Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
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The Plains Community Food Bank routinely feeds more than 200 people a month, but now it's the food bank that needs feeding. Bill Alde, who heads the food bank in Plains, said they get the bulk of their food from the Montana Food Bank in Missoula, but for the last two years, he's been able to obtain some 20,000 pounds of food donations from grocery stores and food banks in Polson and Kalispell. "We help 15% to 20% of the county population. Now I'm asking for help because all of my networking has...
The Sanders County Sewer District at Paradise will continue, even though the group has halted any progress of the community sewer project and has lost its second largest grant. Janie McFadgen, the board president, said it was disappointing that the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant of $1,437,881 was gone, but she said the board will be looking at replacing the money with other grants when they resume work on the project. The board received notice in a letter on July 5 that the state was pulling its money. This leaves the board with a balanc...
It’s been a three-year gap since the Artists in Paradise show has taken place, but now the exhibit is back at the Paradise Center for three days in August. Another event returning to Paradise will be the annual baroque music festival, also three days in August. The Artists in Paradise show, scheduled for August 4-6, will feature 11 artists from Trout Creek, Thompson Falls, Plains and Superior, said Ilene Paulsen, the event’s main coordinator and one of the exhibiters. She also helped with the 2019 show, the last one before COVID-19 caused the...
Sometimes it's the little things that bug people, and sometimes it's little bugs, but that certainly wasn't the case last week at Plains School when a staff member from the Missoula Butterfly House and Insectarium visited with some of her special pets. Carolyn Taber, a museum educator with the Missoula nonprofit organization, was a guest at the Plains Schools Summer Program last Tuesday and had some small critters for the kids to hold, including a beetle, a millipede, a walking stick and a...
It was more than three years in the making, but now it's a dominant part of the Paradise Center's railroad display. Terry Christensen of Plains began working on the model roundhouse in January 2019 and two weeks ago he and his wife, Judi, installed the 62-inch long roundhouse on a 35-foot display table that had been constructed five years ago with a special spot for the roundhouse. "The geometry had to be perfect. I was nervous about that in the beginning, but it's much better than I expected,"...
More than 60 people gathered at Fred Young Park in Plains on Independence Day to hear military veterans recite the Declaration of Independence. Noah Hathorne, Jim Gillibrand and Hunter Fielders took turns reading the document that explained the causes of the 13 colonies' break with Great Britain in 1776. The 83-year-old Gillibrand, who served in the Army from 1958 to 1961, started the reading, followed by Hathorne, who served in the Marine Corps from 1999 to 2003, and Fielders, who served in...
Just over 100 people gathered at the Paradise Center last weekend for the "Second Annual Student Reunion for the Paradise School." Dave Colyer, the primary organizer of the event and a Paradise Elementary School student from 1962 to 1970, believes they might have had twice the number of former students as last year. The Paradise Center opened its doors Saturday and Sunday afternoon for the alumni and their friends and family members. Colyer believes there were about 60 former Paradise students a...
Two Plains men volunteered time and money to help make the E. L. Johnson Memorial Park a nicer place to relax. Kurt Campbell and his son, Cole, erected three gazebos for free and even paid two others, Jim Haas and Hunter Leonard, to help put up the three wood and metal kit gazebos. The group started the project last week and finished on Tuesday. "We just wanted to do something for the community," said Kurt, who donated the materials and labor last fall to put in the 13x15-foot concrete pads. He...
The final two home games for the Clark Fork Valley Riverdogs last weekend were a bit disappointing for the players and coaches alike. The Plains team came close to victory in the first game Saturday when facing the Libby Loggers at Amundson Sports Complex. The Loggers drew blood in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead and in the second they scored seven more runs to make it an 8-0 lead. The Dogs scored only one run in the fifth. In the sixth, they nearly did it, coming within one run, 8-7. "They...
"This is probably the safest place in town right now," said Chad Cantrell, a retired Sanders County detective and one of an estimated 60 guests at the retirement gathering for Chief of Police Shawn Emmett at the Plains-Paradise Senior Citizens Center in Plains Thursday evening. Emmett retired after serving the town for 20 years, including two years as an officer before becoming chief. He said he was surprised that his former police chief, James Marble, traveled from Missoula to attend the...
A steer expert recently helped steer kids who are showing steers at the upcoming Sanders County Fair. Jon Bouma of Lucky U Cattle Company in Stevensville spent five hours with youth from Sanders County 4-H clubs and Future Farmers of America at the fairgrounds June 17. Bouma's beef showmanship lessons were part of the final stretch in the kids' preparation for the Sanders County Fair. The time between now and the Sanders County Fair - Sept. 1-4 - is closing fast, and the 4-H kids with animals ar...
The Plains Schools Summer Program began last week with a visit from local firefighters, but it was the kids who got to douse a blaze, even if it was a fake fire and the water pressure was at only 100 psi, much less than what the town firefighters use on a real fire. Town of Plains Fire Chief Anthony Young headed a talk with nearly 30 kindergarten through second grade children last Tuesday. They started out in the school's new gymnasium, where Young discussed fire alarms, extinguishers, escape...
To ham it up was all part of the game for a group of people who spent the day in Thompson Falls hoping to talk to as many people as possible – and distance was not an issue. Nearly a dozen members of the Clark Fork Amateur Radio Club set up their ham radios at Power Park on Saturday as part of a national event put on by American Radio Relay League (ARRL) called "Field Day." Five club members set up their ham radios in the park and made as many contacts as possible. The primary goal of Field D...
The brilliant colors of Old Glory's red, white and blue were already faded. Some were tattered and torn. They had done their job, and it was only fitting that they get a proper send off on Flag Day and by military veterans, men and women who defended those Stars and Stripes. It took the 15 veterans of American Legion Post 52 about 15 minutes to put the 242 flags into the barrels of flames for a proper retirement at a ceremony at Elk Club 2757 in Thompson Falls on June 14 – Flag Day. The flags ra...
Artists in Sanders County are not selfish when it comes to giving of themselves, which was evident last week when nearly a dozen of them volunteered their time to teach children different facets of art. "They were great. This was an amazing group of instructors," said Karen Thorson, who coordinated the week-long Summer Arts Camp for Youth, part of the Paradise Center's Kaleidoscope program. The 18 kids from 7-12 years old got a bit of the basics in pottery, watercolor painting, music,...
The president of the Paradise sewer board said the move toward installing a community sewer system is gone, for now. But despite rumors to the contrary, the Sanders County Sewer District at Paradise is continuing as a board, said Janie McFadgen, the board president. Board member Terry Caldwell announced at the meeting last Monday that two of the funding agencies had pulled their funding, something McFadgen confirmed at the meeting at the United Methodist Church clubhouse. "We don't have the...
Two teenagers are unlikely to go pro when it comes to any future mule-packing contest, but they now have a fairly good idea of how to utilize stock animals to ferry supplies to sites in the field. David McGonagle of Plains and Faith Palmer of Thompson Falls finished the Stock Packing Clinic at the Sanders County Fairgrounds on Friday by winning the “Packer Scramble” and getting the coveted bragging rights prize. It took the team only about 15 minutes to saddle and mantie the mule Rosie and wal...
The Big Hole Lookout is ready for the season, but it won't be manned by anyone looking for fires. Instead people at the lookout will be admiring the scenery surrounding the cabin at an elevation of 6,922 feet. The historic lookout is part of the U.S. Forest Service's recreation cabin rental program, which goes from June to October. Last week, three members of the Wild Plains Back Country Horsemen worked their way up Big Hole Lookout Trail #368, clearing the trail as they went until the snow hid...
One Plains resident asked the mayor and the town council last Monday why a near four-year-old town law is not being enforced. "I'm not trying to tell anyone what they have to do with their property, but I pay property taxes and I have to abide with the ordinance, so why don't others have to," said Calvin Williams, who has lived in the same house on Garber Street for some 18 years and wanted to know why town officials haven't taken some type action to make his next door neighbor clean up his...
The Clark Fork Valley Riverdogs socked the Sox Sunday by claiming doubleheader victories at Amundson Sports Complex in Plains. The American Legion team, comprised of players from Sanders and Mineral counties, now have 15 wins and 11 losses after taking two wins from the Bitterroot Red Sox Sunday. The Riverdogs had split a doubleheader with the Sox at Hamilton in May. The Riverdogs were short two critical players Sunday, but poured on the heat right away in the first game with a new pitcher that...
Only one Sanders County soccer team will be participating in the Montana State Tournament in Helena this coming weekend and their coach said they're ready to take it all. The Clark Fork Soccer Alliance U12 team will be one of 16 teams to compete in the Montana Showcase 2022. The team went undefeated for the season with 17 victories, including a win against a U14 Frenchtown team. Dave Wrobleski, the Clark Fork Soccer Alliance league president, said it's the only team from Sanders or Mineral...
"The rains in Plains will fall mainly on the parade, but not this time," said Kathy Hassan of Trout Creek, one of the Plains Day organizers. Hassan was prophetic. The parade was spared, but not the turtle races, which had a constant drizzle and made the 31 turtles a bit lethargic. Yet it didn't put a damper on the spirit of the kiddie contestants, parents, other spectators, or emcee Gene Johnson, who called a blow-by-blow description as though it was a professional sport. "He's heading to the...
The reigning adult limbo champion had to share his crown and prize booty with a kid this year. With Newman Ryan of Plains and Ivan Nethercott of Bozeman manning the limbo stick for the taller class of competitors, the entire line made it through the first run. A few were bumped at their second time around, but by the fifth most were gone from the lineup. It eventually came down to Jubal Ryan, 23, and 11-year-old Ziah Hensrude of Hot Springs, who twice successfully made it under the bar at 30.5 i...
The Sanders County Sewer District at Paradise Board turned down the county's gift of the $550,000 for the proposed sewer project, which would have eliminated the annual $185 tax a year for 40 years for every property owner of Paradise. Nearly 50 people attended a special board meeting at the United Methodist Church clubhouse last Tuesday evening, when the board met to address the offer from the Sanders County commissioners. Board member Terry Caldwell said he was against it because the offer did...
Keeping students on task is especially challenging at the end of a school year with only a couple of weeks remaining, said Plains High School art teacher Kristen Cole, but she said that her guest artist was able to really get them motivated for their final project of the year. Tom Collins judges people while wearing a black robe and pounding his courtroom gavel three days a week in Plains, Thompson Falls and Hot Springs, but for the last the last two weeks, he's been judging the artistic skills...
