From bedtime stories to book

Riley and Megan Richard were sick of hearing the same old bedtime stories, so they turned to their mom for a change of pace.

“Instead of reading to them, they wanted me to tell them a story,” Lanette Richard remembered.

Richard obliged her children’s wishes. Little did she know, those stories would develop into her children’s book, “The Adventures of Tommy and Sara.”

Richard began telling her children a different Tommy and Sara story every night. The tales centered around the two children who came from the city to their grandparents’ home in rural North Dakota. According to Richard, the protagonists’ adventures are based on her own children’s curiosity-driven antics around the family’s farm near Rolette. Richard didn’t anticipate the enthusiasm that the tales would inspire in Riley and Megan.

“It got to where we’d be riding in the car and the kids would ask for a Tommy and Sara story,” Richard recalled. It was then that Richard’s husband, Mark, encouraged her to start writing the original tales down.

It took Lanette Richard nine months to finish her book.

“We really didn’t do anything with it for three years,” Richard said.

She attributed part of the delay to her search for an illustrator. The search finally came to an end when Teach Services in Brushton, N.Y., agreed to both find an illustrator and publish Richard’s book.

“They found my book very wholesome and refreshing,” Richard said.

Richard said she hopes her book shows “the fun that can be had in the country.”

Eager fans have written to Richard asking her for more of Tommy and Sara’s adventures in the country.

Fans will have to wait, but not forever. Richard is halfway done with her second installment in the series.

“The Adventures of Tommy and Sara” is currently sold on Amazon.com and LNFbooks.com. Copies can also be obtained from the author.

—Turtle Mountain Star, Rolla



Law enforcement center plans progressing

The law enforcement center in Washburn is seeing continued progress. Opening dates are anticipated for June 2009. Preplanning issues and updates were brought to the county commission at the June 3 meeting by State’s Attorney Ladd Erickson.

Across the state, other law enforcement centers are struggling with the need to house their prisoners. Erickson told commissioners that because some of those centers have either delayed construction of a new addition or delayed decisions about which direction to take, they are looking for solutions. The new law enforcement center in Washburn could be the direction they are looking.

Erickson said, “We will be looking at a need for more employees to keep the law enforcement facility paying for itself. At 10 outside prisoners per day, it is feasible. If we begin getting more requests, say handling 15 outside prisoners per day, we will be looking at needing more staff.”

Erickson wanted commissioners to consider how the cash flow costs can change depending on how many prisoners the new center might be asked to handle. He told commissioners that it would be in the best interest of the county and the center to have a set policy to handle the possible rise in requests from other counties and from the federal government for housing prisoners.

Erickson said, “It is premature to get into contract bids. We’re still under construction and we have to get our people trained. We really should get the jail up and running and get staff in place before we take on contract bids.”

County Auditor Les Korgel suggested fielding some of the requests by requesting a formal letter from law enforcement agencies indicating their specific needs. Korgel also mentioned that with the dormitory-style operation, there might be a need for additional staffing if the county takes on additional prisoners from other areas.

“We aren’t going to be available until June of 2009. Let them know what our schedule is and they can decide if that works for them,” Korgel said.

—The Underwood News, Underwood



New Town getting new general store

In a matter of time, a new Cenex is about to replace itself with a band new and bigger general store. The new renovations began May 1 when ground was broken. The plan is for the new building to be double the size of the current one, which would be around 7,000 square feet.

Manager John Reese noted the importance of the new building.

“It’s time to replace the old one with a more modern look and bigger space for the customers and the community. I think the people in the community will enjoy the building once it’s completed,” Reese said.

A new building also means new items that are being brought to the store. Plans have been set to introduce new food and drink items, as well as clothing items.

“Customers will notice the convenience the store will bring right away,” said Reese.

The new building will also bring a larger parking area for customers as well as new gas pumps. Replacing the existing fuel pumps will take a couple months and Reese said they hope to finish installing them before winter.

The current Cenex General Store is still open during construction. The new building is scheduled to open Aug. 15.

—New Town News, New Town



Award-winning author coming

to Maddock

Award-winning children’s author Margo Sorenson will speak and sign books on Saturday, July 5, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Maddock Community Center. Reservations for books are available by calling 438-2449. This event is sponsored by the Maddock Sons of Norway Lodge.

The author of more than 25 books, she was born in Washington, D.C., and spent the first seven years of her life in Spain and Italy, living where there were few children her age, so books became her friends. She finished her school years in California, graduating from the University of California at Los Angeles. After teaching high school and middle school and raising two daughters, Sorenson is now a full-time writer, writing primarily for young people of all ages.

A book she particularly enjoyed writing is “Tori and the Sleigh of Midnight Blue,” a story of her family’s ancestry and heritage of the plains of North Dakota and is the first work of children’s historical fiction to be printed by North Dakota State University.

It chronicles the lives of 11-year-old aspiring writer Tori and her family as they struggle through the Great Depression in North Dakota as their lives change with the death of her father. For research, Sorenson tapped into her in-laws’ and other family members’ stories, went to antique stores to see various kitchen and household implements Tori would have used and read many volumes of North Dakota history to get the flavor of how people really lived day-to-day.

“All our family rolls lefse to this day,” Sorenson says, “and it was so much fun to write about it when Tori rolls her lefse with Mama.”

Besides winning recognition and awards for her books from various groups, including the American Library Association, Sorenson was recently invited to donate and archive her working papers with the internationally-known children’s collection, The Kerlan Collection, at the University of Minnesota. She is a winner of the 2006 Catholic Press Association Award and received the Milken Family Foundation National Education Award in 1991. After having lived in Hawaii, California and Minnesota, Sorenson and her husband, Jim, now live in LaQuinta, Calif.

—Benson County Farmers Press, Minnewaukan



(The Regional Roundup is compiled by Minot Daily News staff writer Dan Feldner)