Tag: News

Erratic weather brings ups, downs during harvest for area farmers

The only delay Lenci Sickler saw this week in his family’s spring wheat harvest was a combine that broke down Wednesday.

North of Dickinson, farmers like Sickler haven’t been affected much by the colder temperatures and rain showers that have hindered their counterparts south of town since Sunday.

“We’ve kind of been in a weird pocket here where we’re at,” Sickler said during a phone interview while driving a combine.

In rural Hettinger County between New England and Regent, Jon Stang hasn’t been so lucky.

“We’re shut down for the day,” Stang said.

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Sheriff denies ex-Trinity principal’s lawsuit allegations

BISMARCK — The final defendant in the former Trinity High School principal’s federal lawsuit against the city of Dickinson and three law enforcement officials denied allegations made against him on Monday.

Stark County Sheriff Terry Oestreich denied Thomas Sander’s allegations in a U.S. District Court complaint that he was subjected to intimidating interrogation while Oestreich was a detective with the Dickinson Police Department investigating the March 3, 2014, fire that destroyed parts of the school.

Sander claimed in a complaint, filed June 8, that he was “seized, confined, and subjected to unreasonable force, including coercive, threatening, and intimidating interrogation, by law enforcement officials,” including Oestreich, Detective Sgt. Kylan Klauzer and Detective Jeremy Moser, “until he falsely confessed to starting the fi re.”

Sander is suing the city of Dickinson, the three law enforcement officials and up to 10 unnamed “Doe” defendants for emotional and financial damages that allegedly occurred during his incarceration after he claimed that Klauzer and Oestreich coerced him into admitting that he started the Trinity fire during an interrogation March 4 and 5, 2014.
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Haider’s mother still waiting for answers about son’s death

The mother of a man whose body was found in a Dickinson construction site three years after he disappeared from there says she has received little information about the investigation into his death just days before a memorial service will be held for him.

Nearly three months have passed since the body of Eric Haider was found at a worksite off 40th Street West in north Dickinson by private investigators who had been hired by Mary Ellen Suchan, Haider’s mother.

Haider’s remains were exhumed May 22 “relatively intact,” according to a Dickinson Police Department report and a positive identification was made a week later. He had disappeared from the job site where he was working for Cofell’s Plumbing and Heating on May 24, 2012. Police investigators and private citizens spent months looking for Haider, who was 30 years old and living in the Bismarck area at the time of his death, near the site following his disappearance, but turned up no results.

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49 apply to be DSU president

Forty-nine people have applied for Dickinson State University’s president position, according to the North Dakota University System, and few have any connection to the university or the state.

There is one internal applicant, one from a different North Dakota university and one Dickinson State University alumnus. About half of the applicants are from the upper Midwest or Rocky Mountain states, and two others have North Dakota connections.

“We have a great pool of interesting and qualifi ed candidates from a wide variety of backgrounds,” DSU presidential search committee chair Kari Reichert said in an email to The Press. “(Washington, D.C.-based) AGB Search consultants are impressed with the strong interest in DSU from across the country. It is an exciting time for the campus and community.”

Notable applicants include:

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Coston stepping down as DSU president

D.C. Coston is stepping down as Dickinson State University’s president on Aug. 15.

In an email sent to DSU staff Monday evening and obtained by The Dickinson Press, Coston said health reasons led him to the decision.

The NDUS board will hold a special meeting at 10 a.m. MDT Tuesday in Bismarck to appoint an interim president to begin serving in the role by Aug. 17. DSU’s fall semester begins Aug. 24.

When Coston announced his plan to retire in February, he said he anticipated stepping down when his full-time replacement was hired. He reiterated that plan in his email.

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