Articles

Grandparents at odds over custody of 4-year-old orphan

In her young life, 4-year-old Leah Ashley Johnson has experienced many losses. Her father, Eric Johnson, died Oct. 31 in a car crash near Wyndmere, N.D. Her mother, Heather Johnson, died in a car crash in Rhode Island in November 2005.

• Leah Ashley Johnson

Man will look into deadly accident

Anderson ‘widely known for integrity’
A former federal prosecutor and veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps is the man the city of Fargo has picked to investigate problems with a Fargo roadway linked to a fatal crash.

• Accident scene after repair
• Norm Anderson

Warm welcome: Hooligans back from Kuwait mission

It’s good to see snow instead of sand,” said Donald Clarke, moments after the staff sergeant stepped off the plane Wednesday at Fargo’s Hector International Airport.

• Troops home

Land grab stirs call for school vote

Work has already begun on Judge Ronald N. Davies High School at 70th Avenue and 25th Street South in Fargo and school officials hope construction will start in earnest early in 2009. Done deal, right? Not so fast, say some who feel that School District residents should have been allowed to vote on the project, expected to cost $44.4 million.

Woman rescued after being attacked by own dog

Billie Wegner had clipped her dog’s toenails before and sometimes it earned her a growl or a snap from Noah, her 10-year-old Great Pyrenees. But the Hawley, Minn., woman wasn’t prepared for what happened Monday when she tried to groom her dog.

Detroit Lakes man helps others escape burning jet

Rich Kostynick Jr. says his dad isn’t one to blow his own horn too loudly. So others are doing it for him.

• Rich Kostynick Sr.

Farmer’s death ‘a double loss,’ friend says

The death of Lyndon Wayne Lee on Friday in a grain bin on Lee’s rural Kindred, N.D., farm was a significant loss to his community in many ways, said Ken Blilie, Kindred’s fire chief.

Slippery roads lead to death of WF woman

A 47-year-old West Fargo woman was the latest area resident whose life was claimed by icy road conditions in the region in recent days.

Crashes spur driving age proposal

Wrecks involving young people propel Gruchalla’s push to raise driving age in North Dakota.
In 25 years as a North Dakota Highway Patrol trooper, Ed Gruchalla saw his share of young drivers who encountered tragedy.

Fargo School District hopes end to land case close

The president of the Fargo School Board said after a closed-door session Friday that he is optimistic the district and the city of Fargo will come to terms on a disputed parcel of land.

Columns

Ahlin: Cyclists, motorists must change their bad habits

Now that Fargo has made the commitment to stripe major downtown roads with bike lanes, it’s time to get serious about education for motorists and bicyclists.

• Jane Ahlin

Ahlin: Ever-silly NRA even sillier in this new era of the drone

Ah, the good old National Rifle Association: Paranoid bully that it is – with its anti-government fixation on arming/alarming Americans and threatening politicians – its heyday might be in the rearview mirror.

• Jane Ahlin

Ahlin: America is out of excuses regarding drunken driving

When it comes to drunken drivers causing the deaths of innocent people on our roads, America is out of excuses.

• Jane Ahlin

Ahlin: Let us consider a new oath for the Boy Scouts

Perhaps you have heard the new Boy Scout Oath:

• Jane Ahlin

Ahlin: It’s a tale of 2012 version of ‘chasing around desk’

Some months before my mother’s death, one of her sisters told me that in her first job, my mother – the oldest of five children – sent money home each month that allowed the family to get a first telephone and first electric refrigerator.

• Jane Ahlin

Ahlin: Women’s private parts: so political and popular, too

In the aftermath of Michigan Democratic legislator Lisa Brown being banned by her Republican counterparts from speaking on the Michigan House floor after she said “vagina” during debate over anti-abortion legislation, even the Republicans must wonder what they were thinking. Women’s private parts: so political and popular, too

• Jane Ahlin

Ahlin: Cost of weak helmet laws counted in money and pain

The physician with the beat-up motorcycle helmet in his hand was a pathology resident at the university, a doctor who moonlighted in a hospital emergency room to make extra money while completing his training. Cost of weak helmet laws counted in money and pain

• Jane Ahlin

Ahlin: Good memories the glue that keeps families together

My advice to adult children: Be specific.

• Jane Ahlin

Ahlin: Flood protection is a vital and expensive investment

Oh, the price tags: $247 million for flood mitigation, $393 million for infrastructure, $350 million for the diversion.

• Jane Ahlin

Ahlin: Like fledgling spring crops, friendship gains and grows

Time to check my crops. OK, “my” might not be the right word, since I don’t own the land and don’t know who does.

• Jane Ahlin