Your Best Source For Sanders County News
Your Best Source For Sanders County News
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Being almost 100 years old didn't seem to slow down Betty Meyer and it certainly wasn't going to prevent her from attending the Third Annual Student Reunion for the Paradise School, held last weekend at what is now the Paradise Center. Meyer, who turned 99 on June 12, said nothing was going to stop her from attending the reunion or getting up to the third floor, where the center set up a typical classroom display with photographs, books, team pictures, desks, chairs and other artifacts from the...
With the hot weather here, it might be too late to effectively get rid of the pesky grasshoppers, but Wendy Carr of the Sanders County Extension Office doesn't believe it is hopeless yet. "After they have grown to the adult stage one can use Lambda-cyhalothrin, which is a synthetic pyrethroid, often times purchased as the brand names Warrior, Round House, or Silencer," said Carr. She said that it's a broad spectrum insecticide, but if the product carries Lambda-cyhalothrin, a private applicator'...
A little 10-year-old Plains boy has big plans for the future and it includes giving the town more than just hardware and grocery stores, he said. John McNamara is planning to build a zoo in Plains. He feels he has a good start with a menagerie of animals he has at home -tarantulas, snakes, exotic pheasants, quails, chickens, sheep, a horse, a dog, and a cat - and he isn't finished. He said he loves animals. On Saturday, he decided to pass on some of that excitement by giving a presentation...
Independence Day is definitely something to cheer about. It was the start of an amazing nation and should be celebrated every year. It was especially joyous to the people of the colonies, which were under the iron thumb of King George III. Five days after the freedom document was approved by the Second Continental Congress, Gen. George Washington read it aloud to his troops in New York and again it was cheered. It was official — the 13 colonies were separated from Mother England. Free at last. But it wasn’t quite that simple or easy. We actuall...
The town’s cleanup day in May was so successful, the Plains Beautification Committee decided last week to hold a second one this fall. The committee unanimously voted for the fall cleanup day to take place on the third Saturday of September, and spring cleanup days will be the third Saturday of May, according to Lana Dicken, one of the committee organizers and one of the coordinators for last spring’s event. In attendance at last Wednesday’s meeting at the E.L. Johnson Memorial Park were Garrett Boon, a Plains council member, and residents Scot...
One couple in Plains decided to take a negative and make it a positive, taking something they believed was appalling and making it attractive. Bruce and Paula Dimond moved into their new home on Railroad Street at the far eastern part of Plains in October. They knew there was work to be done on the 69-year-old house, but they agreed that the carved horse next to the driveway had to go. "Whoever lived here must have liked chainsaws," said Paula of the 3-foot, 11 1/2-inch tall horse, which obvious...
It may be the first time a group of kids were introduced to new types of art at the Paradise Center, where they were given the opportunity to demonstrate hidden art skills. Nearly 20 kids age 6-12 received lessons in pottery, card making, painting, creative writing, drawing, stained glass and theater every morning last week 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., rotating from subject to subject from Monday to Friday. All week long, the kids at the Summer Arts Camp for youth, part of Paradise Center's...
Saturday was a busy day at the Sanders County Fairgrounds, where hundreds of people from in and outside the county gathered in support of a Plains woman battling cancer. Behind the leadership of Juli Thurston, Tammy McAllister, Linda Cook and Shannon Chojnacky, the Ranch Rodeo and Fun Play Day Event was a successful benefit for Wendy Carr, a staff member at the Sanders County Extension Office in Thompson Falls. The event included a rodeo competition, horse riding contests, an Olympics...
The Wild Horse Plains Back Country Horsemen conducted a Stock Packing Clinic for five members of the Plains Thompson Falls Ranger District's Youth Conservation Corps at the Sanders County Fairgrounds on Friday. Volunteers from the horsemen group spent over six hours with a lecture and hands-on training for utilizing stock animals for transporting equipment to remote work sites. The Superior Ranger District, led by Will Cuddy and Kodi Kelly and eight students, also took part in the clinic. The st...
It's fitting that Flag Day would be the time to give unserviceable flags a proper sendoff, according to American Legion Post 52 Commander Ken Matthiesen. Fourteen veterans from five military branches took part in the annual flag retirement at the Clark Fork Valley Elks Lodge 2757 in Thompson Falls last Tuesday. Some of the flags had holes, others were faded, tattered, and ripped, yet the group of veterans all felt the ensigns of their country should be disposed of in a proper method. "I think...
Montana Governor Greg Gianforte met with business and community leaders of Sanders County at the Butcher's Nook in Plains Thursday in an effort to find out what was on their minds. Twenty-one men and women from Thompson Falls, Hot Springs, and Plains gathered for an hour-long informal gathering where several people voiced some of their concerns, including Senator Bob Brown, Sanders County Commissioner Dan Rowan and Plains Mayor Chris Allen. It was the governor's third annual "56 County Tour," wh...
The Plains Town Council passed amendments for two ordinances and a referendum, and tabled the first reading of a new ordinance at last Monday's monthly meeting at City Hall. Council President John Sheridan headed the meeting in the absence of Mayor Chris Allen. Council members Connie Foust, Garrett Boon and John Roesler were present with Chad Cantrell on a cellphone. Nearly a dozen people showed up for the meeting, which ran just over an hour. The first ordinance was created in response to a...
Plains Paradise Rural Fire District firefighters Garrett Boon (above left) and Seth Gibbs sift through burning pine needles to ensure a blaze started by lightning is extinguished. Marc and Ellen Childress, who live across the street, saw the ground fire and knocked down the flames before firefighters arrived last Thursday afternoon. A sudden burst of rain helped the couple douse the fire. High winds also broke the tree in the background, which took out the power lines (right) and left area...
The Plains Pickleball Association's first ATV Run Fundraiser on Saturday was a big success with 70 riders and 221 poker hands. "It went beyond our wildest dreams and expectations," said Shauna Firestone, president of the association, which recently received its nonprofit status and wants to erect pickleball courts at the E.L. Johnson Memorial Park in Plains. The association held its poker ride at the Wild Horse Plains Golf Course, the location of stations one and five. It was a 23-mile trek to...
A local woman has gone from grooming the community's youth for a proper education to grooming animals for a proper coat. Michele McGuigan spent the last 24 years teaching at Thompson Falls High School, retiring at the end of this school year, but instead of taking a well earned break, she dived into a new career - the dog grooming business. McGuigan is the owner of "Scrub Buddies Pet Grooming," located at 23 Burnham Lane in Plains. When Pattie Waltner of Wag'n Tails Pet Grooming of Plains...
Only a handful of people showed up for the Memorial Day ceremony at the Plains Cemetery, but VFW Post 3596 is determined to honor fallen veterans the way it was first intended - on May 30 - the date first selected following the Civil War. "We have assembled here to pay tribute to the men and women of our country who have served in the United States armed forces who fought in defense of this country and for the preservation of our way of life, and who lost their lives at sea," said Post...
Plains was a busy day Saturday with nearly nonstop activities from daybreak to dark and food on both ends, starting with the Masons pancake breakfast at the VFW and finishing with a potluck dinner at the E.L. Johnson Memorial Park. For the third consecutive year the nonprofit organization the Free Americans has run Plains Day and once again it was a success, according to Connie Foust, the group's primary coordinator. "We are so pleased it all came together so nicely with the great involvement of...
A popular competition was brought back to Plains Day, but participants were lower than had been in the past. The chainsaw contest was initially planned for three categories – chainsaw, hot saw and pro saw – but due to the lack of entries, they did only a regular chainsaw competition. Seven men and one woman signed up for the chainsaw competition including Drew Carey, Jesse Jermyn, Taylor Firestone, Gene Ross, Dustin Wagoner and Calvin Larsen, all of Plains, Jeff Cobylk of Seattle, and Jew...
The king of low has been dethroned and there's a new limbo champion of Plains. After nearly 45 minutes and dozens of passes under the limbo stick, 20-year-old Justin Yoder demonstrated his dexterity and balance to take the crown from Jubal Ryan, 22, also of Plains, at the annual contest at the E.L. Johnson Memorial Park Saturday evening. Around 80 people lined up for the limbo contest at the pool park. All started in the same line for the first four passes under the stick. The contestants were...
A Plains woman held a book signing event for her first novel, "The Orphaned King," an epic fantasy that went on the market last Thursday. Several people stopped in for the book signing for author Charolette Noble at the Plains Public Library on Friday afternoon. "When Evil begins collecting souls in a world of magic and magical beasts, loyalists and creatures of purity hold onto an ancient prophecy. One day an orphaned King would rise from a distant world. The liberator would prevail against...
It was aged over adolescence, wisdom over youth, and energetic over enterprising. It was the Clark Fork Alliance Soccer youth versus their parents, or what one of the parents called the "Champions versus the Kids." Nick Lawyer, the primary organizer of the competition at the Amundson Sports Complex in Plains, said they've been doing a game between the kids and parents and had never won, until last Monday. "This year's going to be different; the adults are going to at least score," Lawyer said...
Graduating from high school usually means facing the real world, but 43% of the Plains High School graduates are planning to attend secondary schools, including seven that plan to attend four-year institutions. Twenty-three Plains High School seniors received their diplomas Sunday afternoon in a graduation ceremony in the high school gymnasium. An estimated more than 300 people attended the hour-long ceremony, led by Superintendent Thom Chisholm, his final graduation before retiring in June....
The Sinclair gas station has been a part of the lives of Dave and JoAnne Colyer for almost four decades, but the couple will have some time to take it easy now that they sold the business to a Kalispell man. "One has some mixed emotions after selling a business you started and operated for nearly 40 years," said Dave Colyer, who closed the sale of the station on May 16. "Everything in life has its ups and downs. The business did well and it will do well for the new owners," said Colyer. Both...
Plains Spring Cleanup Day was a big success, but the group of volunteers that coordinated the daylong project got together to discuss how they could make it even better. Over 40 volunteers showed up three weeks ago to help clean up the private property of 21 residents that needed assistance. The last time a town wide cleanup had been done was 2018, and the time before that was several years prior. But the organizers of the last one want to make it an annual event. Some of the cleanup coordinator...
High school seniors got their graduation sendoff Sunday, but the younger kids had their day in the sun last Thursday with a barbecue picnic and received awards from the local Masons, including Most Worshipful Past Grand Master Thom Chisholm, who cooked burgers and hot dogs for more than two hours. It was Chisholm that started the annual Plains School barbecue 13 years ago as a special goodbye to retiring superintendent Richard Magera, who was replaced by Chisholm. The barbecue continued every...
