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Here are the AP Member Exchange Features for April 20-21:
FOR SUNDAY:
EXCHANGE-ARIKARA APP
WHITE SHIELD, N.D. — A language is a reflection of who its speakers are as people, conveying as it does their customs, beliefs and daily habits for a particular time and place. More than 6,000 languages are still currently spoken around the world, but the majority of these have a small, often shrinking community of speakers. Based on current trends, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization warns that around half of the world's languages may disappear by the end of this century. While many of these threatened language communities might usually be found in exotic locales like the Amazon rainforest or Indonesian archipelago, three are much closer to home here in North Dakota, belonging to the Three Affiliated Tribes at Fort Berthold Reservation. Along with Hidatsa and Mandan, the Arikara language is listed by UNESCO as being a critically endangered language. Centered around White Shield, among the Arikara community there are only a handful of people still able to speak the language, and none with complete fluency. "They say an indigenous language dies every two weeks," said Brad Kroupa, an anthropologist on staff at the Arikara Cultural Center that opened last October in White Shield. "For our language to survive in the 21st Century, what we need to do is adapt with the times." Part of that adaptation is by making use of modern technology to better engage the community's youth with the language. The latest means of doing so is with the release of an Arikara language-learning application for use on Apple products like the iPad and iPhone. By Dan Rudy of the Minot Daily News. SENT IN ADVANCE: 1,360 WORDS. PHOTO WILL BE REQUESTED.
EXCHANGE-LONGTIME TEACHER
WILLISTON, N.D. — Four decades of teaching will end May 24 when Ruth Folkestad dismisses her last class from Trenton High School just outside Williston. "My dad taught me how to play cribbage when I was just a young girl," Folkestad said. She picked up mathematics quickly to keep up with her father. This, she said, was the first step down a lifelong road of teaching math. Being Trenton High School's math teacher was the first job Folkestad got after graduating, and she never left. By Tyler Bell of the Williston Herald. SENT IN ADVANCE: 500 WORDS. PHOTO WILL BE REQUESTED.
FOR MONDAY:
EXCHANGE-PRONGHORN SEASON
BISMARCK, N.D. — For the first time since 2009, North Dakota hunters may have a limited opportunity to hunt pronghorn antelope. The decision on whether to offer a season has not been made yet. But if it happens, the season would be limited to two hunting units in the southwest part of the state, said Bruce Stillings, big game biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. Stillings said that if the season is a go, the two units open would be 3B and 4A. The state's pronghorn population is finally on the rebound after five years of steady decline, Stillings said, but is still below management objectives in most parts of the state. The most recent population estimate puts the number of pronghorns at 5,400 — an increase of 49 percent over the previous year, but still 62 percent lower than 2009, the last year a season was held. Stillings said population numbers won't be known until an aerial survey of the state's four pronghorn hunting units is done around July 4. By Brian Gehring of The Bismarck Tribune. SENT IN ADVANCE: 700 WORDS. PHOTO WILL BE REQUESTED.
EXCHANGE-COGHLAN CASTLE
ROLLA, N.D. — Work is proceeding on an interpretive center on the Coghlan Castle midway between Rolla and St. John on N.D. Highway 30. However, officials said the foundation is still hoping to raise matching funds for a grant it received from the North Dakota Department of Transportation. They say fundraising is hampered because Rolette County is one of the poorer counties in the state and there are fewer deep pockets there than in other areas. The group will have to give back the grant money if it is unable to raise the matching funds. The group has also submitted several other grants to various entities. When it is completed, the interpretive site will include a kiosk set in a stone foundation. The content of the five panels will tell the history of the castle, the history of agriculture within the region and the history of the Coghlan family that originally owned the historic stone building. By Andrea Johnson of the Minot Daily News. SENT IN ADVANCE: 515 WORDS. PHOTO WILL BE REQUESTED.
The AP, Bismarck
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