Dickinson – Page 8 – Dustin Monke

Picking next mayor a process: Dickinson residents have 15 days to form petition for special election

At an open house honoring Dennis Johnson’s time as mayor of Dickinson on Thursday, a man walked up to City Commissioner Gene Jackson and said, “Well hello, Mr. Mayor.”

Jackson quickly corrected the man.

Though the Dickinson City Commission’s vice president will serve as acting commission president for Monday night’s regular commission meeting, there are a few steps the city must take before Dickinson officially names its next mayor.

“The clock starts ticking” today, said City Administrator Shawn Kessel.
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Theater ownership still planning expansion outside of mall

The Cine 3 theatre is shown Tuesday in the Prairie Hills Mall in Dickinson.

The company that runs the Cine 3 theatre in the Prairie Hills Mall says it’s getting closer to building its own facility, but that it’s more than a year away from making any such move.

Odyssey Entertainment, based in the Twin Cities suburb of Maple Grove, Minn., said while it has a long-term lease with the mall’s ownership group, the company continues to actively search for development sites in the city because it hopes to build at least an eight-screen stand-alone theater.

“We’re seeking alternative options, and we have plans to redevelop a theatre,” said Bryan Sieve, head of development for Odyssey. “It won’t be at the mall.”

Since coming to Dickinson in January 2012 and replacing Carmike Cinemas, Sieve said Odyssey has made it known that while the company is happy with the amount of business it brings in at its three-screen location, its longterm plans are to grow and the mall facility won’t allow for that.
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The dark problem with our parks

Growing up, I always heard rumors and stories about Dickinson parks at night. “That’s where kids go to make out and people go to get high.” Back then, teenage me laughed at that because, of course, I didn’t really care. Whatever you can get away with, I often thought. Now that my family lives across the street from one of Dickinson’s largest public parks, I don’t find it so funny.

I called the Dickinson Police Department three times this summer and made similar calls last summer after witnessing what appear to be drug deals and other suspicious activity taking place in my neighborhood’s park after dark.

One call to police a month ago prompted an officer to drive by and eventually get out of his car to look for two men who had been sitting in one of the park’s many darkened areas for more than an hour. By the time he got there, they were already gone. I watched as they fl ed on foot as the officer rolled by.

This spring, I was one of the three people who called 911 after finding a severely beaten man who’d been thrown out of a vehicle and onto a street in the middle of a Saturday afternoon as a dozen bystanders enjoyed a warm day in the park.

Many of those bystanders were children. Some were just yards away.

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Dickinson mayor Dennis Johnson to resign at end of October

Dickinson’s mayor of more than 15 years said he is resigning at the end of the month.

Dennis Johnson, who has overseen the city’s growth since well before the start of the Bakken oil boom, said Monday during a regular city commission meeting that his position on the MDU Resources Group board of directors has created a conflict that is forcing him to choose between either remaining Dickinson’s city commission president or keeping his spot on MDU’s board.

“The annual amount of business between the City of Dickinson and MDU Resources and its subsidiaries is reaching an amount that exceeds the standards set by the New York Stock Exchange, and would result in me being designated a non-independent director,”

Johnson said at the meeting while reading from a prepared statement.

“If I am no longer an independent director, I have to leave the MDU Resources board. I prefer to remain on the MDU Resources board.”
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Transaction denied: Wells Fargo ATM destroyed by forklift in attempted robbery

A forklift was allegedly used in an attempt to break in to an ATM at the Wells Fargo bank in west Dickinson early Wednesday morning.

A forklift was allegedly driven nearly a mile from its construction site location and used in an attempt to rob an ATM at the Wells Fargo bank early Wednesday morning in west Dickinson.

The Dickinson Police Department is investigating the destruction of the ATM and the attempted theft of its contents after an alarm was triggered at about 12:14 a.m.

No money was stolen from the ATM in the incident and police have no suspects, Sgt. Dave Wallace said.

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