ruby Huber has been elected the new president of the Mandan Hospital Volunteers; she succeeds Millie Block. Other elected officers are: Mary Meeker, first vice president; Hazel Palmer, second vice president and program chairman; Joyce Tvieto and Irene Monzelowsky, recording and corresponding secretaries; and Lorraine Moos, treasurer.

The Mandan High School speech team has taken first place in the individual events among 25 schools competing from Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota at the 16th annual Moorhead Invitational Speech and Debate Tournament held at Moorhead State University. Mandan captured first place with 41 points; Fargo North came in second with 34. Participating from Mandan were Mike Kalvoda, Mark Engelter, Joel Pins, John Bender, Sarah Zittlow, Christina Maruska, Dana Farner, Karen Engelter and Terri Hurdelbrink. The team is coached by Pat Pins, assisted by Jason Bender.

Bryan Giese, who was elected the municipal judge by the Mandan City Commission in 1987.

50 Years Ago – 1962

Friends acquired in Mandan over a span of 78 years called on Mrs. L.N. Cary who observed her 90th birthday at 309 Third Ave. N.W. in a home shared with her son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Colin R. Cary. The former Ann Alison Clark arrived in Mandan in 1883 and married Lyman Cary in 1894. Her accomplishments include membership in Fortnightly Club, the PEO Sisterhood, Daughters of the American Revolution, Pioneer Daughters and the Association of Presbyterian Women.

Mrs. Cary is also credited with the suggestion that the famed Chateau De Mores at Medora be acquired by the State for preservation as a historic site. Her interest in the French nobleman’s home stems from her recollections of 1885 when the grand jury met in Mandan to indict the Marquis for the murder of a man at Medora. Her father, James R. Clark, the local druggist, was foreman of the grand jury that indicted the Marquis who was later tried and acquitted in Burleigh County.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

More than 200 people attended the annual Mandan Chamber of Commerce dinner held at the American Legion Club. Music during the dinner was provided by Wally Maki on the accordion. The chamber’s president Bruce Bair introduced the evening’s speaker, Wyatte F. DeLoach, Midwest district manager of DuPont’s extension division, who spoke on the value of research in the current space age.

The Mandan Braves basketball team lost the leadership spot in the Western Dakota Association in a close game to the Bismarck Demons, 60-59. Although Mandan held a seven-point lead with two minutes remaining, the Demons came back with four quick baskets to go out in front. Mandan’s top scorer was Dan Hilligoss with 24 points, followed by John Hoenig and Bill Engelter with 15 and 10 points, respectively. Leading the Demons were Steve Bahr, 19 points, and Dave Rudrud with 17.

Funeral services were held this week for Thomas Peter Gustin, 39, who died unexpectedly at St. Alexius Hospital. He had been a pressman at the Mandan Daily Pioneer since 1950. Gustin was born in Odessa, Russia, coming to the United States in 1949; he married Kathryn Hoerner in 1951. In addition to his wife, his survivors include three children, plus his father, stepmother and sisters in Russia.

An ad from the Mandan Pioneer in 1962, the primetime lineup for KXMB channel 12.

75 Years Ago – 1937

Sixteen amateur boxers, including three from Mandan, were crowned Golden Gloves champions of North Dakota at the second annual tournament held at the World War Memorial Building in Bismarck. The Mandan victors were Robert Zeller, 186-pound heavyweight in the Class A Division; and Delbert Simpson and Tony Brooker, both in the Class B Division. Sapphire-studded belts were awarded to the Class A winners, while Golden Gloves emblems were given to the Class B winners.

Miss Janet Arthur was seated as Noble Grand of the Rebekah Lodge during a formal installation ceremony conducted in the lodge room in the Memorial Building. She succeeds Miss Fern Burdick.

The El Zagel Shrine temple has elected Col. A.B. Welch of Mandan as Illustrious Potentate for 1937 at their annual meeting held in Fargo; he succeeds J. E. Hendrikson.

Miss Jane Watson has been installed as Worthy Advisor of the Mandan Assembly, Order of Rainbow of Girls, at a public installation held in Masonic Temple, Mandan.

From the Mandan Daily Pioneer, this ad from 1937 is for Buttrey's Clothing Store, which was located on West Main Street.

100 Years Ago – 1912

“Found: At the courthouse, a fountain pen. Owner can have same by paying the cost of this advertisement. S. L. Nuchols.

“Don’t break your neck on the icy walks. Get rubber heels put on your shoes at the City Harness and Shoe Shop.

“Miss Sylvia Louise Nichols and Mr. Lewis F. Lyman were married at Estherville, Iowa, on last Wednesday. They are expected to arrive in Mandan today. Both of the contracting parties are well and favorably known in this city, and Mr. Lyman is one of the prominent young businessmen of this city. The couple will be at home to their many friends after March 1.

“C. L. Timmerman will leave this week for a pleasure trip to Panama to investigate the great work Uncle Sam is doing in that neck of the continent.

“The hospital has made arrangements with the downtown liverymen to make the hack rate to the hospital for 50 cents round trip, instead of $1 as was before.

“Father Hildebrand of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church is planning on putting on two comedy plays at the Opera House about the middle of February. One play will be given in English and the other in German. The English play will be the “Millionaire’s Janitor.”

125 Years Ago – 1887

The village of Mandan was organized in the spring of 1881; by 1887 the population was already nearing the 2,500 mark.

February 3, 1887: “On Thursday at 3:30 p.m. the thermometer stood at 10 degrees below zero.

“James E. Campbell had the misfortune to dislocate his shoulder on Tuesday. Too much ice on the sidewalk and too far to fall were the causes. Dr. Coe reduced the dislocation, and our Jim is once more himself.

“Hay is getting scarce and hard to get and is selling for $15 to $20 a ton in Mandan and may go higher before spring.

“On Friday night, Saturday and Sunday night, we had a rip-snorting wind. It was rather unpleasant to be out in it. Perhaps the Chicagoan, when he reads a little about the Dakota zephyr, will turn up his nose and thank his stars that he does not live in this broad territory. But, which imparts the more gloominess in a man…a Chicago rain, drenching and monotonous, or a Dakota breeze bearing in its arm a few particles of snow that can be brushed off one’s clothes with the greatest of ease? A strong Dakota breeze may be worse, but we question it.”

(To contact Diane Boit, email mandan-news.com)

Dr. Donald Tanaka

Dr. Donald Tanaka, former research soil scientist at the USDA-ARS Northern Great Plain

Research Laboratory, Mandan, was presented with the Northern Pulse Growers Researcher Excellence Award Jan. 24 at the NPGA 19th annual Convention in Minot.

The NPGA Researcher Excellence Award is given to a researcher who has spent a tremendous amount of time and effort promoting and supporting the pulse industry.

Tanaka began his career with the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Sidney, Mont., in 1980, developing no-till crop-fallow systems and has been a significant leader in the team-centered research at the Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory for over two decades.

Tanaka retired his 31-year career at the end of 2011. Tanaka and his wife live in Mandan.

The Northern Pulse Growers Association is a nonprofit organization representing Montana and North Dakota producers and industry representatives of dry peas, lentils and chickpeas.