North Dakota
After three decades, B-1 Bomber returns to Grand Forks for special mission
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — It’s a blast from the past at the Grand Forks Air Force Base. The B-1 bomber returned, exactly 30 years after the last one left.
The beast of a plane, which guzzles a million gallons of gas a month, is helping Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota buy time.
“Ellsworth has to undergo a significant runway repair and upgrade, and in order to do that, they need to temporarily relocate their mission,” Col. Tim Monroe, a commander with the 319th Reconnaissance Wing at the Grand Forks Air Force Base, said Tuesday.
Ellsworth is getting ready to host a fleet of B-21 jets, but the Air Force needs the jets fueled and ready. Luckily, Grand Forks has a deep history of hosting B-1 bombers.
“This is not terribly new to us, but we do have to revisit a lot of basic principles of operating an aircraft like this because this installation, for many years, has operated unmanned systems,” Monroe said.
“Grand Forks quickly became one of the best options that popped up: its proximity to Ellsworth is one of its perks, additionally that it’s got a lot of B-1 infrastructure still existing here,” Lt. Col. Nathaniel Butler, the director of the Commander’s Action Group, said.
Specifically, the quality of the fuel lines and the runway at Grand Forks Air Force Base. The base has the potential to host many more of these, and several hundred airmen, as Ellsworth continues construction.
“It’s going to require some infrastructure updates to the installation, but it’s also going to require everybody to play nice and make sure that we are working cooperatively to sustain two wings’ missions from this base,” Monroe said.
“With every project there’s going to be problems, and some of them comes to funding, and a lot of it comes to contracting timelines, I don’t think that there’s anything that any one person can wave a magic wand and fix.” Butler said.
The Pentagon recently awarded the Grand Forks base more than $61 million dollars for renovation work.
North Dakota
North Dakota voters to decide single-subject requirement for future constitutional amendments on June 9
BRECKENRIDGE — Coaches, teammates, friends and family gathered in the south parking lot of Breckenridge High School for another state tournament sendoff.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
This year, it was Troy Berndt taking the ceremonial convertible ride. He is headed to St. Michael-Albertville High School for the Minnesota Class A State Track and Field Meet on June 4-6.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
He will be running in the third heat of the 400-meter prelims, scheduled for 4:52 p.m. June 4. There are seven athletes in each heat, 21 total, and nine will advance to the finals at 6:20 p.m. June 5.
The top two finishers in each heat advance, along with the next three best times. Berndt’s personal best time of 50.67 has him seeded 13th, but the 10th-, 11th- and 12th-seeded runners are less than five hundredths of a second ahead of him. The eighth- and ninth-seeded runners are also close, at 50.33 and 50.39, respectively.
Berndt dropped nearly seven-tenths of a second from his previous personal best at the Section 6A West Subsection Meet on May 21, running 51.35, and shaved another 0.68 seconds off at the Section 6A Championships on May 28 with a time of 50.67. If he keeps lowering his time, he will have a shot at reaching the podium against the best runners in Class A.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
Results and photos will be available online immediately following the race June 4 and in the June 10 print edition of the Wahpeton Daily News.
Corbin Lee is a sports reporter for the Wahpeton Daily News and Richland County News-Monitor. Corbin can be reached by calling (701) 291-3551 or emailing corbin.lee@wahpetondailynews.com.
On this day in 1971, Rugby repeated as North Dakota’s high school sand greens golf champion behind medalist Dwight Stempson’s winning performance.
Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:
Rugby Repeats As Sand Greens Golf Champion
RUGBY, N. D. — Rugby repeated as North Dakota high school sand greens golf champion here Wednesday, posting a four-man total of 293 strokes for 18 holes.
Led by medalist Dwight Stempson’s medalist 36-35 — 71, the Panthers were eight strokes ahead of runnerup Stanley, which had a 301. Following were Garrison 311, Beulah 315, Leeds 322, Ashley 323, Bottineau 328, Pembina 329, Tioga 332, Parshall 341 and Hettinger 342.
Stempson and teammate Bruce Carlson each had one-under par 71s, but Carlson was unable to be at the regional and wasn’t qualified for individual honors.
Rounding out the Rugby totals were Delwin Wilson 40-37 — 77 and Dennett Hutchinson 35-39 — 74. Gary Kirchoffner, 41-39 — 80, was Rugby’s fifth entrant with the best four-of-five scores counted.
Runnerup Stanley was led by Steve Springan’s 34-38 — 72 and Joe Springan’s 36-38 — 74. Their two-man total of 146 strokes was good enough for the doubles title. Two strokes back with a 148 was the duo of Stempson and Wilson. Stan Saathoff and Mike Stepina of Garrison each had 76s for a 152 total and the Ashley combo of Steve Maier (76) and Dave Kretschmar (78) was fourth with a 154.
Stempson was the driving contest winner with a distance of 280 yards. Chris Knutson of Garrison headed the pitch and putt competition.
Kate Almquist is the social media manager for InForum. After working as an intern, she joined The Forum full time starting in January 2022. Readers can reach her at kalmquist@forumcomm.com.
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