Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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A pair of lawsuits filed in Federal Court in Great Falls in early November allege Valley County failed to act in protecting the then-underage victims of ex-Undersheriff and convicted sex offender Luke Strommen when he sexually abused and raped them while on duty as a Valley County Sheriff’s Deputy. The two women, now adults, filed separate lawsuits through the same attorneys last week seeking to hold Valley County responsible for what they see as a failure to protect them. The complaints stated that the county should have been aware that Stromm...
Sherri Turner's decades-long career at the Valley County Sheriff's Office is coming to a close this November after Turner announced her retirement earlier in the year. When she leaves her job as the VCSO administrative assistant this month she will have worked a total of 37 years for the county and served a total of seven different sheriffs-starting with Dan Taylor and ending with current Sheriff Tom Boyer. Turner had never intended to end up in Valley County. She was originally from Omaha,...
The Valley CARE Coalition and Eastern Montana Community Mental Health Center partnered this year for Red Ribbon Week, a national movement to promote drug free youth. This year due to COVID-19 health and safety concerns the partners arranged a community-wide scavenger hunt during the last week of October. Twelve clues in all were posted around Glasgow and community members were encouraged to take photos with the ribbons and email them in as well as post them to the Valley CARE Facebook page for t...
It became the comically contentious subject of 2020, but a two-year effort to change the law in Glasgow to allow for the raising of chickens has failed after being placed before the voters of Valley County. With a 329-vote margin, the people of Glasgow rejected Glasgow City Ordinance No. 971 for hens to be raised in the city limits. The total votes were 1,049 voting against and only 720 voting in favor. The ordinance was spearheaded by Madelyn House, who moved to Glasgow and had hopes of...
A lot will have changed between press time and the arrival of this newspaper, but Valley County's votes have been tallied and counted and the results are in. In total, 4,327 people cast their ballots across all three of the county's precincts out of 5,136 registered voters. That puts the county's turnout rate at just over 84 percent. As of election night the race for President between incumbent Donald Trump and Joe Biden had not been called in favor of either candidate. In Montana's race for...
The Valley County Health Department reported the 400th case of COVID-19 in the county on Nov. 2. The total case count is a sharp increase from the beginning of October when the county was reporting just over 140 cases on Oct. 7. Of the total number of cases, 338 have recovered, 57 are active and five have passed away. Out of the total 400 cases, the county has hospitalized 36 patients, making the rate of hospitalization nine percent. As of Oct. 2, 9 people were hospitalized in Valley County. Seven were positive for COVID and two awaiting test...
"Busy, very busy," said Brian Austin on how work was going at Hi-Line Meats which opened in a brand new facility on Oct. 24 in Glasgow. Situated on Highway 2 beside the VFW, the small facility was packed with workers and wild game two days later. Austin, who has been cutting wild game for 32 years in Glasgow and also manages the Valley County landfill, is hitting the ground running with his partner, Danny Zeiger, who also works in the oilfields in North Dakota. Austin had rushed to get the new... Full story
During a public meeting of the Valley County Board of Health, alongside representatives from Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital, STAT Air Ambulance, Prairie Ridge, Valley View Home, the Chamber of Commerce and county health officer Anne Millard, one issue became clear—health infrastructure in Valley County was starting to feel the pressure brought on by an increase in COVID-19 cases. Board of Health chair Clay Berger presided over the meeting on Oct. 21 and opened by stating the meeting’s purpose to “one, establish an open line of commu... Full story
Election Day 2020 is less than a week away. Tuesday, Nov. 3, is the final day of this year’s general election. This year, Valley County is conducting the election entirely by mail, falling in line with the majority of the state, to observe health and safety concerns amidst the novel coronavirus pandemic. Election ballots for this year’s general election needed to be postmarked by Oct. 26, which was also the final day to register to vote, aside from in-person registration which will be available, Tuesday, Nov. 3, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Clerk...
At their regular weekly meeting on Oct. 21, the Valley County Commissioners announced they had unanimously selected Marie Pippen for the soon-to-be vacated Clerk and Recorder and Superintendent of Schools position. Pippen will replace Taryn Aberg, whose resignation will be effective Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. The Commissioners received four applications for the position and narrowed their selection to three. After independently reviewing the resumes of the applicants, they came together to discuss their findings. Pippen was selected because the...
It has been over two weeks since coronavirus was detected at Valley View Nursing Home on Oct. 5. In that time cases have spread among staff and residents as the home implemented policies, lockdowns and isolation to combat the spread of the virus through the home’s residents. According to Wes Thompson, the home’s administrator, so far, there have been 11 residents confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus all aged between 63 and 98 years. Of those, none were showing serious symptoms and six were expected to be recovered by next week. Fou... Full story
In a digital townhall on Oct. 18, Valley County Health Officer, Dr. Anne Millard, gave an update on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in the county calling on its residents to “take this more seriously” and urging people to follow mandatory mask requirements, social distancing and hand hygiene protocols to slow the spread of the disease locally. The news of increasing hospital patients was accompanied by the tragic news that the county experienced two more COVID-19 deaths. The two individuals were a woman in her 80s and a man in his 90s. As... Full story
Montanans who thought they had more time to fill out the 2020 Census ran out of time last week when the Supreme Court approved the Trump administration’s request to end the 2020 Census earlier than expected. Another consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau has had to adjust their normal processes to ensure everyone in the state is counted. The original deadline for the U.S. Census was July 31 and was originally extended to Oct. 31 to allow the opportunity to respond to challenges the pandemic created. In August, the C...
The Glasgow School Board met for their regular meeting on Oct. 13, and on the agenda was the discussion to add girls wrestling to the Glasgow High School activities. Athletic Director Brenner Flaten outlined the proposal, analysis and a survey taken by middle school and high school girls on their interest in participating in the sport if offered. In the proposal, Flaten explained adding girls wrestling would not incur any additional expense, except for $250 per year to sponsor the additional sport, which would be paid out of internal funds....
Glasgow Public Schools extended distance learning for elementary-aged school children this week pushing back a hopeful date of resuming in-person instruction from Oct. 19 to Oct. 26. The announcement was made in a letter to staff from Superintendent Wade Sundby. The Glasgow middle and high schools are continuing their in-person classes. In the letter Sundby wrote that after conversations with the Valley County Health Department about the stress the uptick in cases has put on department staff, he decided to delay resuming classes for another... Full story
The Valley County Community Pool Campaign held their drive-thru Wine Flight & Charcuterie Night Event Oct. 13 at the Valley County Fairgrounds. The event drew a large crowd despite the rainy weather, with the line of cars extending out to the highway. Volunteers Rod Karst and Taylor Zerbe greeted "guests" and handled the silent auction items while delivering the wine and charcuterie plates to ticket holders. An in-person event had been planned earlier this year but health and safety precautions...
Over the past week, Valley County has added 65 new cases and five hospitalizations to the county’s COVID-19 numbers. As of press time, there are 58 active cases with 137 recovered for a total number of cases of 195, and 12 total hospitalizations with four active. The increase in county numbers come as the state hits record highs in new cases. On Oct. 12, the state recorded 7,432 active cases, which is the highest it’s been since the state started regularly publishing COVID-19 information in March and as of Oct. 11, there have been 210 COV... Full story
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, travel and tourism have suffered as people across the nation limit their travel and social interaction. Among the big-name businesses hit is Amtrak, which has seen ridership drop 80 percent this year. Several months ago, the rail service announced it would be limiting services with the Empire Builder line set to drop from daily trips to thrice-weekly runs beginning Monday, Oct. 19. The Chicago-Seattle run will operate Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays and the westbound train originating in Portland or...
Area resident Kevin Vogel hosted and directed the first ever Hi-Line Hyzers Fall Fling disc golf tournament at Centennial Park in Glasgow on Oct. 10. This event was Vogel's first as a tournament director. "One day, about a month ago, I decided that this will never happen if someone doesn't step up to make it happen. BOOM, I was now a new tournament director," said Vogel. The Fall Fling was also the first fully planned out and sponsored disc golf tournament for the course at Centennial Park. The...
The Hinsdale Legion Monument has been standing in Legion Park for 75 years and it's starting to show its age. In order to preserve the monument and ensure the sacrifices of local veterans are remembered for future generations in the community and beyond, the Hinsdale Fall Festival committee has transformed into the Save the Monument committee to raise funds to not only make repairs but also preserve the monument for the future. "When one walks up to the monument, it is apparent that chunks of...
Last month Governor Steve Bullock announced that Jobs for Montana’s Graduates received its 14th “5-of-5” award. Glasgow High School was among 16 schools in the state recognized for reaching the “5-of-5” standard for 2019. To receive the award, schools must achieve or surpass a 90 percent graduation rate, 80 percent positive outcomes rate, 60 percent employment rate, 60 percent full-time job rate and 80 percent full-time placement rate. According to Bullock’s press release, JMG is a state chapter of Jobs for America’s Graduates, a national orga...
It’s Time Our county is experiencing a large uptick in active Covid-19 cases. It’s in the schools, the nursing home and FMDH, in addition to our businesses and government offices. It’s time to take social distancing recommendations seriously. Mask up, stay six feet away and wash your hands. If we can all do that, we will contain this virus and allow our essential service personnel to continue to provide our residents with the critical services we all need. When our hospital and clinic personnel contract the virus, or are required to quara... Full story
Since the publication of this story, the Valley County Health Department confirmed 11 more cases of COVID-19 in the county. As of Oct. 7, at 6 p.m., the County has 30 active cases, with 111 recovered for a total of 141 cases. Valley County reported its first COVID-19 related death on Oct. 6 stating that the deceased passed away on Sept. 24. The county cited “jurisdiction issues” with the state Department of Public Health and Human Services for the delay in reporting the death. The Valley County Health Department on Oct. 6 stated: “It is with... Full story
The USDA announced on Sept. 18, following a President Trump campaign rally on Sept. 17 in Wisconsin, an additional $14 billion is available for agricultural producers who continue to face market disruptions and associated costs due to COVID-19. The funds are being made available from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Charter Act and CARES Act to support row crops, livestock, specialty crops, dairy, aquaculture and many additional commodities. Payments will be made for three categories of commodities including Price Trigger Commodities,...
After first being introduced in the Senate in 2017 and in the House of Representatives in 2019, Savanna’s Act is on its way to the President’s desk to be signed into law. The House of Representatives passed the latest legislation on Sept. 21 after being unanimously passed in the Senate last March. The bill, which is named in honor of Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, a 22-year old pregnant member of the Spirit Lake Tribe who was tragically murdered in August 2017, improves information sharing between Tribal and federal law enforcement agencies. It...
