Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Sorted by date Results 1779 - 1803 of 2351
Every once in a while we are surprised at what happens in this journey called Life. Our day-to-day existence often becomes rather routine, but occasionally our lives receive a bit of a jolt to remind us how good life really can be. Several weeks ago a string of surprises in my life began with a visit from my 17-year-old grandson whom I’d not saw for quite a few months. Although his stay was a very short one, just several hours, it was indeed a pleasure to talk with him, give him a hug, and even a couple of little treats for him to eat on his w...
Montana’s students have one of the most important jobs in the state: showing up to school each day. Students who attend class every day are more likely to succeed academically and later on in life. These students will perform better in reading and math, they have a greater chance of graduating from high school, and they’ll be better prepared for college and a meaningful career. Still, for some students, the simple act of showing up to school each day may not be that easy. Students who miss just 18 days each year, that’s two days per month...
Dear Governor Bullock: I, David Pippin, a lifelong resident of Valley County (political subdivision of the State of Montanan), do here by protest the “HiLine Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement (PRMP/FEIS)" on foundation herein. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), contrary to the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) and the Data Quality Act (DQA) have ignored many pertinent facts, previously published in a BLM sponsored study publications, and not preformed the requirements for a document of this magnitude...
“Fire Truck Levy” To Glasgow Residents, The proposed city resolution to create a special improvement district to fund a portion of a used fire truck has raised the question of how long the levy will be in place. The intent of this levy is for the yearly payment of $25,601.28, be paid for 15 years, until the amount of $350,000.00 is paid in full. At that time the levy will cease. If this resolution is passed, property owners will be assessed .0020 per 100 square feet on their property. An example: our family home at 640 6th Ave. North has 9,1...
“What's in a Name” How did that line go? What’s in a name? A rose would smell as sweet . . . It seems MT Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) is following Shakespeare’s musings. We no longer hear about ‘wild, free-ranging’ bison. Now they are being labeled as a ‘native species’ and FWP is looking for, “somewhere in Montana where animals (bison) could be managed as a native species”. Apparently, FWP does not know the meaning of either ‘species’ or ‘native’. All plains bison in North America (federal, private and Indian Reservation herds) belong t...
“It [is] more a duty [of an Attorney General] to save an innocent than to convict a guilty man.” We know we do not live in a perfect world where only the guilty are convicted and the wrongly accused go free, but prosecutors can sometimes seem more interested in winning convictions than in remembering these words of Thomas Jefferson. Kimberly Nees was 17 years old in 1979 when she was brutally beaten to death near the town of Poplar. Barry Beach, also 17, was one of several classmates who were interviewed in her murder. No charges were bro...
While watching my granddaughter vacuum the carpeting in my house not long ago, the thought struck me that she has never known any other way to clean carpets. As child of 11 years of age, I remember the carpet in my folks’ living room. It wasn’t a wall-to-wall one because it would have been too big to handle. Every spring, Dad would take the carpet outside, drape it a across the three clotheslines then turn it over to me and my brother. We would then wield our carpet beaters, which were built something on the order of a tennis racket. The dif...
I caught crabs while in Washington. (Oh stop that!) We went out to the Straits of Juan De Fuca in a small boat that I heartily wished was a much larger boat. I didn't have a license to catch crabs. My shipmates actually caught the crabs. About a dozen or so nearly eight pounds each. And one guy reeled in a 30-pound King salmon. For those of you who have never tried salmon, the best way to fix them is to slather the inside with mayonnaise (having cleaned the fish first) and place slices of two lemons inside as well. Some sea salt and pepper...
Editor's Note: Our correspondence is growing! Beginning next week, extended commentary and columns directed at individual readers, columnists and/or staff will be included in a separate "Commentary" section reserved for discussion. "Fire Truck Clarification" I just wanted to make sure that people understood the ballot in regards to the new proposed fire truck. A “YES” vote means that you are not in favor of the assessment (you are protesting it). A “NO” vote means you are in favor of the assessment and the city can move forward in purchas...
The City of Glasgow has sent out a letter of intent to raise funds for a fire appliance asking property owners inside city limits to make an important decision in the coming weeks. The Glasgow City Council and the Glasgow Fire Department have jointly conducted a comprehensive, detailed fire protection needs assessment of our community. The results of the needs assessment indicate that the city has two unreliable and unsafe fire trucks that need to be replaced. The two trucks are a 1976 pumper...
On Aug. 19, state wildlife officials will host a public hearing in Malta to discuss and take comment on a draft environmental impact statement for bison conservation and management in Montana. This will be the fourth meeting designed exclusively for the public to express its views and opinions on the draft statewide bison EIS, prepared by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. The draft considers the possibility of bison restoration somewhere in Montana where animals could be managed as a native species. Bison are currently designated as both a...
This morning, as I was doing emergency field repairs on a piece of equipment, I was cussing myself for not having taken care of the problem when I had time instead of doing it in the middle of a field in the July heat. In short, I was guilty of not doing what wise people call “preventive maintenance,” better known to my mother as, “a stitch in time saves nine.” I soon began to look at things in the broader picture, partly because I was tired of cussing myself and partly to feel smug about other people in the same boat. Then, I began to move th...
Have You Seen ‘Tarzan?’ My children and I just spent a week in Glasgow to attend a family wedding and visit old friends. We enjoyed wonderful times on the lake and many memorable evening barbecues, some of the things that make Northeast Montana the best. Among the highlights of our stay was the Sunday performance of “Tarzan” at the Fort Peck Theatre. That is a magnificent show! I remember the Fort Peck Theatre of old, and as a long time sponsor, I have watched with interest the quality of the performances grow. The voices, the clear depth o...
On "Horace Sense" I again notice the lack of integrity by your paper in continuing to allow people who would use false names to sign their comments. Distressing! And all because some dumas can't face up to the things HE'S written. All I can say is you may be able to grow lots of wheat but you've had a complete crop failure in the humor field. -Brian Peterson McGrath, Mn....
My mother was in town for a visit this past weekend. Dozens of kindly area residents did what they could to help me entertain the materfamilias, for which I owe many thanks. Notable among these were Sheriff Glen Meier and Tanja Fransen of NWS Glasgow. Picture if you will: Your fledgling managing editor and his mama trotting down to the Fort Peck Marina with invites from both of the aforementioned Glasgow celebs, only to face a conundrum about which boat to climb aboard in search of good times on the lake. More troubling still was the fact that...
When you remember rodeos, just how far back does your mind go? I remember stories of some of the rodeos attended by our early-day cowboys. I heard tell of Valley County's rodeo taking place on the original fairground site. Apparently the first fairgrounds were located near the present day high school. I have also been told that early rodeos lacked the nice fence enclosures we have now. I remember something about cars and other vehicles being parked in a circle of sorts and that was used for the arena. Early rodeos were often held on July Fourth...
Dear Friends in Glasgow, This last Thursday, my wife and I sat on the stage on Great Falls and I was inducted into the Montana Coaches Hall of Fame. As I sat there, I thought of all the people I need to thank. I would like to thank 36 years of close friends and colleagues. Then there's all those mentors that taught me so much; and all the assistant coaches that gave me good advice and became close friends. But most of all: the hundreds of Glasgow athletes that I coached. This award was only possible through their hard work, sweat, sacrifice...
I understand freedom of speech, but must Mr. Vaupel continually focus on minority issues he truly knows nothing about? He is picking and scratching for any issue he can bring up. National Park visits, seriously? As the parent of a minority, each week, I become more disgusted with his rants. Mr. Vaupel spews such hatred, in my honest opinion. I go all the way back to his ER visit. Did he really go and ask all of the people in the waiting room where they were from? Doubtful, he was probably cowering in a corner. HATE WONT WIN! These rantings...
I know, the fair isn’t as good as it used to be. The carnival is held together with bubblegum and duct tape (or so the refrain goes around here). The vendors are dwindling. The music was better in Dodson. The rodeo wasn’t as good as the Wolf Point Stampede. The midway was middling (or maybe just ‘fair’). And it could all be seen at a brisk pace in about five minutes. At least, that’s what I heard from the folks who didn’t make it. Whether sentiments like these are true, false, or something in-between is a little bit beside the point. The...
Two very important things in my life came to an end this past weekend: swim team and Reds baseball. I must admit, I'm more than a little thankful, but only because I'm tired. My son started his baseball career with T-ball and never looked back. I don't think he could love doing anything more. I enjoyed every minute I was able to watch him play. I especially enjoyed watching him play Cal Ripken baseball at the Jeff Jurgens Field. More than that though, I have watched the best group of young men g...
Last Saturday there was a flea market in Glasgow. As I looked around at what people had brought to sell, I was struck by the thought of how creative people can be. There were several tables with handmade jewelry. One vendor had collages she had made that could be framed and put up on a wall. Each one featured pictures that had words of emotions as the theme. For instance, one dealt with hope, another with family, and so forth. They all made a person stop and think what the words meant to them. Then I got to thinking about handmade items...
I’m surprised, James, that out of the whole story, you and Ms. Honrud would nit-pick numbers as your main retort! I could have said that out of the 600 NHL players there are only 31 players listed as African-American or biracial. Let’s see now.... 600 players, 30 teams, 31 minority players equals one-plus-a-tad, player per 20 player team. That’s pretty close to “There aren’t any.” Yeah, yeah, I know. Close only counts in road apples and hand grenades as I’ve heard it. There are 47 blacks who are listed as “past players” having played in...
Virgil Vaupel's column this week will probably illicit a response from the community (for better or worse). In the interest of civility and balance, I'll take the first crack at it. But first I have to give a shout-out to a couple of National Guardsmen who came to the aid of Stan Sonsteng in his struggle with esophageal cancer this past week. Without relaying too much in the way of personal detail, I can say that among the many difficulties that Stan and his family and friends have faced recently, a batch of critical medical supplies was...
On behalf of the Laurel Dodgers American Legion Baseball Club, we wish to thank the City of Glasgow for doing a fantastic job hosting the 2015 Eastern District Baseball Tournament. The Board and Team for the Glasgow Reds had an outstanding effort organizing, preparing and running the tournament. The people and businesses in Glasgow were great with their hospitality and helpfulness. Anywhere we went in town during our five day stay, we were greeted by a community that was proud and excited to host the tournament. Thank you very much! -Brent...
This subject has been ever on my mind for 30 or so years. I just haven’t had the opportunity to voice in on the issue until now when a feller named Glenn Nelson had a story in the New York Times titled “Why Are Our Parks So White?” thus opening the discussion. He’s a thirty-something white guy living in North Carolina (or maybe South) who had a story in the NY Times about the lack of black folks visiting our national parks. He advocates “racial diversity” by luring more African-Americans to one or more of the 400 locations managed by the Nati...
