Compiled by LAUREN DONOVAN

Bismarck Tribune

At least one McLean County commissioner isn't sure that going without a drug dog is such a good idea.

Commissioner Julie Hudson-Schenfisch said she's received a lot of calls from people who weren't happy to read that the county was retiring its only drug dog.

She said people are concerned that criminals will see a clear path to sneak drugs in and through the county.

Commissioner Ron Krebsbach said stories in the paper didn't do justice to the situation.

He said the retired dog was dangerous and was a liability to the county.

Krebsbach said he was never comfortable having the dog in Garrison because of its attack nature.

Sheriff Don Charging said the story didn't stress the fact that the retired dog was a "one-man dog."

State's Attorney Ladd Erickson said the county got the older dog at a discount rate and it was never meant to be a long-term situation.

"I don't think anybody on our end was looking to get a dog that would scare people," he said.

The sheriff and state's attorney said they'll meet to come up with a plan of attack, so to speak, for a replacement dog.

- Leader-News

Helping out

The North Dakota Department of Commerce teamed up with a South Central Dakota development council to help out Wishek.

The two have provided $100,000 to Wishek Manufacturing LLC, to purchase new equipment and another $10,000 to help with administrative costs.

Most of the money will finance equipment for an expansion to the plant that will allow the company to create at least 13 new, good-paying jobs over the next two years, said Stuart Bernard, a project officer for the South Central Dakota Regional Council.

The new 12,000-square-foot facility will mean more space to assemble the company's highly regarded Wishek Disk and other tillage products. They are distributed nationally and overseas, as well as in Canada.

Gov. John Hoeven joined leaders of Wishek Manufacturing and its parent company Wil-Rich when they broke ground for the $1 million assembly plant expansion in November.

-The Wishek Star

Fair well

The Divide County Fair will fare well, after all.

The alarm went out in recent months that the fair, a county tradition, might not be held if a fair board slate of officers and directors couldn't be filled. And without a board, the Divide County Commission didn't think it could allocate money for the summer event.

At a public meeting, though, people came forward.

A full board was seated and eight associate directors were appointed to begin planning for the fair June 20-22.

Divide County Commissioner Gerald Brady said the county's responsibility was to make sure there was an entity in place to disburse funding to.

Brady also said he didn't think it would work to recruit fair board members from outside the county, who might have school kids in the county.

"I don't think you want to be in a situation where people from outside the county are spending taxpayer money," he said.

The fair association gets about $12,500 worth of county mill levies.

Some events are already scheduled and other ideas will be discussed at a noon meeting Tuesday at the Good Stuff Coffee Shop in Crosby.

- The Journal