I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
Dec. 14, 1999
By Devlyn Brooks
The Cass County Board should approve today at its regular meeting a fiscal year 2000 budget that will decrease the taxes of about 75 percent of the county's taxpayers, according to County Administrator Bob Yochum.
The proposed budget calls for a slight decrease in the total number of dollars collected in property tax by the county, he said.
The county's proposed budget is set at about $33 million, of which $9.9 million will be collected in property taxes. That figure is about $40,000 less than what was paid in property taxes in 1999 in Cass County.
Yochum said that even factoring in the taxes levied by school districts, cities and other governments, about 75 percent of Cass County residents should be paying less property tax this year.
Yochum said the board also is expected to adopt a joint powers agreement with five surrounding counties that will formalize the counties' interest in building a regional jail.
Yochum said the counties -- Cass, Crow Wing, Aitkin, Todd, Wadena and Morrison -- have had a committee studying the feasibility of such a jail for more than a year.
The counties have discussed whether it would be cheaper to build a jail that would house long-term inmates who have already received their sentences. the thought is that housing inmates who have been sentenced to long terms in the same facility might be cheaper for all counties involved, Yochum said.
In other business, the Cass County Board will:
10:35 a.m. -- consider approval of its consent agenda; a resolution approving the levy limit and special levies; various other budget matters; and authorizing the regional jail joint powers agreement.
11:15 a.m. -- discuss the county's insurance trust fund.
Noon -- adjourn until 1 p.m.
1 p.m. -- hear a report on digital parcel mapping from MIS Director Tim Richardson.
1:20 p.m. -- consider some abatements and accept the notice of retirement of Assistant Assessor Barbara Iverson.
1:30 p.m. -- review the organizational chart of the county's environmental services department; consider authorizing a grade rating review for the inspector position; consider authorizing out-of-state travel for an ISTS conference.
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