Plans to locate a North Dakota Firefighters Museum in Garrison are moving along like a house on fire. In this case, it'll be a bakery.

A board of directors has been working to develop a statewide project and recently announced plans to purchase the former bakery on Garrison's Main Street.

The building is owned by McLean County because of unpaid property taxes.

Director Mike Matteson said the building is structurally sound, has a concrete floor and is abutted by a vacant lot for possible expansion. It needs a new roof, though, and that will be a top priority once the building is formally acquired.

The directors hope the state's only museum dedicated to firefighting history can be open by fall.

Director John Huettl said that while the building will be in Garrison, the museum will be about North Dakota.

"We want every firefighter across the state to feel that it is their museum," Huettl said.

Garrison chamber and development director Jude Iverson said the museum will build on Garrison's reputation as a tourism destination.

The North Dakota Firefighters Museum officers and directors are from Garrison, Minot, Bismarck, Mandan and Valley City.

- McLean County Independent

Good and bad news

News from the state's northwest corner ranged from sad to religiously glad this week.

The St. Patrick's Catholic Church of Crosby was missing its baby Jesus since Christmas Eve.

Father Dan Berg had said he'd like to get the illuminated life-sized plastic figurine returned, because he didn't think he'd be able to purchase just the baby, without buying the entire Nativity scene.

Lo and behold, he opened the church porch door last week and there was the figurine, along with its electrical cord, and no worse for the wear.

Apparently someone's conscience was bothering him, but whether or not that was the case, Berg said he's just thankful to have the baby back.

On the sad side, though, was the report that a Zahl man had died in a snowmobiling accident in the McAtee Basin south of Big Sky in the Bozeman, Mont., area.

Travis Lee Gunlikson, 27, was killed when he was pinned between a tree and his snow sled, according to the coroner, Duncan McNabb.

McNabb said the fatality occurred while a group of sledders were performing a maneuver called "high marking."

What they do is head up the face of a steep ridge to see who can get the highest up, McNabb said.

Gunlikson had a degree in farm and ranch management, and operated a custom harvesting company along with a partner.

- The Journal

Linton talks pool

Linton residents will decide March 28 if it's cool to fix the town's pool.

A special election is scheduled then to determine the fate of a proposed one percent sales tax to pay for pool repairs.

The city already has a 1 percent tax on sales, and the new tax would be in addition to it.

In the meantime, the city is working on how much it will need to borrow to pay for the pool's renovation.

The latest estimate approaches $600,000.

The city would in effect issue bonds, which would be repaid through the sales tax.

Right now, the city earns about $60,000 a year on the current one percent tax. At that rate, it would take about 12 years to pay off the pool project.

The matter will be put on a ballot after the bond issue terms are final.

It takes 60 percent of the voters to approve a bond issue, while 50 percent have to approve the sales tax matter.

- Emmons County Record