but what we're left with is a clear view of all the trash that has accumulated over winter.  The City of Williston recently held the Clean Williston event and many residents turned out to spruce up the town. The annual cleanup effort is part of preparation for Band Day on Saturday Pick Up the Patch returns this week to Watford City and individuals to adopt a section of roadway and help clean up the town and garbage bags can be picked up at the Watford City Police Department May 9 from 8:00 AM–4:30 PM each day Join your neighbors and help clean up Watford City and McKenzie County It's an awesome way to show community pride Pick Up the Patch returns to Watford City! From May 5 to June 9, volunteers are needed to help clean up the town by adopting sections of roadway. Whether it's one block or one mile, every effort counts. Gloves, vests, and bags are provided. Join your neighbors and show your pride in the community!\nRead More the Alabama Chamber of Commerce launched a public relations strategy to shift away from the racist implications of its Cotton State slogan in favor of a new catchphrase: Heart of Dixie The name stuck and was added to state license plates beginning in 1955 Although the nickname remains commonplace well into the 21st century—influencing pop culture like the 2010s TV series about a young Alabama doctor \"Hart of Dixie\"—the term \"dixie\" still harkens back to the days of slavery in the antebellum South Dickinson opened the series with a 13-4 victory in Game 1 The Midgets racked up 11 hits in the opener with seniors Tyler Danbom and Brady Hecker each going 2-for-2 Danbom sparked the offense with a two-run single through the left side in the first inning while Hecker followed with an RBI double to right in the third The Midgets added four more runs in that inning including an RBI triple from senior Jack Price to stretch the lead to 6-0 stealing 15 bags — with senior Nick Sobolik swiping four Sobolik also drove in a run on a line drive to center then stole home on an error for the final run of the game Junior Liam Raab earned his first win of the season with two scoreless innings and two strikeouts but gave up three runs on two hits and was relieved in the fifth by senior Kevin Olsson struck out three and allowed just one run over two innings Sophomore Jordan Ham closed the game in the seventh Head coach Pete Dobitz said the non-conference setting provided a valuable opportunity to test bullpen depth so it gave us a chance to see them in a live bullpen scenario — where all our guys are trying to hit off them,” Dobitz said we know who our go-to starters are for tournament time we need guys who can come in ready to go without an inning to warm up.” He added that Olsson’s mid-game entry was part of assessing his ability to be a reliable relief option “We’re looking at it like — if we get to the end of the year is Kevin the kind of guy who can go warm up and get into a game he didn’t start?” Dobitz said “Having non-conference games later in the season helps solidify what your bullpen can look like.” The Midgets carried their momentum into Game 2 plating nine runs in the first inning and holding the Wolves to just one hit overall Price earned his first win of the season from the mound seniors Easton Hugelen and Camden Kubas had breakout games Hugelen went 4-for-4 with four RBI and two runs and added two strikeouts in a relief appearance Both logged their first multi-hit games of the season 9-3) will return to conference play on Thursday The Midgets currently sit atop the Western Dakota Association standings Get ready to roll up your sleeves and make a visible difference Watford City is gearing up for its annual “Pick Up the Patch” event a community-wide initiative encouraging residents and groups to adopt sections of roadways and help keep their city clean and beautiful  Visit www.watfordcitynd.com and subscribe to the McKenzie County Farmer today! Phone: 701-842-2351 mcf@watfordcitynd.com   Visit www.watfordcitynd.com and subscribe to the McKenzie County Farmer today! — After posting a Dickinson High School single-round record of 293 combined strokes in the opening round of the Watford City Invite on Thursday the Midgets finished fourth by the close of play on Friday Minot North claimed the team title with a 564 while Bismarck Century finished second at 593 and Minot High placed third with a 595 Dickinson followed closely behind with a 604 “[It was] another beautiful day to play golf Wind did pick up a little compared to yesterday,” Dickinson head coach John Spry said after the final round They’ve set a bar that we can continue to strive for Yesterday we were 17-over as a team; today we were at 35-over.” Sam Lewton carded a 1-over 70 and Kacen Groll followed closely with a 71 putting Dickinson in third place after the first 18 holes Lewton finished with a 144 to place eighth individually while sophomores Maddax Johnsen and Paxton Fridley rounded out the top five with scores of 159 and 162 Next up for Dickinson is the Minot North Invite at Souris Valley Golf Course on Friday Linda Dragseth entered the gates of Heaven on April 19 after a five-year battle with Alzheimer’s dementia Recent incidents involving local law enforcement include the following: Visit www.watfordcitynd.com and subscribe to the McKenzie County Farmer today! with 8 Class C Felonies for aggravated assault-adult victim reckless endangerment-extreme indifference-domestic violence felonious restraint-restrains-adult victim interference with telephone during emergency call-intentional; and three Class A Misdemeanors for animal abuse criminal mischief-willful-tamper-reckless $2,000-$10,000 or intentional $100-$2,000 and criminal mischief-willful-tamper-reckless $2,000-$10,000 or intentional $100-$2,000 after his arrest Over the last few months you probably have heard some of the same things I have People across our community are wondering if the recent turnover at the county offices is something to be concerned about Two department heads and two states attorneys resigned their positions with McKenzie County so I asked a few questions of leadership of the county For the full story, visit www.watfordcitynd.com and subscribe to the McKenzie County Farmer today! WATFORD CITY – Jamestown Blue Jay Boys Golf was ninth of 12th teams in the Bakken Classic a 36-hole event which concluded Friday at Fox Hills Golf Course Jace Dillman was best for the Blue Jays at 149 (74-75) Next is the Century Classic Tuesday at Tom O’Leary Golf Course in Bismarck “We’re not too concerned about it Editors Note: The following article includes graphic information DICKINSON — The only sound you can hear in the Dickinson Midgets’ series against the Watford City Wolves April 15 at Dakota Community Bank and Trust Ballpark PING,” leading to the bases repeatedly being filled with orange jerseys Dickinson dominated Watford in their fourth Western Dakota Association series of the season via the 10-run mercy rule after five innings There were no mistakes made against the Wolves in the series-opener the Midgets were without some of their big-named players Danbom has been terrific at the plate this season Although he didn’t register a hit in Tuesday's contest Senior Nick Sobolik tallied his first multi-hit effort of the season which included a 2-run RBI double to make it 6-0 in favor of the home team Junior Kyler Kudrna went 3-for-3 in Game 1 with his most notable at-bat being a bases clearing RBI triple to give DHS an 8-0 lead DHS recorded 19 runs on 8 hits in the opening frame putting the game out of reach for the Wolves The Midgets concluded the contest with 12 hits it was the perfect opportunity for DHS to throw in their future talent Sophomore Conrad Kopari scored 3 runs and stole 2 bases and saw some action on the field subbing in for senior catcher Christian Tibor In his third plate appearance of the season senior Drew Gabel subbed in for sophomore Jordan Ham and made the most of his opportunity singling on an opposite-field fly ball to right Senior Malachai Medina split the gap with a 2-run RBI single to make it a 22-0 ballgame in the bottom of the second Not only was the offense firing on all cylinders but sophomore pitcher Emerson Simnioniw was blazing past batters with ease but the Wolves scored twice to erase the shutout bid Simnioniw only walked 1 batter and earned 1 strikeout through all five innings of play The Midgets trailed 1-0 after Danbom hit a batter with the bases loaded but DHS got out of the inning on a fielder’s choice and had some work to do to get back in the game Senior Jack Price delivered an RBI groundout to bring home senior Camden Kubas Danbom had to rely on his defense to bail him out in the top of the second Three groundouts secured a 1-2-3 inning and the Dickinson batters got back to their hitting ways The Midgets led 5-1 at the end of two but the Wolves showed more fight compared to Game 1 bringing the deficit to three after an RBI single Kopari pinch ran for Danbom after he reached first on an error After stealing second and tagging up to third he scored on an RBI groundout from Medina to make it 7-2 DHS walked the game off on an Olsson 2-run RBI single recording 3 strikeouts and yielding 2 hits on 1 run in two innings 7-1) will remain at home to take on the Jamestown Blue Jays on Tuesday KX NEWS Watford City man facing numerous charges following Friday incident From poems to purpose: Minot rapper Dakotah Faye gets deep about recovery The housing market is more competitive around Bismarck and Mandan in 2025 compared to the last two years Volunteers are still looking for Keith Schmidt in Dickinson Firefighters were fighting more grass fires around North Dakota over the weekend Heart disease is the leading cause of death across most groups in the United States The new state ID format is required if you want to use it to fly starting in May 2025 Kelly Armstrong joined legislators on Saturday to sign the property tax relief bill Super Slide Amusement Park opened for the season on Saturday in Bismarck is reflecting on last week’s trip to Washington where he and a delegation from the “Ports to Plains Alliance” spent a week lobbying for the expansion of Highway 85 into a four-lane divided highway part of the broader Theodore Roosevelt Expressway aims to create a seamless four-lane corridor stretching from the Canadian border in Montana to the Mexican border enhancing safety and commerce across multiple states WATFORD CITY — It might seem like just yesterday that Trinity faced Watford City the Titans traveled up north and dominated the Wolves by a bigger margin at 63-37 with a stout defensive effort which saw their hosts score only two field-goals in the opening eight minutes of the game over the next three quarters Watford City would be limited to single-digits in the second and fourth quarters at 7 and 9 while coming away with a 13-point output in the third THS was off-to-the-races with a 24-point opening frame and 13 more in the second to take a 37-15 lead into the half as sophomore guard Emerson Simnioniw dumped in a 3-pointer and scored 10 of his 16 and senior forward Nick Sobolik scored 11 while sophomore guard Landon Knote continued his sharpshooting ways on 8 points in 16 minutes of play With the Wolves' athletes being held to single-digit scoring by the suffocating Titans defense outside of sophomore forward Harper Moberg with 10 Trinity scored at-will in the second half as Sobolik notched 7 more to wind up with a game-high 18 and Knote also would up with a double-digit output of 10 on the night eight Trinity players got into the scorebook with senior guard Camden Kubas scoring all 6 of his points in the final quarter en route to the Region 4 win Trinity finishes the regular season at 14-7 and in second place in the region with a 4-1 record Shiloh Christian earned an 18-3 overall record with a 4-0 mark in the region while Killdeer was 4-2 in the region with an 18-3 performance and Beulah equaled the Cowboys’ at 4-2 but came away with a 14-6 overall record along the way The Region 4 Tournament will get underway on March 10 with Shiloh Christian receiving the bye and Killdeer tipping the event off against Standing Rock's Warriors at 4 p.m. while Trinity tackles Watford City once more in Game 2 and Beulah faces local rivals Hazen in the nightcap miss-Molly … can there BE any more hoops to jump-through For area teams in the classes A and B side of the aisle Trinity and Killdeer all taking their next steps towards the various state tournaments while other teams fell to losses of their own and ended their respective seasons and that was followed by a nailbiting Nighthawks' loss to Garrison while Belfield were bounced by Wilton-Wing in the nightcap of the Region 4B tourney In a game that never was in doubt from the tipoff Trinity leapt out to a 15-11 lead at the end of one quarter and pushed their lead to an almost-doubled-up halftime advantage of 29-15 with sophomore shooting-star Emerson Simnioniw draining a pair of 3-pointers on his way to 10 first-half points and outside-specialist Landon Knote pouring in three more treys for 11 of his game-high 18 in Watford City Kaden Ham sandwiched all 8 of his points into the first 16 minutes of play The sophomore added another shot from range in the second half and senior forward Nick Sobolik scorched the Wolves for all 12 of his points in the final two frames while Simnioniw also sniped another 3-pointer and ended up with 15 MDT in the second round of the Region 4A Tournament Killdeer horseshoed Standing Rock with a narrow victory with a 13-11 deficit after eight minutes of gametime and a 26-26 deadlock at the halftime buzzer Owen Schleppenbach owned the Warriors with half of his 12 points in the first half and Jaxon Reese notched 7 while Kale Hansen dropped one in from distance to keep matters tight A surprise performance from Chase Kling – who closed out the second half with 7 of his 10 points to get into double-figures – and 6 more from Cooper Bang combined with Nekori Dahlen’s 11 down the stretch to outlast Standing Rock and give the ’Boys a chance to face top-ranked Shiloh Christian today Bowman guarded well against White Shield with a 33-25 halftime lead as Mason Lambourn mauled the Warriors for all 11 of his points in the first half while Jackson Fischer scored 8 of his game-high 21 Free-throws proved to be the order of the second half as BCHS converted 12-of-19 from the line and Fischer was responsible for 7 of those shots Chandler Lambourn scored 9 along the way to close in on double-digits and the ‘’Dawgs will next face #1 Wilton-Wing tonight at 6:30 p.m Beach’s 21-point second quarter wouldn’t be enough to upend Central McLean’s 47-point with the Bucs scoring 30 over the final 16 minutes of the game Justus Baker was a one-man-wrecking-ball as he scored 22 points in the final two quarters on his way to a game-high 28 and sniper Colt Ambo connected for all 12 of his points from beyond the arc in the losing effort and Lucas Brown scored in double-digits for 10 The night’s heartbreaker saw Garrison overcome a 23-19 lead for Hettinger-Scranton and a 34-33 edge with eight minutes left to overcome the Nighthawks and he rolled to 7 of his team-high 22 in the first half while a pair of 3-pointers from Gavin Parnow and one-each from Chason Schumacher and Caden Anderson added to the first-half drama But an amazing second half from Garrison — who scored 29 in the final two periods — built a wall the Nighthawks couldn’t scale while Little Hail Perkins poured in three treys on his way to a game-high 27 for the win Wilton-Wing struck gold with 21 points from Hunter Wolff and 18 more from Brandon Wallace but senior guard Mason Kessel did his part with a 16-point first-half that was highlighted by four 3-pointers Luke Obrigewitsch was at his long-range best with two of his four treys in the opening 16 minutes and Shane Stroh converted from range on his way to 9 points in the game While Kessel was able to find another 3-pointer on his way to a team-high 19 and Obrigewitsch was directly behind him with 18 even Carter Corneil’s double-figure output of 12 wasn’t enough to overcome another 16 points from Wilton-Wing’s Kaleb Benning that might have made the difference Man out on bond after Watford City firearm incident — A wildfire that started nearly two weeks ago and destroyed more than 10,000 acres has been contained The Little Missouri National Grassland district of the federal agency declared the Elkhorn fire was 100% contained Wednesday It was one of 40 blazes reported that weekend Doug Burgum called “one of the worst combined fire days in the history of North Dakota.” The Bear Den fire near Mandaree remains the only fire from the Oct according to the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services The state agency said crews have it 85% contained multiple outbuildings and almost 12,000 acres The Elkhorn fire only destroyed outbuildings dry conditions and the rough terrain of the Badlands made it difficult to battle Authorities have not said what caused the major fires but noted they were not intentional Owning a home is still very much a part of the “American Dream” But ongoing high prices and low inventory means that dream is out of reach for many Dissatisfied with the turtle pace of the legislature in Bismarck one city in western North Dakota is taking matters into its own hands Watford City lies in the heart of the Bakken its population had been declining for decades The dying city saw many of their residents move away due to lack of opportunity and amenities in the area everything changed when the Bakken boomed again in the 2010s Watford City’s population soared to over four times its population forcing city leaders to come up with innovative ways to solve their issues he went into a city housing development because city wages just couldn’t keep up with the high price of apartments in the area He says that since his career path is not as lucrative in the oil industry Josh says housing is an essential expense so he has to find ways cut down on other expenses and other essential workers were housed in low rent developments so they could still live in a community where oil workers would make two to three times their wages who don’t make the higher wages of oil workers Josh says he even lived in a friend’s basement for years until he found a small house to rent in the community His goal is to stay in Watford City and lay down roots - and to do that Josh wants to find something small with one or two bedrooms He hopes to see more entry level homes I the area something to keep people in Watford City so they can invest in the future and lay roots City workers like Josh aren’t the only ones who need cheaper housing to live in Watford City CEO of McKenzie Health says their employees were also struggling to find affordable housing The medical organization got into the housing business Edis says McKenzie Health owns about 70 units of housing they can keep the rent low for their employees and their families and even help pay rent when they arrive in the city Edis says that housing is a big part of their recruitment and retention strategy They provide housing for some of their providers and travel staff Edis says it actually more cost-effective to provide the housing for the travelers then it is to pay for the hotel fees Vawnita Best is the city’s community and business development director and she’s seen the city’s housing needs change over time From the man camps that housed temporary workers in the early 2010s to the high-density apartments that now dot the landscape she says the strategy for housing all the new residents has also changed Vawnita says they’ve been fully engaged in trying to create low density but it’s much different from the high-density buildings and it’s been harder for the city to facilitate many workers in the area have to commute hours a day from Williston because of the lack of housing in the city Vawnita says the apartments are at full occupancy and have waiting lists Even what is shown in occupancy rates below 100% are turnover units that are being cleaned and repaired and getting ready to put back out onto the market so all of those units have waiting lists as well Vawnita says they see many residents like Josh hoping to settle in the area long term but the low number of homes and the high prices for the small stock is discouraging people from leaving the apartment complexes the price of a single-family home in the area is in the 500 to 600 thousand range when the most residents is able to afford is in the 300 to 400 thousand range—which is still much higher than most other cities in North Dakota She says they have some 600,000 plus dollar homes that have been sitting on the market for quite a while but those just don't fit what a lot of people are needing or can afford Watford City has tried several programs to encourage developers to build single family homes in the area Vawnita says they’ve received marginal interest in these programs but not enough to satisfy the city’s housing needs which are projected to be around 30 new houses a year She says the city has come up with a new pilot project that could change the game for city developed property programs Through the Pathway to Purchase pilot program the Watford City housing authority is investing 3.6 million dollars in funding to build 9 single family homes in Watford City the homes will be rented out to residents who Here’s how it would work: residents would lease the home with a projected 2500-dollar monthly payment That payment will be set aside as the resident’s down payment if they choose to finish the program and buy the house will make back most of what they invest into the project over time Vawnita says the city could fund up to 30 houses being built a year until demand drops and prices even out But this new pilot program isn’t the only way Watford City is solving their housing crisis The city is also looking to invest into the future of Watford City’s construction industry They’ve been looking into innovative construction solutions like modular and 3-D printed housing but the city decided to invest in the future of construction in Watford City through its Bakken Area Skills Center Kids enrolled in the skills center are now able to enter that pathway and go through an entire pathway of construction trades Vawnita says it’s a little longer game than what they’re trying to figure out right now but their balancing building their way out of it and having some quick wins for rooftop creation The housing crisis in Watford City is something many cities around North Dakota struggle with At the state of the state address this January Governor Burgum announced an initiative to address the housing shortage the state conducted listening sessions in different communities to find out what the needs are Governor Burgum will give his recommendations on what actions can be taken by the legislature But with Governor Burgum finishing up his term in December it’ll be up to the legislature - and a new governor - to decide on what approach to take in this upcoming session of Alexander pleaded guilty to the following criminal charges brought against him in October 2023 a Class A Felony charge for attempted murder; and two Class C Felony charges for reckless endangerment-extreme indifference on Nov