BISMARCK — A West Fargo attorney has been appointed to the North Dakota Ethics Commission.

According to a release, Lisa Edison-Smith was appointed to the commission Tuesday, July 7, to fill the unexpired term of Commissioner Ronald Goodman, who will retire from the board.

Edison-Smith works for Vogel Law Firm, from which she plans to retire at the end of the year, the release said. She specializes in employment and labor law and is also the editor of the North Dakota Employment Law Letter, a monthly publication providing guidance to employers.

Edison-Smith graduated from North Dakota State University and Hamline University School of Law. She was a clerk for the Minnesota Supreme Court and worked in finance and accounting roles at GTE Corp., the release said.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to bring my legal experience and problem-solving skills to the important work of the Commission,” Edison-Smith said via release. “Together, I believe we can improve public trust and deepen the Commission’s commitment to accountability and transparency in North Dakota.”

Commissioners are appointed by consensus of the governor and majority and minority leader of the North Dakota Senate.

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The discovery of 16 siblings who authorities say were held at a rural Ohio home for years in squalid conditions is straining the county’s resources as it works to prosecute their parents and two grandparents and provide care to so many children at once.

The local prosecutor said the cost of medical care required for one of the defendants alone would have bankrupted Vinton County, which led the court to change the grandfather’s bond and release him from jail on his own recognizance for care at a hospital so the county didn’t have to pay for it. Meanwhile, the county sought help from other prosecutors on the criminal case and is counting on approval next week of $1 million from the state to assist with care for the children, including some who have medical needs or are unable to speak.

Vinton is Ohio’s smallest county and one of its poorest, a rambling 415 square miles (1075 square kilometers) of isolated Appalachian terrain with one traffic light and a single grocery store. That makes the case of the Siders family “an unprecedented child welfare crisis” there, state officials said.

Affording it is requiring the actions of both local and state officials.

On Tuesday, 73-year-old Gary Siders Sr. was released from jail after his bond was adjusted to not require up-front payment, and he was moved out of the county for medical care.

Vinton County Prosecutor William Archer Jr. said Siders had fallen at the jail and it became apparent that he “has a serious medical condition that requires specialized care.” In the regional jail, the costs of that care would fall on the county, Archer said.

“Based on the information the county was provided, his medical care could potentially bankrupt Vinton County,” Archer told reporters Wednesday. “We were not going to put that burden also on our local taxpayers.”

Siders is charged with felony child endangerment. Also charged were his 67-year-old wife, Christina Siders; son Gary Siders Jr., 36; and daughter-in-law, 33-year-old Elizabeth Siders, the children’s mother. They have pleaded not guilty, and some of their attorneys cautioned against drawing conclusions before more is known about what happened.

Vinton County Common Pleas Judge Laina Fetherolf Rogers made clear in her order that should the elder Siders’ health improve enough to leave the hospital, the GPS tracking device he’ll be required to wear also will be “paid for at the State’s expense.”

“A lot of small counties like us, we’re in the same boat as Vinton,” said Mike Davis, prosecutor for Pike County, another financially-strapped southern Ohio county. “If a person has a medical issue, do we pay the medical bills and keep them in jail and blow our budget, or do we let them out and risk something happening that’s worse?”

Archer emphasized that authorities determined the strategy didn’t put the public at risk in Gary Siders Sr.’s case, given his health condition and the fact the case strictly involved family members.

The judge agreed this week to Archer’s requests to bring on three special prosecutors — Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson, Assistant Attorney General Kara Keating and Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins, an expert in child abuse cases — to share the load of the case “without compensation.” That means their offices will cover their own costs.

Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain also has requested assistance from the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, according to records released by Wilson’s office, which is not unusual.

“Money’s green and it’s absolute. You either have it or you don’t,” said Davis, who said he could relate to Archer after Pike County had to grapple with a major criminal case of its own: the 2016 Rhoden family murders.

He said the demands of a significant criminal prosecution are felt across a small county’s entire government operation, as workloads are shifted among government office staffs of oftentimes just one or two people and larger spaces and reliable internet service have to be secured for the influx of investigators and out-of-town media outlets.

Removing the 16 siblings from their home also instantly more than doubled the number of children in temporary custody in Vinton County — a daunting prospect for a county with about 12,600 residents and the smallest budget among Ohio’s 88 counties.

On Monday, a state legislative panel is expected to approve a request from the Ohio Department of Children and Youth to provide $1 million in additional state cash to Vinton County to help it cope with the “emergent and developing child protection crisis.”

The Siders children ranged in age from 18 months to 18 years, and some were described as “feral” and unable to speak. Authorities said their medical conditions varied and alleged that they had been kept in about a 12-foot-by-12-foot room for several years. Two were flown for hospital care.

Archer did not elaborate but said this week that all the children are “safe and being cared for.”

The eldest was born in May 2008, two months after then-18-year-old Gary Siders Jr. and Elizabeth, who was 15, crossed the state line to get married at the Mason County Courthouse in West Virginia with the consent of Elizabeth’s parents, according to court records. She’s had pregnancies most years since then, the records show.

The 16 Siders siblings at the center of the endangerment case were all born in hospitals, according to birth certificates reviewed by The Associated Press on Friday. Among them are three sets of twins. Elizabeth Siders also had a fourth set of twins in 2022, records show, who died hours after birth.

The state Department of Children and Youth estimates that placement costs for the siblings will run between $150 and $250 per child per day. That adds up to roughly $850,000 a year, or more than three times the amount generated by Vinton County’s levy that’s split between children’s and senior services.

South Central Ohio Job & Family Services is consulting with its attorneys about setting up a trust for the children after an influx of financial and other types of donations poured in following news of the case, the agency said on Facebook.

The state cash headed to Vinton County will allow the agency to “ensure vulnerable children receive the safety, treatment, and support they urgently require,” the funding request said. Additional expenses, such as court costs and police overtime associated with the case, can also be covered with the state money. 

The Minnesota Board of Animal Health is warning that some dogs adopted from South Dakota are testing positive for canine brucellosis, a contagious and uncurable infection. 

Dogs from South Dakota carrying canine brucellosis

By the numbers:

State officials say that so far in 2026, there have been seven canine brucellosis positive dogs traced to South Dakota.

What they’re saying:

Companion Animal Program Veterinarian Dr. Steve Kivisto shared the following statement on the matter. 

“We’re evaluating new import requirements and quarantine procedures for dogs coming into Minnesota from South Dakota due to a high prevalence of canine brucellosis in dogs rescued from that geographic area in the past few years,” said companion animal program veterinarian Dr. Steve Kivisto. “We’ve also had recent cases imported from other states and will consider additional requirements if those also prove to contain a pattern of canine brucellosis.”

Dig deeper:

Canine brucellosis is an infection that primarily affects dogs, but there are strains capable of infecting other species, including humans. 

The infection in dogs is not curable, and should an owner choose to attempt treatment, their pet could still continue to shed the bacteria. Infected dogs would either need to be quarantined for life or humanely euthanized to prevent the spread. 

People who live with or work closely with animals are also at risk of contracting brucellosis.

What you can do:

Officials say anyone bringing dogs into Minnesota for resale or adoption must have a veterinarian examine the animal and sign off on a certificate of veterinary inspection certifying that it appears free from disease. 

Testing is also highly recommended since infected dogs can appear healthy.