The Borderland Press - April 28, 2023

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Friday, April 28, 2023

School resource officer starts in Cavalier County

In this Issue:

Ag: Marketing meat locally is the focus of the NDSU Extension Local Meats webinar series. Pg. A3

Volume 2, Number 16

By Sarah Hinnenkamp

On Monday, April 24, Cavalier County Sheriff’s Deputy Gabe Johnston added school resource officer to his current duties. This is a new position created from a partnership between law enforcement and school districts in the county. Johnston started his first day off at the elementary school around 7:45 a.m., greeting students as they arrived at school. After that he went to the high school and visited with students during breakfast. He expects it will take a little time to get the feel of the position and get the schedule ironed out.

Photos by Larry Stokke.

Area schools, having spent time teaching hour-long sessions on bullying, drugs, and alcohol when requested by the District. Johnston has an office at Langdon Area High School and will meet with school administrators each Tuesday to see how the position is going and where potential adjustments need to be made. Johnston will also spend time at St. Alphonsus School and Munich Public School. “We’ll play it week by week,” Johnston said. “Other than that, I’ll walk the halls, talk to the kids, pop into the classrooms. I’ll be around there in the morning, lunch, and when the kids leave. I will also be attending a lot of athletic events and hanging around and being present.”

“I’m excited to start out with it,” Johnston said. “ I’ve been doing the school stuff for a while now, but this will give me the opportunity to get into the school and work with them Johnston’s goal is to help create a more. I have a good relationship sense of safety and have working relationships with school staff with the kids.” Johnston is a familiar face in Langdon

members.

Education: St. Alphonsus students enjoy time on the farm, Pg. B1

“Just being present, I think a lot of kids will come to me that they might usually not want to talk to law enforcement,” Johnston said. “They will be more comfortable knowing who I am and knowing that law enforcement is here to help.”

Sports: North Border Eagles Ayden Stainbrook named to Lions All-Star Games roster, Pg. B2

Johnston will step in if there’s a crime happening in one of the schools, but as far as regular classroom management, he says he’ll yield to

the teachers. Johnston grew up in Langdon and has been a deputy in Cavalier County for 10 years; prior to that, he was a Grand Forks County correctional officer for three and a half years. The school resource officer is not a full-time position, as Johnston is also responsible for handling jail transports for the court.

Walhalla and Neche work together seeking to change border crossing hours The petition requests any remaining pandemic restrictions to be lifted at the ports to allow businesses and farms to resume being efficient and allow family ties that cross the international border to be renewed. The petition further claims the border restrictions during and after the pandemic have been “profoundly negative” for the northeast corner of the state.

Photos by Melanie Thornberg.

Petitions have recently been circulated in the border towns of Walhalla and Neche in an effort to return port of entry hours to what they were before COVID. The towns are five miles and one mile from the U.S.-Canada border, respectively. Many feel a return to normal operational hours on a permanent basis is a necessity. “We miss a lot of that business on Main Street, Walhalla or at the campground. When they’re down here they always fill their gas tanks and eat supper. When you multiply it, it adds up to a lot, and we just need to get it open,” said Leroy Carpenter, a member of the Walhalla City Council. Currently the American side of the border closes at 6 p.m. at Walhalla and 4 p.m. at Neche, rather than the 10 p.m. pre-COVID closure time. Both

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crossings open at 8 a.m.

The Walhalla Area Chamber of Commerce and Carpenter spearheaded the project initially with help from the Walhalla Park Board and Walhalla City Council. Rebecca Davis, executive director of the Walhalla Area Chamber of Commerce, said it was a group effort, with Carpenter taking it and running with it.

Leaders from both communities have joined together to form a singular petition with a letter they plan to send to the state’s elected leaders including Representative Kelly Armstrong, Senators John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer, Gov. Doug Burgum, as well as Area Port Director Christopher Mission, to request a permanent return to pre-pandemic hours.

“Leroy was the one that sent us a copy of the letter that the city of Walhalla is sending, and it’s something that we’re totally on board with,” said Stuart Symington, mayor of Neche. “Mainly because it’s done significant damage to our towns and business around here - there are a lot of parcel businesses and fuel businesses affected. There was just a lot more traffic that came down.”

Prior to the petition, leaders from the area called offices of North Dakota’s congressional delegation, asking that the port of entry hours return to preCOVID hours.

Symington is in his second term as mayor and also serves as Neche’s fire chief.

“The secretaries are real nice, but no one is doing anything to change this,” Carpenter said.

Legislative Education Sports Classifieds Public Notices

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there have been people who say that it will never go back to normal. That’s the biggest worry.”

They can’t even come over here for supper,” he said. “I guess we’ll see what happens.”

Petitions were available to sign around the towns, including at the Walhalla Co-Op. General manager Floyd Clark said quite a few people stopped in and signed the petition, and he hopes it will make a difference.

Just up the road in Walhalla at the Parcel Barn, owner Kristi Stremick has been holding some customer packages for a few years, ever since COVID shut down the border. Her company, which opened shortly before the start of the pandemic, handles shipping and freight. Amazon and other companies, like some that ship car parts, won’t ship to Canada, so Canadian shoppers use the Parcel Barn as the middleman. They ship their items to the Parcel Barn address then pay per box and weight upon pick up.

“As far as we’re concerned here, it sure would be nice if they would be open later. They could get gas and snacks here,” Clark said. “We’ve been down so bad since COVID because they closed the border right up – we used to have a lot of traffic.” Clark said going back to the American side of the border being open until 10 p.m. would be great, but he would like to see 8 p.m. for sure. Even if Canadian shoppers are going farther south, like Grand Forks or Fargo, many would stop in Walhalla on the way home. “Anything’s better than 6 o’clock.

“A lot of people don’t get done with work until 5 or 6, and so it’s hard for them to get to the states to do business,” Stremick said. “Obviously, it’s affecting Walhalla and at the same exact port, one side is open and one is closed. It hasn’t been easy – that’s how Walhalla survives, is on Cacont’d. on page 2

Aurora Borealis puts on a show over the weekend

“We’re hoping that this will have an effect,” Symington said. “I’m not sure how far it will go. We’ve just seen how there’s kind of been a disregard for our border - people turn a blind eye -

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The Northern Lights put on quite the show Sunday night, April 23. Read more and see more photos on Page B8