In case you missed it in The Sun the week of July 10, 2023
Jul. 15—The following stories from this week appeared on
and in The Jamestown Sun.
Ringdahl EMS, operating in Jamestown as Jamestown Area Ambulance Service,
is about six staff members short
of what would be considered full staffing, according to Andrew Berkey, operations manager for the company.
"We could use one or two paramedics and about four EMTs (emergency medical technicians)," he said.
Currently, Jamestown Area Ambulance has five vehicles in its garage. It has enough staff to utilize three on most days although occasionally they have only enough people on duty to operate two of the ambulances, Berkey said.
"We'd love to have enough staff to operate four," he said.
During a 30-day period beginning June 8, the Jamestown Ambulance responded to 218 calls, said Andrew Kirking, Stutsman County emergency manager and 911 coordinator. He said the service has consistently had about 2,350 calls every year since 2020.
The Stutsman County state's attorney will look to
start advertising a larger starting salary
in an effort to recruit and retain more attorneys for his office.
Fritz Fremgen told the Stutsman County Commission on Thursday, July 7, that the state's attorney's office has been short one attorney for 17 months and short two attorneys since June 23.
Since June 23, Fremgen has been the only attorney in the states' attorney's office.
At a special meeting on May 23, the county commission approved salary increases for employees in the state's attorney's office effective June 1. Megan Carmichael, Stutsman County assistant state's attorney at the time, had just submitted her resignation at the time. Carmichael eventually accepted a position with the North Dakota Office of Attorney General.
The chief assistant state's attorney position was added to the pay scale. The Stutsman County State's Attorney's Office has not had an assistant chief state's attorney for a while.
On June 1, the starting yearly salary changed to $100,100 to $104,150 for a state's attorney, $94,000 to $97,850 for an assistant chief state's attorney, $88,300 to $91,900 for an assistant state's attorney II and $82,900 to $86,300 for an assistant state's attorney I.
The entire salary range is now $100,100 to $132,000 for a state's attorney, $94,000 to $124,100 for chief assistant state's attorney, $88,300 to $116,600 for an assistant state's attorney II and $82,900 to $109,510 for an assistant state's attorney I, Fremgen wrote in his state's attorney's report.
Mindi Schmitz, executive director of The Arts Center,
received the first Mary Smith Award
on Thursday, July 6, at the Downtown Arts Market.
The Stutsman County Human Rights Coalition presented the award, which will be given annually in honor of the late Mary Smith, said Pam Phillips, chairman of the coalition.
The Mary Smith Award was presented to Schmitz for her work in human rights, Phillips said.
Schmitz said the coalition's work was "important" in accepting the award.
Smith, 75, who died on Aug. 3, 2022, was the first treasurer of the Stutsman County Human Rights Coalition.
According to her obituary, Smith graduated from high school at the Crippled Children's School, now the Anne Carlsen Center in Jamestown, before earning a degree in social work and a Master of Science in Rehabilitation. She worked at South Central Human Services in Jamestown in the 1970s, later moving to California and working for Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkley, where she worked to develop best practices to provide medical services to the disabled. She co-founded Breast Health Access for Women with Disabilities, which included collaboration with mammography manufacturers to make their machines more user-friendly for the disabled, writing curriculum and training for physicians and technicians regarding positioning during exams and providing training across the country.
Less than two weeks after Emily Ackerman of Jamestown was named Miss Congeniality at the Stutsman County Fair Royalty Pageant,
she added the title of rodeo queen
to her resume.
Ackerman, 16, was crowned Miss Rodeo Mandan on July 4th at Mandan Rodeo Days.
Ackerman said a member of the Mandan rodeo pageant royalty committee reached out to her about entering the Miss Rodeo Mandan Pageant after the Stutsman County Fair Royalty Pageant. The Stutsman County pageant was the first one she had ever entered, where she won Miss Congeniality on June 26.
Miss Rodeo Mandan was chosen based on several criteria, Ackerman said, including horsemanship using two horses that she did not own, private and public interviews, photogenics, a fashion show and speech.
She was crowned at Mandan Rodeo Days on July 4th and received a number of prizes including a buckle and saddle.
The James Valley Library System Board of Directors approved on a 6-0 vote
two contracts to give real estate agents the exclusive right
to represent the board to purchase property for either an expansion of Alfred Dickey Public Library or construction of a new library.
Library board member Charlotte Freeberg was not present at the meeting on Wednesday, July 12.
One contract is with Keller Williams Inspire Realty and is only for the purchase of the Masonic Temple — if that's the direction that the library board chooses — that is across the street from Alfred Dickey Public Library. The other contract is with Keller Williams Inspire Realty and RE/MAX Now in Jamestown for the purchase of any property.
Both contracts expire on July 31, 2024.
A former Jamestown priest
was given a suspended sentence
if he completes 50 hours of community service after pleading guilty to sexual assault, a Class A misdemeanor, on Thursday, July 13, in Southeast District Court in Jamestown.
Neil Joseph Pfeifer, either 48 or 49, who currently resides in Rugby, entered the plea as part of a plea deal that included dismissing a charge of sexual exploitation by a therapist, a Class C felony.
A jury trial on both charges was scheduled for Thursday, July 13, before Judge Cherie Clark, but the plea agreement between Stutsman County State's Attorney Fritz Fremgen and Robert Bolinske, defense counsel, was reached Wednesday, July 12.
Fremgen said he had discussed the plea agreement with the victim and her family and they approved the move.
Clark sentenced Pfeifer to 360 days in the Stutsman County Correctional Center with credit for one day served and all but 10 days suspended. In addition, the nine remaining days would be suspended if Pfeifer performs 50 hours of community service by Sept. 15. Pfeifer was also ordered to pay $325 in court fees and placed on three years of unsupervised probation.
