Thursday, Nov. 5, the Elgin City Council meeting took an unexpected turn.
The meeting was in session long enough to approve the minutes, financials and bills, before the majority of the council members walked out.
According to Mayor Schatz, they were discussing the issue of cleaning the Community Center, a pet peeve of his, as he said. “It has been discussed every month since I’ve been on the council.” As Schatz explained, “Randall Hoffman cleans (the Community Center) as he has the contract. He cleans well, there is just some touch-up work that I feel doesn’t get done.”
As reported by council members, they interpreted the repeated discussion of the subject as a personal vendetta and asked that personal grudges be left out of the meetings. At this point, the majority of the council walked out of the meeting.
Left without a quorum, the meeting ended abruptly, without addressing the new business. Members of the library board were left without a motion to secure the building they intend to purchase, and the Elgin Legion was not granted a gaming permit for their annual Turkey Shoot.
These items, in addition to other items on the agenda, will be handled at two special meetings on Friday, Nov. 20, beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Room.
Since the meeting, the Mayor and Council members have resolved their differences and will meet as a group on November 20 to finish the council meeting.

Road construction is underway on Highway 49 north of Elgin.

Everyone knows the seasons: spring, summer, winter, fall and CONSTRUCTION?

Construction season hit Highway 49, north of Elgin this past week and things are moving along quite smoothly.

Construction started on Wednesday, July 22, and Anderson Western Inc. of Bismarck, who is doing the construction, plans to be finished with the 30-mile stretch – from Elgin to two miles south of Glen Ullin – around Wednesday, August 5.

The construction crew works 5:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and averages six miles of paving a day.

A pilot car takes traffic through a three-mile stretch of the heaviest construction.

To see more photos of the current road construction, visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/gcnews/.

The City of Elgin held a special election for the position of City Mayor on Thursday, July 23, 2009. The position was vacated as former Mayor, Norman Schock, resigned in the spring of 2009.

Three names were listed on the ballot – Charles Oien, Ron Bartz, and James Robert Taylor.

With a total of 216 votes cast in the election, write-in, Duane Schatz, was declared the winner of the seat of Mayor as he claimed 70 votes. Charles Oien received 63 votes, Ron Bartz had 46 votes, James Robert Taylor received 31 votes and write-in candidate, Shawn Lince received six votes.

Duane Schatz will be sworn in as the Mayor of the City of Elgin at the next City Council meeting on Thursday, August 6, 2009. His term will continue through June of 2010 when the regular election will be held for a four-year term.

Mona and Brad Hands

After fighting immigration matters for four years, all Brad and Mona Hands can say is “What next?”

Brad and Mona Hands came to Elgin four years ago along with their five children and purchased Reiny’s Drive In.

Brad and Mona received notice from the United States Homeland Security Office stating that Brad’s permanent residency here in the United States had been denied. This means that Brad will be deported back to Canada. The reason given for the denial is that Brad’s sponsor, his wife, Mona, doesn’t have enough assets. The US Homeland Security Office also reviewed three years of Mona’s income tax, and used her net income for those three years rather than her gross income, which is their policy, Homeland was determined that Mona didn’t make enough money to support Brad as a sponsor.

While Brad has not yet received deportation papers, this is imminent if their appeal is turned down. Brad and Mona have filed an appeal and the United States Homeland Security Office has 60 – 120 days to reply to that appeal. If this appeal is denied, then the next step, for the Hands family, is to get a immigration lawyer, which could cost between $7,000 – $15,000. Brad has spoken to a immigration lawyer who informed him that one in ten cases taken to court by immigration lawyers will be approved.

Brad and Mona have already spent close to $8,000 in the last four years trying to get Brad’s immigration matter straightened out. This money has been spent on flights to Montreal for meetings with immigration, trips to Fargo for short interviews and on forms which require nonrefundable fees.

While Brad and Mona aren’t looking for another sponsor for Brad, both noted that sponsorship is open. This means that anyone can sponsor Brad, such as a group, organization, church or person. In doing so, the person or organization would need to provide financial records to the government and sign a five- year contract with the government stating that they would be financially responsible for Brad.

Senator Aaron Krauter, Senator Byron Dorgan and North Dakota Governor John Hoeven are involved in the case, having written letters supporting the Hands family and state that their offices are looking into the problem. While they all support the Hands family, all have stated that they may not be able to do anything to help because this is a federal matter.

The Baptist Church, E/NL school and Brad, himself, have also written letters on behalf of the Hands family in hopes that the show of support will help settle this immigration matter. The Hands family would also like to thank Ron Clapsaddle for all the work he has done on their behalf.

When asked what the future holds for Reiny’s Drive In, Brad and Mona stated that they are a family unit and if Brad should have to go back to Canada, then the family will go with him. They also stated that they chose Elgin and they really like it here and want to stay here.

As Mona commented “illegal immigrants enter the country every day, so why is there such a hassle with us?”

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