Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Sorted by date Results 1005 - 1029 of 2305
Dear Editor, A couple weeks ago, I had a letter to the editor published in your local newspaper. It said that I was doing a state report on Montana and asked for information. Soon I started to get mail from the wonderful people in Montana. Thank you so much for all the wonderful things you sent me. They will already help me with my state report and presentation. For my report, I have to create a trifold poster with all the information I am learning about your state, including things like state symbols, natural resources. tourist attractions...
Dear Editor, The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is asking for the public’s help in determining what it should analyze as it considers proposed changes to several grazing leases. American Prairie Reserve (APR) controls private properties tied to 18 BLM grazing allotments in Fergus, Petroleum, Phillips and Valley counties. They have submitted a proposal asking the BLM to modify their grazing permits. Note that Page 2 of their proposal lists “other terms and conditions of APR proposed action.” Item 2 of this says, “Split BLM East Dry Fork al...
Not many of us remember using kerosene lamps as our evening light. To my knowledge, my family always had electricity, but the very young only remember specific things. It was always a real treat to me, even in my early teen years, to get to spend the night with some older friends that did not have electricity. Evenings were spent around the kitchen table, playing cards or other games. These particular friends had cats in the house, so you could entertain yourself quite awhile watching the cats play with a piece of paper tied on string. Very...
I want to inform all of our readers that it is the intent of the Glasgow Courier to take the Bureau of Land Management to task over their decision making process for the American Prairie Reserve’s request to remove interior fencing and graze bison year-round. The story you see this week will not be the end of our questioning of how the BLM is making its decision. The public comment in this paper and other forums around the Hi-Line speak for themselves that this issue has been charged with fear, polarization and muddied by bureaucratic p... Full story
Dear Editor, As a lifelong resident of Valley County and a business person for 35+ years, I have had my uninformed view of Valley View Home. I knew it was expensive to stay there, and I did question where all the money went. I talked with my mom regarding the tax proposal before our initial vote last year, and she explained to me how nice it was to have Valley View in the community. Shortly after our discussion, I spent some time with a past board member who was familiar with the dollars and cents. I changed my mind and voted yes on the tax... Full story
Dear Editor, Voters of Valley County vote no on designating public funds for Valley View. With the monies that Valley View has invested in Prairie Ridge and proper management, it can be successful. FMDH owns Prairie Ridge and Prairie Ridge is losing money. Between FMDH, Prairie Ridge and Valley View, the responsibility lies to keep Valley View solvent. Public monies for private enterprise eliminates the need to address the issues financially and otherwise that have threatened Valley View’s solvency. This rush for public monies is an abnormal a... Full story
First off this week, I need to tell everyone the plans right now are for me to have laproscopic surgery in Billings on Friday, April 13, to remove a large kidney stone in my left kidney. I had a kidney infection for over three months because of the stone. Secondly, since I am due for surgery, I won’t be having a column for a few weeks. Please know I deeply appreciate all of the prayers said for me and concern shown. I live in an incredible area, I wouldn’t trade for anything. Every day I hear a train whistle many times over. Of course, tha...
Dear BLM, These comments are directed to the proposal you have received from American Prairie Reserve (APR) requesting major modifications to the 18 grazing allotments controlled by APR. This request would change the class of livestock from cattle to bison and extend the grazing season to permit year-round grazing for bison with the bison restricted to a proposed “fortified external boundary fence”. According to the information included with the Glasgow Courier article of Wednesday, March 28, 2018, this request will be analyzed in one Env... Full story
This week is National Library Week and I can not say enough about the benefits our City-County library provides to my family and me. Because of their wide variety of children books, we are able to have family story-time with our two young kids before bed. We have developed a nightly routine, where before putting them to bed, we all gather on the living room couch, and read. After a long busy day, it allows all of us to settle down, spend time together, enter a different world and learn about new environments. I find myself walking into the libr...
This week is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, which is held during the second week of April to recognize telecommunications personnel in the public safety community for their service and dedication to the profession. The Valley County Sheriff’s Office and the Glasgow Police Department would like to thank and extend our appreciation to the the dedicated women and men of the Valley County 911 Dispatch Center, as you are the behind-the-scenes-heroes. The Valley County 911 Dispatch Center operates 24/7, 365 days a year. They are m...
Do you remember learning to drive? Learning to drive in years gone by, those years when you had to have a pillow or pillows to sit on and maybe have one behind your back. You immediately think of your youth, but for some of us “short” people, we never got past that time until automobiles came equipped with adjustable seats. How wonderful to find the lever located at the lower front of the driver’s seat. You no longer had to sit on the edge of the seat and still only be able to reach the gas pedal with the ball of your foot. Then some enterprisi...
Dear Reader, Courier can be defined in two ways. First, as a person who transports goods or documents. Second, as a person employed to guide or assist a group of people, usually tourists. With that in mind, I wanted to take this opportunity to provide clarity to the Courier’s ideal mission for Valley County. As the Voice of Valley County since 1913, the Courier has served tirelessly to cover and report the events of our community. We have sought to provide those messages and to deliver the information you need to do your job as citizens. I b...
Dear Editor, Hello! I am a fourth grade student in North Carolina. In fourth grade, we research a state for our State Fair, and I have chosen your state! I am very excited to learn more about the great state of Montana as I work on my report. While we will research most of the information ourselves, we also like to get firsthand knowledge from people who live in the state. This is why I’m writing to you. I was hoping that you would be willing to send me some small items to help me learn more about the best things in your state. It could be t...
I would like to share with you some of the City of Glasgow’s accomplishments that took place in 2017 and what our goals are for 2018. I will be updating you on different subjects and projects, and our progress via Glasgow Courier, City of Glasgow website and KLTZ/KLAN. Today I would like to address our levee system. 2017 was a pivotal year for the City of Glasgow as we worked on numerous issues. Some of those issues were resolved, some were taken to the next level, and some evolved into other issues. We also took on a number of projects, s...
I could not do what our educators do. They deserve to be paid well. Very well. In recent news, educators in Oklahoma, West Virginia and Kentucky organized and implemented walk-outs in their states in an effort to secure more funding for education. In addition to near-poverty level wages, some teachers nationwide have also gone decades without wage increases, and are facing billions in budget cuts. In Montana, the beginning teacher salary is $31,456 and the average teacher salary is $52,776 (Montana Education Association – Montana Federation o... Full story
In a press release sent out last week, Superintendent of Glasgow Public Schools Bob Connors sought to explain the district’s proposed general fund levy. The proposed levy will be voted on at the May 8, annual school election. According to Connors, the district will be asking for a levy increase of 8.12 mills. This proposal will bring the new total school levy assessment to 85.10 mills up from 76.98 mills the previous years. The intent in increasing the general fund levy, according to the district’s release, is to increase wage com...
My memories are a jumble today. My first thought was hunting Easter eggs in the snow. I honestly do not remember ever hunting them in the snow, but as I tried to make my mind go back that far, it occurred to me that I really do not remember hunting for Easter eggs at all as a child. Yes, I have hidden my share of them, but how many of the “older” generation remembers spending the Saturday before Easter, hunting eggs, or finishing Easter dinner, impatiently waiting for the adults to finish up so that you could get on with the important bus...
Land Should Be Settled, Developed and Disbursed to General Public Please allow a response to Mr. McKean’s column on “The Local Value of Wilderness” in your March 21 issue. As a low-level party functionary and campaign contributor as well as a student of 20th century history and political science, I have written editorial page pieces on this subject. I have presented my concerns to candidates and elected officials in letters as well as face-to-face meetings when the opportunity has presented itself, for at least 30 years. As a first step, I end...
The City Council would like to ensure the community that we have a snow removal plan in place that tries to encompass all scenarios and flexibility as possible while addressing the needs of the public. In dealing with the recent 15-inch snow event, our Snow Removal Plan states the highest priority is to address all emergency routes first and then move to the designated snow routes. You may view the designated routes by going to the City of Glasgow website. After the designated snow routes are made passable, we move into the other areas. Once...
My grandson just returned from an out-of-state band trip. His trip made me remember the band trips of my school days. If you lived in the North Country, you may have gotten to take band trips out of the USA. I remember trips to Canada to take part in band festivals, but what I do not remember is crossing the border. Today, I would bet that each instrument case, as well as any luggage, etc would have to be inspected at the border crossing. If that had been what happened many years ago, I think it would have been something we all remembered. At...
Sometimes it’s very small. At other times it’s so big it seems to fill your world. But no matter the size, it’s always there. What is it? Hope. Hope can start out like a fully-grown plant. But it can also be like a tiny seed put into the ground, just waiting for the right time to germinate. It can lay there for a long time and then suddenly there is a need for it. So, like the seed that’s been planted, fertilized, and watered, it slowly begins to open. It seeks an opening in the ground surrounding it, searching for a place it can use to esca...
I have no idea how many miles of road there are in Valley County, but I do know that we are a very large county. I want to express my thanks to those of you that spent many hours opening and keeping open our roads during this last storm. Thanks to tractors and 4x4’s, my family was never “snowed in,” but what a great surprise to see the snow plow made a run down our road to the house, from the county road. Not only do we have a great path to the main road, it is now a wide path that will not blow shut near as quickly. I am sure I can exten... Full story
A few weeks back, Donald Trump implemented a tariff on imported steel and aluminum that instantly sent the free market capitalists and agricultural community into a head spin. Uncertain as to what the tariff’s will actually accomplish, Trump’s economic advisor immediately resigned following the announcement after spending, or wasting, most of his tenure trying to block those exact tariffs. Not surprisingly, Trump ran on a nationalist agenda that included closed borders, torn up trade agreements, and U.S. industry protectionism. Some in the Rep...
Do you remember when we did not have Daylight Savings Time? I was thinking about the time changes when I decided I might need to wear a watch today. (When you are retired and in the house all day, it is easy to not wear a watch). That, of course, involved setting it to the correct time. It made me think of how many clocks we have that needed resetting that magic morning of time change. Since we have more than one clock in our house that needs to be wound weekly, changing time is just one more little thing. Yes, I do love my old things like...
Local input is a hallmark of democracy. Good laws should and do bubble up from neighborhoods, country churches, and bar stools, just as bad ideas are often killed by the folks who have to live with the results. That’s why, if you’re running for public office, it’s a smart idea to say that you’re in support of local decisions. Imagine the alternative: “I’m from the distant government and I’m here to tell you how to live your life.” You probably wouldn’t win many votes. But that alternative is precisely what our lone U.S. Congressman, Greg...
