In case you missed it in The Sun the week of March 20, 2023

The following stories from this week appeared on www.jamestownsun.com and in The Jamestown Sun.

At least 800 people participated in the 44th Annual Runnin O’ the Green on Saturday, March 18, in Jamestown, according to Larry Knoblich, event founder.

Only around 150 to 200 people went down the hill due to the “miserably cold” low temperatures, and many Run participants started at the Buff Bar & Lounge, Knoblich said.

The event is a pub crawl where participants stop at participating bars along a route.

Run participants donate $10 when they register for the event. From event proceeds, $25,000 is donated to Elks Camp Grassick — a summer camp located near Dawson for children and adults with physical and intellectual disabilities — and $10,000 is set aside to help cancer patients in the area. The event helps 20 cancer patients, who are each given $500.

The Stutsman County Commission in a 3-2 split vote approved a bid to construct a heated 150-by-60-foot storage building for the Stutsman County Sheriff’s Office.

Commissioners Steve Cichos and Joan Morris were opposed at the meeting Tuesday, March 21.

The low bid from Hillerud Construction Inc. to construct the storage building is more than $1.25 million. The storage building will be built using federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.

The proposed building would be located near the existing Stutsman County Park Board shop located between two sets of trees on the west side of Lakeside Campground on Jamestown Reservoir.

The storage building would include two drive-thru bays and three single-door bays. The building would have bathrooms and a shower, a small kitchenette and an area for dispatch in case something happened to the Stutsman County Communications Center located in the Law Enforcement Center.

For the Jamestown Public School District’s school resource officer, being visible is important for students to feel comfortable approaching him.

“If there is an incident that happens, students have the ability to come talk to me about it,” Scott Geiszler said. He said students can also just stop and greet him.

Geiszler spends a lot of his time at the Jamestown High School but he tries to get to the other schools as much as possible.

As school resource officer, Geiszler provides security, safety and policing resources to students and staff of the Jamestown Public School District. Geiszler is a trained law enforcement officer who worked patrol and investigations when he first started his career with the Jamestown Police Department years ago.

Loaf ‘N Jug in Jamestown is temporarily closed after it was found to be a “dangerous” building by the city building inspector.

Tom Blackmore, building inspector and zoning administrator, said he was notified Saturday afternoon, March 18, about Loaf ‘N Jug’s roof potentially trying to cave in due to the amount of snow and ice. He said the area of concern is in the northern third of the building in the lobby area.

A posted notice of a dangerous building was still on the entrance of Loaf ‘N Jug on Friday morning. Loaf ‘N Jug could not be reached for comment.

The Stutsman County Park Board will not seek a zoning change on a proposed site for an outdoor shooting range about 15 miles northwest of Jamestown.

A motion by Commissioner Steve Cichos on Tuesday, March 21, to approach Buchanan Township about a zoning change failed due to the lack of a second.

A North Dakota Game and Fish Department official proposed a site for an outdoor shooting range to the park board on March 7. The proposed site was south of Stutsman County Road 42 just east of Jamestown Reservoir. The Game and Fish Department was looking at a potential land lease agreement with the county for about 10 acres of land at the proposed site.

A gun range at Pipestem Reservoir was shut down in 2013 due to stray bullets hitting buildings that were about a mile from the gun range.

Joel Lees said he lives above the hill north of the proposed site, which is more than half a mile from the proposed site. He said he has cattle all around the proposed site and the site is underwater half of the time during times of high water.

He said the park board needs to do its due diligence and not allow an outdoor shooting range at the proposed site instead of pushing the decision onto the Buchanan Township board.

The Jamestown Building, Planning and Zoning Committee unanimously recommended introducing the first reading of an ordinance amending the district map to change the zoning for property west of City Hall from a general commercial district to a central core commercial district.

Councilman Brian Kamlitz was not present at the meeting Thursday, March 23.

The city of Jamestown obtained the property located at 101 and 107 2nd Ave. SE some time ago, said Tom Blackmore, zoning administrator. The existing building was demolished and the site was cleaned up. A gas station used to be located on the property.

Permitted uses for the central core commercial district include retail establishments, restaurants, office space, repair shops and other miscellaneous business, according to a staff report on the requested zone change. The district also permits multi-family development and vertical mixed-use development with residential on the upper floors and commercial on the ground floor.