North Dakota
Jamestown-based officials making the game better in North Dakota
JAMESTOWN — When Trev Zerr agreed to officiate his first amateur basketball game, he probably didn’t think he’d still be doing it 30 years later.
“When I was in high school I got approached by a couple of older guys who were playing amateur basketball, asking if I would be willing to help out and then my dad coached baseball so I was helping out with that, so that’s kind of how I got into it,” Zerr said.
Once he graduated college in 1996, Zerr made the commitment to ref on a more regular basis. He officiates basketball, baseball and fastpitch softball.
“I enjoy it,” Zerr said. “90% of the time, I enjoy being out there. I enjoy the comradery of the guys I am out there with — the kids — 99.9% of them are awesome out on the court so they make it a fun adventure every night.”
Zerr is one of 15 officials belonging to the Jamestown Officials Association.
“We’re pretty fortunate,” said Brent Thielges, another local official. “We still have a decent amount of experienced officials who have been doing it for a long time. We will probably run into some situations where these experienced individuals are going to start hanging it up but we have a group that is very good at not only getting younger people involved but also mentoring them and getting them the experience that they need to be successful later on.”
Thielges officiates but he is also the assigner for the Jamestown Officials Association. Thielges took over the assigning role from Mark Ukestad in 2022.
“With assigning, really it starts with having a working relationship with the athletic directors in the area,” Thielges said. “They are the ones that will send dates of games for their upcoming season and then it’s up to me to decide if we can provide enough officials for that date.
“You have to take into consideration what you can cover with the guys that you have,” he said. “Not all days work for people. Typically the most games I will take is three per night. We’ll do our best to have three officials on the floor for every game. We haven’t had any issues with that for a while.”
On any given night, Thielges, Zerr and Ukestad are typically responsible for officiating what prep games they can usually within 100 miles of Jamestown.
“It’s a process,” Ukestad said. “You might have the night off and then one guy goes down — you might not have the night off anymore. We do everything possible to get the games in. If you didn’t have officials, games would be recess.”
John M. Steiner / The Jamestown Sun
When there is a shortage of available officials, members of the Jamestown Officials Association often work with officials out of the Flood Lake organization — by Kulm — and the Valley City association.
“We do a very good job of working together if we need help filling in in certain areas or certain dates,” Thielges said. “I am in constant communication with the assigners from those regions too.”
While there haven’t been too many issues covering area games, there are fewer referees than there used to be.
“On some nights it is really busy,” Zerr said. “You end up using younger guys to do games that I never had the opportunity to do when I was just starting out which is maybe good, maybe bad.”
“There is a shortage,” Ukestad said. “A lot of the older guys are getting out. They’ve put in their time and their due diligence but there is more of them getting out than young guys are coming in. It’s not like it used to be where you had guys waiting around ready to work.”
Ukestad is one official who has been at it since Ronald Reagan was president.
“I got into it by watching my dad coach and officiate for many years when I was a kid,” Ukestad said. “I always thought it would be a good way to stay in the game and earn a little bit extra pocket cash.
“I said that I would make a decision to keep going or not at age 60,” he said. “I am four years away from that but my health is still good and I still enjoy it. It’s when you don’t enjoy it that you need to get out. If you are just there for the money, you shouldn’t be there. You should be there to make the game of basketball and football better for the kids.”
Ukestad has been refereeing basketball for 36 seasons and has been a football official since 2016. He also was a track and field official for 10 years.
“I enjoy being part of the game, the atmosphere and more importantly, my buddies who do it with me,” Ukestad said. “I like spending time with those guys whether it’s in the car on the way there or on the way back when we talk about the game. You are all a part of the same fraternity.”
Ukestad is doing his best to keep that fraternity strong.
Ukestad puts on an officials camp every summer in Jamestown, offering younger officials the chance to learn more about the game and hone their skills out on the court. While attendance at camps is not required, Zerr said those just entering the officiating realm would greatly benefit from the opportunities offered.
“It’s totally different than playing the game,” Zerr said of officiating. “Everyone thinks they know the rules, but until you sit down with the rule book you don’t know much about the game.”
Even with all the studying and practice, all three officials admitted that some calls slip through the cracks.
John M. Steiner / The Jamestown Sun
“I think almost every game you get a little bit nervous,” Zerr said. “If you are reffing, you want to do a good job. We’re all going to make bad calls — there’s no doubt about it. Occasionally I’ll make a call and know at that moment that I made a bad call and it’s like, oh boy.
“You want to do a good job every night,” he said. “When you are out there you want to give everyone a fair opportunity to win the game. You don’t want to take the game away from anybody.”
Thielges added:
“It’s more than walking into the gym, putting on your uniform, grabbing your whistle, going out onto the floor and working. There’s always more that goes into it. We’re trying to make sure that we are all on the same page and that we are learning from our mistakes.
“When we are in a game, we’re really not thinking about a lot of the things people think we’re thinking about,” he said. “We’re not necessarily thinking about who’s playing, we’re not thinking about who we want to win or who we want to lose. We’re out there trying to get the calls right.”
While the bluster and heckling from the stands might deter some people from getting involved in officiating, Ukestad said the good far outweighs the bad.
“The older I get, the worse my hearing gets so that helps,” Ukestad said of hearing negative comments. “If we have a young ref out on the floor we will let coaches know that if they have something to say, say it to one of us older guys.
“We are there to help (everyone),” he said. “We’re big on sportsmanship and we try to help players and coaches with that and most of the time it seems to work.”
All three longstanding officials said those interested in officiating should reach out to a member of the Jamestown Officials Association to get started. There is no minimum age required to begin officiating.
“Try it, give it a whirl, you might like it,” Ukestad said to interested parties. “You might like the atmosphere. You might like the guys you are doing it with. You might find out that a little extra cash in your pocket can be helpful. If you can bring a young guy in and have him for at least three years, usually he’s hooked after that.”
Filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court
North Dakota
David and Roxann Kary Hagen, doing business as R&D Trucking, Bismarck, Chapter 7
Julie K. Dupree, Grafton, Chapter 7
Bryan Ray Bellon and Adriana Lorene Hoskins, Mandan, Chapter 13
Shane Carlton Heck, doing business as Heck Farms, Cavalier, Chapter 12
Dale McPherson, Grafton, Chapter 7
Kortney Noel Benjamin, also known as Kortney Turbin, West Fargo, Chapter 7
Judilee Gica Solis, Killdeer, Chapter 7
Drake Allen Pauley, Williston, Chapter 13
Kathy Sue Snobl, Grand Forks, Chapter 13
Briana Lynn Claire Eklund, Fargo, Chapter 7
Chad Richard and Rebecca Lynn Forderer, Bismarck, Chapter 7
Nicole Marie Unruh, Mandan, Chapter 7
Brianna Marie Kunz, Fargo, Chapter 7
Robert John Floer, Fargo, Chapter 7
Cory Dean Matson, Horace, Chapter 13
Sarah Lynn and Nicolas Blaise Griffin, Grand Forks, Chapter 7
Samantha Rose Cedillo, also known as Samantha Ulshafer, and Sammy Joe Cedillo, Grand Forks, Chapter 7
Jonathon R. Lakoduk, Minot, Chapter 7
Cleone Colett Gackle, also known as Cleone Mcalpin, Fargo, Chapter 7
Jose Alfredo Salinas, Grafton, Chapter 7
Shania Mae Emin, formerly known as Shania Olson and Shania Alto, and Brandon Lee Emin, Fargo, Chapter 7
Elisabeth Marie Wickum, Minot, Chapter 7
Trista Lyn Blake, West Fargo, Chapter 7
Minnesota
Bankruptcy filings from the following counties: Becker, Clay, Douglas, Grant, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Norman, Otter Tail, Polk, Traverse, Wadena and Wilkin.
Joseph W. and Anicia L. Topp, Detroit Lakes, Chapter 7
Zachary John and Tara Marie Otto, Moorhead, Chapter 13
Abigail Marie Yliniemi, Moorhead, Chapter 7
Marshall Lee Johnson, Audubon, Chapter 7
Stephanie Mitchell, formerly known as Stephanie Weyer and Stephanie Hanson, and Christopher Randell Mitchell, Fergus Falls, Chapter 7
Cassandra Ann Feldt, Detroit Lakes, Chapter 13
Jessica Ann Guzman, also known as Jessica Werness, East Grand Forks, Chapter 7
Chapter 7 is a petition to liquidate assets and discharge debts.
Chapter 11 is a petition for protection from creditors and to reorganize.
Chapter 12 is a petition for family farmers to reorganize.
Chapter 13 is a petition for wage earners to readjust debts.
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North Dakota might be the country’s most underrated summer state, and that is exactly the point. While the crowds pile into busier places, its towns stay quiet under wide prairie skies. You can boat and fish and catch outdoor theater without ever fighting for a parking spot. Some towns sit in the Badlands, others along the Missouri River or up near the Canadian border. These eight prove a crowd-free summer is still easy to find.
Medora
Medora has fewer than 200 full-time residents and still feels like the liveliest stop for miles. The Marquis de Mores, a French nobleman, founded the town in 1883 and left behind buildings you can still walk through, while his wife funded St. Mary’s Catholic Church, the oldest Catholic church still in use in the state. The big summer event is the Medora Musical, entering its 61st season this June at the open-air Burning Hills Amphitheater, with live music and history nightly except Mondays. Right next door, Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s South Unit reopened its full 36-mile Scenic Loop Drive in late 2025 after a six-year closure, so the bison, wild horses, and painted buttes of the Badlands are all back in reach. Golfers can take on Bully Pulpit, named USA Today’s number-one public course in 2025, where the back nine climbs straight into the buttes. And come July 4, 2026, Medora gains the brand-new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, a 100,000-square-foot attraction minutes from the park.
Valley City
Valley City calls itself the City of Bridges, and the drive in on the Sheyenne River Valley National Scenic Byway shows you why, rolling past wooded river bends and historic spans. Most road-trippers blow right by it on I-94 between Fargo and Jamestown, which is their loss. The Hi-Line Railroad Bridge runs nearly 3,900 feet long and sits about 162 feet above the river, ranking among the longest and highest single-track rail bridges in the country. In summer, Lake Ashtabula is the place to fish, boat, ski, or swim, while downtown hosts Summer Nights on Central every second Thursday from June through September. Just outside town, the 213-foot Medicine Wheel at Medicine Wheel Park lines up with the solstices, a quietly remarkable thing to find on the prairie.
Dunseith
Dunseith sits right on the Canadian border, where Turtle Mountain’s wooded slopes meet a string of quiet lakes. Its claim to fame is the International Peace Garden, a 3.65-square-mile spread straddling the US and Canada where you can wander flower beds and cross between two countries almost without noticing. Summer is the sweet spot to visit, since the grounds stay uncrowded outside the early-July national holidays, and the garden rents kayaks by the half-day. Lake Storman anchors the recreation here, and just up the road stands the W’eel Turtle, a sculpture built from more than 2,000 painted wheels. Cap the day with prime rib at Dale’s Cafe, then mark your calendar, because the first International Indigenous Peace Powwow lands here in early July 2026.
Mandan
Most people treat Mandan as the road to Bismarck, which keeps Fort Abraham Lincoln and the Missouri River bottomlands refreshingly quiet all summer. Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park is the oldest state park in North Dakota, complete with a reconstructed military fort, and it is where George Custer rode out on his doomed 1876 march to the Little Bighorn. The Mandan Rodeo, one of the world’s oldest continuously running rodeos, fills early July with denim, boots, and wide-brimmed hats, a tradition that predates North Dakota’s statehood by about a decade. If the kids need a break from history, the Raging Rivers Waterpark has tube slides, speed slides, and a lazy river to burn off the afternoon.
Garrison
Garrison bills itself as the Walleye Capital of the World, and the title is earned out on Lake Sakakawea, the reservoir the Garrison Dam created on the Missouri River back in 1953. Anglers in the know come for some of the best walleye water in the upper Midwest, while everyone else drives past toward flashier spots. Fort Stevenson State Park spreads over 500-plus acres of camping, biking, hiking, and boating under wooded bluffs, on the site of a frontier outpost now partly beneath the lake. Grab a shake at the Four Seasons Restaurant and Ice Cream Parlor, then poke around the North Dakota Firefighters Museum to see antique trucks and old firefighting gear.
Jamestown
Fargo, 100 miles east, hogs the eastern North Dakota spotlight, but Jamestown quietly offers just as much history and a lot more roadside character. Out front of the North American Bison Discovery Center stands the World’s Largest Buffalo, a 26-foot, 60-ton concrete bull built in 1959 by sculptor Elmer Petersen. Inside, exhibits trace the bison’s history and survival, and a live buffalo herd grazes nearby. For open-air time, Jamestown Reservoir and Pipestem Dam offer swimming, fishing, boating, and miles of trails. Jamestown is also the birthplace of Louis L’Amour, the best-selling Western novelist, and you can trace his early life on the self-guided Trail of Louis L’Amour, centered on a kiosk at the Alfred Dickey Public Library.
Walhalla
In the state’s far northeastern corner near the Canadian border, Walhalla flies under almost everyone’s radar. The Pembina Gorge nearby holds one of the largest unbroken blocks of forest in North Dakota, and this summer it gets a major upgrade, as Pembina Gorge State Park opens in June 2026 as the state’s 14th state park and its first new one since 1989. The Pembina River threads the gorge for seasonal kayaking, and Frost Fire Summer Theatre stages Broadway-style musicals on an outdoor stage right above it through July. History buffs should not skip the Gingras Trading Post State Historic Site, where fur trader Antoine Blanc Gingras built a hand-hewn log store and home that rank among the oldest buildings still standing in the state.
Washburn
Forty miles north of Bismarck, where most day-trippers turn around, Washburn keeps one of the richest Lewis and Clark stories almost to itself. The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center walks you through the brutal winter of 1804 and 1805, and just west, Fort Mandan State Historic Site holds a full-size replica of the fort where the expedition waited it out. Nearby, Cross Ranch State Park runs wild along the Missouri River, with prairie-and-cottonwood trails for hiking, fishing, and paddling under the watch of bald eagles. When lunchtime hits, the Cabin Bar and Grill turns out one of the best burgers in the region.
Summer In North Dakota
North Dakota is one of America’s best-kept summer secrets, not just a box to tick on the way to visiting all fifty states. Between the Badlands, the Missouri River, and a string of welcoming towns, you get real outdoor adventure without the crowds that turn a trip into a chore.
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