We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
Sorted by date Results 901 - 925 of 972
Reporter's note: Twenty plus years ago my family and I were living in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Some new people moved next door to us and at Christmas we noticed they left their Christmas tree up until mid-January. Our daughter went to school with one of the neighbor's kids and learned the new family was Russian Orthodox. They celebrated 'Old Christmas,' which is a couple of weeks after December 25, more specifically January 6 or 7. I hadn't thought much about this until my wife went to seminary...
The Alliance Church will be hosting the Chinook Area Chamber's first Business After Hours event of the new year. The Alliance Church, located at the corner of Highway 2 and Indiana Street, moved in to an additional facility last fall. Pastor Dennis Findorff said, "Our congregation has been wanting to have an open house to let locals see our new Sunday school and office facility. The Business After Hours seemed like a good way to introduce the community to The Annex." The Annex is located at the...
My wife and I had traveled out to the Seattle area, on Amtrak, to spend a few days babysitting our grandkids while our daughter and son-in-law made a brief pre-Christmas trip. We opted to take Amtrak because of the various weather threats, and we’re not big fans of crossing mountains with snow-packed roads. Turned out to be the right decision as both the Cascades and Rockies were hammered with snow both going and coming to and from the west coast. We’ve traveled Amtrak many times, first when we lived in North Dakota and would travel to see our...
Major projects by local governments to a late July rain helped define the county's news stories for 2015. Activities to preserve native languages produced stories of local efforts to influence state policies and new efforts to preserve native cultures. And stories that reflected the close-knit nature of our communities on the prairie shaped the news for this year. Here are some of the news stories that shaped our lives during the past year. Government actions at all levels Late November Blaine...
Reporter's note: The Chinook Area Chamber holds an informal competition each year to select the best Christmas yard light display. In an email to the "Journal," Chamber President Heather DePriest listed the three top displays and noted, "The competition has no prizes, just bragging rights." And she thanked all the local residents who put up some fantastic decorations this year, that help make the season just a little more festive. First place went to Ken and Teri Pelesky, whose house is on the...
Reporter's note: Paula Reynolds, who handles advertising at the "Journal," recently laid a copy of an upcoming ad on my desk. The ad was for "Singing Canaries" and listed only a name and phone number. Paula said, "This lady has canaries for sale, there might be a story there." I called the number on the ad and got Debbie Stout, who lives on a farm in the Savoy area. I figured maybe she was selling a couple of canaries and a cage to go with them. Turns out Stout doesn't have just a couple of...
Carla Jenewein has been coordinating Chinook's Red Cross blood drive every other month for a long time. For the upcoming January 5 blood drive, Jenewein is temporarily taking a mentor's role to help Elizabeth Hodgson, a Chinook High School senior and student body president, who will be leading the drive. Hodgson will be assisted by members of the National Honor Society and the Student Council. The student-led drive is a part of the Red Cross' Leaders Save Lives program that seeks to get...
North Harlem Colony had earlier announced the date for its annual Christmas program at the school. Pastor Eli Hofer, who also administers the school, said the program would be different this year with music and readings but no Christmas play. On the night of the program Pastor Eli welcomed colony families and friends of the colony. He said, "This is our school's annual Christmas program but it's also a time to show appreciation for our neighbors." The audience was a mixture of colony residents...
Montana State University and the University of Montana collaborate in a program called the Montana Space Grant Consortium. The consortium member schools, researchers and educators do a number of activities to learn more about space and share what they learn with Montana's school children. Jon Martin, principal at Meadowlark Elementary in Chinook, learned of the presentations offered to schools and scheduled "Pluto and Beyond" at Meadowlark. The presentation occurred last week. Pluto and Beyond...
Sarah Gone joined the Bear Paw Battlefield Park staff in September, 2015. No stranger to the park, the Fort Belknap woman worked with the National Park Service each summer while a college student, from 2008-2012. Now she’s back and trying to determine a new direction, having completed law school at the University of Montana last spring. She is preparing to sit for the bar exam this coming February. Gone graduated from Harlem High School in 2007. She went on to complete two bachelor’s degrees, at U of M, one in sociology, with an emphasis in cri...
Reporter's note: Several days ago Chuck Hewitt, a retired teacher who lives in Chinook, asked if I'd seen the barn he made. He said it was on display in the lobby of the First Bank of Montana. He added, "You should check it out." I'd seen some other projects Chuck had built so figured this might be interesting. I stopped in to see it and later asked him about the barn. Here's the story behind the barn currently on display in the bank lobby. Asked, "Why did you build the barn?" Chuck's first resp...
A wind driven wildfire burned about 1,000 acres east of the Fort Belknap Agency last Wednesday afternoon and evening. According to Byard Lame Bull, Fort Belknap's Acting Fire Management Officer, the fire began about 2:30 p.m. and winds gusting to 60 miles per hour eventually created a fire five to six miles long and a mile wide in some areas. Lame Bull said in a midmorning phone interview on Thursday, "We are doing mop up operations and the fire is 95 percent contained. A few cottonwoods and...
The Harlem Civic Association's eleventh Country Christmas celebration was well attended last Wednesday evening. Strollers enjoyed a mild, but at times windy, evening for the annual event. City workers had hung electric decorations along the main street and volunteer groups decorated each light pole to their chosen theme. The town looked festive. In the library lobby, Civic Association chairman Brad Becker, and association member Jim Nissen, were cooking popcorn and handing out bags to strollers....
Reporter's note: As regular readers know, I've been trying to educate myself about the cattle industry, having attended a couple bull sales, traveled with veterinarians doing "cattle things" and spent a day with a cattle buyer. My friends Rita and Larry Surber were catering the sale lunch for the Shipwheel Cattle Company's annual bull sale. Larry invited me to come along as a helper to serve the lunch. It gave me a chance to actually participate in a sale, well, to an extent. Here's what I...
Mayor William Taylor presided over the Harlem City Council December meeting held on Friday afternoon, December 11. Council members present were Kim Hansen, Ralph Schneider and Marc Arensmeyer. Council member Eva English was absent. City Clerk Rebecca Skoyen and Public Utilities Supervisor Richard Mohar were present. Mayor Taylor with approval from council changed the agenda to allow Fred Phillips, an engineer with Great West Engineering, to present a progress report on Harlem’s wastewater system improvements. Prior to the regular council m...
Julie Unfried has joined the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in the Chinook office. The Oregon native is working as a Farm Bill Wildlife Biologist, a position funded primarily by Pheasants Forever with support from the NRCS and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Unfried will work with NRCS, Montana's FWP and local landowners to promote creation and preservation of upland game bird and animal habitat. There are two other similar three year funded positions starting this year...
The Blaine County DUI Task Force is tasked with “reducing the number of impaired drivers, crashes, injuries and deaths related to drug and alcohol use and motor vehicles.” The Task Force was recently rejuvenated and new leaders and task force members are taking their charge to reduce traffic deaths seriously. They’re using two traffic safety programs on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day to reduce deaths on the highway from drunk and impaired drivers. Some sobering numbers about the New Year’s holidays Experts say, technically, New Year’s Eve...
Tuzz Langford, on behalf of the owners and employees of Jamieson Motors, welcomed guests to the Business After Hours event Jamieson Motors hosted last Thursday. Predicted snow didn't seem to deter the guests as a good crowd showed up to enjoy cups of chili and holiday cheer. The event was held in the showroom of the dealership. One holiday specialty being served was the traditional Tom and Jerry drink. It was a nice treat as guests visited into the evening and could look out the showroom...
Finding the perfect live Christmas tree can be a stressor each holiday season. With 25-30 million live trees for sale in the United States annually, there are a lot of choices. Then there are considerations of the type of tree needed, size of the room where the tree will be displayed, shape to fit in the usable space and even what variety of tree for the natural aroma desired. It's a lot of choices. It gets even more complicated when the tree is for a church and ultimately everyone gets to be a...
Pre-holiday events are beginning to wind down in Chinook. There are school concerts and programs still to come, but soon the focus will be on last minute shopping, gatherings for friends and family and, finally, special Christmas Eve church services and family get togethers on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The final week of community events in Chinook was busy as the countdown to Christmas began. Sweet Memorial Nursing Home Bazaar Sweet Home hosted its 13th annual bazaar last Saturday. The...
Chairperson Miller called the meeting to order. Board members present were Travis Buck, Scott Gunderson, James Hodgson, Ernest Johnson, Pauly Miller, Joel Pruttis, Keith Raty and Viki Tilleman. Absent was Michael Copenhaver (Excused). Miller welcomed visitors. Elizabeth Hodgson, Student Council President reported: a recycling project that will be in place January 1; a Red Cross Blood Drive is set for January 5th; and the National Honor Society will be wrapping gifts for the Angel Tree. Student Council will sponsor Movie Day for December 18th. S...
In early November Max and Kirsti Cederberg received Montana State University's prestigious Outstanding Montana Agricultural Leaders award at a dinner and ceremony in Bozeman. When he received word of the award, Max said, "I was working in the shop and happened to hear my cell phone ring. It was MSU's Vice President of Agriculture, Dr. Charles Boyer, telling us of the award and upcoming ceremony." Max added, "It's really a tribute to the farm for its role in providing research plots for...
The Friends of the Harlem Library group hosted a wine and cheese festival last week. Actually, it was more than just wine and cheese with two "groaning" tables of holiday goodies and treats to go along with multiple opportunities to taste, and bid on, some interesting wines. The wines were donated by Sagebrush Flats Winery and the goodies were courtesy of Friends members. It was a fun evening, but there was a serious purpose. Nellie Obrecht, a co-chair of the Friends, explained the Friends...
The Chinook City Council held its monthly meeting on Dec. 3. Council members present were Mitch Haider, Robert Smith, Chris Thurman and Clint Greytak. Mayor Keith Hanson called the meeting to order. Council motioned and approved the minutes from the November meeting. Approval of claims and reports was also motioned and approved. There was no public comment. City department heads made their reports of activities. John Blankenship, for water treatment, said things were very busy with the upgrade construction. He had responded to a Montana DEQ req...
