Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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The Courier was flooded with news releases Tuesday after the Senate passed the so-elusive Farm Bill, 68-32, that President Obama was expected to sign into reality. Here's a sampling. Montana Grain Growers Association The Montana Grain Growers Association is pleased with Congressional approval of the Agricultural Act of 2014. MGGA President Matt Flikkema said, “It’s taken several years of hard work to get to this point and we’re happy to finally have a five-year farm bill within reach.” “Throughout this process, our growers have told us their... Full story
Spy Drones over Phillips and Valley Counties? You heard it right right here on this station folks – the good ol’ 1.5 watt blow torch of the prairie, KBULL, 0.006 on your radio dial. Peter Geddes, managing director of the American Prairie Reserve (APR), told a group of aspiring lawyers at the University of Utah school of law tht the APR is building America’s first 21st Century Park in an Era of Government Retrenchment. I say, “What?” In his speech, Geddes made the implication that the APR already controls an area “1.5 times the size of Yellowst...
Ahhhh, heat! Warm rooms. No need to have a blanket over my legs anymore when I’m sitting in my recliner. Not since Monday, when the new furnace we ordered was finally installed and turned on. The old wall furnace – I’m guessing its age at between 50 and 60 years – plus the wall furnace in the bedroom and the wall furnace in the room where the washer, dryer, refrigerator, and deep freezer are now completely retired. I turned up the thermostat on the bedroom furnace one bitterly cold night. No sooner had I returned to my cozy bed than I heard a...
Do you feel that you have read all the books by your favorite author that are available at the Glasgow library? Well, maybe you have, but maybe there are more than first meets the eye. Many of our popular authors can be found in several areas of the library. We have James Patterson, Lee Child, Debbie Macomber, Janet Evanovich and other popular authors in hardback, paperback, large print and on CD. Still not sure if you have found them all? You can check our card catalog available from our website at www.glasgowlibrary.org or at the card...
I guess it is inevitable that we are going to lose our small town of Opheim in the near future. I was born in Opheim and have lived here most of my life and I am not in favor of losing what we have. As our school grew smaller, due to people moving away after putting their farmland into the CRP program, or people moving away so their children could be in sports, (although I haven’t seen many move on to the college or professional sports levels), and people home schooling their children, it won’t be long until we don’t have a school in Ophei... Full story
I’m the only, and oldest, male sibling in a family that consists of one full sister and four half-sisters, which poses the question right off: Do four halves make two full? They are, in order of birth, my sister the teacher, my sister the bookkeeper, my sister the hippie/chef, my sister the nurse and my sister the jockey. Today we will deal with my sister the hippie/chef, whom I will call Tia. Those of you who know her do and those who don’t don’t. To show you her somewhat questionable degree of mental acuity, I’ll relate these true stories. In...
Last week I saw a picture of high school students sitting at desks and using manual typewriters. The caption on the picture was “Respect your parents. They made it through high school without Google and Wikipedia.” As I looked at the picture, I thought back to when I was in high school. My high school business class received its first electric typewriter in 1959. Since there was only one machine, the teacher made out a schedule so every student had adequate time to learn how to use it. Our teacher told the class, “You are all going to have...
Those couple of windy springlike days that we had made our creek run and spread a lot of water over the hay meadow, which is now a sheet of ice. Made me think of all of the impromptu ice skating parties we had. Do you remember 4-H groups or just individuals getting together for a day of outside recreation and camaraderie? A lot of us kids had the luxury of frozen creeks or springs. You may have gotten to walk a mile or so, but that was common. You could skate one way for maybe a mile before turning around. The organized skating parties usually...
The past few days I have been besieged by phone calls on the price increase of propane. This past weekend this increase has been on the national news as well. There are many reasons for this terrible price hike and I am sure you have heard them all. But this cannot continue. I would urge you to call the governor’s office and our congressional delegation (see contact information below) to put pressure on the powers that be to roll back this intolerable increase. Is there price gouging going on? I do not know, but one could sure jump to that c...
On January 8th and 9th the state EQC (Environmental Quality Council) had its meeting in Helena. I currently am the chairman. The EQC has oversight on FWP (Fish Wildlife & Parks), DNRC (Department of Natural Resources) and DEQ (Dept. of Environmental Quality). There are several important issues that affec us Montanans, especially in north central and northeastern Montana, that the EQC has on its table. The EQC is a bipartisan committee made up of eight Republicans and eight Democrats. The Sage Grouse right now is the latest problem chid. The... Full story
Will the growing dysfunction of America’s two-party political system destroy our collective future? Can we meet the evolving challenges of today’s economic and social landscape with a system that resembles trench warfare? We begin the 2014 election season bitterly divided by party ideology, while frustrated with government’s failure to develop practical solutions for today’s challenges. As Albert Einstein said, “You cannot solve today’s problems with the same kind of thinking that created them.” The big parties are the status quo. The stat...
I read in “Yesterday’s Courier Memories” that paid “bounty” hunters in Valley County killed 228 coyotes 79 years ago, as well as a bobcat or two. I remember seeing a couple of bobcats in our area (not 79 years ago, but almost), but I doubt very many area citizens have seen one. Then there were actual rabbit drives. There were so many rabbits causing damage that drives were organized, driving the rabbits to an area like a river bend, and then they were “thinned out.” I am sure that we have residents who can recall those events. I doubt that sk...
A couple of weeks ago I was bitten by some bugs – rearrange the furniture bug, clear out the closet bug, get organized bug. So I sat down, made a list of what I wanted to do and materials needed and set to work. I got some empty boxes and started in, sorting through my clothes. It wasn’t long before I had several boxes filled with clothing, that while in good shape, I no longer wanted. As I neared the end of the project, I spotted a plastic container filled with pictures. Since I’d been at the sorting for quite a while, I decided to take a brea...
What do companies like Archer Daniels Midland, lumber giant Boise Cascade, major pharmaceuticals like Pfizer and Eli Lily, John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance, Monsanto, ConAgra, Caterpillar, and R.J. Reynolds have in common, you ask? Well, here’s what. They are all in the corporate welfare feeding trough chewing up billions of taxpayer dollars with little or no transparency. Being as Archer Daniels Midland, also known as ADM Super Market to the World, is one of the big hogs at the trough, I’ll focus on them first. The following comes from an...
My 9.7 readers might recall the experience I suffered through with my Crown Vic in Mickey D’s drive-thru when I “Virgil-ized” the shifter handle. Stay tuned for another thrilling chapter after these words from the Thoeny Yacht Club and Tonsorial Parlor ... I’m just blessed to be one of those fellers who isn’t blessed with an over-abundance of luck. If you have something that is on the verge of breaking but has held on for months, I can lay hands on it and immediately it will break. On a Saturday not so long ago, I Virgilized the Crown Vic... Full story
How well do we really know our neighbors? Or anyone outside the bounds of our own families, for that matter? I’ve been mulling the question on the occasion of the death of Bill Aitken, an institution in my particular neighborhood. He was such an icon around here that county roads, river points, and whole landscapes are named after his family. I knew Bill a little, mainly because I bought some of his family’s land. This is the nature of rural neighbors everywhere: we all know one another. A little. But that’s also the point of my inquiry: the v... Full story
If there’s one thing I’ve never lacked in, it has been curiosity. As a 16-year old I skipped school to lobby at the Boise State Capital building. We spoke to state legislatures on students’ rights in education. Again I lobbied at the age of 25 in Olympia to the Washington State legislature on funding cuts in higher education. I was representing a program called TRIO, a program geared towards disadvantaged and first generation college students. The point is, I’ve always been an advocate for citizen involvement in government. It’s more than just...
On a recent Saturday night, I discovered the main drain in our house was busted. There was water all over the basement floor. We tried that night and all the next day to fix it, with no luck. Not only was it busted, it was plugged. Next step – call a plumber. Monday morning the plumber I called said they would get to us as soon as possible, but they had a lot of calls from people whose furnaces had quit working so it would be at least a day or two before they could take care of the drain. I said I understood – having heat when the tem...
I hope that we will not have too many more extremely cold days. Early day travel during cold weather must have been lots of fun, even in the early days of the automobile. Heaters in vehicles were a luxury, and far from efficient. I think that almost everyone in this area had a sheepskin coat, gloves and caps. I have listened to stories about foot stones used to keep your feet warm. Some of these were about an inch thick and 6-8 inches in length and width. I think that they were slate or some similar type of stone. My husband thinks that they...
Another hunting season is behind us. Once again, our family handed out materials detailing some of the political challenges facing citizens of Valley and Phillips counties. The ongoing threat of unfenced, state-owned bison figured prominently. Some of you will recall that one of our hunters last year took one look at our brochures and pamphlets, and then dug out his wallet to finance the next round of printing. Responses were similar this year. One set of hunters insisted that Jason and I accept a generous stipend to attend the Fish Wildlife... Full story
A new year has arrived. 2014. Wow! I remember as a child wondering if I’d still be alive in the year 2000, and what would life be like then if I was. I think I was all of 10 at the time. To think of living to the age of 60 or 70 or 80 is hard for a child to comprehend. At the time I thought anyone who was 21 was old. But once I reached the age of 21, no age looked old. Of course there’s always talk of making New Year’s resolutions. There’s the standard ones – lose weight, becoming more physically fit, save more money, get more organized. Some m...
Gov. Bullock has taken on a tough task: developing a Greater Sage Grouse habitat policy that won’t harm Montana’s economy. His plan must be in place before the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decides in 2015 if the bird should be listed as Threatened or Endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. All parties agree that an ESA listing would be a disaster for Montana. The impacted land area is huge, mostly in central and eastern Montana where ranching, farming, oil, gas, hunting and mining activities are prevalent. A Task Force of sta...
I remember a phrase we had to type over and over in Mr. Shaw’s typing class. “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party.” Remember that one? If you are under 50 years old you most likely don’t, but anyway ... That line should read “come to the aid of their “country,” but it seems you folks who are hired/elected to run this country (at a paltry $174,000 per year) have deserted us in favor of overseas interests. I just received a whopping 1.5% increase in my Social Security, which puts me way up into the under $8,000...
I thought I’d better get this off my chest while I still have a chest to get it off of. (Off of which to get it? … From which to get it off? … Forget it, I am what I am.) See, here’s what happened over Christmas. I was sitting in my recliner, reclining watching football when I had an attack of “heartburn” or acid reflux as those in the know at the FMDH call it. I suppose I could blame it all on the two cartons of chocolate milk balls I had consumed, along with the sardine-avocado-pineapple-tofu sandwiches I had munched on earlier. I grabbed for... Full story
As more home businesses are becoming part of today’s culture and Glasgow is shifting into a time of change, the city has looked to add a growth policy. The decision was made to go ahead with the policy through the firm DJ&A. Recently, the company asked Glasgow for an additional $3,000 for their work on the growth policy and they were denied it as the city signed a contract to pay a set amount. The growth policy was needed to help make changes to local zoning ordinances. Those ordinances have become outdated with the new changes, and some t...
