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TMI LAYOFFS TMI restores workers' hours as business picks up Dickinson, N.D. (AP) Workers at TMI Systems Design Corp. in Dickinson are returning to 40-hour work weeks as business picks up.

TMI cut hours at two of its three factories in August, citing a drop in production. Hours were scaled back to 36 per week.

TMI president Dean Rummel says hours were restored to affected employees this week and there will be opportunities for overtime in the near future.

Rummel says the company has many orders to fill and should be operating at full schedule until September.

Information from: The Dickinson Press, http://www.thedickinsonpress.com STEFFES LAYOFFS 3 workers called back at Steffes in Dickinson DICKINSON, N.D. (AP) Steffes Corp. has recalled three workers at its Dickinson plant.

The employees were among 19 machine operators and assemblers that were laid off in mid-August.

Steffes president Joe Rothschiller says there's been some stability in the economy, allowing the company to slowly recall the furloughed workers.

Steffes makes residential electric heaters, oil field products and attachments and production parts for Bobcat Co.

Information from: The Dickinson Press, http://www.thedickinsonpress.com DAM DISPUTE Dam lawsuit in northeast ND dismissed Grand Forks, N.D. (AP) A lawsuit filed by Pembina County against neighboring Cavalier County over payment for a dam reconstruction project has been dismissed.

Northeast District Judge Donovan Foughty dismissed the litigation filed by Pembina County's Water Resource Board and County Commission against Cavalier County and its water board.

Pembina County sought to force Cavalier County to help pay the local share of a $7 million renovation project at Renwick Dam on the Tongue River at Icelandic State Park. Cavalier County decided last year not to participate in the project.

Pembina County Auditor Dorothy Robinson says officials have not yet discussed the dismissal or how to proceed on the project.

Information from: Grand Forks Herald, http://www.grandforksherald.com TRIBAL HEALTH Tribe breaking ground for health center New Town, N.D. (AP) The Three Affiliated Tribes are breaking ground for a $20 million health center on the Fort Berthold Reservation.

Congress earlier this year approved $17 million for the project.

The Army Corps of Engineers will build the health center and then turn it over to the Indian Health Service.

The center will be named for the community of Elbowoods, which was flooded when Garrison Dam was built.

Information from: Minot Daily News, http://www.minotdailynews.com HABITAT FOR HUMANITY Habitat for Humanity chapter dissolving DICKINSON, N.D. (AP) The southwest North Dakota chapter of Habitat for Humanity International is dissolving after building two homes in the city.

Board Chairman Dale Hansen says the Dickinson-based nonprofit that helps build homes for low-income families has had problems raising money and getting people to serve on the board for any length of time.

He says all of the work is falling on the shoulders of five people who are getting burned out.

People who get Habitat homes are required to help build them and to pay for them, though they do not pay interest. Mortgage payments normally go back into the program to help fund more homes. Hansen says the mortgage money coming into the Dickinson-based chapter will be donated to the Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis Center in Dickinson.

Information from: The Dickinson Press, http://www.thedickinsonpress.com SOLDIERS DEPART ND soldiers heading for Georgia, then Kosovo Bismarck, N.D. (AP) More North Dakota National Guard soldiers taking part in a Kosovo mission are leaving the state.

The soldiers leaving from Fargo, Grand Forks, Minot and Bismarck will head first to Fort Benning in Georgia.

They are among 625 statewide who will be part of a multinational peacekeeping force. They will serve separately from the main North Dakota Guard force that left in August.

MAYOR DEPLOYED Hatton's mayor deployed to Iraq HATTON, N.D. (AP) Hatton Mayor Stuart Letcher has been deployed to Iraq.

Letcher has been Hatton's mayor since 2006, and a member of the Army Reserve since 1986. He's a warrant officer with the Minnesota-based 847th Human Resources Co., which will be dealing with contracts in Iraq.

Letcher will be in Iraq for about a year. It is his second deployment. His wife, Sigrid, said his earlier deployment, to Bosnia, was not as long.

Sigrid Letcher said her husband is training at Fort McCoy, Wis., before leaving for Iraq on Oct. 26. The couple have a 3 1/2-year-old daughter.

Sigrid Letcher said her family has relatives just three hours away and an "amazing group of friends" in Hatton for support.

Bernie Johnson will serve as mayor while Letcher is deployed.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 10-17-09 1601CDT | save this article / add to your favorites list