Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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So far, this year has presented a lot of challenges. It really is true you never know what to expect. Some of the bumps in my journey have been fair-sized, others have been on the small side. I am still waging my battle with cancer by remaining on chemotherapy. Before too long I’ll know if I’ll continue using the current medicine or change to a different one. Presently I am sporting hair! I can see it’s white and there are even some curls. Hopefully, if it becomes necessary to change to a different medicine, I won’t lose my newly gained...
In a recent phone conversation with my mom, Helen DePuydt, we managed to end up talking about mice. It is funny how conversations will meander into different topics ending on one that becomes lasting memory. My mom told me about a recent infestation of mice in her house, which isn’t surprising as the house she currently lives in was built in 1965 and is surrounded by crop fields. My mom said, “That reminds me. In the first 12 years we lived in our old house, there wasn’t one mouse. Then one summer, however, mice started to take up residence in...
Dear People of the Great State of Montana, 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. Most of the information I get will be from books and websites. However, the best information comes from the people who live in and love their state! This is why I am writing to you. I was hoping that you would be willing to...
Dear Editor, This was a busy week in the legislature. Both the House and Senate acted on large pieces of legislation. As we move toward the end of the 66th legislature, the budget is moving along. I sit on the Senate Finance and Claims Committee where we met one day for eight hours to review House Bill 2 – the largest part of the budget. There were great hearings on different sections of the bill. As I have always done, I am working hard with my colleagues to keep the Governor's tax increase w...
Dear Editor, Last summer, I met a woman in Lewistown who told me she made too much money to qualify for Head Start but couldn't afford to have her son in the kind of quality program that would give him a great start. I met parents in Wibaux who had to drive 30 miles away to take their kids to the closest childcare provider. It was because of the pilot preschool program Republicans and Democrats funded in the 2017 Montana Legislative Session that allowed that mom in Lewistown to stay in the...
Dear Editor, One of the most important issues that we will tackle this session is protecting the health care coverage of more than 96,000 Montanans. Last week, the House Human Services Committee voted to advance HB 658 to continue Montana's successful Medicaid expansion program. Over the course of the session, House Democrats have highlighted the critical need for Medicaid expansion-for enrollees, rural hospitals, and the over 18,000 businesses that employ workers who receive coverage....
Mary Ellen, our number nine child, who had just arrived home from school, strolled through our farm house with an anxious look on her pretty face. She blurted out, “Mom WHEN are you and Dad EVER going to get married?” I went into a state of shock....right there in our living room! “Honey....Dad and I have been married for 30 years!” I was very puzzled....It turned out that Mary Ellen thought that a couple were married only if the bride wore a lovely white gown. Louie and I had an informal wedding, very common in that era. My expensive pink su...
The Montana legislature has at hand the future of Medicaid expansion. The current program, which was approved by the legislature in 2015, will sunset by the end of 2019. An attempt was made in 2018 to fund the state's share of expanded Medicaid funding through an increase in the tobacco tax by way of a ballot initiative. That initiative was narrowly defeated. The legislature has before it for consideration HB 658, sponsored by Republican representative Ed Buttery, which would lift the sunset...
Dear Editor, The 2015 Montana legislature passed the Medicaid Expansion program in Montana, providing healthcare coverage to low income and disabled individuals. Importantly this act included work/training programs, premiums, as well as a four- year expiration "sunset" date to allow the legislature to review the data and consider whether to leave the program unchanged, make reforms or discontinue it. Initially the Federal government paid for 100 percent of the program, tapering down to 90...
Dear Editor, Traditional Medicaid was created to lend a hand to our most vulnerable populations. Unfortunately, the Governor, Democrat legislators, and more than a few Republican legislators are trying to prop up an entitlement program for the able-bodied, Medicaid Expansion. Expansion is the brain-child of the Obama Administration and the gateway to a socialist and broken single-payer healthcare system like Canada's. Socialism is a repeatedly failed ideology (Venezuela), and destroys the...
Dear Editor, An Amendment attached to House Bill 2 (the State's budget bill) provides the Legislature the opportunity to reduce local government revenues and divert them to the Office of Public Defender (OPD). OPD is a state agency that has nearly doubled in size since the Legislature assumed the program from Montana counties. The Legislative Fiscal Division (LFD) reports that the public defender system appropriations in 2007 were $18.6 million. The budget request, including supplemental...
Dear Editor, This spring marks the 10-year anniversary of Healthy Montana Kids. Until 2009, tens of thousands of Montana children had no health coverage; no way for their families to pay for a doctor visit or a hospital stay. Thousands of Montana families, working to make ends meet, were one childhood medical emergency away from bankruptcy--praying every day that their son or daughter would not get sick. I met hundreds of these families face to face and saw first-hand their stress, their...
Dear Editor, Infrastructure is a conversation that is happening on the national, state and local level. When we talk about our state's infrastructure in the Montana Legislature, it usually means big money and big problems. During the last three legislative sessions, the Montana Legislature has failed to pass a comprehensive infrastructure bill that includes funding for critical projects in every corner of our state. It's not because projects being proposed are not important, or that the...
This week marked the first full week of committee hearings after the transmittal break. For the remainder of the legislative session the brunt of our work will focus on making sure bills we support continue to make it through the process. The exception to this rule is any bill which is considered a revenue bill. Any legislation with money attached to it has a later transmittal deadline of approximately April 1. While the volume of new bills certainly decreases after the initial transmittal deadline, we are keeping our eyes peeled for anything n...
The wolf shot near Glasgow was not officially acting like a wild wolf. FWP says that being near buildings, livestock, or domestic dogs is behavior more typical of a habituated or food conditioned animal, a released captive wolf, or a wolf-dog hybrid. In fact, I’ve heard they took DNA from the Valley County wolf to make sure it wasn’t a hybrid. Here is a true tale of wolf-dog hybrids. A rural community vet clinic doesn’t miss many local happenings. We immediately heard about it when an out-of-towner showed up and gave away a litter of beaut...
I was doing a little early Spring housekeeping over the weekend, which resulted in digging through some things forgotten. Do you remember when most homemakers treasured and displayed handiwork done by themselves or others? I remember almost every living room in homes of earlier days, displaying so many hand-crocheted items. The one thought that came to mind were the doilies always found on the back and arms of the living room couch. Those of us that do remember immediately know what they were if we are to see a set today. These were usually a m...
Dear Editor, Mr. Justin Schaaf is shooting before he knows the target. Your Letter to the Editor in the Courier [Feb. 27, 2019 edition] is off target. SB 174 was heard in Senate Fish and Game committee. I was in another committee the day exec. action was taken on SB 174. Yes my proxy was voted as a yes. However this was a mistake as my proxy was registered as a no on 174. On the floor of the Senate, I voted no on [the] second and third reading of this bill. SB 174, the crossbow bill, died on...
Dear Editor, It's helpful to be at the same line of work long enough to be able to be proven wrong. I've been working with NAMI Montana to improve Montana's mental illness treatment system for the past 10 years. We've been really active on the local, state and national levels. That amount of work has brought plenty of opportunities to be wrong and we haven't been able to avoid them all. One of the biggest times that I was wrong was on Medicaid Expansion during the 2015 legislative session. NAMI...
Dear Editor, While we cannot control the weather, it has been harsh here in Northeast Montana, you have selected me to be your Senator for SD 17. It is my responsibility as your Senator to help manage our State government with knowledge and respect with "Progress from Conservative Common Sense". Your 66th Legislature is on transmittal break, the halfway point of a 90-day session. One part of the legislative process is to debate and revise present law while repealing laws or passing new...
Dear Editor, As chairman of House Human Services committee, I realize that there is a need for a good system of protection for our children in Montana. As many news sources opine, and as we know, there are children that need to be removed from their homes, at least for a time and sometimes permanently. We also know that due process is not being met at times for some families. Montana has an opioid and methamphetamine problem. The statistics are roughly the same for the surrounding states: North...
Do you remember a time before Amazon? I personally try to do my shopping at home, but sometimes we just think we need something we cannot find in our small community. With the media and politicians making noise about Amazon and others, it brought to mind that we have always shopped “out of town.” I remember as a child sitting at the kitchen table paging through the catalogs. The Alden’s catalog comes to mind. Why Alden’s when we lived within 60 miles of a Sears and Montgomery Wards, I have no clue. I am sure that catalog shopping was for the...
Time. We talk about a long time, a short time. What is a long time? A month? A year? Fifty years? A short-time could be a week, two weeks, a month. Time is dependent upon the situation we are in, what we are waiting on, plans for a vacation, attending a family reunion, or a wedding. My husband and I celebrated our Golden Wedding anniversary in October of last year. It was difficult to believe we had been married 50 years. But looking at our five children, their spouses and our grandchildren, it was easy to see where 50 years had gone. Seeing...
Dear Editor, "To Serve and Protect" was – at one time- an extremely high standard the City Council proudly required from the Glasgow City Police. Unfortunately, this is not the impression I got from the March 4 City Council meeting I wanted Ordinance 18-81 – pertaining to overtime parking – to be amended, so I attended the meeting to find out what steps a citizen could take to amend a city ordinance....for instance, gather signatures and present a petition, etc. Here is the issue. One or more...
Dear Editor, Highway Fatality Markers stand beside the road in the location of a fatality, they are not a memorial marker. They are placed [and] maintained by members of the American Legion. The purpose of the marker is to remind motorists that driving can be dangerous. People need to be aware of their surroundings, make sure they are driving cautiously and maintaining safe speeds. According to www.mtlegion.org, the program was started in 1952 with an agreement with the Department of...
Dear Editor, Our names are Jo-Ann Batulan and Veronica Caparas, and on Tuesday, Feb. 12, there was a fire that destroyed our apartment on 6th Ave N in Glasgow. We greatly appreciate the quick actions by the first responders. The support from this community has been overwhelming, something we have never experienced in our homeland of the Philippines. The donations and well-wishes have helped us to recover, start over, and begin to heal. We are so grateful to God for this community, the school...
