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SUNDAYMAY 27, 2012104th year, No. 43Sidney, Montanawww.sidneyherald.com75 CENTS

Sidney Health Center announces improvement. Page 3B.

SERVING RICHLAND COUNTY AND THE SURROUNDING AREA FOR OVER 100 YEARS

Bulletin BoardMemorial Day activities

Memorial Day activities in Sidney will begin Monday with the flag pickup at 9 a.m. at Veterans Memorial Park and the parade of Flags of Honor starting at the VFW corner at 10 a.m. After a program at Veterans Memo-rial Park, a potluck meal is scheduled for noon at the VFW Hall.

Fireman’s breakfastThe Sidney Fire Depart-

ment’s annual breakfast is June 3 from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the fire hall.

Breakfast will consist of french toast, scrambled eggs, sausage, juice and coffee.

New food bank hoursDue to increased need,

the Richland County Food Bank’s summer hours start-ing June 4 will be by appoint-ment Monday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Appointments will be taken and made by phone, 433-8142. The change will al-low the volunteers to restock and prepare the shelves to better serve the community.

Bible schoolShepherd of the Valley

Lutheran Church will hold its Vacation Bible School June 4-8 from 8:30 a.m.-noon. Pre-register at www.svlcsid-ney.org.

Two-wheeled TuesdayAll motorcyclists are in-

vited to join the local Lower Yellowstone ABATE mem-bers on the third Tuesday of each month for Two-Wheeled Tuesday. Sidney area riders will meet in the Pamida parking lot for a 6 p.m. departure to area eateries. Glendive area riders will meet at the Albertson’s park-ing lot at 6 p.m. For more information, call chapter coordinator Randy Bald-win at 406-939-3991 or vice coordinator Rob Knotts at 406-774-3778.

DeathsWallace D. “Wally” Daeley, 80

Page 3A

InsideAg . . . . . . . . . . .5AAround Town . . .2AClassifieds . . .5-10BDeaths . . . . . . . .3A

Learning . ........ .7ASports . ..... . . .1-2BTV guide. . . . . . .6A

Drilling rig count

Source: Rocky Mountain Oil Journalsponsored by

Montana 20year ago 10

N.D. 189year ago 162

BY BILL VANDER WEELESIDNEY HERALD

In a tender display of admiration for the dedicated teaching of Sherry Arnold along with a show of sup-port for local students, 22 North Dakota schools put funds together to donate a plaque in honor of the deceased teacher and also raised an additional $773 to help first-year teachers pay for their Montana teacher’s license.

“It’s to let students know they aren’t alone, even though we are two differ-ent states,” Shawn Kuntz, elementary principal in Wishek, N.D., said while presenting the plaque to Sidney’s school officials.

Gary Arnold thanked all the schools involved from the family.

School officials will decide at a later date where to place the plaque so the public can view it at Sidney High School.

The plaque reads, “Grant

me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.”

North Dakota schools involved included Burke Central, Mary Stark Elemen-tary in Mandan, Watford City Elementary, Century Elementary in Grafton, Fort Lincoln in Mandan, Lincoln Elementary in Dickinson, Hagen Elementary in Willis-ton, Wishek Public School, Park River Elementary, Fairmount Public School, Wyndmere Public School, Hettinger Public School, White Shield Public School, Hazen Public School, Louis L’Amour in Jamestown, Rickard Elementary in Williston, Gackle-Streeter, Manvel Public School and Griggs County Central Pub-lic School.

Kuntz said schools from North Dakota’s southeast corner to the state’s north-west corner were involved in the project.

BILL VANDER WEELE | SIDNEY HERALD

Shawn Kuntz, right, elementary principal in Wishek, N.D., presents the plaque to Sidney High School Principal Dan Peters, left, and Gary Arnold.

North Dakota schools donate plaque in memory of teacher

BY LOUISA BARBERSIDNEY HERALD

Sidney’s largest development moved forward Monday evening when the Sidney City Council gave the OK to begin the first phase of infrastructure work.

Developers are putting sewer and water lines in themselves. “Obvi-ously, we would like a cash bond, but if we accept the infrastructure for each phase, and if they get ahead on phases, then they’ll put a cash bond down on the remaining phase,” Sid-ney Mayor Bret Smelser said.

There are 38 lots in the first phase. The majority of the council appeared optimistic now that the project is on the upswing. “We have seen nothing happening in the last six months. It’s time,” councilman Dan Smith said. “We can’t hold them back anymore. We’re shooting ourselves in the foot.”

Councilwoman Melissa Boyer agreed, highlighting the fact that housing units may be up as early as August so residents can see what to expect. The city is also fortunate enough to have a private company do the infrastructure work. “I know

the city doesn’t have a lot of extra cash to be stepping up and doing something like this, so, in a way, we kind of have to thank them for do-ing it,” she said.

There were still some reserva-tions as noted by city planner Marcy Hamburg, who worried that if the council agreed to accept the sequen-tial phasing, “then are we setting a precedent for every subdivision ap-plication that is going to be coming before you?”

Council members passed the mo-tion on a 5-1 vote. Councilwoman Deb Gilbert dissented.

“This doesn’t have to be the norm,” Smelser said. “Somewhere along the line we need to break the ice on these things. This is the first

phase. We will handle each phase separately.”

The Sunrise Village Subdivision in northeast Sidney is 144.49 acres with a proposed 182 lots including 10 highway business lots, 12 com-mercial light manufacturing lots, 158 residential lots, one lot of six apartment units totaling 60 apart-ments, 38 acres for future residen-tial development and five acres of park land.

On a similar motion, the council earlier accepted a petition for an-nexation to allow a 20-acre subdi-vision north of Sidney into city limits. Smelser asked the council to accept the petition as a “goodwill gesture.” Chris Storm of Sable Re-alty had been waiting since March to get the project moving forward. “I need to be under construction by the first of July, or I run the risk of running afoul in the winter,” he said. He is frustrated with the subdivision review process; his application wasn’t reviewed in the time allotted, and he hadn’t heard from the planner’s office. “I feel left twisting in the wind, and I guess I’d ask the city attorney, in the event that the planner doesn’t meet the

schedule, what’s my remedy as an applicant? I see none,” he said.

City attorney Gerald Navratil had discrepancies in the procedures, but after public works director Jeff Hintz said papers were in order, though there were still “some is-sues” that needed to be worked out after the annexation, he agreed.

“We aren’t getting anywhere, and unless we burst the bubble in some point and time, bottom line is we need to get started,” Smelser said. The council was unanimous.

In other business:• The 20-unit low to moderate

income housing complex next to Crestwood Inn known as Parkview Village may begin seeing construc-tion this summer. Richland County Housing Authority director Paul Groshart said work could begin in August. He expects $4.1 million in tax credits which would pay for all but roughly $300,000 of the total cost. The housing authority is set to acquire the land from the county this week.

• The second reading of solicitors ordinance 537 passed and is effective

City OKs phase of Sunrise Village

BILL VANDER WEELE | SIDNEY HERALD

Montana’s storyFourth-grade students, from left, Sheldon Otis, Jarett Aisenbrey, Dillon Scheetz play instruments during their musical program at West Side School Tuesday while other students sing behind them.

‘We can’t hold them back

anymore. We’re shooting

ourselves in the foot.’

Dan SmithCouncilman

BY BILL VANDER WEELESIDNEY HERALD

During a conference call with state media Thursday, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said there are still no firm commitments to help oil-im-pacted areas but senators are still working on possible solutions.

“We contin-ue to work on a number of things as far as infrastruc-ture goes,” Tester said. “It’s very dif-ficult.”

The senator says one con-sideration is establishing a revolving loan fund eligible to oil-impacted communi-ties. Another idea is making health care services more ob-tainable, especially for those living in work camps.

“I have been working with communities and other orga-nizations,” Tester said.

He mentioned that he’s heard the Bakken Play can expand as far over as some

Tester continueswork to helpoil-impact areas

Tester

SEE CITY, PAGE 11A

SEE TESTER, PAGE 11A