Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
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The Old Jail Museum in Thompson Falls will open Mother's Day, Sunday, from 1 to 4 p.m. This year the museum is feating a Theodore Roosevelt exhibit, detailing his adventures in Sanders County. Roosevelt first came to Thompson Falls in July 1888 to hunt mountain goats. The exhibit features a full-size mountain goat mount, and a map with footprints signifying the places Roosevelt visited in Thompson Falls....
It is an effort that goes largely unnoticed, except by those who live and play up Thompson River. For five years, Sanders County Flycasters have been taking on the trash left by visitors to the recreational river area. Flycaster Miles Sexton said the chore gets easier every year, but there is always plenty to pick up. “I think the brunt of the trash was picked up in the first two years, because our load going out has been lighter ever since.” Sexton reported that about 35 volunteers showed up for the effort, including a group of students fro...
NAME: Darlene Lee EDUCATION: Associates (AA) degree in Criminal Justice; Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Public Safety Officer Standards and Training (POST) certifications; POST certified police vehicle driving instructor FAMILY: I have two sons and four grandsons who are my pride and joy. My grandsons range from 7 months to 3 1/2 years old. I have a furbaby who is an Akita named Tashi. OCCUPATION: Retired EXPERIENCE: I was a trooper with the Montana Highway Patrol for 12 years with 9 years of... Full story
NAME: Chris Gross EDUCATION: High school graduate FAMILY: Married 42 years with 2 adult children OCCUPATION: Former health care provider part-time, now retired EXPERIENCE: 10 years on Thompson Falls School Board WHY ARE YOU THE BEST CANDIDATE FOR THIS POSITION? In the 45 years I have lived in Sanders County I have seen: funding for education go down, civil discourse on the rise, employment options decline, kids unable to afford living here, economic opportunities go downhill, drug problems get... Full story
NAME: Denley M. Loge EDUCATION: BA Geography FAMILY: Single OCCUPATION: Rancher EXPERIENCE: Lived on a farm/ranch all my life, Montana landowner for 43 years, timberland owner, 45 years in road construction and highway maintenance experience, Soil Conservation board member for 16 years, Farm Services committeeman for 8 years, Planning Board for over 40 years, state Private Land/Public Wildlife council (in my 3rd term), Region 2 FWP Citizens Advisory Committee for two terms, Montana Legislature... Full story
NAME: Ben Anciaux EDUCATION: Graduated from Bigfork High School, 1971; University of Montana, bachelor's degree in History and Political Science, 1978; University of Montana School of Law, Juris Doctor, 1981 FAMILY: I was married to my high school sweetheart, Laura, in 1975. We have 3 sons; Aaron, Brian and Kyle. Brian deceased in 2008 auto accident. OCCUPATION: Deputy County Attorney, Lake County. EXPERIENCE: 1981 to 1986 - Deputy County Attorney, Richland County and private civil law... Full story
Commissioners were notified this week that Sanders County will receive more than $1.6 million for 2017 from the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program. The U.S. Forest Service released the funds recently, which the county uses in its road budget. With less than two months before the new budget year starts for the county, Commissioner Carol Brooker said the county will use that funding in the 2018-19 fiscal year. Previously, the county had tapped into reserve funds to make up the difference in the road budget. Sanders County will receive...
On Tuesday, Sanders County Commissioners Carol Brooker, Tony Cox and Glen Magera signed a resolution opposing anti-mining Initiative 186. The initiative, sponsored by a group called Yes for Responsible Mining, needs more than 25,000 signatures to go before voters. Last week, Secretary of State Corey Stapleton gave the group approval to begin the process of getting I-186 on the November ballot. Sanders County Commissioner Carol Brooker said they oppose the initiative because “we support Hecla and the Montanore and Rock Creek mines, and what t...
Elk counts are in. According to Bruce Sterling, FWP Wildlife Biologist, Hunting District 121 has seen a slight decline in elk numbers. This year, Sterling tallied 1,468 elk in comparison to 1,586 last year. He stated that although this is a difference of 118 elk overall, it is not too concerning and could be a product of surveying error. When broken down, the numbers reflect 1,144 cows versus 1,260 last year. Calves came in at 218 this year in comparison to 164 in 2017. Lastly, 61 spike and 39 brow-tined elk were counted versus last year at 86...
A swallow lands on a fencepost at a ranch in Whitepine. According to the National Audubon Society, several pairs of swallows can nest in the same area. Sometimes, a pair's offspring from previous broods will attend nests and feed the nestlings....
The trout are climbing, the trout are climbing, the trout are climbing! Well, they were until high water forced the ladder to close April 30. According to Ryan Kreiner, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) Fisheries Biologist, the ladder is closed when water flows reach 50,000 to 60,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). As soon as these levels normalize, the ladder will be back in action. The recently reopened Thompson Falls fish ladder, Montana’s tallest at 48-vertical feet, has seen some action as trout begin their annual travels up the Clark F...
Lights went out at 9:30 p.m. Sunday evening in the midst of a powerful thunder and lightning storm across western Sanders County, putting 510 Northern Lights members in the dark. The co-op called up the three linemen from Trout Creek and extra crews from north Idaho to assess the situation. It wasn’t until they discovered the problem was caused by damaged equipment on the Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) high tension lines, which NLI linemen were not permitted to either work on or even assist the BPA’s line crews due to the diffe...
The Plains-Hot Springs Trotters have the pitching and the hitting and, as a direct result of doing those two things so well, have been winning a lot of games lately. Coach Michele Bangen and her Trotters won three of four games last week, splitting a doubleheader with Mission-Arlee-Charlo (MAC) in Mission Tuesday, losing the first game 7-4 before coming back to win the second 13-8, and returning to Plains Friday and sweeping the visiting Lady Trojans 11-1 and 14-0 in that twinbill. Having...
Go out there, play ball and have some fun. The Thompson falls Lady Hawk softball team lived the dream last week, went out and played ball and had some fun, winning a game from Loyola Thursday and playing Manhattan tough before dropping an 8-7 decision in Drummond Friday. Now looking at a Western B-C divisional tournament play-in game, either at Troy or at Eureka next Monday, coach Jared Koskela and his Lady Hawks, were set to complete regular season play with a game against Drummond in St....
Sanders County high school athletes will be as busy as bees this week as the spring sports schedules rapidly wind down towards their inevitable conclusions. In track and field, the post season begins in earnest for Class C teams as thinclads from Districts 13C and 14C will gather up in Missoula for the maiden voyage of a combined district meet format Friday and Saturday at MCPS Stadium. District 7B will not have a conference meet this season and teams will instead wait for the Western B divisional track and field meet in Frenchtown May 17-18....
The annual Archie Roe Invitational track and field meet in Kalispell has a well-earned reputation as one of the toughest meets of any in Montana, at any high school classification. Usually attended by schools large and small from all around western Montana, the Roe Invite is generally regarded as one of the showcase meets of any season in the Big Sky Country. If you can do well in the Roe, chances are you can do well in any meet in Montana. This season, there were 14 schools represented,...
Sanders County's three District 14C track and field teams wrapped up regular season action competing in the Kim Haines Invitational at MCPS Stadium in Missoula Saturday, and will all now make plans to attend the combined District 13C/14C meet, again at MCPS Stadium Friday and Saturday. From Plains, all-around sports star Jessica Thompson, who is also a most valuable player for the Plains-Hot Springs softball team, was the only event winner from Sanders County in Saturday's Haines Invite, claimin...
Big Bull Sports golfers Scott Pardee, Ty Pardee. Jake Helvey and Tom Kirkland shot the low team net of 142 and moved their team into the Tuesday Night Men’s league lead at River’s Bend last week. The Shanks a Lot team of Rusty Haggard, Dave Garr, Ron Beaty and Jens Jentzen shot the low weekly team gross of 178. Scott Pardee shot the low individual gross round of 40 and Shawn Wilkinson calculated the low net of 34. In other play of the day, Don Lake was closest to the pin in 3 on No. 2, Jesse Mack ran in the long putt on No. 3, Bill Nolen was...
First Security Bank appears to be secure in first place in Wednesday Night Men’s League standings. With First Security captain Mike Baxter leading the way with the low individual gross round of 40, the bankers extended their league lead to a healthy 10-point margin last week. Staying in second place, Wild Coyote golfers Gary Thompson, Howard Morkert, Kevin Sparks and Kelly Kovarik teamed up to shoot the low team gross of 178, with Sparks nabbing low net honors with a well-adjusted round of 32. Whitefish Credit Union golfers Chuck Manry, W...
Four Thompson Falls golfers - two boys and two girls - have qualified for next week’s State B tournament in Shepherd. For the Hawk boys, sophomore Ethan Brown carded an 80 for fourth place and Dylan Beckman an 81 for fifth, while Lady Hawks Elsie Brown and Megan Bater also qualified, Brown with with a score of 90 and Baxter with a 106. Michael Johnson shot 110, Nathan Ostwald 120 and Kade Pardee was disqualified due to a scorecard error. The brother-sister duo of Elsie and Ethan Brown, Beckman and Baxter now make plans to travel to Shepherd f...
Quietly yet effectively going about their golfing business, Thompson Falls seniors Dylan Beckman and Elsie Brown put exclamation points on their standout senior seasons by winning first place honors in the St. Regis Invitational played at Trestle Creek golf course last Thursday, May 3. Now they can start making their post season golfing plans for Bigfork and Shepherd, where the divisional and state tournaments will be played in the next few weeks. Two of the best in the Western B-C ranks this se...
The Wildhorse Stampede under-17 team split their weekend action in Helena with a 2-1 win against Great Falls and a 6-1 loss to Helena. "Both games were outside the classic league we play in and were a chance for us to test ourselves against two very solid select level teams," explained coach Nick Lawyer. "We were bitten by the injury bug earlier this week and made the decision to travel to Helena without any substitutes. We didn't want it to change how we played and we made the effort to attack...
Boys A Team scores – 1, Noxon 127; 2, Hot Springs 107; 3, Thompson Falls 69; 4, Dixon 29; 5, Plains 28; 6, Trout Creek 12. 100 – 1, Cade VanVleet, N, 13.67; 2, Benedict Waterbury, HS, 14.43; 3, Connor Dogan, TC, 14.51; 4, George Ranney, D, 14.72; 5, Trae Thilmony, TF, 15.17; 6, Ben Croft, TF, 15.74. 200 – Lance Palmer, TF, 29.12; 2, Peyton Butcher, P, 29.17; 3, Benedict Waterbury, HS, 30.92; 4, Wyatt Lackner, N, 32.08; 5, Ben Croft, TF, 33.10; 6, Nate Cano, N, 33.46. 400 – 1, Lance Palmer, TF, 1:04.00; 2, Peyton Burtcher, P, 1:04.11; 3, Wyat...
In many treatment programs, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Sanders County Undersheriff Lanny Hensley says this applies to the drug crisis in the county as well. “The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one,” he said May 2 at the Sanders County Drug Awareness Seminar at The Rex Theatre in Thompson Falls. “It affects our whole community.” Experts in the areas of mental health, safety, crime and economics gathered May 2 to educate residents about the effects drug issues have on everyone in the communi...
The Thompson Falls Bowling Association held its annual city tournament on Saturday, March 17, at Rimrock Lanes. Prizes were presented at the association’s annual banquet, held March 29 at the Wild Coyote. At the banquet, Frank Chema was inducted into the Hall of Fame, and Anita Brown was awarded Bowler of the Year. Rookie of the Year went to Matthew Lindsay, and Ginger Ward received the 10-Pin Outstanding Achievement Award. The association also elected directors Ron Hawkinson, Bernie Groshong and Sandy True. The results from the city t...
