Compiled by LAUREN DONOVAN

Bismarck Tribune

A printing press in south central North Dakota will stop operations Dec. 1.

The press, located in Wishek, is jointly owned by publishers of the Wishek Star, Ashley Tribune, Napoleon Homestead, Emmons County Record and the Steele Ozone Press.

It's common for small newspapers to jointly own a printing press in order to share expenses, since a press is too expensive for newspapers that only publish once a week, along with printing any other job work orders.

Terry Schwartzenberger, a second-generation publisher at the Napoleon Homestead, said the joint venture was a good idea and a good success.

He called it a "small cooperative of publishers helping each other."

Roger Boschee has been the pressman all the years and it's hard for anyone to imagine having done it without him.

"Running a press is an art and Roger has taken great pride in his work," said Ashley Tribune publisher Tony Bender.

However, times have caught up with the venture started back in 1976.

The technology is getting old and replacement parts are hard, if not impossible, to find.

New printing press equipment would cost $250,000 and it's just not a good financial fit.

Instead, most of the papers will be printed at Garrison, where BHG Inc. also has a central publishing plant and full-color options, which the Wishek plant did not offer.

In the meantime, the press at Wishek will be sold, along with the building and contents.

The Wishek Star newspaper has been renting space in the press building and may be looking for a new home.

"With today's technology, we don't need much room," said Wishek Star publisher Julie Bender. "If anyone has options, we'd like to consider them."

- Ashley Tribune

Idea doesn't fly

A planned expansion of the Washburn municipal airport was put back in a hangar, for a while.

The Washburn Airport Authority has been studying building a 5,500-foot runway perpendicular to the existing runway.

A plan with all the bells and whistles would cost $11.5 million. One, more modest, would cost $7.1 million.

The plan also would require closing section lines.

After consideration of those numbers and after hearing from the public and surrounding landowners, the airport authority decided not to proceed for now.

Airport authority member Al Christianson said, "We had decided we were going to go forward, we had a public meeting, we learned things that we did not know before. I had never seen the $11 million estimate and I did not see the section line closures."

Ed Barnhardt, also an authority member, said the expansion started out as a simple deal with an estimated cost of $385,000.

"It's time to put it on hold and see down the road ¦ right now, it's not a feasible deal," he said.

The airport authority will meet with KLJ Engineering to discuss the section line issue and options.

- Leader-News

Linton waste OK'd

A building south of Linton can be used for a medical waste sterilization plant.

The North Dakota Department of Health issued a permit Oct. 13 to Northland Environmental Services of Bismarck.

The plant will have one employee. Equipment installation and final testing are being done there now in preparation for opening early next month.

Curt Erickson, who manages the state hazardous waste program, said some public concerns were included as conditions in the permit.

One is that any employees have to be trained in sterilization before the plant can open.

Emmons County health officer Edgar Oliveira, said he was not notified of plans for the plant and that notifying the Emmons County Commission did not meet the requirement to notify health officials.

Erickson said he didn't view that as an issue.

Erickson said the state will do random inspections at the site and check contents of trucks coming and going.

The Linton site will use a high-temperature autoclave to sterilize medical waste before it is transported to an authorized landfill.

- Emmons County Record