North Dakota woman sues police over arrest

Christine Stein says police in Jamestown, North Dakota wrongly put her in jail last year. She called 911 using a relay service to tell officers about a suicidal man. When police arrived, they arrested her and she was denied an interpreter, according to the suit. WDAy-TV has a report here.

ND School expands reach

While enrollment is falling at the North Dakota School for the Deaf, the facility is expanding its services to reach thousands across the state to remain a vital part of deaf education. Find out more in The Jamestown Sun here.

Deaf pageant contestant refuses to accept ‘You can’t’

When Elizabeth was a teenager, she was told she couldn’t be a lifeguard because she’s missing an arm. She did it anyway. Read the story and see a video report about her here (no captions).

Head-on Collision

The North Dakota Highway Patrol is still sorting out exactly what happened in an accident last month near Jamestown that killed a deaf man and the family of three he ran into. Wyatt Klein had left his welding job at Double J Manufacturing in the mid-afternoon before he began drinking. On his way home, the deaf 28-year-old drove the wrong way on Interstate 94, causing the head-on collision that ended the lives of Aaron and Allison Deutscher of West Fargo and their 18-month-old daughter, Brielle. The state patrol said Klein's blood alcohol level was triple the legal limit.

ND phone fee

North Dakota telephone customers will continue to see a 4 cent fee show up on their bills to cover the cost of a service for deaf people in the state. The state Public Service Commission voted to keep the sercharge for one more year on monthly bills. The tax pays for a telephone relay service and to help low-income people use the system. It will raise more than half a million dollars.

Name Change in ND

The North Dakota School for the Deaf has changed its name. Its now the ND School for the Deaf/Resource Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. It still falls under the division of the Department of Public Instruction. Find out more here.

ND Relay Service Change

The tax on phone lines to support relay services for the deaf is dropping in North Dakota. The fee will drop from five to four cents. The state's Public Service Commission decided to make the change, which will take effect July 1st, to save North Dakota $362,000.

Taking the Plunge

A high school swim team with two deaf swimmers is profiled in this Fargo, North Dakota news site. Read it here.

Call Center Shutdown Planned

Communication Service for the Deaf is shutting down its call center in Jacksonville, Florida in October. The move will put 114 people out of work. The center takes calls from people all over the country and has been in operation for three years. The nonprofit company is based in South Dakota. A spokesman admits that new technology is slowly eliminating the needPublish Post for the text relay service.

Deaf Hockey Coach

Devils Lake High School in Dickinson, North Dakota has a new hockey coach – who’s deaf. David Zimmerman has been an assistant coach at the school for the past six seasons. He uses hearing aids and reads lips to communicate and played hockey during his entire time in high school. For two decades, Zimmerman has given himself to coaching peewee and bantam hockey teams.