In case you missed it in The Sun the week of May 19, 2025
May 24—The following stories from this week appeared on
www.jamestownsun.com
and in The Jamestown Sun.
Students, faculty, staff and administrators of Victory Christian School as well as parents and Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce ambassadors
marked the completion of the school's new addition
on Friday, May 16, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
"It's going to benefit the church and benefit the community of Jamestown to have this space," said Mike Woodley, executive director of Victory Christian School.
Beginning this fall, Victory Christian School will offer classes for students prekindergarten through ninth grade. The school offered classes for students prekindergarten through eighth grade this past school year.
A new grade will be added each year with the addition of 12th grade in 2028.
Victory Christian School launched its $5 million "Growing Together" capital campaign in April 2024 for the construction of the new addition with a goal of starting a high school. Woodley said $4.2 million has been raised of the $5 million goal.
The Stutsman County Commission in a 4-0 vote on Tuesday, May 20,
appointed Benjamin Tompkins
to serve on the board.
Tompkins was one of 11 applicants who applied to fill the vacant seat on the county commission."I'm very excited," Tompkins said. "I think that I can bring a lot of perspective that not everybody gets to see."
The other applicants were George Barnes, John Baumgartner, Paul Belzer, Dernel Denning, Steven Gerszewski, John Grabinger, Daren Peterka, Trever Sahr, Taylor Vining and Alan Williams.
Tompkins took the oath of office and filled the vacant seat after he was appointed on Tuesday.
The vacancy was created after the death of Commissioner Jerry Bergquist on April 24. Bergquist was elected to the commission in November 2022.
Tompkins will hold the office at least until the next general election. North Dakota Century Code 44-02-05 says the appointee holds office until the appointee's successor is elected at the next general election that occurs at least 95 days after the vacancy and the successor has qualified. The next general election cycle is in 2026.
The Jamestown Building, Planning and Zoning Committee unanimously recommended approval on Tuesday, May 20, of
a minor subdivision in northeast Jamestown
.
The final plat of the Buffalo Estates First Addition is a replat of a portion of Horizon Estates First Addition. Buffalo Estates First Addition is located east of the Two Rivers Activity Center between 25th and 27th Avenue Northeast and north of 5th Street Northeast. There is no street for 25th Avenue Northeast at the location.
In related business, the Building, Planning and Zoning Committee unanimously recommended approval of the future land use plan amendment for Buffalo Estates First Addition from vacant/agricultural to a single-family residential district. The committee also unanimously recommended approval to introduce the first reading of an ordinance to amend and reenact ordinance No. 1556 of the city code by amending the district map to change the zoning of blocks one and two of the Buffalo Estates First Addition from a one-family residential district to a one-family residential and duplex or two-family residential district.
The reason for the requests of the future land use plan and zoning map amendments is "to have the optimum ability to develop the area between single-family homes and single-family attached homes," according to the applications.
The Jamestown chief of police says an ordinance is needed that would impose fees
for repeat offenders of false burglar or fire alarms
at businesses in Jamestown.
Scott Edinger, chief of police, told the Jamestown Police and Fire Committee on Thursday, May 22, that the discussion for an ordinance is in the preliminary stages. He said the Jamestown Police Department has responded to an average of 218 false alarm calls per year for the past 10 years. In a letter to the Jamestown City Council, Edinger wrote that less than 0.25% of the alarms the Jamestown Police Department responds to have any actual emergency involved.
Edinger said many of the false burglar alarm calls are at the same businesses.
Fire Chief Jim Reuther said the Jamestown Fire Department is also experiencing a lot of false fire alarm calls.
Mayor Dwaine Heinrich said city staff should research what can be put in an ordinance and present it to the City Council.
Edinger said the ordinance should be in place starting on Jan. 1, 2026.
"That gives us an opportunity to get this information out to the businesses," he said.
No action was taken on the issue.
The status of funding for Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center and other facilities operated by the U.S. Geological Survey through its Ecosystems Mission Area
is still unclear
even after the House of Representatives passed the Trump administration-sponsored budget bill on Thursday, May 22.
Sen. John Hoeven's office replied in an email to a request for information before the budget bill passed the House of Representatives by saying, "We checked with the Department of the Interior regarding the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. DOI is evaluating their facility options and no budget decisions have been made at this point regarding staffing or funding."
Rep. Julie Fedorchak's office did not provide information regarding the status of funding for the Ecosystems Mission Area the morning after the budget bill passed during the overnight hours.
Various media outlets and national and regional wildlife and ecological organizations have reported that the Ecosystems Working Group and its laboratories around the country will be eliminated as part of budget cuts going into the next federal fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.
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