Roseau County to get out of the alarm business

In the summer of 1995, I worked a three month internship at The Warroad Pioneer, which I'm sorry to say has since ceased operation. This was the first professional newspaper that I worked for in my career, and it turned out to be a wonderful experience. I had only worked at Bemidji State University's newspaper for about a year and half before landing the internship. At The Pioneer I gained experience in sports, feature, beat and government reporting. I designed pages, took and developed photographs and was responsible for community relations. The best part is that I remain friends with the owners nearly 30 years later.

June 27, 1995

By Devlyn Brooks

Stores in Roseau County could be looking to new alarm companies for protection from fires, burglars and overheating.

At the Wednesday, June 21, County Commissioners meeting, Sheriff Curt Hauger informed the Board that he was planning to end the sue of the alarm system that the sheriff's department is responsible for. He told the board that he plans on writing letters to all businesses that utilize the system, informing that within six months they will need to find a new company to answer their alarms.

Hauger said that the need to change the current system originated from the fact that simply too many businesses were hooked into the system, and the sheriff department's insurance agency informed Hauger that it could become a liability. "If you have two calls, which one becomes priority?" Hauger said.

Hauger told the board that most businesses should be able to find a new company for a reasonable price. He said he knew of a company that charged about $260. If the businesses were having problems finding a replacement company, Hauger told the board that eh sheriff's department would give them a list of names for alarm companies.

"It's not a change in equipment," Hauger said. "It's just a change in who is on the other end of the line."

Hauger explained that instead of the sheriff's department receiving the alarm calls, which included many test calls, the alarm company would receive all the calls. Then the alarm company could call the Sheriff Department if the alarm was anything more than a test.

"This would eliminate the dispatcher from having to look up every alarm that comes in," Hauger said.

In other business, after the Commissioners listened to comments about the courthouse issue from county citizens, the board discussed whether it was appropriate for Vice-Chair Glenn Darst to sign the contracts.

County Auditor Anne Granitz informed the Board that it was sufficient if Darst signed the contracts. In the motion that they passed awarding the bids, it stipulated that either the Chair or Vice-Chair could sign the contracts.

At one point in the meeting, Commissioner Orris Rasmussen told Warroad resident Ruth Stukel that the county had to build a new courthouse according to the American Disabilities Act. Stukel told Rasmussen that she felt he was "hiding behind the ADA."

Rasmussen also said that the County courtroom was not accessible to people with disabilities and that the judge has hinted that he might change venues on trials if the old courthouse is kept. Rasmussen said that the county would have to pay for trials that would have to be moved.

"You have to decide whether you're going to have a problem with a judge or a hundred year problem with the county," said Warroad citizen Russ Walker.