Your Best Source For Sanders County News
Your Best Source For Sanders County News
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At Dog Hill Bistro, you can make your house and eat it, too... and a few people were seen munching on their gingerbread houses Saturday at the 2nd Annual Adult Gingerbread House Class. Kathy Logan, owner of Dog Hill Bistro in Plains, held a gingerbread session for kids last week, but Saturday, it was time for the adults to demonstrate their building expertise. Twenty men and women took part in the class, doubling participation from 2017. "It's a lot harder than I thought and it's sloppy," said...
Santa Claus seemed to be everywhere Saturday. Kids and adults alike sat on his lap at McGowan's Grocery in the morning and at Ripples Ice Cream Parlor in the afternoon. People lined Railroad Street shortly after noon to see Kris Kringle waving from an old fire engine in the annual parade through town. Around 100 kids and adults, which included Plains Police Officer Ethan Harvey, Sanders County Deputy Rob Largent, and 94-year-old Betty Meyer, meet with Santa Claus, aka Montana Highway Patrolman...
A dinosaur has a new home at the Sinclair Gas Station in Plains last week, but now the parents, Dave and JoAnne Colyer need to come up with a name for their new addition. To take off the pressure of giving it a name, they've decided to let the public do it. The Colyers received the 12-foot long, 6-foot tall Sinclair mascot last Thursday as part of a regional promotion for the Sinclair company and its Missoula distributor, High Noon. JoAnne said the Plains station was one of two out of 10...
A group of kids and military veterans braved the cold temperatures last week to give a batch of U.S. flags a proper sendoff. With the weather dipping into the low 20s, VFW Post 3596 held a flag retirement ceremony in the rear parking lot of the post Friday evening. The ceremony included members of the 4-H South Side Sparks and Plains Boy Scout Troop 1957. "The American flag, otherwise known as Old Glory, the Stars and Stripes or the Star-Spangled Banner, represents the land, the people, the...
One Plains teacher took her students out of the classroom for their lesson last week to learn art and to help spread the holiday spirit. Forty-three students from Plains High School scattered throughout Plains Friday to paint Christmas designs on business windows. “They’ve done a fabulous job and they love doing this, especially the new ones, and they love being out of the classroom,” said Kristen Cole, the school’s art teacher, who spent the day going from one end of town checking on her stu...
"It gave me such great memories when I went to school here," said 94-year-old Betty Meyer after the 2nd Annual Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration at the Paradise Center, formerly Paradise Elementary School Sunday evening. Meyer was one of more than 60 people who gathered in the multi-purpose room, which used to be the school gymnasium, to attend the Christmas program, sponsored by the Paradise Elementary School Preservation Committee. Meyer was a student at the school from first to eighth...
Plains is known for horses. It's the school mascot. The former elementary school was called Wild Horse Plains. An entire herd of horses recently lined the fence along the greenway. The town police patches had been Wild Horse Plains. Chief of Police Shawn Emmett said the town was called Horse Plains until it was incorporated in 1907. And now there's a new horse in town standing by itself on the grass along Railroad Street near Central Avenue. It's a 600-pound, 8-foot long, 9 ½-foot tall...
The Polar Express is making a stop at Plains School for the month of December, compliments of train enthusiast Bill Beck. The Plains resident set up the train and a winter village last week and left it in charge of train "conductor" Thom Chisholm, the school superintendent, who will turn the train on periodically throughout the school day. "I think the teachers like it more than the kids," said the 77-year-old Beck, who worked on the train village for about six hours. He finished Monday by...
One Trout Creek woman has traveled the world as an ambassador of the United States, first as a member of the Air Force, then for the U.S. State Department. Now that she's retired, it's time for her to devote her energies full time to promote her own Native American heritage and she's doing it with music. "I want to help people be more at peace with themselves and with each other," said Chilaili Wachiwi, who moved to Trout Creek in June and has already performed with her flute in Plains, Noxon...
The night sky over the county fairgrounds was dotted with colored lights last weekend as people's messages drifted to the heavens. Nearly a dozen people participated in the Cancer Network of Sanders County's (CNSC) eighth annual Chinese Lantern Launch Saturday evening. The lanterns carried a variety of messages to mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, and others as a flame inside the lanterns raised them into the night. Most of the handwritten notes went to people who had lost their battle with...
Lyla Sears (left) and Ellen Childress fill boxes that are destined for families in the Plains and Paradise area to help out with their Thanksgiving dinner. The project is part of a program from the First Lutheran Church and United Methodist Church in Plains. Eleven families ranging from two people to seven were provided boxes of food with 25 items, including a turkey, a pie, potatoes, stuffing and other food items, along with aluminum foil. It took the ladies less than an hour to fill the boxes...
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, thanks to the Plains Lions Club, which put up holiday decorations in Plains Sunday morning. It took just over an hour for Lions Duane Highcrane, Dave Helterline, Harry Legg and Dan Rowan, along with volunteers Justin Holmes and Lloyd Rice with his NorthWestern Energy bucket truck, to put up the lighted decorations along a mile stretch of Railroad Street from Highway 28 to Central Avenue. Highcrane, the club president, said they decided to do it a...
The Plains Woman's Club is once again helping to make Christmas more enjoyable for children from homes of domestic violence. Seven women – Judy Stephens, Margaret Storoy, Shirley King, Deb Cleveland, Connie Foust, Deana Allison, and Dayna Dickerson – gathered in the fellowship hall of the Plains United Methodist Church to make Christmas stockings for Sanders County Coalition For Families clients Friday afternoon. "These ladies are making these stockings with a labor of love," said Crystal Buchan...
A new group of people were in charge of the Veteran's Appreciation Luncheon at Plains School this year, but the enthusiasm and heartfelt dedication to give thanks to the military veterans hadn't waivered. "It was really, really outstanding," said Joe Eisenbrandt, a Navy Vietnam War veteran who has attended the school's appreciation luncheon all five years. The program was started by teachers Keith Baker and Linda Knight, who retired last year. This year, Nichole Cockrell and George Sherwood...
As the holidays approach, the Plains Community Food Bank is striving to help people in need, but to help others the food bank needs help. The shelves at the food bank are normally stocked well, but they are finding themselves with empty shelves and without several basic food items, said Jack Dowell, one of a handful of volunteers at the food bank, located on Central Avenue across from the Assembly of God Church on the Move. Dowell said they are presently missing several items that the food bank...
He started in the mountains of Colorado, lived in the deserts of the Middle East, moved to the swamps of Florida and soon he'll be in the Rockies of Montana as a member of Clark Fork Valley Hospital. Dr. Robert E. Blease will be the hospital's first fulltime orthopedic surgeon since the late 1990s and is scheduled to begin work sometime in mid January. "In looking for a new practice opportunity, I was seeking a smaller facility in the West, were I could provide more personalized care to my...
In planning for next year, the Plains Town Council voted 5-1 to reprioritize the list of roads that need the most work and decided that Willis Street will be next to get a major overhaul. Walnut Street and Central Avenue had been number three on the town’s road work priority list, but the council decided at last Monday’s meeting to instead put Willis Street ahead due to major deteriorating pavement, excess water buildup and because of the amount of use Willis gets, according to Mayor Dan Rowan. “We get a lot of heavy traffic – heavy in volume...
The Sanders County Arts Council was pleased at the results of this year's "Do Your Bidding" fundraiser at the Paradise Center Saturday evening, raising $2,500 with their baked potato dinner and auctions. The nonprofit organization also received a $2,000 check from an anonymous Plains donor, said Cinda Gazaway, the chief organizer of the event. "It was a very successful auction. I was really pleased," said Gazaway, a Noxon resident whose oil landscape painting fetched top dollar in the silent...
The 1st Annual Plains Lions Club Parade of Costumes at Fred Young Park was filled with an assortment of scary and funny characters, but it was a genie on a magic carpet that took top honors in the contest. Forty-five kids entered the competition, but when judges Lisa Larson and Cheri Minemyer were done, 8-year-old Tia Bellinger in her homemade genie apparel nabbed first place and $25 in gold Sacagawea coins. Second place went to Arrow Hyde, 10, with his gorilla outfit, taking home $10 in Sacagaw...
A handful of Clark Fork Valley Hospital Long Term Care residents showed their artistic talents by carving pumpkins for Halloween last week. Virginia Brown, Rose Neumeyer, Cheryl King, and Mary Ann Thompson created their jack-o'-lanterns last Wednesday morning with the help of Del Smith, the activities director, and Kayla VonHeeder, a certified nursing assistant. The group spent just over an hour on their creations, which will be displayed at the nursing home. It didn't take long for the...
A Plains artist not only went to the see and hear President Donald Trump during his stop in Missoula, but gave him a taste of Montana to take back to Washington, D.C. Dave Williams of Plains designed a brush and pallet knife acrylic painting of Missoula with a bit of western Montana on canvas and gave it to the president's staff the day prior to his arrival on Oct. 18. Williams said a secret service agent took the painting, which had to be cleared before putting it on Air Force One for future pr...
The annual Harvest Party for the community was held at the Langford Ranch last Sunday afternoon. Fine weather and a good turnout lent to fun for all. There was fresh hot apple cider from the blueberry farm, and a beautiful large campfire which roasted fresh corn. Chili and cornbread complimented the fresh corn and caramel apples for desert. There was storytelling and singing. The kids enjoyed climbing on the hay bales. Some enjoyed getting their faces wet dunking for apples. The wilderness...
Supporters of LR-129 claim their proposal will ensure that mail-in ballots are secure and that the state's elections are free of potential fraud, but opponents argue the entire effort may cause unnecessary gridlock at the polls and distract from any actual security issue. The initiative would prohibit the collection of another individual's ballot, although family members and caregivers could deliver another person's ballot but would need to sign a registry at the polling place. People not...
Close to 80 people attended the Clark Fork Valley Hospital's annual Women's Health Fair, which took place at Plains High School last Thursday. "This event is important to the hospital because we want to keep our community members and communities healthy," said Aria Mangan, the hospital's Community Health Improvement Specialist and chief coordinator of the seven-hour health fair. "One of the best ways to do that is allow the opportunity and education to know what is out there to be healthy and...
It's an old place with old things at a new location and a new name and it commemorated its grand opening last Tuesday by treating customers to finger foods, coffee and hot apple cider. The Wild Horse Mercantile also celebrated its opening with a special ribbon cutting ritual with Plains Mayor Dan Rowan using a pair of old garden clippers to cut the ceremonial ribbon. "We were trying to come up with a new name that incorporated our community and the type of business. We were no longer housed in a...
