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Independently owned since 1905
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Local churches have been busy this month gathering supplies, toys and necessities to be sent to children around the world through Operation Christmas Child. In 1993, when the organization Samaritan's Purse started Operation Christmas Child, about 28,000 shoeboxes were packed and mailed. This year, more than 198 million boxes worldwide will be shipped. Members of Community Congregational Church in Thompson Falls spent a Sunday afternoon earlier this month packing shoeboxes full of school supplies...
Sanders County voters headed to the polls on Tuesday for the 2022 General Election. Voters cast ballots for multiple local and state positions and issues. As of 11 p.m. Tuesday, election officials were still working to count ballots. Nichol Scribner, Sanders County Clerk and Recorder, expressed that counting was taking so long Tuesday due to the number of ballots that included write-in candidates. Scribner also said late Tuesday that there were more absentee ballots cast in this month’s General Election than total ballots (absentee and p...
A local title company is operating under a new name. Title Financial Corporation (TFC) has announced that its subsidiaries, including First American Title Company in Thompson Falls, are now Flying S Title & Escrow (FSTE). As an independent agent for 40 years, their First American Title Company subsidiary in Thompson Falls has been confused with direct operations based in Santa Ana, California. TFC hopes this rebrand will set them apart and better represent its company and culture. Beginning in...
The Thompson Falls volleyball team is headed to the state tournament for the third year in a row. The Blue Hawks repeated as divisional champions last weekend, but it wasn't easy getting to the top of the podium. The Hawks had to fight back and beat conference rival Bigfork twice to take the top seed heading into this week's state tournament. "They knew what they had to do to get to state," Coach Sandra Kazmierczak said, "and they got it done. It was a great team effort. Every player had to...
The Sanders County Elections staff is busy preparing for Election Day, which is now less than a week away. Election administrator McKenna Wallace reported that as of Tuesday morning, 2,549 absentee ballots had been accepted by the office, nearly 40% of the 6,606 that were mailed. Sanders County had 10,027 registered voters as of Tuesday. Wallace said that voters can check their absentee status at the state’s My Voter Page online, https://app.mt.gov/voterinfo. If a voter is set to vote absentee but has not received a ballot in the mail, W...
The effort by Blackfoot Communications to connect homes from Trout Creek to Plains to high-speed Internet and telephone service continues for Blackfoot Communications. JB Ray, Network Infrastructure Manager for Blackfoot, said crews will continue to work on connecting homes in the Thompson Falls area as long as weather allows this year, and will pick back up in the spring. Connections in Plains will begin in the spring, as contractors are continuing to work on laying fiber lines from the main line to homes. In both areas, the rocky ground has...
Tuesday is Election Day. We get to go to the polls and submit our choices for elected officials and initiatives. We get to choose, as a county, who our leaders will be. We get to choose, as a group, whether or not we will collect a county tax on marijuana sales. The common theme here is that we have a choice. I have had people tell me in the past that they don't vote because their one vote doesn't matter. If you looked at the numbers following the primary election in June you realized that yes, every vote matters. I'm thankful that we have a...
Thompson Falls hosted the District 7B volleyball tournament last weekend. It was an intense roller coaster ride for the Blue Hawks, who hoisted the second-place trophy when it was all said and done. After a bye in the first round, Thompson Falls played Eureka on Friday afternoon, winning in three straight sets, 25-17, 25-7 and 25-23, and securing a trip to the Western B Divisional tournament, which will be played this Thursday through Saturday at Florence-Carlton High School. The Hawk seniors...
When a season ends, it’s easy to look back and think about the coulda, woulda and shouldas. But for Coach Lucas MacArthur and the Noxon Red Devil football team, a playoff loss only has them looking forward to next football season. “These guys didn’t want to lose that game, but they are motivated to be better and move on looking forward to next year,” MacArthur said this week. The Red Devil season came to an end in the first round of the 6-man playoffs with a 52-8 loss at Valier. MacArthur said the Noxon defense was playing solid at the beginni...
Click "View PDF" above to see results by race A record number of ballots were cast in Sanders County this week for the 2022 General Election. Voters cast ballots for multiple local and state positions and issues. As of Tuesday at 5 p.m., there were more than 10,050 registered voters in the county, with several people lined up outside the county elections office still registering to vote. Sanders County Clerk & Recorder Nichol Scribner said late Tuesday that the number of absentee ballots alone...
An Avista facility near Thompson Falls is being touted as a success in helping grow local bull trout populations. Avista has been capturing and tracking bull trout at the mouth of Graves Creek since 2002 using weir traps. In 20 years of improving the process to capture more fish, company representatives have also seen an increase in bull trout population. "It's nice to see that it's working and succeeding," Sanders County Commissioner Claude Burlingame said during a tour of the Graves Creek perm...
General hunting season is underway in Montana, and cooler weather greeted hunters in the northwest corner of the state. More than 1,700 hunters appeared at regional game check stations on Saturday and Sunday with mixed results. The overall number of hunters with harvested white-tailed deer and mule deer was slightly up while the number of elk was down compared to last year. The check station along U.S. Highway 93 near Olney saw the highest percentage of hunters with harvested game at 21...
Last week's Question of the Week in The Ledger was "who is your role model?" A young man named Nathan Stevens answered, "Superman." It made me chuckle, but it also made me think of a recent conversation about the wonder and innocence of the minds of children. This conversation I had recently centered around art. When you are young, it's just fun to be creative and make artwork. It doesn't matter what it looks like, everyone loves it and is proud of you. You experiment with all types of media and learning composition, but mostly you are just...
There are many bowlers in Sanders County who have accomplished amazing feats. Some have won state or national championships. Some have had his or her name on a plaque on the wall. But for Rita Harper of Thompson Falls, her amazing feat was when she started bowling. Harper had never bowled on a league until she moved to Thompson Falls in 2005. That year, she ended up as the Thompson Falls Rookie of the Year. She was 73 years old, the oldest rookie in Thompson Falls bowling history. Last week...
The Hot Springs football team is going into the playoffs with another win under their belts. The Savage Heat welcomed West Yellowstone for the last game of the regular season on Saturday, beating the Wolverines 65-22. It was the highest scoring output this season for Hot Springs, with 10 touchdowns, and quarterback Nick McAllister reached the 1,000-yard mark for passing. "We had a lot of people sick this week but we were able to pull it together," senior Garth Parker said after the game. "We wer...
The Noxon Red Devils were on the road Friday for their last game of the regular season, but the long road trip to Twin Bridges didn’t stop them from adding another win to their record. The Red Devils came home with a 54-14 victory over the Falcons. “It went really well,” Noxon Coach Lucas MacArthur said. “Twin Bridges has been getting better as the season has progressed.” The only scores allowed by the Noxon defense last Friday were in the second quarter. MacArthur said his defense was playing back rather than reacting to plays, but they quickl...
In one of the highest scoring games of the season for both teams, Plains fell in their final contest of the season at home Wednesday, 82-38, to the Darby Tigers. In the first moments of the game, Plains fumbled the kickoff return but then the Tigers also fumbled and Horseman Nicholas Hill picked up the ball and ran it back for a touchdown. Senior Mason Elliott followed it up with the conversion and Plains held the lead. Minutes later, however, Darby came back and tied the game. The Horsemen...
The Thompson Falls Blue Hawks have had a successful volleyball season, but there’s one opponent who has managed to elude them all season, the Bigfork Valkyries. After falling to Bigfork in four sets at Thompson Falls earlier this season, the Hawks were looking for redemption as they traveled to the Flathead on Saturday for a rematch. Bigfork is undefeated this season and the Hawks were anxious to hand the Valkyries their first loss. Their valiant effort wasn’t enough, however, as the Hawks fell in three sets, 25-23, 25-23, 25-9. In the first se...
by Annie Wooden The Noxon Red Devils played their last home game of the season last Thursday, dominating Two Eagle River in three sets, 25-7, 25-16, 25-11. It was a night of celebration for Noxon as they recognized Breast Cancer Awareness Month in their pink jerseys and honored Aubrey Erwin and Emily Brown for senior night. In the first set of the evening, Brown served nine points in a row before Two Eagle River got a side out. The Red Devils made it through a full rotation before Brown served u...
Cultures collided at the Clark Fork Valley Elks Lodge on Saturday as the second annual Spaghetti Western Fundraiser was held to raise funds for The Rex Theater in Thompson Falls. More than 100 people enjoyed a spaghetti dinner as they bid on silent and live auction items, tried their luck at raffles and a 50/50 drawing, and listened to the musical stylings of the Western Sky Band of Thompson Falls. The event raised about $14,000 for the local theater. The evening featured a variety of...
This weekend we were sharing first hunt stories. My first year of hunting, my dad was so excited that he bought me an Elmer Fudd-looking orange hat complete with the fuzzy ear flaps. I wore that thing every day we went out because he was so proud of it. When I shot my first deer, it was the same. My dad and our friend Dave Helterline were with me when I shot a buck that first year. I was excited, but my dad was beaming with pride and Dave was elated to be along for the first one. It was a little guy, but I was proud of myself too. That was a...
The town of Thompson Falls will be filled with fall festivities next weekend as the Thompson Falls Chamber of Commerce holds its Fall Festival and the Community Trails Committee presents the annual Trick or Treat, Move Your Feet fun run. Both events will be Saturday, October 29. The Fall Festival will be 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday at Ainsworth Park. The event will feature more than a dozen arts, crafts and food vendors, as well as activities for kids. A costume parade around the walking path at the park will begin at 1 p.m. The Trick or Treat,...
The Thompson Falls cross country team felt the energy of the home crowd and put forth an impressive performance last week as they hosted the Western B/C Invitational at River's Bend Golf Course on Wednesday. The Blue Hawk girls won first place as a team, and Baxter sisters Ellie and Aubrey went one in two individually as senior Ellie was the first to cross the finish line in 21 minutes, 41 seconds and eighth-grade sister Aubrey finished second in 22:06. Faith Palmer also finished in the top 5,...
Thompson Falls hosted the Plains Trotters last Tuesday, winning in three straight sets, 25-8, 25-16, 25-13. Senior Natalie Roberts led the charge against the Trotters, serving up seven aces for the Hawks and smashing 12 kills. Avery Burgess led the team in set assists with 17, Cheyla Irvine had eight digs and Ellie Baxter led the team in blocks with three. The Hawks then traveled to Mission on Thursday, bringing home another three-set win, 25-14, 25-17, 25-13. Burgess led against the Bulldogs wi...
The Hot Springs Savage Heat football team had a bit of a slow start this season, losing their first two games on the road. Since then, however, it’s been nothing but Ws for the team. Last weekend, they extended their win streak to five as they got a win on the road over Lima, 63-12. The win most likely puts Hot Springs at the top of the Western C conference, ensuring that they will host their first playoff game. In their last five games, Hot Springs has outscored their opponents 241 - 62. The closest game has been against Noxon, a contest w...
