We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
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A chance comment by a customer to a local merchant eventually resulted in a patented product now being used at Sweet Nursing Home in Chinook. Kelcey Diemert, a local pharmacist, said, "About 17 years ago Russell Benson came into the pharmacy and said, "I was just visiting some of my buddies at the nursing home. They were all rocking away in their wheelchairs but weren't going any place. You should invent a wheelchair that rocks." Diemert shared the idea with John Iverson, a classmate when the...
The public is invited to a preview of the recently completed Foothills Exhibit at the Blaine County Wildlife Museum on the evening of Thursday, June 1 from 7-9 pm. Museum Manager Tammy Edwards said the event is the opening day for the museum's summer season that runs through the end of August. She added, "There will be no charge for that evening and this will replace the regular free admission Saturday held each June." Kurt Wohnsen and Liz Marshall, the owners and operators of Acorn Exhibits,...
Reporters Note: Memorial Day, now the last Monday in May, will soon be on us. There will be memorial services from Arlington National Cemetery to local cemeteries. Blaine County will have a number of events at various cemeteries. Graves will be decorated, especially those of deceased veterans, and many of us will take a moment to remember our deceased family members and friends. When asked to write a short history of Memorial Day for the newspaper, I was interested to learn about a holiday I've...
Steve and Lesley Zellmer have opened Treasure State Title Company in Chinook. The couple bought the assets of Bear Paw Title on December 30, 2016 from Pauly and Perry Miller, then created the new business. Treasure State Title will soon be moving to the old "Blaine County Journal" office at 217 Indiana in Chinook. Pauly Miller will continue to operate Fidelity Escrow Company, a business she started in 2012. Steve Zellmer grew up in Blaine County, attending school in Harlem, Zurich and Chinook....
Hunter VanDonsel joined the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Chinook. The Helena native is working as a Farm Bill Wildlife Biologist, a position funded primarily by Pheasants Forever, Inc. with support from the NRCS and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP). VanDonsel will work with NRCS, Montana’s FWP and local landowners to promote creation and preservation of upland game bird and animal habitat. He said the position is funded through 2019. VanDonsel graduated from Capital High School, in Helena, in 2012. He completed...
At right of photo a postal customer at the Chinook Post Office drops mail in the recently relocated drive-through collection box. According to Postmaster Leta Buck the new location solves some concerns with safety and access encountered at the old site of the collection box behind the post office. The new box is off Third Street on the short access driveway to the post office parking lot....
The Zion Lutheran Church of the Missouri Synod is undertaking a major remodel and upgrade to its 103-year old building at the corner of 8th Street and Illinois in Chinook. In the fall of 1963 the entire building was jacked up and the basement was redone. There was another major remodel, on both the building and the basement, from 1989-1993. The current project involves a new roof, removal of the brick chimney, reconditioning of the bell tower, replacing the heating system and addition of...
A number of locals, including the son of famed Hays-based artist Clarence Cuts The Rope, have asked Wells Fargo executives to donate a large painting, done by Cuts The Rope, to be hung in the new Hays community center when it is completed. The painting was one of two commissioned by the bank in 1982 (it was Bank of Montana at that time). Clarence Cuts The Rope died in 2000. Ada Brekke, of Chinook, was a bank employee at the time. She said, "Clarence did two paintings, one of a buffalo hunt, and...
By Steve Edwards BCJ News Two Chinook firefighters, with a quarter century of firefighting experience between them, moved to reserve status at the start of the new year. Firefighters on reserve status are still members of the organization, can perform some related duties to fighting fires and, in specific situations, can be called to fight a fire. Gary Anderson and Billie Haugen were both granted reserve status and recognized for their years of service. Dan Friede, the other Chinook firefighter...
Members of the North Central Montana Shrine Club are expecting to receive their usual shipment of three tons of Vidalia onions "sometime around the 20th of May." The annual sale of the delectable Georgia onion, according to Shrine officials, is their best fundraiser of the year. Onion sale proceeds provide money to help kids, and their families, with travel expenses to the Shriners' Hospital in Spokane. The North Central Montana club includes members from both Blaine and Hill Counties. The...
By Steve Edwards BCJ News Cherie Edwards welcomed guests to the Business After Hours event hosted by the Edwards Funeral Home. With new funeral director Daniel Dahl at her side, Edwards told about 40 guests at the event, "I'm really thrilled to have Daniel and his family joining the business. I believe he will continue the legacy that Marvin (Edwards) started in 1973 when we purchased the funeral home." Noting that Daniel was looking to work with a funeral home that wanted to remain family owned...
Colleen Mulonet, one of three co-chairs for the new 2017 North Central Montana Relay, recently described how Blaine and Hill Counties will combine their efforts for the upcoming June 23 event. The collaboration marks a new stage in how the American Cancer Society (ACS) will stage its main, annual fundraiser in this part of Montana. In future years the relay event will rotate its location between Havre and Chinook. Mulonet said, “After a coin toss, the site for the first year’s combined relay is Havre, next year it will be in Chinook.” In additi...
Last week, at its regular monthly meeting, the Blaine County Fair Board approved the erection of an indoor arena at the county fairgrounds in Chinook. The project would utilize a surplus 100' by 200' metal building obtained by the county from the surplus program at Malstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls. The building was never erected and is, for the most part, packed and bundled the way it was originally delivered by the manufacturer to the air base. Dennis Kleinjan, one of a group of volunteer...
Last week Chinook's Jumping Junipers, a local garden club that is part of the Montana Federation of Garden Clubs, hosted 40+ members of four other area garden clubs that make up District 7, the Hi-Line District. Each spring one of the five clubs hosts the spring meeting-a combination of conducting district business, learning opportunities from each other and invited gardening professionals, good food and visiting with old friends and making new ones. The event was held at Wallner Hall. The...
A larger than normal group of canvassers took advantage of a pleasant spring late afternoon to complete the 2017 canvass of Chinook. Volunteers, many representing groups that receive support under the Community Chest, were assigned specific blocks of houses and set out to knock on doors. The non-profit Community Chest was created in the late 1970's and one of the goals of the canvass is to make contact with every household in Chinook. According to Kasie McIntosh, one of the organizers of the...
Intergenerational events and activities, where people from multiple generations get together, are all the rage nowadays. As the population ages researchers and service providers are realizing the potential benefits when young and old people are linked through shared programs. Now there are intergenerational vacations, specialized adventures (like grandparents doing zip lines with grandkids) and websites devoted to providing intergenerational activities. Mary Pyette and Marilyn Williamson, both...
Jason DeShaw performed before two audiences of students in Blaine County. Last Wednesday, in the Chinook High gym, he sang and spoke to about 350 students gathered from Chinook, Harlem and Turner. The next day he did a similar performance at Hays-Lodge Pole High. His performance was a combination of country music, singing several songs he wrote himself, and conversation about his own challenges of mental illness and alcoholism. Jason DeShaw grew up in Plentywood, Montana and after college began...
By Steve Edwards BCJ News For several years the Sweet Memorial Nursing Home (SMNH) has held a spring luncheon to recognize and thank the many volunteers who help at the Chinook care home. The 50+ guests attending were representative of the folks who spend time helping make life a little more pleasant for the residents at the home. Jeanne Buffington, Activities Manager at SMNH, said the turnout of volunteers for this year's luncheon was one of the best she could recall. Buffington welcomed the...
JUMP is a Christian-based service organization for teens in the Chinook area. Since its inception, about a decade ago, the group meets regularly for Bible study and does various service projects in the community-from helping at the Food Pantry to canvassing for the annual Community Chest. It's also been a tradition, starting eight years ago, to do a summer mission trip. Janelle Downs, who is now an adult leader with the group, was in the first group of teens to make a mission trip with JUMP. She...
Edwards Funeral Home will be hosting the next Business After Hours set for Thursday, May 6. Business After Hours provides an opportunity for a business to showcase its services and products in a more relaxed atmosphere, after hours. Daniel Dahl, the new funeral director at the local mortuary, will be on hand to greet guests, provide tours of the funeral home and share information about funeral planning and the services offered by Edwards Funeral Home. The event will run from 6-8 pm and is open...
Tax Freedom Day is the day that Americans, collectively, will earn enough to pay their tax bill for the current year. Tax Freedom Day takes all federal, state and local taxes and divides them by the nation’s income. This year Americans will pay $3.5 trillion in federal taxes and $1.6 trillion in state and local taxes, for a total bill of $5.1 trillion (that’s 31 percent of the national income). For 2017 national Tax Freedom Day is April 23rd, but since each state (because of varying state and local tax rates) has a different tax burden, tax...
Bill Rossiter spent a day and two evenings in Blaine County sharing his program of songs and tales about the settling of the "Great American Desert." Rossiter used a series of songs, biographical sketches and collected tales to describe the travails of settlers who migrated west during a period from the late 1800's to about 1920. He presented his program titled "Home, Home on the Ranch: Farm and Ranch Life in Story and Song" before appreciative audiences at both the Blaine County Library in...
Organizers said there were 90+ guests who attended the recent Chinook Lions Club's annual Old-Timers' dinner. Sometime in the early 1980's club members invited a few local seniors to a club meeting and dinner to share memories about the area from the 'old days.' Soon the event became an honoring of all local seniors and, in addition to the dinner, guests are treated to entertainment. This year's entertainment was brought by Cory Pierson from the Havre area. Rather than a standup program,...
Kougar Lanier, a member of Boy Scout Troop 1438 in Havre, is completing his Eagle Scout project, and part of his project includes Blaine County. Kougar was in Chinook last weekend placing one of four receptacles that will be available to deposit American flags that need replacing. The Blaine County location is in the county courthouse, on the lower level, adjacent to the Sheriff's Office. He said, "It will be the only flag drop box that is accessible 24 hours a day. Kougar said a couple of...
This June 23 Blaine and Hill County cancer support volunteers will collaborate to stage the first ever combined North Central Montana Relay. Co-chair Colleen Mulonet said the event, the major fundraiser that supports cancer research, will alternate between the two counties. The 2017 event will be held at Havre High School, next year's relay will be in Blaine County. Mulonet said the next regular meeting for the upcoming June event will be Wednesday, April 12 at the Chinook Eagles. She said,...
