FARGO, ND- JUNE 11, 2013‐, HERO, Healthcare Equipment Recycling Organization has received a grant in the amount of $4,000 from Dakota Medical Foundation to support funding for training in a Virtual CIO program led by Summit Group Software. Recipients of this grant agree to add $500 of sponsored or organization given funds. This program will allow HERO to learn more about IT and create a technology strategy for now and the future.
HERO collects and redistributes donated healthcare supplies to benefit those in need. Last year, HERO was able to provide a volume of 3,119 individuals and agencies with needed healthcare supplies and equipment and gave nearly $175,000 worth of supplies to those in need. Examples of items redistributed through HERO are: wheelchairs, wound care supplies, walkers, and personal hygiene items. To learn more about HERO, visit www.HEROFargo.org or call 701-212-1921.
Community and Local Food Resource Website Launched
ST. PAUL (10/22/2012) —A new, tri-state collaboration has resulted in a website to assist rural community food system development.
Designed to support rural communities beginning to build local food systems, as well as those with more developed ones, the web site is www.extension.umn.edu/rsdp/community-and-local-food/. It brings together the following organizations:
· Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (University of Minnesota Extension)
· North Dakota State University Extension Service
· Buy Fresh Buy Local South Dakota
· FARRMS, a non-profit based in Medina, N.D.
“The release of this website coincides with the kick-off of a new season of farmers markets, CSAs and farm-to-institution programs,” said Greg Schweser, community food systems planner for the University of Minnesota Extension’s Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships.
The project was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program’s North Central division.
Researchers worked with rural Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota communities to identify needs and meet them through the website’s tools and resources for farmers, community groups, Extension educators and others interested in local food systems. It will be useful to those working in local foods seeking production assistance, expanded marketing opportunities, developing stronger businesses, creating new sourcing options, educating citizens and crafting more beneficial public policies.
Protect Your Home During Summer Vacation
FARGO, N.D. (June 5, 2013) – As we head into the summer months many residents will leave their homes while traveling or going to the lake. Over the winter, several Fargo homes were burglarized while residents were gone for extended periods of time. The Fargo Police Department encourages citizens to remember a few basic crime prevention tips this summer, so they don’t become victims.
Leaving Town this Summer?
Here are a few helpful Crime Prevention Tips:
· Lock your doors and windows.
· Make your home look occupied.
· Connect some lamps to automatic timers to turn them on in the evening and off during the day.
· Don’t allow daily deliveries of mail, newspapers or flyers to build up. Arrange with the Post Office to hold your mail, or have a friend or neighbor take them regularly.
· Arrange for your lawn to be mowed.
· Check your locks on doors and windows and replace them with secure devices as necessary. Make sure you have deadbolt locks on all outside doors, and lock them.
· Brace sliding glass doors.
· Never leave keys under doormats, flowerpots, mailboxes or other secret hiding places.
· Keep a detailed inventory of your valuable possessions for free on myproperty.cityoffargo.com
· Trim your shrubbery around your home to reduce cover for burglars.
· Install good exterior lighting such as motion sensor lights.
· Don’t announce your absence on answering machine messages.
· Consider installing a burglar alarm system.
· Notify a trusted neighbor or Neighborhood Watch Group of your absence so they can report suspicious behavior.
· Notify your Beat Sergeant of your absence and request extra patrol.
Crime can occur DAY or NIGHT! Fargopolice.com
Report ALL Suspicious Behavior – Emergency 911 – Non-emergency 235-4493
5th Annual Night to Unite Scheduled for August 6
FARGO, N.D. (June 5, 2013) – The 5th Annual Night to Unite is scheduled for Tuesday, August 6, 2013. Night to Unite is designed to help residents get to know their neighbors, build neighborhood involvement by bringing police and communities together and bring awareness to crime prevention and local law enforcement efforts!
Night to Unite events are organized by individual neighborhoods. To participate, complete the Special Permit Application, available on our website at http://www.cityoffargo.com/CityInfo/Departments/Police/CitizenResources/SeasonalandSpecialEvents/NighttoUnite/.
Sex Offenders Change of Address
The Fargo Police Department would like to inform the public of sex offenders who have changed their address:
Gail Lee Bruce a Level III Sex Offender, has moved to 1122 2 Ave S #1, Fargo, ND.
Born in 1955, 6’2”, 200 lbs.
Brown eyes, Gray hair
Offense Background: Bruce was convicted of sexual assault of an adult female, a class B misdemeanor in Cass County District Court, Fargo ND, for an incident that occurred in 1999. Bruce was also convicted of possession or distribution of certain photographs or other visual representations prohibited, a class A misdemeanor, regarding video taping of the above mentioned sexual act. The victim in this incident was a female known to him. He was also convicted of indecent exposure in 1983 in Oklahoma. Bruce exposed himself to four girls under the age of 15. Bruce is a lifetime registrant.
Lasamuel Richardson a Homeless Sex Offender
Born in 1989, 5’11”, 165 lbs.
Brown eyes, Black hair
Offense Background: Richardson was convicted of Indecent Exposure on February 17 2011, in Cass County District Court, ND. His victim was an adult female. Richardson, a moderate risk sex offender, keeps in daily contact with law enforcement as to his whereabouts and is currently on GPS monitoring. Richardson is required to register as a sex offender until 8/26/2037.
Jude Isiddore Walski a Level III Sex Offender, has moved to 1122 2 Ave S #6, Fargo, ND.
Born in 1970, 5’10”, 210 lbs.
Brown eyes, Brown hair
Offense Background: Jude Walski was convicted in 2008 of Luring Minor by Computer in Grand Forks County District Court. The victim was a law enforcement officer posing as a 14 year old female. Walski is a lifetime registrant.
George Eugene Nicolai, a Level III Sex Offender, has moved to 2113 9 Ave S #1, Fargo, ND.
Born in 1948, 6’1”, 230 lbs.
Blue eyes, Brown hair
Offense Background: Nicolai was convicted of Sexual Assault 3 (window peeping) in Larimer County Court, Colorado on June 18, 2000. Nicolai is a lifetime registrant.
More information regarding these Sex Offenders can be found here: http://www.cityoffargo.com/CityInfo/Departments/Police/CitizenResources/SexOffenders/
If you would like more information about registered sex offenders in the city of Fargo, visit our website at www.fargopolice.com. Information on high-risk and lifetime offenders is also available on the North Dakota Attorney General’s website at www.ndsexoffender.com and the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website at http://www.nsopr.gov/. These websites have the answers to many frequently asked questions.
NDSU Helping Grow Local Foods Capacity
The North Dakota State University Extension Service is launching a series of workshops to help communities get involved in the local foods movement.
The first workshop, Building Capacity for Local/Regional Food and Understanding the Industry, will be held Aug. 13 at FARRMS in Medina.
Interest in eating locally produced food continues to grow among consumers, restaurants, schools and grocers. The reasons vary, but health, safety, freshness and knowing where one’s food comes from are four key drivers.
“The interest in eating local is behind the NDSU Extension effort to train local people to support opportunities to grow foods here,” says Abby Gold, Extension nutrition and wellness specialist. “After the training, program participants will develop projects that help their communities explore strategies to increase local food availability.”
From 2007 through 2010, local food sales increased from $1.2 billion to $5 billion nationally. This trend appears to be continuing because more farmers markets open each year and the number of small farms (those less than 100 acres) is expanding.
North Dakota has gained more than nine farmers markets in the last two years. Plus, existing farmers markets are offering more products and adding new vendors. New means of direct product sales, such as community-supported agriculture (also known as CSAs) and food cooperatives, also are becoming available.
In a 2011 NDSU symposium that examined scaling up local foods, participants acknowledged that training to help expand this effort, especially in local areas, was needed.
“The training needs varied from helping producers with food safety issues to helping consumers better understand how local foods support good nutrition,” Gold says.
Issues North Dakota faces in meeting the demand for locally produced food are the lack of producers, transportation and rural retail outlets.
“Small farm specialty crop producers account for less than 5 percent of our agricultural producers,” says Glenn Muske, NDSU Extension’s rural and agribusiness enterprise development specialist. “Meeting this growing demand will mean helping potential producers see this as an opportunity and helping ensure they can do it profitably.”
To register for the workshop, visit http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/smallbusiness. The registration deadline is July 15.
The workshop is free of charge. Participants will receive travel stipends and a small grant to initiate a local foods program in their communities.
For more information, contact Muske at glenn.muske@ndsu.edu or call (701)328-9718.