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' 1.00 ISSUE NUMBER 24 •
PARK RIVER, NORTH DAKOTA
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2013
Fate of hens will be up to voters
Park River City Council decides to let Park River vote on city ordinance in June 2_014.
Photos: Larry Biri
During their regular monthly meeting on Dec. 9, the Park River City Council revisited the is-
sue of Teresa Gire's chickens and what to do about the current city ordinance that bans them.
Above: Teresa Gire and others will be able to keep their chickens until at least June 10 when
the people of Park River will vote on whether to keep the ordinance as is or install a revised
ordinance. Bottom Left: Joel Hylden is in favor of changing the wording of the ordinance to
allow birds, but not for commercial use andnot allowing livestock animals. Joel has raised
birds of all kinds including chickens for 33 years in Park River. He said if not allowed, he would
seriously have to consider moving. Bottom Right: Councilman Bob Lundquist said "lets put
it up to a vote of the people of Park River." So be it. June 10, 2014, the people of Park River
will decide the fate of the chickens. More coverage of the meeting on Page 2.
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JarL 1: Top Hat to see ownership change
By Keilen Dobmeier
of The Press
PISEK, N.D. -- A change
of ownership will occur at the
beginning of 2014 at the Top
Hat bar in Pisek. Cally Odstr-
cil, who has worked for Wanda
and Curt Sarkilahti at the Top
Hat for several years, will be
the new owner as of Jan. 1.
Odstrcil was comfortable
with the idea of taking over,
and that was partly due to how
long she's worked at the Top
Hat.'Tve been there for close
to eight years. It'll be eight as
of April," Odstrcil said.
Working at the Top Hat for a
succession of years, as well as
getting to know many of the
patrons, led Odstrcil to the idea
of buying the business once
she leamed that the Sarkilahti's
wanted to retire.
"I just really like a lot of the
people in the community," saiid
Odstrcil. 'Tve liked working
there. Curt and Wanda have
been great to work for. Since
they wanted to retire, I thought
it was time to take the reigns,
myself."
Overall, a comfortable tran-
sition should be in line for both
Top Hat employees and pa-
trons. Many of the same faces
will be present after Odstrcil
takes over, which should als0
help make the transition easier
for the crew.
"Everybody that's there
right now will be sticking
around," said Odstrcil. "We
also might see a few new
faces."
Regular patrons at the Top
Hat shouldn't expect any dras-
tic changes. When asked about
any immediate changes to the
establishment, Odstrcil stated
there wouldn't be any right
away.
"I kind of feel that if it isn't
broke, don't fix it," said Odstr-
cil. 'Tll maybe do some grad-
ual changes. I'm going to sell
the pool table and open up that
room a bit."
Odstrcil hopes to have some
added space after that small
change, as the bar is known to
get pretty full on weekends,
but nothing is imminent. As
soon as the pool table is gone,
she hopes to add more seating
to the area.
Minor changes may be on
the horizon for the Top Hat,
but Odstrcil expects everything
Top Ha .
Co, n,, /p,,ae' 5
Srategic Platming
Park River Area School
seeks public input
PARK RIVER, N.D. -- The
Park River Area School Board
will be participating in a strate-
gic planning process and is
asking for input from its pa-
trons. Dr. Marv Erhardt, former
executive director of the ND
LEAD Center has been hired to
facilitate this process.
The board is still looking for
a few volunteers to help with
this process. The goal is to
identify strengths and areas of
growth and to develop a
roadmap for the next 5 years for
the Park River Area School
District.
The planning sessions will be
held on Jan. 8 and 22. A light
meal will be served at 5:30 pm
with the planning sessions
scheduled to run from 6:00 pm
Strateqc Plannln"
Co,m, p,ajge' 7
Dell dabbles in two easy recipes
See page' 3
Area Voices are loud and clear
See p,affe' 6
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Alexander Pope
Letters to Santa Claus
See,/?,,:g,'e' 5
Christmas Concert held in PR
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