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State offers vouchers to assist protesters to leave

A state program providing hotel vouchers to departing protesters of the Dakota Access Pipeline ended after the first night, in which a fight and damage to a hotel room occurred, according to the governor’s office.

Gov. Doug Burgum held a news conference Wednesday in which he spoke about his decision to provide protesters with vouchers for travel and lodging to assist them in relocating from a camp on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land. Protesters were ordered to leave the camp by 2 p.m. Wednesday in advance of spring flooding. Most heeded the order.

The transition center where protesters could obtain vouchers was shut down Thursday due to lack of use, State Emergency Services spokeswoman Cecily Fong said. An adviser to Gov. Doug Burgum says only nine people used the center Wednesday and no one used it Thursday, according to the Associated Press.

The AP reported two rooms at the Comfort Inn in Bismarck were damaged, but Fong said that wasn’t a factor in closing the transition center.

Bismarck Police are investigating a fight that resulted in the damages, said Mike Nowatzki, spokesman for the governor. It is unknown whether the individuals responsible for the damage were recipients of the state assistance, but the hotel voucher program has been discontinued, he said. Bus vouchers remained available, he said Thursday morning.

Burgum had no estimate of the cost of the voucher program at Wednesday’s news conference. However, he indicated the state will seek reimbursement.

“The State of North Dakota might be paying now but we are keeping the receipts and we will have a discussion on who is going to pay at the end,” Burgum said. “We are saving taxpayers dollars anytime we can buy a bus ticket and a hotel room versus trying to put somebody through the legal system.”

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