Why Horace voters could decide the city’s fireworks ordinance

Well, hello, hello, I'm Eric Dethridge. And I'm Danielle Webster. Thanks for joining us again for another episode of Prairie Beach. That's our weekly news podcast from us here at Prairie Public. Danielle, what's on the beat this week? Well, we have a little bit of an update to a recent story we had just this summer. It was, as I believe you put it at the time, a fairly explosive topic about some residents of Horace gathering petition signatures to amend the city's fireworks ordinance. I remember this story pretty well. These were the full... who were interested in shortening the number of days you can legally blow up fireworks in the city. And I remember the current ordinance being pretty... tea lenient compared to other cities of similar size. Yeah, that's right. So a big part of the story, of course, is just how much Horace has grown in recent years. According to the last census, like we mentioned last time, in 2020, just over 3,000 people were living in Horace at the time. But today, in 2026, it's estimated that just over 7,800 people live there. And that's a growth of 135%. Wow. There's a lot going on down in Horace, what with all the growing pains and things you've got to learn when your community explodes in size like that. And in recent years, there have been some local residents who have brought up making some amendments to that fireworks ordinance. What's on the books now is that you can blow them up in the city limits for 10 days leading up to the 4th of July. And this summer... These residents were willing to do more than just talk about changing that. Alan Turnmire, poorest North Dakota resident. Ah, yes. I remember Alan Turnmire quite well now that you mention it, Danielle. He and his wife got that petition going, some citizen activism right there. And that story really blew up. Yeah, it really did, both in the media and online, of course. Now, this whole time, Alan and his wife Karen have been pretty clear. They are not looking to cancel the 4th of July. But with the population growth and Horace not really being much of a small town anymore, they and others felt it was really time to look at making some changes. In the last episode, we talked about how, you know, it's not really just about not liking fireworks. There are some issues and also people to consider, like the elderly, children, pets, maybe veterans with PTSD. residents who have sensory issues, other things. And with a growing community like this, you will naturally have more of these folks. And then, of course, you will also have more people blowing up fireworks too. Alan Turnmire has said, you know, 10 days is a really long time to have all these fireworks blowing up all over the place. And not everyone can just pick up and leave town for that amount of time. So what they did was they looked at cities of similar size and what they had on their books. And they were thinking that three days was a pretty good company. So we started the position, I want to say mid-June.

I'm not mistaken, to reduce the firework ordinance down from 10 days down to three days while preserving the holiday, obviously. So we were just entailing the third, fourth, and fifth. Yeah, you know, I still think that's a pretty good proposal. I mean, I'm not really a fireworks guy, Daniel, as you know. I just can't get used to the idea of us normal folks, if you will, buying them and lighting them off. I say leave it to the professionals. Maybe that's just the coastal elite in me. I didn't grow up in a small town. But this still gives people a few days. You know, three days I think is pretty good, okay? I mean, three days of interrupted sleep. It's much better than 10. So folks can use them legally. And it gives others a much more reasonable window of time to... Get out of Dodge if they want to avoid them altogether, but I know that not everyone felt that way. They really did not. And we talked about that last time, too. You know, Alan and Karen Turnmire wanted to get about 600 signatures on this petition and needed to get the word out about it. But once the story hit the news and social media, it was pretty intense. Alan told me at the time there were some personal attacks against him and his family, and he really did not appreciate that. This week, when I talked to him again, though, he said that thankfully really calmed down. But he also had some pretty interesting updates to report. Now, they were originally aiming for those 600 signatures because they were initially told they needed 514 by the end of July. And that was a figure that was told to them by the Horace City Council. But then they got some clarification from the city administrator. Further investigation came down to only 500 some people voted in the last presidential election, which is part of the Home Rule Charter that you need. 15% of how many people actually voted in the last presidential election. So 15% of that ended up being about 70.5. So he rounded up to 71. And we actually surpassed that by over, I'd want to say triple that we had in the neighborhood of 250 plus. signatures at the time we were actually given the right number. So now hold up. The petition threshold was not based on the population, but a percentage of how many people voted in the last presidential election, which was just in 2024. And how many people was that, Daniel? 470 people. Okay, wow, that's a commentary on participation. No, that is pretty wild. Out of several thousand residents, only 470 voted in that last election. Yeah, pretty crazy. So it turns out they did not need hundreds of signatures. They only needed that 71. And now they had what they needed. What happened next was the city administrator told Alan the council had some options. They could either meet with the sponsoring committee. They could adopt the ordinance themselves or they could put it up for a public vote. really wanted the public to weigh in. They have until the next council meeting to finalize the ballot measure language. But the council did meet this week on Monday. Alan says they were very eager to get the question in front of voters this November. So that will need to be finalized and sent to the Secretary of State's office by August 31st. Okay, end of the month. That's coming up now. The civic process working for the people of Horace one step in, one rule.

Out of time. That is really wild, though, about that voter turnout. I can't quite get over that. I know. Alan told me, you know, turnout across North Dakota is usually pretty low, too. And, you know, I've covered elections here for a long time. I'm pretty familiar with that phenomenon. But sometimes in some elections, it really does take a hot topic, a controversial measure, maybe even a charismatic candidate, to be on the ballot. And that can really energize voters to want to come out. Now, Alan says, you know, he's hopeful that this will be the case. with this measure. He says he does not believe that just one vote doesn't count. It's that all voices are being heard. Every vote counts for anything. I mean, you've got to make your voice heard and go back to, you know, back in pre-revolution, you know, no tax without representation. I mean, that's pretty much what this is, is, you know, you want your voice heard. You've got to make it heard. And if you want change, you have to, you know, do something about it. You can't just stand idly by and hope, you know. Whatever you want will happen. You can't do that in today's world. You've got to make sure your voice is heard. Well, and it really sounds to me that these are folks who, you know, they might be hoping this ballot measure goes one way over the other way. But at the end of the day, just as long as people of Horace stand up and are being counted on the question of three days of fireworks instead of 10, he really sounds like he thinks that's the most important thing of all, that you hear that question, make that decision, and go. out and vote. So he's really into turning his civic activism into civic participation. That's I mean, that's really just a way of kind of getting things done, getting people off the couch over any arguments on the dreaded social media comment section. He also told me he's hoping the interest in this measure might inspire even more civic engagement in Horace in the future. In a community that has grown as rapidly as Horace has, it's definitely had its own challenges. They've been in the news for other things, you know, like their special assessments in the newer developments. Alan says it's always a good thing when citizens become more aware of their own. power to affect change in their communities. You know, I would love to see a good turnout on this just because then it shows the community is actually actively participating in any changes that possibly happen. And, you know, I do want to call out, you know, those who supported us. I appreciate all the support along the way. And those who oppose it, you know, like I said, you know, make sure your voice is heard on the ballot box regardless of which way it goes. Well, also, too, they're getting a brand new McDonald's out here in Horace. It's exciting down there. Yeah, yeah, so definitely. signs of growth in Horace, and someday soon, I'm sure the population will top 10,000. I would not be surprised if that happened. Well, it would appear that in addition to all the exciting midterm election races that you and the news team will be following in November for sure. A local ballot measure in good old Horace, North Dakota will also be one result to watch for. Thanks for all that, Danielle. What else has been in Z News this week at Prairie Public? The Public Service Commission is getting ready to hold hearings on the North Plains Connector Project. Cratum that is marketed today is not a supplement. It is an opioid acting drug, sold with no consistent age check.

or dosage standard. Governor Armstrong is calling a special session of the legislature next month to ban a substance called Kratum. Instead of scrolling on social media, they pulled out a deck of cards and started playing with three of their friends. And one year after becoming law, North Dakota's state superintendent says the state's bell-to-bell cell phone ban in schools is having some very positive results. I like that. I like that a lot. I mean, kids learning now instead of scrolling and being distracted, I can't really argue against that, honestly. That's kind of a no-brainer. Well, I certainly am interested to see what lawmakers come up with in that special session for sure. They rarely get together without bringing up some other issues. And this would be their second special session this year. That's a pretty rare occurrence. Yeah, Dave told me he thinks it's been around 25 years or so since that's happened. So, yeah, stay tuned. More to come on that. Yeah, you know Dave's going to be on top of that. Thanks for all that today, Danielle, keeping us up to date on all these North Dakota headlines. You bet. Be sure to tune in to Prairie Public for more news or check out our online. Newsroom at news.prurraypublic.org. All right, that'll do it for us this week on Prairie Beat. I'm Eric Etheridge. And I'm Danielle Webster. We'll see you on the beat next week.