Category: Monke

IN DEVELOPMENT: Dickinson Hills, West Ridge face hurdles while moving forward

For about three years, Brian Hymel has split his time between Dickinson and Salt Lake City. His wife doesn’t really like it, and neither do his children. It’s tough to say goodbye to them every couple weeks when he returns to North Dakota for work, he said.

But unlike many of the people drawn to western North Dakota over the past five years, Hymel isn’t directly connected to oil. Instead, he and his partners are in the process of building areas to serve the people coming to Dickinson because of work related to the Oil Patch.

Their latest project, the 98-acre Dickinson Hills Shopping Center mixed-use development along Interstate 94, is aimed at attracting both new and longtime residents.

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CHI St. Joseph’s secures new medical helicopter

It didn’t take long for CHI St. Joseph’s Health to find a replacement for its medical helicopter service.

Grand Forks-based Valley Med Flight agreed Tuesday to base a medical helicopter at the helipad of the new St. Joseph’s hospital under construction in Dickinson. Valley Med Flight will also provide fixed-wing aircraft support to southwest North Dakota from its existing bases.

“Our No. 1 concern is access for our patients,” said Reed Reyman, president of CHI St. Joseph’s Health. “We just know that a helicopter needs be based here and we know we have to have access to fixed wing, so we did all we could to get this in place.”

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Survey says …

We asked. You answered. The Press survey results show readers have mixed feelings on the boom’s impact; feel Dickinson is a worse place than it was 5 years ago.  

The oil boom has changed Dickinson and southwest North Dakota’s way of life — and a majority of people don’t like it, according to a Dickinson Press survey.

Of the 1,310 readers who voted in the survey online or through the newspaper over the last two weeks, 57 percent said they don’t believe the area is a better place than it was five years ago. Sixty-four percent have mixed feelings on the energy industry’s impact on the area, saying it has brought a combination of good and bad impacts.

In response to the survey’s results, Dickinson Mayor Dennis Johnson said he understands there is a “significant minority” who have been negatively impacted by the oil boom, whether it’s because of increased housing costs, a higher cost of living or everyday issues, such as dealing with increased traffic or longer lines at the grocery store.

“In general, what’s happening here is good,” Johnson said. “But it isn’t good for everybody.”

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NO SPRINKLERS: Record-setting water usage leads Dickinson to ban use of outdoor

There will be no running through the sprinklers to cool off in Dickinson this weekend.

Dickinson officials have issued a ban on all outdoor water use over the weekend after a day of record-setting usage left the city’s systems strained.

City Administrator Shawn Kessel said Dickinson used 5.7 million gallons of water Thursday, the most in its history.

“Our water distribution network is not able to keep up with the record-setting demand that we are having,” Kessel said.

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CONSTRUCTING A CLASS: Classrooms take shape as Trinity continues to recover from fire

Modular buildings have become a common tool in western North Dakota. Oilfield and construction projects often necessitate the need for temporary structures that can be erected, used and moved at a moment’s notice.

On the outside, the modular classroom buildings being attached to the west wing of Trinity High School have a similar feel. But looks can be deceiving. Inside, the eight classrooms feel like they could be in any actual school building. In some ways, they’re better.

“You’d think you’re in a school,” Dickinson Catholic Schools President Steve Glasser said Thursday while giving a tour of Trinity’s construction and cleanup progress.

“We want our students to feel at home. We really feel this is going to be very comfortable for our students and our teachers.”

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