Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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Dear Editor: Does Glasgow have a parking problem? Several years ago, the City Council did away [with] most of the parking restrictions for central business district when they removed the parking meters and all the associated hassle. Generally speaking with a few minor exceptions, it has worked reasonably well. Most people have enough common courtesy not to park in front of businesses for extended periods of time. The employers and the people who work in the central business district do not park on the street. However, as of late that has...
Montana State Sen. John C. Brenden, R-District 18, wrote this letter to U.S. Rep. Steve Daines, R, and sent it to The Courier. Congressman Daines – I have been contacted by many of my Montana Senate District 18 constituents about the horrible service by the U.S. Postal Service. There basically is no service anymore. When mail takes weeks or days to go from one Montana town to another 20 miles or more away – it is ridiculous and harmful to the health and economies of Montana! And it is not the fault of the local post office workers. Ran...
Sunshine Week arrives next week, Courier readers, and it has nothing to do with the return of Daylight Savings Time. If introductions are in order, here's one: Sunshine Week is an annual nationwide effort to promote the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include news media, civic groups, libraries, schools and others interested in the public’s right to know. Maybe you. Since the American Society of Newspaper Editors launched Sunshine Week in 2005, it has been all about the right of Americans to know what t...
March 16-22 is Sunshine Week in New Mexico and nationwide. Take a moment to celebrate. Sunshine Week focuses on the importance of open government. No open government, no democracy. No transparency, no government accountability. I care about Sunshine Week both as a citizen and as a former newspaper employee/publisher for 22 years. We relied heavily upon the State of New Mexico’s strong public records and opening meeting acts to help keep public officials accountable and public bodies honest. We have many good examples of open government in o...
I am sure that many readers remember Cory’s Drug. Cory’s was brought to mind when the Roxy fire was discussed. I remember Cory’s, but missed those years that most readers remember. I understand that the gentleman who owned Cory’s (was Cory their last name?) used to make his own ice cream bars. Apparently they were delicious. Please feel free to correct me, but I think that the owner was a railroader and the confectionary part of the store was run by his wife. The ice cream bars were apparently made when he was at home, so if there was a large...
A while back our illustrious government suggested to American military and other government workers that they should give up 1% of their retirement checks so “We can balance the budget, pay off the national debt and save the nation.” I’m thinking, now where have I heard THAT before? Oh, yeah. I remember now … I’ve heard it before every national election since George Washington was selected to run the country. I’m sick to death of hearing the same rhetoric for the past 225 years and seeing absolutely nothing being done. I rely mostly on S...
My mind is a blank this week. There must be a lot of things that need to be remembered, so please share. I did have several real interesting conversations with Courier readers. One of our readers actually has an original page published by The Courier after the big downtown fire. He tells me that the fire was the 29th of November 1951, and that was on a Monday. Another reader shared a different item of interest. Apparently some of the young residents of the area had discovered that there was...
Lightning strikes. It’s a phrase that Glasgow’s Police Chief Bruce Barstad used to explain the likelihood of a stranger abducting a child. An incident reported in last week’s law enforcement page is still under investigation of a possible stranger danger incident. It is a good reminder that our children do need to be taught what to do in those incidents. The truth is that an average of 2,100 children goes missing each day. The bigger shocker in this story is that in a year’s study a total of 797,500 children were abducted, nearly 204,000...
Sen. Jon Tester released the following statement this week after the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (B.O.R.) announced Fort Peck/Dry Prairie Rural Water System and Rocky Boy’s/North Central Montana Regional Water System together will receive roughly $11 million toward completion of their water projects: “These investments will support Montana jobs and improve the quality of life for folks from Box Elder to Plentywood,” Tester said. “Increasing access to clean drinking water is critical to strengthening rural Montana, and I will keep pushing to get...
With the price of cattle up, a live calf in the fall is close to $1,000. There doesn’t appear to be buyers for the dead ones, so per head fee that is a self imposed tax for a County Cattle Petition is hard to beat for the service you get. In the last few years, with federal funding for USDA Wildlife Services declining the cattle ranchers of many counties are starting to understand the value of having a County Cattle Petition. With the money collected through the Cattle Petition, USDA, Wildlife Services is able to use helicopters they lease f...
With the departure of Senator Baucus from the Senate, Montana’s longest serving statewide elected official is Ed Smith. Never heard of him? Well, we have elected him Clerk of our Supreme Court five times. Ed served as Chief Clerk of the Montana House of Representatives three legislative sessions and was then appointed by the legendary House Speaker, Tip O’Neill, to be Chief Bill Clerk of the United States House of Representatives. He has also served as President of the National Conference of Appellate Court Clerks. His is a remarkable rec...
Do you remember the Johnnie Café? Yes, of course, most everyone remembers and misses that eating spot – a gathering and meeting spot for so many. A place you where could always run into family and friends, our rural neighbors, not just from Glasgow but from the surrounding areas. How many of you remember when you could select and play music on the juke box right from the convenience of your booth? Each booth along the wall had a device mounted just above the booth table, allowing you to se...
As I was thinking about my column for this week, I decided that there have been some things happen lately that need to be written about. So here goes. The past few weeks, I’ve attended and taken part in several fundraisers to help local residents. Each time I was amazed and overwhelmed by the generosity that was shown. Once again, I’ve witnessed how Montanans come together when there is a great need. I was reminded of the time when I was in England and asked what size of town I live in. My reply was that I don’t feel I live in a town -- I fee...
Dear Editor: I am a first-generation native Montanan and new resident of Valley County, having arrived here last August by way of Rosebud and Cascade counties after 16 years as an economic refugee in Seattle by way of Salt Lake City. Please indulge me as I attempt to address an issue of local, state and debatably national interest as briefly and clearly as possible. According to the Montana State Constitution, Article XI, Section 9, the legislature requires an election in each local government every 10 years to review its structure and submit...
At RightNow Technologies, I helped grow a small software startup into Bozeman’s largest commercial employer, creating hundreds of high-paying Montana jobs along the way. And after spending 28 years in business, I’ve come to know that there are a few principles that are essential for any small Montana business. Hard work and accountability are critical to success. To make a profit and balance a budget, you can’t spend more than you take in. And if you don’t do your job, you don’t get paid. These common sense principles are sorely missing in Wash...
Now that we have passed a holiday of love and we head into a holiday known for the four leaf clovers and green dancing leprechauns, I can't help but think of the holidays missed in Glasgow. While the folks who don't know their history, or maybe they've never stepped into a Catholic church, celebrate the holidays that have become full of mass consumerism, I always wonder do they really know what they're celebrating? I'm a true Scot. While I was not born, in what grandpa calls the homeland, I...
Living in Montana, you’re never too far from Indian Country. But I live closer than most. Right down the road from my farm in Big Sandy is the Rocky Boys Reservation, home to the Chippewa-Cree Tribe. Standing up for Indian Country is a responsibility I never take lightly. That’s why, earlier this month, I stepped forward to become the chairman of the U.S. Senate’s Indian Affairs Committee. Leading the Indian Affairs Committee will give me new opportunities to work with tribes to improve the quality of life for Montana’s – and America’s – Indian...
Once called the “Noble Experiment” and actually named the National Prohibition Act of 1919, and written not by its sponsor Andrew J. Volstead of Minnesota but by Wayne Wheeler of the Anti-Saloon League, the Volstead act went into effect on Jan. 1, 1920, much to the dismay of about 80% of the general population. To this day it has been the only amendment to be repealed. Woodrow Wilson vetoed the act but was overridden by Congress the same day, Oct. 28, 1919, and Prohibition began January 1920. There were some “provisions” to this act that ar...
A recent picture in The Courier featured the fire at the Roxy Theatre. How many of you remember that fire? It consumed a good portion of Glasgow businesses on 2nd Avenue South, as well as the north side of 5th Street. I vaguely remember lots of smoke and fire hoses running down and across streets that were filled with lots of runoff water. What could I have been doing there? Does anyone remember what day of the week that happened? I think that every available male helped with the firefighting efforts. Not only the Roxy was doomed. Other busines...
The book "Relentless Goodbye" by Ginnie Horst Burkholder is an extremely well-written, care-giving memoir that would be great reading for professionals, current caregivers in a home or facility setting, as well as friends of a caregiver. Ginnie generously shares her life, thoughts, and emotions as a caregiver for her husband, Nelson, as they journey together through his illness with Lewy body dementia. This form of dementia has symptoms similar to alzheimer's, plus kinetic symptoms like...
Here's a sampling of releases to The Courier on the appointment of former Lt. Gov. John Walsh to replace Max Baucus, the new ambassador to China, in the U.S. Senate. Sen. John Walsh Friend – I’ve answered many calls in my life and today I proudly answer one more. In 2004, I was asked to lead more than 700 of Montana’s finest men and women into combat in Iraq as the Commander of the 1-163rd Infantry Battalion. It was a tremendous responsibility. It took incredible courage for those men and women to do what our nation asked of them. They put s...
According to the folks who are in the know about things like this, they say that it is getting tougher and harder to land a good job after graduating college. The big question is why? Of course we can't all be an extremely intelligent, witty, articulate and handsome columnist writers can we? Having done a good deal of traveling around this country, I think I have discovered some of the problems young folks encounter when applying for a job. Here's one basic stumbling block. Unless you are applying for work at your local tattoo parlor and...
Dear Editor, On Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, the Ronan Speech and Debate Team had the honor of competing at the State B/C Speech, Drama and Debate Tournament hosted by Glasgow High School. We were repeatedly impressed by the hospitality shown to us by the staff and volunteers at the Glasgow schools and throughout the community of Glasgow. We were greeted warmly at each business we visited. The coaches, volunteers and judges at the tournament were spoiled with delicious treats from the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture and other volunteers. John...
Recent news reports have included the major snow in the Eastern states and the hardship some children had to endure by spending the night at school, sleeping on hard floors. I think there are a couple of gentlemen in our area that may have a hard time sympathizing with those kids. One of the aforementioned gentlemen told me of a time in the ‘30s (maybe about 1936) when two Glasgow buses were unable to make the routes home, leaving these kids stranded at the high school. (Many of you will remember it as the old junior high building.) This was n...
Kevin O'Brien, Gov. Bullock's deputy chief of staff, sent out this biography of new Lt. Gov. Angela McLean. Angela McLean, a native of Twin Bridges and an Anaconda resident, became Montana’s 31st Lieutenant Governor in February, 2014 when she was appointed by Governor Steve Bullock. McLean, an educator and classroom teacher, taught American History and Government at Anaconda High School prior to being tapped to serve as Lieutenant Governor. In 2003, McLean was named “Best High School Teacher” by the Montana Standard. She also served as the C...
