Category: News

The Big Little Guy Who Changed My Life

My outlook on life completely changed nine months ago.

The reason was Grant Bennett Monke. He came into our lives last September as a 9-pound, 22-inch newborn baby.

Now he’s a 31 inches, 22 pounds and is a speed-crawling cruiser who leads us on many chases around the house.

Grant is a smart little charmer who loves to laugh and smile, enjoys taking apart his toys, having books read to him and then flipping through them himself.  

The news business, as some of you probably expect, is stressful. Days can be long, busy, and equal parts infuriating and invigorating. But everything changes when I walk through the front door and Grant looks up at me, smiles and says “DaDa!”

As I celebrate my first Father’s Day today with Grant and my wife, Sarah, it’s amazing to reflect on the changes we’ve had to make in our lives because of this big little guy.

The first three months went pretty well. Aside from a couple get-thrown-in-the-deep-end moments, Grant was great as an infant. He even flew on an airplane like a champ over the New Year’s holiday.

After that, things got more interesting. We watched as his personality started to form and he lit up the lives of everyone around him.

Now, as he starts making that transition to toddlerhood, we’re able to incorporate him into the lives we lived before he came around.

Going to events like Friday’s Bakken BBQ are still fun. They’re just a different kind of fun. I ran into some of my single buddies who were drinking beer and carousing, while I was on the hunt for baked beans and one of the juicier porks being served because, well, that’s what Grant can eat at a BBQ.

Though my industry works on daily deadlines, there’s times when I have to drop everything and rely on my wonderful staff because Grant needs to be taken to an appointment or picked up from day care. (Special shout-out to Holly for doing an excellent job!)

Then there’s times like last week, when Sarah had to go on a four-day work training trip and I’m left trying to balance work in an election week and being a dad to a teething 9-month-old. Thankfully, Grandma was available on Election Night to help pick up some slack.

But it’s all worth it, because being a dad is fun. Though there are some nearly sleepless nights — including a couple last week — and some very, very costly purchases that go along with having a kid, especially one that has grown nine inches in nine months, being a father is something I wouldn’t trade for the world.

The most exciting stuff is what you learn along the way.

I’ve discovered “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” or “Paw Patrol” and a remote control without batteries, or even a water bottle, can create a perfect 30-second distraction.

Sarah has taught me the beauty of strategic interior decorating, wherein a brick fireplace can still work for the room despite being covered with padded alphabet tiles, and how arranging our couches just right can create the perfect play area.

I know now that if I want to make my son laugh, I only need to spin him around, or bust out a rhyme or a funny word. For some reason, the word “explosion” said in just the right way makes Grant double over with laughter.

Grant doesn’t stop learning, either. He started talking a couple months ago and knows a few words.

He’s learned that Go-Go Squeeze, Cheerios and pancakes are pretty awesome. Almost simultaneously, he found out that his dog, Noodle, will eat just about anything he drops to him.

Everyone says having a child changes your life. And it obviously does. But really, it’s how one chooses to raise their children that determines what kind of a parent they really are.

Me? I choose to be the best dad I can, whether that’s running to Wal-Mart at 10 p.m. for diapers, working until midnight on a Thursday so I can spend time with Grant on the weekend, or simply being there for him when he needs me or getting him the things he wants and needs.

Because I cannot imagine a life that Grant’s not a part of.

Century-Old Dunn County Church Destroyed in Fire

DUNN CENTER — A lightning strike to its steeple set a 100-year-old church ablaze Monday evening in rural Dunn County.

The Vang Lutheran Church, which maintained a small congregation despite ending regular Sunday services in 2010, was destroyed by the fire.

“You just trust the Lord knows what’s best for the congregation,” said Dave Nodland, one of the church’s few remaining members.

The church opened in 1916 about 6 miles southeast of Dunn Center following eight years of planning and construction. The earliest parishioners were Norwegian immigrants who moved to the area from Renville County, Minn., and the church served generations of central Dunn County Lutheran families, former state Sen. George Nodland said.

“It was basically an icon to the county,” said Halliday Fire Chief Joey Bogers, who responded to the fire.

Dunn County Commission Chairman Reinhard Hauck — who was baptized there — said Tuesday the church only recently officially closed as a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America’s Western North Dakota Synod.

Hauck and Dave Nodland said because of the building’s deterioration — it was badly damaged by hail a few years ago — families who were stakeholders in the church had started talking about its eventual fate.

“We were still struggling with that,” Dave Nodland said. “I guess the good Lord made the decision for us. … Nobody wanted to see it close because it was a landmark for generations.”

Around 30 firefighters responded to the fire after it was reported around 7:30 p.m., Bogers said, adding he could see the fire from three miles away.

Dave Nodland said he and other congregation members told firefighters to let the church burn after the blaze spread beyond the steeple and fire trucks began running out of water.

“It was at the point where you just couldn’t fight it,” he said.

The church burned to the ground within two hours, Bogers said.

“You think of all the lightning storms there have been in the last 100 years and finally one struck,” Dave Nodland said.

Denise Brew, the county’s emergency manager, called the church fire is “devastating” to locals.

“It’s that one church everybody in the county knew of,” she said. “It was the beacon of the county down there.”

George Nodland said he was baptized at the Vang Lutheran Church and has about 40 relatives buried in the church’s cemetery, which he said will continue to be maintained.

His grandfather was one of the church’s founders, and said services were held at the family’s home while the church was being constructed.

“It has quite a history,” he said.

Shortly before Memorial Day, George Nodland said he visited the church after tidying up his relative’s gravesites.

“I went into the church and looked at some stuff,” he said. “I made a comment to my wife, ‘Somebody should get that stuff out of there.’ It was getting old.”

A few items were spared, Dave Nodland said, including the baptismal fountain, and some pictures and communion items. However, the pews and the altar — which he said the congregation hoped to save — were completely lost in the fire.

George Nodland said he went through a range of emotions Tuesday as he learned more about the fire and the remains of the church his family helped build.

“It means a lot to me,” he said.

Simons, Schatz Win GOP Nomination in District 36 House

The two Republican Party-endorsed candidates for District 36 House of Representatives are moving on to the general election.

Rep. Mike Schatz and Luke Simons gained the party’s nominations on Tuesday, each garnering more than 1,800 votes in a three-person race.

Rep. Alan Fehr, who did not receive the party’s endorsement during the district convention, will not return the Legislature next session after finishing third in the voting with just over 1,200 votes.

Simons, a rancher from rural Dickinson and a self-described Constitutionalist, received the party’s nomination earlier this year over Fehr.

He said he has spoken with several people on the campaign trail who agree with allegiance to the U.S. Constitution and conservative Christian philosophies.

“I think I’m explaining some principles we used to hold to be self-evident to a lot of people,” Simons said.

Schatz, a retired teacher and football coach from New England, said it was the most interesting race and first contested primary he’s ever been a part of.

“There was a lot of time and effort put in by everybody,” Schatz said. “I want to thank Alan and Luke for being such gentlemen during the campaign. It was a well-run primary.”

Fehr, a Dickinson psychologist and retired U.S. Navy officer, said he was grateful for the opportunity to serve in the Legislature over the past four years, and for the people who supported him.

“It’s one of those things that a lot of people don’t have the opportunity for, and I’m grateful for the opportunity,” he said. “I learned a lot doing that and it was a great experience.”

Sen. Kelly Armstrong, the state Republican Party chairman, ran unopposed in the primary.

On the Democrat-NPL side, Senate candidate John D.W. Fielding received just 224 votes while running unopposed. House candidates Dean Meyer and Linda Kittilson received 208 and 207 votes, respectively, to move on to the general election.

People injured, and homes destroyed and damaged after tornado hits Baker, Mont.

BAKER, Mont. — An unknown number of people were injured, at least two homes were destroyed and as many as a dozen others were damaged after a tornado struck the east side of Baker just before 7 p.m. Saturday.

Dean Butori, the Fallon County deputy director of emergency services, said it’s believed the tornado touched down inside the southeast Montana city of about 1,900 people. Baker is about 15 miles from the North Dakota border and 100 miles southwest of Dickinson.

The damage, while not widespread, was significant.

“I’ve lived here my whole life. It’s the worst destruction I’ve seen,” said Steve Baldwin, a Fallon County commissioner and Baker resident was is acting as the Department of Emergency Services spokesperson.

A photo of the tornado that struck Baker, Mont., on Saturday evening. (Submitted photo)
A photo of the tornado that struck Baker, Mont., on Saturday evening. (Submitted photo)

Baldwin said he didn’t know how many people were injured or hospitalized, but “everyone is accounted for.”

“We’re just getting ready to go in and do a second assessment here, just to double check everything,” he said shortly after 10:30 p.m. Saturday.

Baldwin said electricity is out on the east side of Baker and that landline telephones are down.

He said at least seven homes were confirmed to have sustained significant damage. Two were destroyed and roofs were pulled off of at least five, he said. He said it’s very likely that others are also damaged.

“I was just right at the center of it there — the part that got hit the worst,” he said.

Baldwin said everyone is thankful no one was killed in the tornado because of the amount of activities taking place. Not only was Little League baseball being played at the time, the Montana High School Rodeo Association State Finals were being held not far from where the tornado tore apart homes.

Lori Hall, an off-duty 911 dispatcher who lives on the east side of Baker, said she saw the tornado form outside of the front door of her home and then watched as it hit her neighbors houses.

“The whole house is gone,” Hall said of one home not far from her own. “The neighbors dug them out. They were the first ones to be rescued.”

Hall said she saw an RV camper be lifted off the ground and get sent airborne by the storm, and watched as a horse fought to run against the high winds. She added that she later saw the same horse safe with its handler.

Emergency responders from Bowman County, N.D., and other neighboring Montana counties were called in to assist their Fallon County and Baker counterparts, Baldwin said.

The first report of the tornado was at 7 p.m., according to Todd Chambers, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Billings, Mont.

Chalmers said the tornado was relayed to them by a storm spotter four miles to the east of Baker.

He said a more accurate time of impact may be around 6:55 p.m. Chalmers said he viewed video and photos of the tornado impacting the town.

More information about the strength and the path of the tornado will become clear Sunday, he said. The National Weather Service is sending a team to Baker to collect data.

Chalmers said the storm system moved northeast to the Montana-North Dakota line, but it is unknown if it caused any further damage.

Photo submitted by Lori Hall
Photo submitted by Lori Hall

Derek Smith, a storm chaser from Oklahoma, said he got to Baker after the tornado had gone through.

“It was very confined. It’s very sporadic. It’s freaky how they work,” said Smith, who works for Live Storms Media. “One home was destroyed (but) the outbuilding, a metal shed, was totally unharmed with a lawnmower in it.”

Baker resident Dean Wang, who was working at the rodeo, said it was evacuated as contestants and spectators were taken to a storm shelter underneath the grandstand.

Wang said he watched as the tornado “touched down over (Lake Baker) and damaged several homes on the east side of town.”

He said the second round of the rodeo finals were suspended for the evening and will resume at 7 a.m. Sunday, but only if there is an ambulance available to be on scene. If not, Wang said the rodeo may have to be delayed further.