I moved to New Leipzig the 1st of March in 2009 and for the next year never got involved in the town's business until I was asked to develop the town's website at www.newleipzig.com for the town's centennial celebration. After that came the request to develop a website for Lake Tschida at www.laketschida.com
Then a request asking me to develop the Grant County Job Development Authority (JDA) which was disbanded several years ago after the members resigned because of a dispute with the County Commissioners (Keith Payne, Don Roth & Bill Koch) over how tax payer money should be spent on the management of Lake Tschida. Those same members applied to the state of North Dakota to create the agency (Tri-Cities Joint Job Development Authority - TCJJDA) that now governs Lake Tschida at no tax payer expense.
Life in New Leipzig and Grant County went along somewhat smoothly after the Centennial celebration in July of 2010 until the "CONVICTED NAZI TERRORIST CRAIG COBB" tried to take over the town of LEITH. In August of 2013 after I returned from visiting family in California the Mayor of Leith Ryan Schock asked me to develop a website for the town to let the public know what they were enduring. This exposure eventually led to several Facebook pages for the town to be shut down as the NAZIS around the world did not like being exposed with what I was photographing, filming and writing about the DANGERS of their agenda.
Many people around the world began donating funds to help the town battle these IDIOTS in court. Most people in Grant Country did not support what the Mayor and the city council including myself were doing to fight these IDIOTS in court, in public opinion, on TV, in social media and in newspapers and on websites around the world but we prevailed in the end. The States Attorney TODD SCHWARZ blamed me in the movie "WELCOME TO LEITH" for him not being able to prosecute COBB but then he eventually left Grant County, got fired in Sioux County and McKenzie County for his attempt to prosecute the Sheriff Gary Schwartzenberger. The Mayor Ryan Schock, Leith City Councilman Lee Cook and myself brought TODD SCHWARZ before the North Dakota Supreme Court Disciplinary Board for prosecutorial misconduct during the CRAIG COBB debacle but was dismissed as having no merit. COBB was eventually convicted of one TERRORISM charge of shaking his cane at a young girl but not with threatening LEITH citizens with guns including myself and placed on 4 years of probation.
This corruptness of the justice system in Grant County is atypical of the entire country and the only OVERSIGHT comes with citizens getting involved.
After the movie "WELCOME TO LEITH" chronicling the LEITH SAGA was shown in theatres around the world life settled down for a while in Grant County until COBB attempted to take over other towns in North Dakota including ANTLER. He then went on down to KANSAS and NEBRASKA trying to buy property there. Those KANSANS and NEBRASKANS were wise and put a stop to him. Then he bought half of a church in NOME, NORTH DAKOTA which was burned to the ground with ARSON as the cause.
Living in Sherwood, North Dakota since his release in 2015 on probation he advertised on Craig's List for NAZI LIKE MINDED people to purchase property in Sherwood and start this CRAP all over again. Townsfolk put the KAIBASH on that. He did get a mother and daughter to move from Texas in 2016 and buy a house. COBB then got the young girl pregnant (she was around 30 and he was 65) and moved into their house which had running water and a toilet. I kept track of his tactics and movements over the next several years until I left New Leipzig in May of 2018 to travel the country in my RV photographing and filming.
After 27 months, 22,000 miles through 23 states I decided I had fulfilled most of my "Bucket List" and moved back to town. At first I was not going to get involved in politics or news but after a few dozen people wanted me to I thought What The F***!
So...Grant County ND News here is back online with almost all of the previous articles, editorials, cartoons, photos and definitely ALL the videos from the PAST!
I will continue filming New Leipzig City Council meetings every month and the County Commission meetings which meets twice a month and posting them here on this website.
News articles I write or re-post from other sources will be posted on this website. I have access to creating a BLOG for people to make comments but will hold off on that until the spring or summer.
This website will get a new address after the first of the year and that will be www.grantcountyndnews.com.
OH By The Way...CRAIG COBB update...
Through my contacts up north where he lives in Sherwood have told me he got kicked out of his girlfriend and her mother's house and that the cops came to usher him out. Sources say he is now living in the state of WASHINGTON. That won't end well with that LIBERAL state. I wonder if he will have to pay CHILD SUPPORT to his kid?
For the last 10 years New Leipzig residents have enjoyed a city utility bill that was a reasonable amount it seems.
Now it has increased from $32.00 each month for where I live in a government controlled address which is exempt from paying property taxes to a WHOPPING $52.00 each month.
I believe the new categories could be eliminated if only the town's government agencies would find their way to bring more businesses to town for a better tax base. Development of a tourism package and advertising thereof would certainly be beneficial if only people would attend the city council and public meetings and voice their opinions and offer suggestions instead of letting their elected officials make all the decisions, which isn't working at present time.
What is it with the town signing a five (5) year contract with LINCE garbage locking in rates. WOW! The Mayor says maybe they should look into cancelling the garbage contract...THEN WHAT?
There's talk about the town's water usage and the training for the town's maintenance personnel. So how does this work for the newly elected County Commissioner who gets a salary from county taxpayers and also gets paid by New Leipzig for maintenance work. HMMMM! DOUBLE DIPPING!
There are 4 apartment buildings with most all of the residents over the age of 60 including myself and who would be monitoring these cameras and where would they be installed? Will there be a DVR type recording device and where would it be installed? Will the SHERIFF'S department be involved in the monitoring? This will turn out to be one BIG CLUSTER "F". Each building has a hallway with the doors in it to each apartment. Each apartment also has a PRIVATE DOOR for each apartment. So does that mean one in each hallway and one outside of each private door? That would mean there would have to be 18 PRIVATE DOOR cameras and 4 HALLWAY cameras to "SUPPOSEDLY" keep us "OLD FARTS" safe. The cost would be PROHIBITVE and on top of that our RENTS would certainly increase.
If the town is strapped for funds and raising rates to the citizens to pay for all the MISCELLANEOUS items listed on the city's UTILITY BILLS why do government employees get these CHRISTMAS BONUSES every year? The City Auditor gets $200, one maintenance employee gets $100 and the rest get $50......FOR WHAT? If they give out CHRISTMAS BONUSES just to entice the maintenance employees to come back next year then why not pay them a pay scale commensurate with what other small towns pay and based on the merit of their job performance?
The image on the right shows a typical council meeting of the citizenry who take the time to show up and listen.
The meeting started off with discussion about the water issue in town with a visit from a North Dakota Rural Water Systems Association representative who offered their services at no charge to develop an analysis of what the town could do to improve the quality of the water. However, with Southwest Water Authority increasing its rates a new analysis will further increase rates according to the North Dakota Rural Water Systems Association representative.
Here is a link to Southwest Water Authority 2020 rates: https://swwater.com/wp-content/uploads/WaterRates.pdf
It also seems that the City of New Leipzig has been paying a monthly charge to allow citizens to pay their water bill online but almost no one uses it.
Evidently the town's 10 wells have heaters to keep the lines from freezing so maybe they should shut them off in the summer to keep the power bill down.
Then they talked about turning off the Christmas tree (in the daytime ?) to save power. HUH?
Now they start on the garbage bill and the conversation is so long I won't write much about it here so watch the video. But what about the town signing a five (5) year contract with LINCE garbage locking in rates. WOW! The Mayor says maybe they should look into cancelling the garbage contract...THEN WHAT?
There's more talk about the town's water usage and the training for the town's maintenance personnel. So how does this work for the newly elected County Commissioner who gets a salary from county taxpayers and also gets paid by New Leipzig for maintenance work. HMMMM! DOUBLE DIPPING!
Then there's several minutes talking about the broken YIELD and U-TURN signs.
Now we get into the POLICING contract along with the FACEBOOK page and THEN THE "BIG" ONE - SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS FOR THE 4 APARTMENT BUILDINGS! Here we go...more GOVERNMENT spying on us!
There are 4 apartment buildings with most all of the residents over the age of 60 including myself and who would be monitoring these cameras and where would they be installed? Will there be a DVR type recording device and where would it be installed? Will the SHERIFF'S department be involved in the monitoring? This will turn out to be one BIG CLUSTER "F". Each building has a hallway with the doors in it to each apartment. Each apartment also has a PRIVATE DOOR for each apartment. So does that mean one in each hallway and one outside of each private door? That would mean there would have to be 18 PRIVATE DOOR cameras and 4 HALLWAY cameras to "SUPPOSEDLY" keep us "OLD FARTS" safe. The cost would be PROHIBITVE and on top of that our RENTS would certainly increase.
Next they talk for SEVERAL MINUTES about the DOG CONTROL PROBLEMS with a person getting bit and having medical bills! I haven't seen any dogs running loose since I came back in September. From early 2009 through mid 2018 I rarely saw dogs running loose and I live on the corner of 3rd and Main Streets. "CALL THE SHERIFF......??
Then the Mayor talks about giving out the CHRISTMAS bonuses.
If the town is strapped for funds and raising rates to the citizens to pay for all the MISCELLANEOUS items listed on the city's UTILITY BILLS why do government employees get these CHRISTMAS BONUSES every year? The City Auditor gets $200, one maintenance employee gets $100 and the rest get $50......FOR WHAT? If they give out CHRISTMAS BONUSES just to entice the maintenance employees to come back next year then why not pay them a pay scale commensurate with what other small towns pay and based on the merit of their job performance?
Then the conversation is about the B&L tavern liquor license and that it is currently lower than the CITY of LEITH's, which I know is $1,000 per year. LEITH has about 20 residents and New Leipzig has about 225. HMMM!
Then talks about a property's construction setback variance appearance.
Enforce the ordinances and "CLEAN UP THE TOWN'S JUNK AND UNUSED VEHICLES ON ALL PROPERTIES". What business would want to come to any of the 4 towns in the county when there is so much JUNK and DELAPIDATED buildings dotting the landscape?
There's a photo story for me to look into like the expired license plate tabs story of vehicles on the streets in all 4 towns several years back that caused an uproar. PAY UP PEOPLE...I DO!
That's enough...so watch the rest of the remaining video of 3-4 minutes.
Since I returned to New Leipzig, ND and against the advice of family and friends I decided to get involved again and re-activate my former news agency (Grant County ND News) website based on the many requests from citizens.
In the past I always reported the news accurately, however it is my editorial comments that infuriated the radical left DEMOCRATS.
I have returned to filming New Leipzig's city council meetings as well as Grant County's commission meetings so that the general public may know how their representatives they elected spend their hard earned tax dollars.
Most citizens do not even bother to attend these meetings and that is why these videos are indisputable as to the content of the meetings.
I have a tough skin, do not own property, do not need or have employment and along with my knowledge and expertise of photography and journalism will endeavor to do my best to be open and honest with the news and this is why I cannot be blackmailed or forced to look the other way.
While I may have infuriated some locals with my involvement in the NAZI crisis, the DAPL pipeline protest and while filming Grant County Commission meetings I also believe I filled a void where there is virtually no "HARD" news or videos available to the citizens of Grant County.
EDITORIAL
Some people in New Leipzig & Grant County North Dakota where I moved back to after travelling the country for 27 months photographing & filming need to practice what the song is about.
Most are kind but there are those who simply drink in the town bar & gossip.
This small petty group is ONCE AGAIN trying to stop this editor's right to freedom of speech & the right to film government meetings. I will prevail like I did when the NAZIS tried to take over the town of LEITH.
BRING IT ON PEOPLE!