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Bitz, Becker Tops Of The Class of 2008
Aaron Bitz and Rachel Becker will head the Napoleon Public School graduating class as valedictorian and salutatorian during commencement exercises Sunday, May 18.

Graduation is set for 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 18 at the Napoleon School Gym. Guest speaker for the class is science teacher Jon Schiele and Rev. Richard Hagestuen will give the invocation and benediction.

As valedictorian Aaron Bitz participated in golf, band and football for two years, FFA for four years. Aaron is also a member of the student council, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the National Honor Society. He is currently the senior class secretary and serves as an FFA officer. Bitz is the son of Darrell and Danita Bitz and plans to attend NDSU where he will major in business administration and agribusiness.

As salutatorian Rachel Becker participated in FCCLA for two years, track and SADD for three years and for four years she was in volleyball, FFA, speech, high school honor roll, science olympiad, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, St. Philip Neri youth choir and Farmers Union. She is also a member of the National Honor Society. Away from school Rachel likes to paint, draw, read, be outdoors and spend time with family and friends.

Rachel is the daughter of Bill and Alicia Becker and plans to attend UND and major in occupational therapy.

Other NHS honor students include: Lisa Gader, Emily Gross, Katlyn Grunefelder, Amanda Hilzendeger, Nathan Kleppe, Kriss McCleary, Caitlin Moch, Rebecca Rattei, Brianna Schneider, Abby Silbernagel, Austin Wald, Kevin Wentz and Andrew Young. Rounding out the NHS class of 2008 are: Donavan Becker, Carly Fettig, Clarissa Fettig, Tori Piatz, Steve Rau, Chad Schumacher and Shane Weigel.

Permit Approved For Wind Farm
Members of the Logan County Zoning Commission/Logan County Commissioners approved a building permit for a 150 tower wind farm to be located in Glendale, Starkey and Bryant Townships in Logan County.

At a special meeting on Friday, May 2, about 20 interested persons attended the public hearing with no one speaking out in opposition to the project. Just Wind CEO Jeff Metzger addressed those in attendance and said the turbine spots have been “spotted” and some have been moved to locations where there will be more of a wind resource. Maps of wind tower locations were available for viewing.

The question was asked as to how close the turbines will be to residential dwellings. It was noted that according to county ordinances a tower will not be closer than 750 feet from a residence.

Metzger also noted that road construction and maintenance are all the responsibility of the developer. Metzger also noted that road work leading to the tower sites will begin this fall as will the laying of cable. The tower foundations are expected to be poured in the spring of 2009, with 5 turbines a day to start arriving in March of 2009. Metzger said plans call to have the 150 tower wind farm up and operational by December of 2009. He also said that within the next week soil boring and soil sampling will be done at the turbine locations.
By Jerome Schwartzenberger

Committee To Study Sale Of City Owned Lots
Sale of city-owned lots took up much time at the May meeting of the Napoleon city council last week. The meeting was held Thursday, May 1, instead of the regular 1st Monday date, May 5.

Several residents had requested purchase of lots throughout the city, but there was one request from Leona Roehrich to purchase 90 lots, which caused concern among council members. They felt when purchasing that many lots, there should be some type of plan for the use of the lots. The city attorney advised the council that they could put a moratorium on the sale of such property until it is studied further.

Mayor Clarence Harter appointed a committee to set up a process for selling such property. Appointed to the committee were council members Rod Kleppe and Curt Christofferson, and citizens Neal Kilpanski and Leona Roehrich.

The council did approve the sale of three lots for $300 each to the Maggie Weigel family as the property was adjacent to the current family home. However, there were several other requests to purchase property which were denied until a recommendation is received from the committee. It was felt by some that there is more interest in purchasing city-owned property and maybe it should be advertised for sale.

Dumping of shingles and other debris at the city dump ground also received considerable discussion. With the hail storm last summer, many homes and other buildings in the city need to be re-shingled, and this is causing problems at the dump site. City ordinance states that trucks and others hauling to the site must be tarped to prevent from losing debris along the way, but this is not happening. Also, the great amount of shingles being dumped is creating considerable expense for the city. Disposal of buildings being torn down is also a concern to the council, thus they set rates for dumping debris at the dump ground, which will be included in the building permit. A fee of $25 for debris from residential property and $50 from commercial property was set, with a $100 fee for building demolition.

The engineer for the proposed water, sewer and street project explained that the period of assessment must be set up for 30 years, but it could be paid off in a shorter time. The USDA loan is for 30 years. He also noted that if the additional 1% sales tax is not approved by city voters, monthly water rates would increase about $16 per month. He pointed out that there is no cost sharing available for water treatment, but the city is not looking for such plant as they are planning to add two wells to their current system, and possibly the quality will be better. With the additional wells, he also felt the pressure would be more stable from the water tower as it could be kept near full at all times. No date was set for bid letting for the 4 million dollar project.
By Jerome Schwartzenberger

The Napoleon American Legion held their 11th annual Spring Fling Dance-O-Rama on Sunday with dancing from noon to 9 pm. About 250 dancers were on hand. Here some of the dancers worked up an appetite and enjoyed lunch while others continued to occupy the dance floor. Throughout the day music was provided by Victor Wald, Country Pride and Aman Family Band.

Board Approves Read 180
After considerable discussion, Napoleon school board members last week at a special meeting approved purchasing and using the Read 180 program. The course is intended to help middle school students having trouble reading, to get on track.

Discussion centered on the cost of the program, about $16,000 the first year, which teacher would be available to teach the class, and how many students would be affected. The administration felt one of the current staff members could be trained and would have time for the class, which could consist of as many as 15 students in grades 6 through 9.

Asked if the budget could sustain the cost, Supt. Jon Starkey felt there may have to be cuts in other areas to pay for this program. He pointed out that several area schools have been using the program and their teaching staff is well pleased with the results. Principal Kip Schmidt had a power point presentation explaining the program. It showed how to train instructors to teach students to become successful readers.

The South Central Special Education Unit would provide a $6,000 grant for the initial cost, but the local school district would still be responsible for about $16,000, plus possibly as much as $3,000 yearly for maintenance.

In other action at the special meeting the board accepted the resignations of Jon Schiele and Jason Horner and the administration was instructed to open the positions.

The resignations of Kristen Kuipers and Stacey Hauff were approved at an earlier meeting. There were no other resignations and the board approved the contracts for current teachers.

Check the May 7, 2008
printed edition of
The Napoleon Homestead
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