Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
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Students of Plains School honored former military members for an early Veterans Day observance with a special concert, goodies from students, and verbal accolades from the school superintendent. Eleven veterans from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard attended the "Honoring All Who Served" ceremony held in the school gymnasium last Wednesday afternoon. "Even though today is not officially Veterans Day, we gather to recognize our great nation and the brave men and women of our armed...
It was 22 degrees with snow and ice on the ground, but that didn't deter members of VFW Post 3596 from forming up in the military section of the Plains Cemetery Friday to publicly commemorate Veterans Day. "This Veterans Day is to honor all who served and we want to do our part to make sure everyone is honored and remembered," said Post Commander Ron Kilbury, who led the ceremony that lasted less than two minutes. Six post members lined up with Marine Corps veteran Noah Hawthorne with a rifle...
Sanders County voters turned out for the 2022 General Election last week, selecting multiple elected officials for the county. Of the 10,064 registered voters in Sanders County, 6,719 voted in last week’s election, nearly 67%. Provisional ballots were counted on Monday afternoon at the courthouse. None of the outcomes from Tuesday’s races changed with the additional 79 provisional ballots that were counted Monday.. Shawn Fielders won the race for Sanders County Sheriff and will take over in January for Tom Rummel, who did not run for re-...
If you've spent more than a couple minutes in Sanders County Harvest Foods, you've heard the distinctive giggle of Shelly Mayfield. The Thompson Falls woman, who has worked at the store for more than 30 years, was recently promoted to Store Manager. "The atmosphere and the people have kept me here," Mayfield said Monday at the store she now manages. "We have a great crew, and it's a great company to work for." Mayfield took over as store manager this month after the retirement of Jim Fargher. Ma...
It makes me so proud to watch our democracy in action. Last Tuesday on election night, the lower courtroom at the Sanders County Courthouse was a flurry of activity. But it wasn’t the chaos and mayhem that some believe is happening with elections in our country. It was organized. Qualified, trained people worked together to resolve issues on ballots. People with conservative views and liberal views and those who are somewhere in the middle worked with the county elections staff late into the night until they made sure every ballot was a...
DÉJÀ VU: Why we shouldn't believe everything we hear or read. Perceptions and opinions aren't always reality. What a certain person calls "confirmation bias" another rather famous career politician's brother (using his brother's influence for their own international business dealings in money laundering) would call "plausible deniability." Let someone else claim, "There's no evidence of any election fraud in America... or Montana... other than that one case waaaay back in 2011." Case closed. Those who know some recent history would disagree. Ot...
I am keeping my promise not to write about politics for a while; and it may be forever. It seems moot. We are stuck in a political and ideological quagmire, and it appears we will remain so for a while. It might be better to explore something we can agree on, if it can be found. ’Tis a nice day, as I write; sparkling blue skies over a light frosting of snow. Fall has frozen right into winter after an extra-long summer. The tamaracks and maples seem somewhat confused, but they’ll get over it. Hopefully, we will too. Sometime before summer — m...
PLAINS AREA’S ONE ROOM SCHOOLS The earliest of the schoolhouses erected in the Plains area seems to be one on Swamp Creek and another that was situated on Clark Creek up Baldy way. Both dated back to the early 1890s and logs furnished the principal building material. The former, approximately 14-foot x 16-foot, took its name from the creek that drains the adjacent timberland. That situated on Clark Creek took the name of Cook School. The Swamp Creek school soon became too cramped to accommodate the students and a new structure was built around...
JOE FRIELDS, Thompson Falls - “It would be easy, I’ve done it for longer than that. I’ve taught survival classes.” KIM ROBERTS, Thompson Falls - “No, I can't sleep on the ground.” DEBBIE CARPENTER, Heron - “With my husband I probably could.” RACHAEL PEDERSON, Trout Creek - “Oh yes, and my kids could, too. My son made a snare using wire to catch a rabbit and made a stew.” ZACKARY HOLOTTA, Plains - “Yes, I’d bring a Buck knife and I keep a survival kit in my truck.” ANSLY HUNTER, Thompson Falls - “Yes, that’s how I ended up here. I spent three...
Montana Highway Patrol Annie Humphreys, 45, day speeding, $70. Alexander Shreiar, 26, day speeding, $70. Austin Bunyea, 27, driving under the influence, 2nd offense, 365 days jail with 258 suspended and credit for 7 days served. Debaorah Waldher, 69, speeding in a restricted zone, $65. Dylan Duval, 23, day speeding, $20. Walter Bolieu, 57, failure to keep vehicle under control on mountain highway, $45; failure to give notice of accident by quickest means, $225. David Drake, 40, day speeding, $70. Douglas Ardiana, 57, speeding in a restricted...
Ambulance: Plains, 5; Hot Springs, 3; Dixon, 2; T. Falls, 1; Paradise, 1; Trout Creek, 1; Noxon, 1. Monday, November 7 Motor vehicle crash, Plains. Animal other, Trout Creek. Request for welfare check, Noxon. Assault, Dixon. Abandoned vehicle, T. Falls. Motor vehicle crash, Plains. Motor vehicle crash, T. Falls. Motor vehicle crash, T. Falls. Threats, Heron. Body found/coroner, Plains. Automated alarm call, Plains. Request for welfare check, Plains. Drugs/narcotics, Plains. General animal call/complaint, Hot Springs. Trespass, T. Falls. Theft,...
Appearing before Judge Molly Owen on November 9, Jennifer Marie Charlo entered her not guilty pleas to a felony count of criminal possession of dangerous drugs and a misdemeanor count of criminal possession of drug paraphernalia. According to charging documents, on August 23, Deputy Wegener with the Sanders County Sheriff’s Office responded to a vehicle that had been reported as parked in the yard of a residence in Noxon. Deputy Wegener looked through the driver’s side windshield, seeing a woman, Charlo, sleeping in the passenger seat, alo...
Work on the Thompson Falls wastewater project has ceased for the winter. Razz Construction has connected 186 of the more than 300 properties in phases 1 and 2 of the project to the community sewer system, Mayor Mark Sheets said at Monday’s City Council meeting. The contract with Razz Construction for phases 1 and 2 was up October 13. However, the company has told the city that it will take 10-15 more weeks to finish the project. Phases 1 and 2 includes hooking up to the city sewer properties north of the railroad tracks from the west end of Tho...
Fall means the Pinochle players are at it again for the GFWC Thompson Falls Woman’s Club annual Pinochle Marathon. For September, Wendy Kelley and Ron Beaty led with 8,890 points. In second place was Juanita Triplett and Cal Pomrenke with 7,360 points. They also got 1500 Trump. In October, Linda Haywood and Renee Klinger had a high score of 6,540. After two months, Kelley and Beaty are in first place, followed by Triplett and Pomrenke in second, Kelley and BJ Handford in third place, Cathy Mills and Joni Mosher in fourth, and Mosher and L...
The Plains Town Council unanimously passed seven motions at last Monday's regular monthly meeting, including three emergency measures to quickly get a water main at the east end of town repaired. Mayor Dan Rowan announced as part of his report that the town pumped 5.867 million gallons of water over the last four weeks, but sold only 3.227 gallons, losing 2.6 million gallons, much of which was lost through a hole or holes in a main pipe behind the Dew Duck Inn. The council first voted in favor...
Dozens of veteran related events took place last week as part of the Veterans Day celebration. The Daughters of the American Revolution put on a free lasagna luncheon for veterans at the VFW in Plains on Friday. American Legion Clubs Post 52 in Thompson Falls and Post 129 in Paradise and VFW Post 3596 in Plains provided free dinners for veterans. Schools around the county paid tribute to veterans. The VFW auxiliary in Plains had a biscuit and gravy breakfast on Saturday, which was free for vets. On Friday, Post 52 conducted a “Missing Man T...
A Thompson Falls High School hosted a luncheon for local veterans on Friday, November 11. Community veteran and substitute teacher Mike Bruse served as emcee for the event, which included more than 25 veterans and their families. "There was a good turn out," Bruse said. "I wish there would have been just a couple younger veterans that showed up." The luncheon began with the high school and junior high band's performance of the national anthem with director Brittany Nichols. Bruse then provided...
Robert Douglas Waters, "Bob," beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and friend, passed away peacefully in his sleep on November 11, 2022. He was born on April 28, 1930, in Glendive, Montana, to Ruth (Squires) and Junius Waters. Descending from Montana homesteaders, he spent formative years on a small farm near Bloomfield, Montana, where from a young age, he learned practical skills and a strong work ethic. At age 9 and following the untimely death of his father, Bob moved to... Full story
Edith Adell Loder, age 93, was born April 22, 1929, to Albert Bates and Florence Bates in Rapid City, South Dakota. Edith and her family moved to Plains, Montana, where she graduated from Plains High School in 1948. She later met Robert S.Loder and married on September 5, 1950. Edith and Robert ranched on Lynch Creek north of Plains and raised their three children, Adell, Robert (Jack) and Edwin. They moved to Ronan in 1969 and built and ran a trailer court until 1976. After that, Edith and Robe... Full story
Linda Keister, 80, of Trout Creek passed away Wednesday, November 2, 2022, at St. Patrick Hospital. Arrangements are under the care of Garden City Funeral Home. A full obituary will be published at a later date.... Full story
A Plains police officer was put on a 10-day suspension without pay, but was back on the job as of Saturday. Jared Hutchings is pleased to be back on the job, but his battle with the town is not over. He's not only wanting to recoup his lost pay, but he'd like his name and record cleared. Hutchings was suspended after the Plains Police Commission found him to be in violation of three incidents in which Mayor Dan Rowan had already determined he needed disciplinary action and placed him on 10-day...
Noxon art and culinary classes worked together this fall to produce the second annual publication of the art class's cookbook. This year 14 students from Jessie Novak's middle school art and Intro. to Art classes contributed to the book. The students chose a recipe, hand-wrote it and created an illustration using colored pencil. The culinary class is new this year, taught by Louise Chandler, the head cook at the school. Students in her class tested many of the art students' recipes. They also...
The Blue Hawk volleyball team wrapped up their season at the state tournament in Bozeman last week, going 2-1 with Class B competition. "We had a great weekend," Coach Sandra Kazmierczak said. "The girls competed well at state and overall we had one of the best seasons." Thompson Falls opened the tournament against the Broadwater County Bulldogs on Thursday. The Hawks fell in three straight to the Bulldogs of Townsend, 8-25, 17-25 and 22-25. Leading the Hawks in their first match of the state to...
Blue Hawk senior Avery Burgess earned all-state honors this volleyball season. The list of all-state and all-conference players was released this week for District 7B. Also earning votes for all-state designation were Bigfork’s Inga Turner and Zoe Albert. Thompson Falls Cheyla Irvine earned first-team all-conference honors, along with Remmi Stanger and Ellie Durden of Eureka and Bigfork’s Piper Linsonl. Hawks Natalie Roberts and Ellie Baxter earned second-team all-conference for the season, along with Plains senior Piper Bergstrom, Mis...
It might have been the biggest crowd for the Plains School Drama Club, which put on the play "Clue" last week in the school's new gymnasium. It was also the biggest set the students had ever constructed, said Terri Henry, the school's drama coach for more than 30 years. "We never could have done it this big in the pavilion; it would have taken up the whole room," added Henry. Prior to utilizing the new gym, the drama club performed at the fairgrounds pavilion, which is a much smaller area....
