Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
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Plains and Thompson Falls grapplers had their first competition last weekend at the Owen Invitational in Polson. More than 370 wrestlers, including nearly 100 girls, from 18 teams took to the mats Friday and Saturday at the Linderman School gymnasium, including eight from the Plains-Hot Springs Savage Horsemen team and 13 from the Thompson Falls Blue Hawks. The Savage Horsemen tied with Polson for ninth place with 81 points. Superior and Eureka were the two Class B teams that beat Plains-Hot...
Cast members of the Paradise Players rehearse "The Charitable Sisterhood Christmas Spectacular" at the Paradise Center. The play is centered around finding the stolen baby Jesus from the Nativity scene at the church. The play is scheduled for Dec. 8 and 9 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at the First Security Banks in Plains and Thompson Falls, and Garden Gift & Floral in Plains. Cast members from the left: Donna Scheiter as Lucille Orton, Bonnie Firestone as Tina Yates,...
Nearly two dozen military veterans will be getting a taste of home, thanks to a group of VFW Auxiliary members. Six women and one man gathered at VFW Post 3596 at Plains last Monday to prepare care packages as part of the "Goody Boxes For Service Personnel" program, which include nearly 100 items from chap sticks to camouflage NAPA Auto Parts caps. It took the group about two hours to get the packages ready for the post office. Twenty men and women from the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine...
Cancer Network of Sanders County had a successful event with its annual Lantern Launch at downtown Plains for the first time. Shelley Bertrand, president of the nonprofit organization, felt it was a good move to have the event on the greenway along Railroad Street instead of the fairgrounds because it would be more accessible and it was in conjunction with the Plains Lions Club, which held its event next to the launch. The event was normally held at the Sanders County fairgrounds, but Bertrand...
The Sanders County Fair Commission selected a new fair manager at a special board meeting at the pavilion last Monday. "They all had some good qualities and strengths and weaknesses, and after interviewing all five and reviewing everything we came up with our best applicant, Kristy Sheehan," said Randy Woods, the board chairman. Hiring a new manager was the only item on the agenda. Board member Brian Crain made the motion to hire Sheehan for the position. It was quickly seconded by board member...
It was still November, but Santa Claus made an early stop in Plains and he even stuck around to help the Plains Lions Club with its annual tree lighting. Santa might have been the star of the show Saturday evening in downtown Plains, but he wasn't the only attraction. Several businesses joined in on the annual "Kickoff to Christmas" celebration throughout the day with special sales, treats, contests, and at Plains Drug Store, the Grinch. Eli Rinker donned the Grinch outfit for the second time....
ONE AT A TIME – A wild turkey takes crabapples from nearly bare branches one at a time. Even when she drops one, the turkeys on the ground scramble for the bite size treats....
A Plains teenager was selected as the 2023 Montana Youth Female Referee of the Year. The 18-year-old Claire Wrobleski was officially notified that she was the top female youth referee of the year. "I am excited to get this award because it is some recognition for all the refereeing I have done throughout the years. It's also a big encouragement to know that I am a competent referee," said Wrobleski, who's been a referee for the last five years. Although Wrobleski has known about getting the...
For some, talking about their time in the Vietnam War is troublesome, particularly if they lost friends or were wounded, and it's no difference for Marine Corps veteran Denis Munson, who was a guest speaker at Plains Elementary School last week. Sixty-two students from fifth and sixth grade classes heard Munson talk about his combat experiences, much of it in a medevac helicopter designed to retrieve wounded soldiers or Marines from a combat zone. He spent about 50 minutes with each grade,...
The Plains Woman's Club once again gathered to help youngsters have a better holiday by making Christmas stockings for them. Five ladies from the Plains club met at the United Methodist Church in Plains Friday afternoon to work on the stockings for the Sanders County Coalition For Families (SCCFF), which will in turn fill them with goodies and give them to children of families in the SCCFF program. SCCFF is a nonprofit organization based in Thompson Falls that works with victims and survivors...
The Plains High School Drama Club finished its third performance of "A Wing and a Prayer" in the multipurpose room on Sunday to a resounding applause, but this time the accolades weren't just for the cast - they interjected members of the audience by hiding clues in the bleachers, giving unsuspecting guests the chance to help with the mystery. And if the rest of the audience had difficulty keeping up, a "clue" sign was scrambled across the stage. It was a whodunit two-act play that ran Friday...
"No election, new mayor," said Plains Mayor Chris Allen at last week's town council meeting at City Hall. Joel Banham will be the next town mayor as of January 1 and he didn't have to go through the electoral process because he was the only person to file for the position, said Allen, who added that another man had planned to run, but didn't get his proper paperwork to the attorney general's office. With Banham running unopposed, the town had the option of saving a few thousand dollars and not...
It was two minutes before World War I was to officially end, but that didn't stop Pvt. Henry Gunther from storming a German machine gun position. He was shot dead, the last American soldier to die in the four-year conflict. The Allies and Central Powers had already decided that the war was over on Nov. 11 at 11 a.m., which is why VFW Post 3596 conducts the annual ceremony at that time, said Ron Kilbury, commander of Post 3596. "We gather here today at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, of...
Five people from Sanders County - four women and one man - applied for the Sanders County Fairgrounds manager position, said Rich Wallace, the county's director for Human Resources. Wallace and the members of the fair commission planned to interview the candidates this week, followed by a special meeting to discuss the candidates and select one. Wallace said the candidates' names could not be released at this time. The board decided to hold off on hiring an administrative assistant or...
Plains High School honored its local military veterans last Thursday with patriotic music, a special meal and a celebration of gratitude. More than a dozen veterans from five of the six military branches - no one from the newly created Space Force was present - took part in the event put on by the school each year. This year, however, the school treated the veterans to a luncheon, something they hadn't done for the past three years. The luncheon was made by 30 students from the Family and Consum...
The Plains Town Council meeting was less than an hour, but its members discussed several issues, passed on a lot of information, tabled three items, and dismissed an item of new business that was found to be unnecessary. Mayor Chris Allen said the town has an opportunity to get an $87,000 grant with 25% matching funds from the state. Allen said he'd like to see the council apply for House Bill 355 Grant, but they would have to do it by the end of the year. The grant could be used for several...
GROSS GROSBEAK – The messy face makes for a gross beak for the female pine grosbeak, which had hit the jackpot of a crabapple tree just west of Plains. A messy face doesn't seem to bother her as she moves from berry to berry, sampling a little from each one. She was soon joined by four other pine grosbeaks, all females. According to the Montana Field Guide, the pine grosbeak, which is part of the finch family, is relatively common across the state. The male has a more reddish color with some y...
The Cancer Network of Sanders County will be launching its lantern launch from a new site this year. The nonprofit organization will have the annual fundraiser on the Saturday after Thanksgiving — Nov. 25 — starting at 6 p.m. on the greenway along Railroad Street across from Colleen’s Country Store. The CNSC has normally held the event at the Sanders County Fairgrounds, but switched to downtown Plains this year to combine the event with the Plains Lions Club Christmas celebration, according to Shelley Bertrand, president of CNSC. The biode...
Beginners have one more day — Friday — to continue alongside the regulars of the Montana Mavericks Square Dance Club that meet each week at the Plains Paradise Senior Center in Plains for lessons. Last Friday was a record attendance for the Plains club with 58 men, women, boys, and girls for the second class of the season. “I don’t think we’ve ever had more than this,” said Terry Watkins, who’s been with the club since it began in 2004. Paradise resident Darlene Jolly, president of the club, said it was great to have such a good turnout for the...
A group of home school students took a short field trip last week to watch a glass blower in action. Gary Olson showed 45 children from the Clark Fork Christian Home School Co-op the art of glass blowing at his workshop in Plains last Thursday. "He did an excellent job getting that many kids through to get that type of education," said Susanna Feiro, who heads the co-op school board and whose daughters, Solveig, 11, and Soren, 8, were part of the first of three groups at the glass blowing...
Plains High School held what might be its first Fall Concert last week in the gymnasium. It was also the first concert for the school's new music teacher, Loren Lauridson, who started the job at the end of August and immediately began rehearsing for the Fall Concert, which included the high school choir, band and the new percussion ensemble. "The students did a great job and truly showed how talented they are," said Dr. Kathleen Walsh, the new school superintendent. "I am looking forward to our...
A cat-faced orbweaver wraps a moth that got caught in its web. The spider had the insect wrapped within a minute and moved it to the bottom side of a large plant leaf. The cat-faced orbweaver is a common spider in Montana and is also known as a jewel spider or a cat-faced spider. Like other spider species, the cat-faced orbweaver injects its caught prey with a venom, which paralyzes it. The spider liquefies the insect before eating it. The cat-faced orbweaver eats other insects and other...
The Plains Trotters defeated the Hot Springs Lady Savage Heat in four games at Plains last Tuesday, taking their overall standing to seven wins and four losses. It was a special win for four seniors of the varsity squad - Teirainy Bellinger, Jaelyn Carr, Blakely Lakko, and Marissa Young - and two seniors on the junior varsity squad - Hallie Corbin and Abigail Wessley - who were recognized at Senior Night. The JV girls picked up a clean sweep against the Savage Heat by winning three straight...
The boys U19 soccer team finished its last home game in a tie against the Mission Valley Christian Academy Eagles last Tuesday at the Amundson Sports Complex in Plains. Clark Fork Soccer Alliance coach Josh Allday didn't put in his top players out of fairness to the Polson team because they were smaller, younger and were a coed team and the result was a 5-4 loss to the Eagles. "I think that was an outstanding job of coaching, holding his top players to make it a more competitive game," said...
The community of Paradise is going to have a train roundhouse once again. This one is going to be positioned at the Paradise Center, but won't have real trains inside. Construction on the new roundhouse is about halfway done and expected to be completed by the end of the month, said Clint Weedeman of Correct Construction of Plains and the main coordinator on the job. Weedeman is doing the job with his brother, Josh, who runs Top Notch Construction, and Adam Cowan of Hometown Builders...
