Trinity fire – Dustin Monke

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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Trinity teardown begins: Construction crews demolishing unusable east wing

A Veit Construction worker uses an excavator while tearing into Trinity High School’s east wing on Tuesday afternoon as part of demolition to remove the part of the building rendered unusable by the March 2014 fire. (Dustin Monke / The Dickinson Press)

Steel was ripped, bricks crumbled, dust flew and even chalkboards weren’t spared from the wrath of a construction excavator performing the final demolition project at Trinity High School on Tuesday afternoon.

“When I first came out here, I started crying,” said Dickinson Catholic Schools President Steve Glasser as he drove by to watch the demolition late in the afternoon. “It puts some closure to everything we’ve been through in the past 14 months. Now it’s real.”

Demolition of the structure began shortly after lunchtime, said Eugene Smith, project superintendent for JE Dunn Construction.

He said Veit Construction, which is a subcontractor on the job, began chipping away at the building and segregating iron, aluminum, sheet metal and concrete.

“They pull the concrete and recycle everything,” Smith 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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Questions aside, Trinity will be fine

Like many people in southwest North Dakota, I’m a Lutheran who is friends with a lot of Catholics.

For me, it goes back to high school when I met a handful of Trinity kids and found that, despite what us small-towners had heard, they weren’t the arrogant “big city” kids some thought they were. A few of those guys have become lifelong friends and, through them, I’ve met many other great friends and people along the way.

One of those guys woke me up Monday with a text message while I was laying in a hotel bed on vacation. He asked if I had heard about the fire at Trinity High School. He didn’t have many details but knew school was canceled. Wondering just how serious it was, we theorized it was something small — maybe an electrical fire — that could probably be dealt with. He had driven by and said the outside of the building looked OK.

So, I assigned the story to one of our reporters and got back to the last day of my vacation.

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