Mountrail County Promoter - Columnists

Elections See Low Voter Turnout
The June Primary, City and School Board elections have come and gone. Voter turnout was low again, as is typical in the primary elections. That can, however, be disappointing for those that are seeking election in the city and school elections. Statewide, just 20.84% of eligible voters cast their ballots. In Mountrail County that number dropped to 17.63%.
There were some surprises in those city and school board races with some write-in voters either winning or making a good showing for the positions. In some cases, there were no candidates on the ballot, leaving voters to make a choice. Their choice may have been influenced by conversations with others, indicating there was interest in the positions.
It is discouraging to me to see the low voter turnouts. In statewide races, voters were narrowing down the field in a number of Republican races to determine who would advance to the November General Election. In Mountrail County, that was also true for two of the three county commissioner positions.
I hope that voter turnout increases for the November General Election. Voters will be choosing the people that will represent them on local, state and federal levels.

Way To Go Erika!
For the first time in a long time I found myself paying close attention to the Miss North Dakota pageant last weekend. Mountrail County’s own Erika Littlefield was competing having earned the title of Miss Norsk Hostfest.
Because Carter is here visiting and I had other things on my plate this weekend as well, I signed up for the live feed. I spent parts of Wednesday and Thursday night watching the preliminary competitions. Contestants were competing in talent, evening gown, interview and fitness.
It is interesting to see the different talents the contestants brought to the stage. Erika told her ancestors story while dressed in a traditional bunad.
Those with the highest scores advanced to Saturday’s finals and I was so proud to see that Erika made that cut to the top eleven. That meant that contestants were out there competing in the same events, except this time they were given a live question on the screen for their interviews.
I was disappointed that when they again reduced the number of contestants from eleven to five that our Erika did not make the cut. Then again, I’d like to point out that she was one of the youngest competitors. Many of the contestants had already finished their first college degree. I believe many of them had also been competing in pageants for a much longer time.
I watched with pride each time Erika was on stage. I might be a little prejudiced because she worked for us here at the Promoter and she still does some writing and pops in frequently just to visit. I might have to see if I can talk her into writing about her Miss North Dakota experiences.
I think she rocked it out there. She made us all proud.
I can’t wait to see where her future takes her as she goes to UND next year, where she will begin her undergraduate studies including communications. Her future goals include law school and becoming a lawyer. Her talent will take her far in this world!

Carter’s Visit Is Almost Over
As I write my column on Monday, Carter’s visit is almost over. He’s been here since last Tuesday afternoon when we met his other grandpa in New Town to hand him off.
We made a couple of trips to Minot. The first was to do some shopping that included buying a 3D crystal puzzle at Barnes & Noble. We also had to go to Do Eat for supper. I went there the first time last summer with Jozie and we discovered we really liked it. All of the kids have decided they like it and want to include it in part of their visit.
We ended up going back on Saturday, mostly just to get a few more of those 3D puzzles. Carter really enjoyed them. They don’t have a tremendous amount of pieces, but they are definitely a brain challenge. On the way home we stopped at Palermo for supper.
There has been plenty of movie watching, mostly Stephen King films. We started with It and It2 and moved on to a classic, The Shining.
Many of you, however, might have seen Carter and Dale out driving around. Carter got his permit a couple of weeks ago and he has been taking advantage of less traffic driving in Stanley. He started out with the Cadillac and the Polaris, but on Sunday he took the Corvette out for a spin. When I sent Amanda the video, she said that might have been the most terrifying thing I had sent her. The smile on his face said he really enjoyed that experience.
I’m pretty sure he’s going home on Tuesday. It will seem pretty quiet in the house after he goes, even though it really was a pretty chill visit. Buddy is going to miss having him around to hang out and take him for walks.
Jozie will be up next in July and Abel will come in August. We sure do love spending this quality time with the kids. I’m glad they are all still happy to come for the visits. Each one of them has different things they want to do while they’re here, but they also have several in common.