Come to Moorhead Library on Thursday, October 18 at 7 p.m. to join faculty from MSUM’s Political Science Department for a discussion on some of the major issues of this year’s election.
For more information, please call 218-233-7594 or visit your library at 118 5th St. S. Information is also available online at www.larl.org. Moorhead Library is a branch of Lake Agassiz Regional Library.
New Hiking Trail Opening Near Kindred
Hikers, birdwatchers and other nature enthusiasts soon will have a new hiking trail in southeastern North Dakota.
North Dakota State University’s School of Natural Resource Sciences, the Dakota Prairie Grasslands chapter of the North Country Trail Association (NCTA) and Boy Scout Troop 214 are opening the Ekre/Troop 214 hiking trail near Kindred on Oct. 21.
The Ekre/Troop 214 trail is on the Albert Ekre Grassland Preserve southwest of Kindred. The preserve is land Albert Ekre donated to the NDSU College of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Natural Resources as a demonstration ranch to support research and education.
The trail is part of the North Country National Scenic Trail, which stretches
approximately 4,600 miles from Crown Point in eastern New York to Lake Sakakawea State Park in central North Dakota. It is the longest of the 11 national scenic trails authorized by Congress.
“The new hiking trail crosses virgin grasslands and a spring creek, and goes through some of the oldest woods on the eastern end of the Sheyenne River Valley,” says Jack Norland, an assistant professor of natural resources at NDSU and coordinator for the Ekre/Troop 214 trail project.
The trail is a one-mile-long loop that is rated as easy to hike, provides vistas of the valley and gives hikers a glimpse of North Dakota history.
Part of the trail follows the path of the Fort Abercrombie military road
established in the 1860s. The old military road served Fort Totten and Fort
Ransom. Part of the new trail crosses the bottom of the valley where the road splits, with one stretch going west to Fort Ransom and the other crossing the Sheyenne River and going north to Fort Totten. One of the log cabins on the preserve dates back to the military road era.
Additional parts of the North Country Trail are planned to connect to this new trail. The start of the trail will become a trailhead for part of the North
Country Trail.
A trail opening ceremony will be held at the trailhead at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 21. The trailhead for the Ekre/Troop 214 trail is just south of where North Dakota Highway 18 crosses the Sheyenne River. Look for North Country Trail signs. By a global positioning system unit, go to 46 degrees 33.251’N 97 degrees 8.255’W.
Those on hand to help open the trail include Norland; Tom Moberg, vice president of the NCTA board of directors; Bruce Matthews, the NCTA’s executive director; Matthew Davis, the NCTA’s regional trail coordinator for Minnesota and North Dakota; and the Scouts of Troop 214.
Seven Scouts from Troop 214 have completed their Eagle Scout projects on the trail with help from troop members, the NDSU Natural Resources Management Club and others.
Family Weekend to be held at NDSU
Fargo, N.D., Oct. 8, 2012 – Family Weekend at North Dakota State University is scheduled for Oct. 12-14. Family Weekend is a chance for families of current students to visit campus and spend time with their student while experiencing art, academics and athletics at NDSU.
More than 500 family members typically participate in the annual event. Families can attend activities such as an NDSU Showcase, a football game, a choral concert and theatre performance.
Orientation and Student Success coordinates Family Weekend in conjunction with the NDSU community. For a detailed schedule or more information, visit www.ndsu.edu/studentsuccess/family_weekend or contact Nancy Mueller at 701-231-8379 or nancy.mueller@ndsu.edu.
Successful Community Prescription Drug Take Back Program
The second year partnership between the Moorhead Police Department, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Moorhead Walgreen’s for the one-day Prescription Drug Take Back Program proved to be a success once again. Moorhead collections from Saturday September 29th weighed over 70 pounds! That brings this program’s total for the last two years to 183 pounds of prescription medications voluntarily turned in to be properly destroyed.
This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs.
Twenty percent of teens say they have recreationally taken a prescription drug without having a prescription for it themselves, and five percent of teens reports abusing over-the-counter (OTC) cough medicine to get “high.” Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. Medicine abuse is our nation’s fastest-growing drug problem.
In the front lobby of the Moorhead Law Enforcement Center (915 9th Ave. N.), a medicine drop box for FREE disposal will continue to be available for Moorhead residents. Incineration is much safer than other common disposal methods such as flushing medicines down the toilet into the water table or putting in garbage landfills. There is no fee for this service and it is completely anonymous for everyone.