Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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We have been lucky enough to have basically skipped the month of February in Montana, shortening our winter by a month. The beginning of the month was spent in Florida, just south of Tampa, visiting our middle daughter and her family. That family includes her husband, a newly teenaged son, a five-and-a-half-year-old son, and a soon to be four-year-old son. We had several side-trips while there, including Dinosaur World, Legoland, the Tampa Aquarium, the Florida State Fair, a trip to view the manatees, and a pro-hockey game, in which the Tampa...
As in most of the stuff you hear on Thanks for Listening, today’s story will deal with something foreign to most of us in this sparsely populated part of the Big Sky Country. Oh sure, we’ve seen it when we make trips to Billings or Great Falls where there are more cars and trucks on the streets in three city blocks than there are in the whole town of Glasgow! I’m sure most of you listeners have had the experience of having a semi-truck crawl up your tailpipe and ride your bumper. I know I have and it makes me madder than a wet rooster. It’s...
There have been a lot of Facebook entries circulating concerning “The Green Thing” and yes, most of us do remember and wonder if we have truly progressed in our lives. I am sure there are quite a few area residents that can remember the days before electricity was a “given” in our homes. Although I am sure that was all a part of my first years of life on the farm. I do remember not having the luxuries we now enjoy. I also remember what a treat I thought it was to spend the night with some friends of the family. These friends did not have el...
Montana has a rising wave of conservationists from near and far choking the interests of our state’s historical and economical foundation. Squeezing slowly, our governor, the American Prairie Reserve and Bureau of Land Management have tightened their grip, choosing the health of bison population over the well-being of one our state’s most important contributors, our farmers and ranchers. The BLM’s recent prefatory approval given to the APR regarding grazing permits for bison is a scary foreshadowing of further decline of the use of priva... Full story
I remember being a kid and having my mom telling me what could happen if I didn’t learn to be good. The very worst case scenario was to be put in jail and being fed only bread and water. I couldn’t even imagine! Bread and Water only. I could envision the glass of water, but I was never sure in my mind if your bread would come cut into pieces, or just one big slice. The good point was, it was probably homemade bread. Some years later I lived in the small town of Opheim and got to see the local jail on a daily basis. Yes, I was even in it onc...
First off I want to tell Hillary that the word protect is not pernounced pertect in polite sirkuls. Hillary tries so very hard to use good speech. Sometimes so much so that she comes across as being phony. Hey! I’m certainly not perfect as the 16.7 readers of Thanks For Listening can tell you. I’m not running for the highest office in the world (although I probably should be) but I think those who are should have proper language skills and enunciation. Trump can be exempt because he’s not trying to be anyone but himself. I watched the Democ...
I’ve been gathering some background information on our Constitution as regards the Supreme Court. This was considered so very important by the drafters of the Constitution that it is in the Second Article. It says of the President: “ … he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate … shall appoint Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall also be established by law … “ Since Justice Antonin Scalia died unexpectedl...
It is interesting to watch the American Prairie Reserve ramp up its public relations effort by bringing out their top gun, Sean Gerrity. His recent letter to the editor perpetuated the myth that bison magically time control their grazing. If this were true, why did Lewis and Clark find such poor condition range land in their travels through this country? Sean, the difference between commercial bison herds and your herd is not numbers but the fact they manage their animals. You will learn, as many of them did, that unmanaged ungulates will...
This ‘60s group The Animals’ song rings in my head. I look back on my letters in response to Mary Honrud with the thought that instead of coming off passionate and loving I might be taken as an uncompromising ideologue who isn’t willing to listen to the other side. I have been so troubled by this I could not come up with anything else for my letters, often giving up on the ideas I had as they spiraled back to that concern. I’m just a soul whose intentions are good! Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood! So with the knowledge that I ca...
I’m ordering a latte in downtown Missoula. Behind me in line a young man has a yoga mat slung over his shoulder. Behind him, a woman in a suit dress. My barista is young and cheerful; I tip my change plus a buck. The only thing wrong with this picture are the walls. They are decorated with ugly, mass produced images. Not art. Not even paintings. Purchased, boring frame filler. In Missoula, arguably the Montana city with the most local artists, this is inexcusable. There and in other cities where I’ve lived, local businesses not supporting local...
The picture in the Feb. 3 issue of the Glasgow Courier triggers some additional memories concerning the early day sheep and wool industry. Many of our Western states, including Montana, grew and prospered because of sheep. If you sit down with area history books you will find that many of our early day residents, as well as present day cattle ranchers, got their start with sheep. We may have a few local residents who can remember how wool was transported before grain trucks and semis were on the scene. Wool was an important source of income...
This week, at my request, the Glasgow Courier is honoring Chinook’s Jesse Dannels as Athlete of the Week. Jesse was killed in a motor vehicle accident on Sunday. As many of you know, when your child is involved in sports for any length of time, that sport and its participants become family. Jesse had a huge family. He was a Sugarbeeter, participating in multiple sports. In Glasgow, our student athletes knew him from swimming and wrestling. At the divisional wrestling meet in Big Sandy last weekend, Jesse placed second in his weight class and w... Full story
There are thousands of rules, regulations and laws that supposedly control guns in the United States. We do not need MORE laws. We simply need to enforce the ones already on the books, leaving the stupid laws and keeping the ones that actually make sense. Here’s some personal data from my life that maybe will shed some light on a couple gun laws. It will shed some new light for a few of the newer listeners of Thanks for Listening who are not privy to my past altercations with the law. I wrote some hot checks for which I paid with three years o...
Along with others, I attended a rally on Feb. 1 in Missoula protesting the bringing of un-vetted refugees to Montana. I intended to write a letter to the editor but after reading this article by Leo Hohmann (a writer for wnd.com), it occurred to me that it might work better. Mr. Walling has agreed to play along by running the following excerpt. To read the article in full, visit mobile.wnd.com/2016/01/plan-to-infuse-small-towns-with-muslim-migrants-meets-resistance/#ORBH2vu6xGHY0FIU.99. – Dave Pippin, Glasgow “Rural folks in Montana are pus...
Many of us applaud the Courier for the fine publicity given to the art scene in Glasgow. It is a pleasure to bring out of town guests for a cup of coffee at the Loaded Toad and then proceed through the building to view Sean Heavey’s fine photos of the Montana scene and on to the Wheatgrass Gallery to see what local artists and craft persons have to offer. With more empty spaces being available in our downtown area I wonder what might occupy them? Maybe an antique store? It is sad to see empty store fronts but some towns have revitalized main s...
I wasn’t planning on writing about the Super Bowl. It seems to me that Virgil Vaupel covered the subject pretty well last week, and anyway, the game sort of speaks for itself. However, the entertainments transcended the competition so profoundly that I was moved to take up the pom poms. Messages of inclusion and togetherness infused Lady Gaga’s rendition of the national anthem, and the weird assemblage of Coldplay, Bruno Mars and Beyoncé proved to be much more than the sum of their parts (mainly thanks to Queen Bey). Think about it. This year’s...
Whenever someone tells me that the most beautiful part of Montana is the Western side of the state, I’ve countered with “Well, the West does have lovely mountains, but in the East we have the most gorgeous skies.” Skies that go on for miles and miles; beautiful horizons whose presence engulfs and enfolds. I think about these vast miles, feel them more potently than ever before, while I drive across the Northeast for my work with the Office of Public Instruction. Lately my work takes me to all the communities on the Fort Peck Reservation; back...
Do you want to spend more quality time with your family? Are you sick to death with all those pharmaceutical commercials on TV? Do you scramble for the mute button every time a gorgeous female starts spouting the virtues of a certain bedroom enhancement pill that could cause you to have a four hour medical catastrophe requiring a doctor? Do three or five sportscasters talking at once while yucking’ it up like a bunch of southern hillbillies make your ‘hears’ close shut? If you answered yes to any or all of the above then you have a problem. If...
I’m celebrating. Actually my granddaughter and I are celebrating. She and I will go shopping and she will choose where we have lunch. And she is going to do all the driving. Because we are celebrating her receiving her driver’s license. When she told me she was taking driver’s education last summer, I promised her a day of shopping and having lunch to celebrate her getting her license. So now it’s time to keep that promise. But we are not only celebrating her obtaining her driver’s license. We are celebrating her determination to get that lice...
I appreciate this opportunity to address some apparent confusion regarding American Prairie Reserve’s request to the Bureau of Land Management concerning a potential change-of-use on our Flat Creek BLM allotment. Specifically, we asked that bison be allowed to graze year-round versus part of the year. This request is similar to year-round requests other local livestock producers have been granted. We also asked to remove interior fences on the Flat Creek allotment. There are a number of reasons why we are confident that year-round grazing w...
LTE: My Saturday started as any other, besides the fact my daughter and I had our first practice for a 5th grade girls basketball team. While going through drills, Jon Kolstad stuck his head in the church gym door. I shouted at him to come in and he asked if some high school girls could use the other half of the court to shoot around. I told him that was ok and continued with the practice. We finished conditioning and were having a final team meeting on the base line when Jon and the girls came over. With those 5th grade girls eyes as big as... Full story
A few weeks ago I wrote about the Bundy militia takeover of a government building in Oregon. I pointed out the discrepancies between the way racial justice activists and these men have been treated by the media. Since then, 55-year-old Robert “LaVoy” Finicum has been shot by the FBI and eight others were arrested, including Ammon Bundy. It is always tragic when the FBI kills a citizen. To be clear: I am absolutely not condoning the death of anyone in this situation. Since I began writing this sporadic column, I’ve had a lot of uncom...
As a lifelong sportsman and gun owner, I’m committed to protecting law-abiding Americans’ right to keep and bear arms. And like many Montanans, I know that protecting the Second Amendment isn’t about hunting—it’s about freedom. President Obama started off the new year by unilaterally creating new barriers to purchasing a firearm. His actions are an affront to our Second Amendment rights and a gross abuse of executive power. And like so many times before, President Obama has pursued a “go-it-alone” approach on his gun control agenda. These...
9:00 a.m.: A noise wakes me up. I blearily look around my bedroom and see the noise came from my cat brushing against the wind-chime in the window when she jumped up on the dresser in front of it. Crawling out from under the warm covers I take hold of my walker, and head for the bathroom. My morning routine has begun. As I get a cup of coffee and muffin, I stop for a moment to analyze a pain in one of my legs. Do I have another spot where my cancer has erupted? Or is it just a twinge from starting to move around? 9:30 a.m.: I’ve finished my bre...
For those of you concerned over where I have been the past couple months I must explain. To put it very simply … I was abducted by aliens from the planet Liberal 3. It is a planet 47 billion light years from Earth and is populated almost entirely by females. They keep a few males around for amusement and to ensure controlled re-population. My return to Earth was made possible when they discovered I am at an age where I should just shed my huevos and grow new teeth. I was not appreciated for my charm, good looks and brain nor my ability to ...
