Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
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Noxon family and friends gathered on the football field Sunday afternoon to celebrate the graduating class of 2021. The rainy weather didn't dampen spirits as last-minute arrangements were made for each family to take cover under their own individual tent. Seniors donned their black and white robes as they lined the bleachers, each taking shelter under an umbrella to keep dry from the rain. Superintendent Jon Martin welcomed family and the class of 2021, offering a few words of advice as the...
Tom Charlton doesn't plan a big birthday bash when he turns 95 next week, but at least it'll be more than when he turned 19 when he was fighting for his life. On June 8, 1945, Charlton was a Marine Corps machine gunner on the island of Okinawa and an estimated 130,000 Japanese soldiers were dug in for a last ditch effort to keep the allies from their next objective - Japan. Days passed before Charlton, a private first class, even realized his birthday had gone by. The Battle of Okinawa was the...
It's a matter of vets honoring vets as 13 military veterans from each of the five services gathered at Plains Cemetery to place American flags at the gravesites of veterans that date back to the Civil War. It took the veterans, along with seven non military volunteers, including two children, a little over an hour to put out the 471 flags. The 12-by-18 inch flags are placed each year at veterans' graves in preparation of Memorial Day. Navy veteran Katlyn Wall showed up to make sure three of her...
A fire destroyed the main greenhouse at Trout Creek Gardens and Nursery in the early hours of Wednesday, May 18. No one was injured, and while the owners don't have a final total in damages, a significant amount of inventory was lost. "The fire took the whole structure of the main 100-foot greenhouse," owner Don Carsella said. "We lost 400 hanging baskets and around 30,000 annuals and veggies. We lost plant tags, tools, fans and our generator." Carsella believes the cause of the fire was the...
A judge on Tuesday dismissed a case against a Kalispell woman. Flathead County District Court Judge Amy Eddy dismissed the deliberate homicide charge against Rachel Bellesen. with prejudice, meaning charges cannot be brought against her again. She was charged last year after admitting to fatally shooting her ex-husband, Jacob Glace, outside Paradise on Oct. 8, 2020. Bellesen appeared in the Sanders County Courthouse on Tuesday with her attorneys, including Lance Jasper, who filed the motion to dismiss in April 2021. In her decision, Judge Eddy...
A couple of weeks ago, the Thompson Falls Chamber of Commerce hosted a volunteer nonprofit fair. We (I'm a board member for the Chamber) invited local nonprofit organizations to come to the event to connect with community members. More than a dozen organizations came to the event, handing out literature and swag, selling raffle tickets, and even setting up a pen for some cute puppies neededing to be adopted. The organizations were eager to share their missions and plans for the future. It was a busy weekend, and more organizations and...
A few months back the Republican controlled Arizona State Senate ordered a recount of all 2.1 million votes cast for president and senate in Maricopa County, Arizona, which includes the city of Phoenix. The recount will not be conducted by public employees who work for the taxpayer, but by private contractors who have been given access to all election information, something that I believe has never been done before. In March, Senate President Karen Fann signed an agreement with a Florida firm...
3 YEARS AGO • MAY 23, 1991 HIGH FLOWS DISRUPT DAM TRASH BOOM While farther downstream in the Columbia River system managers would love excess water to dedicate to salmon, Bob Brickzin would just as soon have that water there and not causing problems with the Thompson Falls dam. Saturday the dramatically increased runoff flow coupled with what is believed to be corrosion in a coupling device broke 19 sections of the south boom free in the Thompson Falls reservoir and slammed those units into t...
Jesse Spegal pleaded not guilty to numerous charges in 20th District Judicial Court on Tuesday. According to charging documents, May 8 first responders reported to a motor vehicle crash where a driver was trapped inside their vehicle and a child was severely injured. The male driver of the other vehicle, identified as Spegal, fled the scene. Drug paraphernalia was found in and around the vehicle, as well as firearms. He is now facing charges of criminal possession of dangerous drugs, criminal possession of dangerous drugs with the intent to...
Ambulance: Noxon, 1; Plains, 12; T. Falls, 9; Heron, 1; Noxon, 3; Hot Springs, 2; Trout Creek, 1; Dixon, 1. Monday, May 17 Nuisance complaints, Noxon. Fire, Noxon. Theft, Plains. Phone related complaint, Paradise. General animal call or complaint, Plains. Fire, Plains. Livestock, Hot Springs. Motor vehicle crash, Dixon. Fire, T. Falls. Business contact, T. Falls. Livestock, Perma. Suspicious activity, Hot Springs. Tuesday, May 18 Business contact, T. Falls. Suspicious activity, T. Falls. Trespass, Paradise. Forgery, T. Falls. General animal...
Sanders County Attorney Thomas Elder, 27, assult, $635. Sanders County Sheriff’s Office Katrina Abernathy, 24, day speeding, $70. Ralph Foster, 58, speeding in a restricted zone, $55. Ronald Flink, 46, day speeding, $20. Austin Moe, 19, speeding in a restricted zone, $55. Desiree Ballard, 37, disorderly conduct, 1st offense, $95; criminal trespass, $135. Frank Jensen, 63, driving while suspended, 1st offense, $285. Eugenia Frank, 53, speeding in a restricted zone, $55. Dylan Vigil, 18, day speeding, $20. Catherine Pearson, 66, improper p...
Montana has already seen numerous House and Senate bills passed regarding wildlife management in the year 2021. Several of these have involved wolves. District 13 Rep. Paul Fielder of Thompson Falls has weighed in on a few of these. The representative comes from a career of wildlife biology and brings that knowledge with him to speak on the new legislation. According to the federal delisting regulations for wolves, which were established when the local wolves found themselves on the endangered species list, there needs to be about 30 breeding...
A new group has been established to help hunters, outfitters and ranchers in Montana deal with the wolf population problem. The Sanders County Chapter for the Foundation for Wildlife Management was created only two weeks ago as the first Montana chapter of the organization, which started in Idaho 11 years ago because of the wolf problem there. "We've been trying to get a chapter in Montana for about five years now, but we've been legally blocked, but now we have it," said Dan Helterline, vice...
Thompson Falls Main Street hosted their annual spring Jamboree Friday at Clark Fork Valley Elks (CFVE). A handful of community members attended the event and enjoyed a catered meal, live music and had the chance to bid on a number of items in the live and silent auction. Karissa Lowe, Thompson Falls Main Street secretary, organized the event for the first time this year. While the crowd was smaller, Lowe believes the event was still a success. “The turnout wasn’t what we wanted, but with other events going on, sports and the nice weather, it...
A Noxon firefighter is recovering after being injured responding to an explosion near Noxon last week. According to Rachel Peterson, when first responders arrived on scene May 17, they had no idea several storage containers on the property were housing munitions and reloading supplies. During a second large explosion, volunteer firefighter Aaron Helmbrechts suffered extensive burns to his upper body. The Noxon Volunteer Ambulance was on site and was able to render aid. LifeFlight was called, and Helmbrechts was taken to Coeur d'Alene. Peterson...
BIG ARM - Joshua Robert Francis Nunes of Big Arm, Montana, was born in San Diego, California, on March 25, 1979, to Carol Nunes and passed away in his sleep May 16, 2021. No words can state the love and compassion that flowed from his heart to almost everyone who crossed his path. He spent the first half of his life working as an electrician in California. After he moved to Montana and found the love of his life, he went into a partnership as co-owner of the legendary Montana Bar with his darling wife, Brenna Marie, and mother-in-law, Judy...
Kathryn (Marie) Millar, 80, went home to the biggest family reunion she will ever attend with her Lord, family and friends on May 16, 2021, in Cashmere, Washington. She was born May 14, 1941, in Cashmere, Washington. Her father John Walter Price was 42 and her mother Mabel Ione (Richmond) Price was 38. On May 5, 1960, at 18 years old, she married longtime family friend George E. Schneider in Leavenworth, Washington. Their first-born son Calvin E. was born February 14, 1961. Their daughter, Lisa K., was next, and they had one more son Kenneth...
Billie Bruce Henifin was born January 12, 1936, in O’Neill, Nebraska, to Chloe and Arthur Henifin. Bill passed away May 21, 2021, surrounded by his loving family. Bill graduated from Mount Baker High School in 1955. He married his high school sweetheart Velma Hetrick on November 2, 1957. Through 63 years of marriage they raised five children. After graduation, Bill worked for Drapery Valley Hatchery and then went on to have a career as a boat builder at Uniflite for 27 years and then finished out his career at Wright Bros Boats. Bill and V...
I have always been an explorer. I spend every waking free minute I have going into the wilderness, driving old dirt roads and investigating anywhere I haven't already been. During these travels I get the opportunity to see a lot of country. Two weekends ago I spent a large portion of my day up and down several Forest Service roads around Thompson Falls. What I saw disheartened me and frankly made me mad. Within just an hour Sunday afternoon, I saw at least four fire pits still smoking. Now, these were not recently out and smoking. These were...
The old log schoolhouse in Plains received a major spring cleaning last week in preparation for Plains Day and other summer events. The project began last Wednesday, when Warren Hill, owner of Blackjack Power Wash, spent about one and a half hours cleaning the outside of the schoolhouse and using his powerful machine to strip off most of the old decaying paint from the building windows and doors. The job would have cost the Plains Woman's Club just over $100, but Hill, a Plains resident for the...
A project that's been in the making for more than 10 years has gone sky high - literally. It's a homemade airplane made at the home of Walt Pickering of Paradise by Walt and his son, Gordon, who will be taking the experimental amateur aircraft back to LaPine, Oregon, where he is a practicing veterinarian. For now, however, FAA regulations dictate that the aircraft be flown for 40 hours before he can fly it 400 miles to Oregon. Gordon flew his new plane for about 30 minutes the first time last...
Showing up is one thing, showing up to compete is another. Showing up to compete for every point in every event, the Thompson Falls track and field turned in stellar performances at the Western B divisional meet in Missoula last week. Only six strong, the Hawk girls impressively won second place in the Western B as all six of those girls made vital contributions. And it really wasn't even that close; Bigfork won the meet with 201 points, Thompson Falls was a strong second with 91 and Eureka a...
All it takes is a little true grit. Displaying lots of that right stuff, coach Andrew Leichtnam's gritty Hot Springs Savage Heat enjoyed a very productive Western C divisional track and field meet in Missoula last week. Riding the running, hurdling and pole vaulting of Kyle Lawson and Bert DeTienne, and using two effective relay run efforts, the Heat boys scored 45 points and finished an impressive sixth in team scoring. Leichtnam said the collective effort by his boys led to Hot Springs...
The biggest highlight was in getting there, to the Western B-C divisional tournament. The Thompson Falls-Noxon Blue Hawks edged rival Plains-Hot Springs 2-1 in Thompson Falls in a play-in game May 18 to clinch a berth in the Western B-C and then went on to play in the divisional tourney in Florence last week. Coach Jared Koskela and his Hawks bowed out in Florence, falling 15-0 to the hometown Falcons Thursday, and 12-1 to Eureka in loser-out action Friday. Florence went on to win the Western...
