Rolla, ND

Rolla was having a little fun today and celebrating a finnish holiday. I don’t know all the particulars concerning this specail Fin Day but if someone reading this has the background you are more than welcome to comment and bring us up to date on the holiday meaning. There was entertainment by John and Alfred at the Main Street Saloon along with food and beverages. A main street  parade topped off the afternoon of fun. The Finnsih Polar Bears definitely brought a smile to many faces……..good job guys…….thank you everyone for the fun and friendship on a sunshiny March day!!!!

There was a day of festivity on Sat in Rolla. There was to be a snowmobile run but the nice balmy weather we were having kinda put the kibash to that event!!! But still the Turtle Mt Communication sponsored an excellent noon meal at the school for ALOT of people. There was a hard workin crew on hand to handle the crowd that showed up to win some awesome prizes that they were giving away along with the free meal. There was a kids carnival in the old gym that the CLOSE-UP students put together for a fundraiser so the kyds could have a little fun too.

A pinochle tournament was held at the Legion Cabin and a dart tournament was taking place at the Viking Inn and Main Street Saloon during the afternoon. The Chamber sponsored a steak fry in the evening at the Legion Cabin with the proceeds to go to the quasy-centennial. I helped out during the meal and clean-up and there was a good attendence for the meal and alot of friendly visiting taking place. It’s always nice to see the community working together for some fun and raising money for some good causes. The Chamber did an excellent job on the meal……………….

At our latest Horizons Community Social, representatives of Presentation Medical Center attended and explained to the gathering some of the difficulties facing the hospital at the present time.  There is a continuing problem with finances in our area and hospitals in rural areas in general.  Kinber Wraalstad, current administrator, encouraged all of us to use our local facilities whenever  possible.  There are tests  and procedures that can be done right here in our hospital and don’t have to be done out of town. Every dollar that can be kept in the community helps the hospital to maintain financial integrity.

Committee reports were given by the Job Fair, Community Center, Information Hub, Tourism , Grant Writing and the Quasi-Centennial.

Information of upcoming events was handed out. “Training North Dakota ” will present three sessions on MS Word,and Excel 2007 in March and April at the Rolla School. Also, a workshop ” Welcome to Main Street” is in the works.

The American Legion Auxiliary served a delicious chicken dinner.   

Last Wednesday (Feb 3rd) we held our long planned for Job Fair. It was fantastic!  We had 30 presenters tell 155 students from Rolla, Rock Lake and Rolette what they did for a living here in this area and give the students  information on how to pursue a career in their field. There was great community cooperation.  All of these presenters took time from their busy schedules to help with this project.  The school superintendent and principle were extremely helpful in organizing the day.  Since all 8th though 12th graders were involved in the sessions, classrooms were available for each presenter, making it easier for  good discussion. Students were able to attend 6 different sessions.  They were asked to take a few notes during each session and turn in their comments at the end of the day. Presenters and students filled out an evaluation form which will be used to plan our next fair. We thank the Horizons Program for providing pizza for the presenters and cookies for the students. Our goal with this project was to encourage the young people of the community to look at what is available for them right here in their own back yard. We need them to keep our community alive and growing.  

Last Thursday, a number of people from the community gathered at the United Telephone Conference Room in Rolla to search for the clues to rural community servival.  The session was sponsored by the Rolla JDA (Job Development Authority), with  lunch provided by the Rolla Horizons program.  The Heartland Center for Leadership Development has organized a five session Webinar focusing on rural communities  and their needs to survive.  The first session was entitled  “Rural Communities Can Thrive in the 21st Century”.  The following subjects will be, “Entrepreneurial Coaching — From Crisis to Economic Growth”,” Plowing New Ground — Refreshed Leadership Development for Revitalized Economies”,”Energized Youth — Energized Communities”, and “People Count– Rebuilding Rural Communities with People Attraction Strategies”. 

If you are interested in attending one of these Webinars, please  contact George Youngerman at 477-9130 or rollajda@utma.com. He can help with registration. 

Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, along with a batch of leaders and fun loving chaperones, hit the tubing/sledding slopes at Cross Roads Range a few miles from Rolla on Monday.  The hill was fast and bumpy and made for a lot of laughs and gasps. I’m not sure if any badges were earned for the event, but I bet one for bravery would have been in order. Some where in the neighborhood of 22 people enjoyed the outdoors and the boys. Wendel Held is the Boy Scout Master and Cameron Mickelson is the Cub Scout Master for the Rolla troops. Other adults having fun were Brett McCloud, Darla Graber and Jamie Horning. Three cheers to all the people who give their time to make the world a better place.

Once again Kimberly Wilhelmi Samuelson has provided our community with much needed culture.  She takes tiny little people and changes them into superstars. Her dance classes for pre-schoolers and elementary students gives the kids a chance to express their talents and dreams right here in our town. She also is instrumental in bringing  communities together for a common goal.  She works with kids from surrounding towns and has performances in each of them, usually at basketball games.  The kids love it and so do the parents, grandparents and the public at large.

Kids, skates, ice, chairs, friends, family - all of this put together makes FUN. ( We won’t tell the kids it’s exercise and that it’s good for them). The volunteer work and the weather have finally produced a skating rink on main street again this year. These last few days have been perfect for enjoying the facility. A few little setbacks have kept the warming house from appearing , but the plan is still in the works to get it to the site so the kids will have a place to put on their skates and warm up. 

The Job Fair Committee for the Rolla Horizons Program has been meeting regularly for the past several months.  The plans for the fair scheduled to take place at the Rolla school on February 3rd, are falling into place nicely.  We have approximately 33 presenters willing to talk to students from 8th grade through 12th grade about the work that they do and how students can get the education needed to follow that line of work. They will let the students know what kind of opportunity is available in the Rolla area, what the pay scale is and the pros and cons of the position.  Students from the Rock Lake, Rolette and Wolford High  Schools have been invited to attend.  The day will begin with a working luncheon for the presenters at ll:30.  They will then be directed to the area where they will be making their presentations.  6 15-20 minute sessions will be available from each presenter.  Students must choose which sessions they want to attend. They are given the opportunity to sign up for 4 .  At the end of the sessions all the presenters will be available for further questions.   Presenters are given the choice of arranging job shadowing. The shadowing will be scheduled for times other than school hours. We are looking forward to a great day. This is a chance for our students to see what is available right here in this community. We have had tremendous support from the school administration arranging this event.  We thank them sincerely. Committee members are: Mr. Brian Palmer representing Rolla School. Mr. Randy Loing, Rolla School. Paula Munro, Rolla Hospital.  Holly Cahill, Rolla Hospital. Val Edwards, Dacotah Bank. Maureen Munro, Munro Builders Supply. Members not pictured are Esther Krumwiede, Bethany McCloud, Brandon Elick and Collin Mangold.

We are having a community “social” on Sunday January 24 at the Legion Cabin. There will be a meal served at 5:00pm and from what I understand it is going to be  a do not miss this type meal!!!! The agenda for the evening will be the horizon committee reports so we can see what is happining in Rolla. Presentation Medical Center will give a presentation and report on the status of the hospital. The quasy-centennial (125th) status will also be presented. It’s going to be a full evening of information for the community so everyone is invited to participate in the “social”. See ya all on the 24th…………………….

The Rolette County Relay For Life program will be holding a 2010 ‘Kick-off’ meeting at the Rolla American Legion Cabin, on Tuesday, January 12, 2010, starting at 5:30pm. All citizens and fund raising groups interested in helping to raise money for the fight against cancer are encouraged to attend.
The Rolla American Legion Cabin is located at 302 First Street NE; approximately 3 blocks north of the North Dakota Job Service building and the Dacotah Bank.

The Legion is having a steak fry, grill your own steak, on New Year’s Eve. So if you want to socialize with friends and family come and join the fun. I believe there are new years goodies as well as a serving of champagne for the new years toast. They are having a mini casino with play money, so money will be no object for your gambling pleasure………….the grill will be hot about 6:00-6:30.  See you at the Legion!!!!!

Last week on December 3rd. 5 people took a tour of existing community centers in our area.  We needed to get some information from other towns about their centers so that we can continue planning to build our own. Albert Johnson, Esther Krumwiede, Emery Mears, LeAnn Vollmer and Charlotte Lassonde left Rolla at 8 a.m. and drove to Lakota where they toured the Lakota Community Center.  They continued to Langdon and toured the Wellness Center and the Ice Hockey & Skating Arena. They hopped back into the car and headed to Pembina.  There, they toured a rehabilitated city owned structure built in the 1920’s.  The community uses  it as a multi-functional center with a basketball hoop, Legion meeting room, ambulance garage, and wedding/social receptions.  The photo was taken in this facility by one of the city gals.  They made it home safely, about 6 p.m.  A full report will be given at the January Horizons Community Social.