Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
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The town of Hot Springs is looking for more control over their trash. Mayor Randy Woods and City Clerk Amy Gray met with county commissioners last week to discuss the town's interest in taking over operations at the Hot Springs refuse site. Commissioners were open to the idea. The refuse site is currently controlled by the Hot Springs Refuse District (HSRD), a special district of Sanders County. The district is managed by a board of five elected members, similar to parks, ambulance and fire dist...
County commissioners met with area wildlife experts last week to discuss local projects during the quarterly wildlife update meeting. Zack Farley, Wildlife Biologist with FWP, shared an update on the Pilgrim Creek Elk Project. Earlier this year, FWP captured and gathered data on 71 elk in Hunting District 121, on the west end of Sanders County. The elk were also fitted with GPS collars. Farley stated that the project is going well, data being collected every two hours. FWP has recorded more than 72,000 elk GPS locations thus far in the...
Last fall, 51 students started school together in the Thompson Falls High School senior class. As the class celebrated their graduation last weekend, all 51 had completed the year to receive a diploma. Thompson Falls held its commencement Sunday in the high school gym, with hundreds of family and friends gathering in the gym and spilling into the commons area for the event. Principal Jodi Morgan highlighted the fact that all who started school graduated, and 17 of the graduates had been...
Friends and family gathered on a rainy Sunday afternoon in Hot Springs to celebrate the graduating class of 2023. Eight students donned their cap and gown to celebrate the momentous day. This year's salutatory address was given by Sydney Viegut who began by giving a special thanks to the parents who raised her and her fellow classmates. Viegut also made sure to mention her teachers. "I'd also like to especially thank the teachers who had to handle us for all these years," she said. Viegut...
Graduating from high school usually means facing the real world, but 43% of the Plains High School graduates are planning to attend secondary schools, including seven that plan to attend four-year institutions. Twenty-three Plains High School seniors received their diplomas Sunday afternoon in a graduation ceremony in the high school gymnasium. An estimated more than 300 people attended the hour-long ceremony, led by Superintendent Thom Chisholm, his final graduation before retiring in June....
With the nice long Memorial Day holiday this past weekend, I had the chance to catch up with my friend Troy. His grandparents had the ranch next to ours, and he comes back to visit every few years. We played in Beaver Creek, shared stories, looked at old photos, and measured our heights on the back of a closet door. My first height recorded on that door by Troy’s grandma Ada was in 1983, the most recent until now was in 1992. Troy retired from the U.S. Air Force as a colonel. His father, Roy, was serving in the Army in Vietnam when his h...
Memorial Day weekend has passed. Soggy campers weathered the weather, and cemeteries sprouted flags and flowers in remembrance of loved ones. Twenty-eight years ago last Sunday, I traveled to Nespelem in the sagebrush hills of the Colville Reservation to seek out the grave of one of my heroes: Hinmatoowyalahtqít, Thunder-Rolling-In-The-Mountains, Joseph of the Nez Perce. If you wish to know how Joseph became one of my heroes, the story is outlined in Side Trips From Cowboy, published in 2009. If you wish to know why Joseph is my hero, it’s be...
REVIEWING THE YEAR 1933 KING DAVID “King David the Lord” of the “Hill of the Lord” demented old negro living on the Blue Slide after seven years silence spoke again. For seven years previously because of a spiritual revelation he had refused to utter a sound, and communicated by sign and writing to other people. Bill McNorton was his correct name, he had come west in his youth and was one of the early day pioneers in Sanders County. He accumulated considerable wealth in the liberal, tolerant west, and associated on an equal basis with his nei...
Montana Highway Patrol Luis Martinez, 25, driving without valid driver’s license, $285. Charles Dales, 22, seatbelt violation, $20. Abel Shestak, 24, day speeding, $20. Robert Hansen, 46, operating without liability insurance in effect, 1st offense, $85; seatbelt violation, $20. Joshua Davidson, 43, seatbelt violation, $20. Roy Dewitt, 70, careless driving, $85. Albert Wolyniec, 74, speeding in a restricted zone, $95. Stephen Nicholson, 54, day speeding, $20. Ryan Huisman, 41, speeding in a restricted zone, $85. Cory Kreider, 42, right of w...
Ambulance: Plains, 9; T. Falls, 5; Trout Creek, 4; Hot Springs, 2. Monday, May 22 Protection order violation. Warrant service, T. Falls. Warrant service, T. Falls. Civil attempts, Dixon. Disturbance, T. Falls. Road hazard/blockage, Plains. Request for welfare check, T. Falls. Motor vehicle crash, T. Falls. Tuesday, May 23 Request for welfare check, Noxon. Suspicious activity, Noxon. Civil attempts, Plains. Threats, Plains. Request for welfare check, Plains. Alarm-intrusion/holdup, Dixon. Threats, Hot Springs. Welfare check, T. Falls. Suspicious...
Shana Neesvig - “Be kind and always do your best.” Jake Mickelson - “Pursue your passions and don’t stop until you achieve them.” Darcy Farlan - “Don’t be afraid to take on the challenges that adulting will hit you with.” Eric Nygaard - “Be kind and useful.” Penny Beckman - “Work hard and follow your dreams.” Amy Henderson - “Don’t be in a hurry and take advantage of the opportunities as they come....
Community members met with NorthWestern Energy last week to hear updated reports on studies for the Thompson Falls hydroelectric project relicensing. Results were detailed from the second year of studies examining hydraulic conditions, fish behavior, total dissolved gas, cultural resources, environmental justice and operations. Community members and other relicensing participants have until July 9 to submit comments on the updated study results. The study results and comments will be included...
With heavy hearts, we announce that Joseph Philip Erchul – "Jay," age 82, of Hot Springs, Montana, left us to be with God on November 17, 2022. Jay was born in Missoula, Montana, on October 26, 1940, to Joseph "Joe" M. Erchul and Virginia Erchul (Cameron). He was the oldest of three children, with siblings Mary Nell Erchul (Klawitter) & David Louis Erchul. Even in his youth, Jay was a hard worker. He'd run the John Deere tractor on his family's farm in Camas Prairie, and tend to the various a...
The Sinclair gas station has been a part of the lives of Dave and JoAnne Colyer for almost four decades, but the couple will have some time to take it easy now that they sold the business to a Kalispell man. "One has some mixed emotions after selling a business you started and operated for nearly 40 years," said Dave Colyer, who closed the sale of the station on May 16. "Everything in life has its ups and downs. The business did well and it will do well for the new owners," said Colyer. Both...
Plains Spring Cleanup Day was a big success, but the group of volunteers that coordinated the daylong project got together to discuss how they could make it even better. Over 40 volunteers showed up three weeks ago to help clean up the private property of 21 residents that needed assistance. The last time a town wide cleanup had been done was 2018, and the time before that was several years prior. But the organizers of the last one want to make it an annual event. Some of the cleanup coordinator...
Carroll College conferred degrees on 313 graduates during its 113th commencement ceremony on May 13. Among the class of 2023 were two students from Sanders County. Natalee Deschamps of Plains was awarded a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry. Colleen Knutson, from Thompson Falls, received a Master of Social Work. The University of Montana also held its graduation ceremonies on May 13. Rhiannon Liberty of Dixon received a bachelor of arts in Native American Studies and Wyatt Weyers of Plains earned a degree in Business Administration: Management & E...
Whitepine Grange is looking for kids who want to toot their own horns this summer. The Grange is sponsoring a summer music program for children ages 7-14. Each child will be given a recorder and be required to attend weekly group lessons at Whitepine Grange, where a local music teacher will help them learn to play the instruments in preparation for a performance at Huckleberry Festival in August. Participants don’t need any previous musical training. Those who stay with the program through the summer may keep the recorders. The program is f...
High school seniors got their graduation sendoff Sunday, but the younger kids had their day in the sun last Thursday with a barbecue picnic and received awards from the local Masons, including Most Worshipful Past Grand Master Thom Chisholm, who cooked burgers and hot dogs for more than two hours. It was Chisholm that started the annual Plains School barbecue 13 years ago as a special goodbye to retiring superintendent Richard Magera, who was replaced by Chisholm. The barbecue continued every...
Emalyn Roofener, Trout Creek School by Karen Thorson Emalyn Roofener, a charming young lady and an exceptional musician, is an 11-year-old fifth grade student at Trout Creek School. She began playing the violin when she was only seven and lived in Albany, Oregon. In a school-based program, she was introduced to fiddle playing and enjoyed it so much that her mother suggested violin lessons. Soon she was captivated. Her mother then suggested that she should join an orchestra. The Albany Youth...
What a tremendous feat and season for the Blue Hawk softball team, earning a place at State after ten years. The team, along with Coach Jared Koskela and assistant coaches, Julie Detlaff and Lacey McCormick, took their talents to Anaconda last weekend for a sixth place victory. The first game and high point of the tournament was a 12-4 triumph over the number one eastern team, the Shepherd Fillies. It was a wet and rainy game and Koskela said that you have to know how to throw a wet ball and the...
It was a spectacular way to end a track season for the Blue Hawks and Horsemen/Trotters, competing against the top athletes at the class AA and B State Track meet at the Bulldog Memorial Stadium in Butte last weekend. For sophomore discus State Champion Alexis Deming, it's still just the beginning of her athletic career. She slung the discus 123 feet one inch, winning by a whopping six feet. Deming won third place in the shot put, catapulting the put with a personal record of 37 feet two inches....
It was state-bound for five athletes from Hot Springs and Noxon schools last weekend. Laurel hosted the class A and C event at the Laurel Sports Complex. "The three kids we took to state laid it all out there this week," said Hot Springs Coach Andrew Leichtnam. Sophomore Elijah Campbell placed 24th in the 3,200 in a time of 11:52.61. David Chapman placed 11th in the 300 hurdles in 43.09 and Quincy Styles-Depoe placed 20th in the 300 hurdles in 44.98. "We are very sophomore heavy at the moment...
It was nearly a sweep last week for the team of Katrina Nygaard and Natalie Roberts in ladies league play at River’s Bend. The duo partnered for the low team gross score of 101, Nygaard had the low individual gross round of 48 and her drive was closest to the pin on No. 8, and Roberts shot the low net of 34 and her fourth shot was closest on No. 2. Danice Toyias, along with having a chip-in on No. 6, had the low team net of 78 with her partner Kristy Beaty. Jeanne Holleran had the long putt on No. 6, Kim Sparks was closest on No. 5 and Megan B...
There was a cyber attack Tuesday at River’s Bend as Internet Kitchen teammates Ron Belger, Carter Meyer, David Reedy and Doug Fisher combined for the low team gross round of 184, Reedy shot the low individual net of 32 and was closest to the pin on No. 5. Fisher was closest to the pin on No. 8 and his third shot was closest on No. 2. Sharks Auto Detail (Jens Jantzen, Russ Wood, Charlie Hooten and Rusty Haggard) had the low team net of 149 and Ty Pardee the low individual gross of 40. Dave Garr sank the long putt on No. 3, Nathan Snead took t...
They surveyed the competition and found the right points to beat the competition. The Mountain Plains LLC team of Paul Flemmer, Rick Hagedorn, Doug Robichaud and Bernie Groshong combined for the low team gross of 171 last Wednesday at River’s Bend, while Whitefish Credit Union’s Rusty Sharp, Wally Gibe, Randy Hojem and Chuck Manry had the low team net of 145. Flemmer’s 40 was good enough for low individual gross and Groshong carded the low individual net round of 33, along with his drive being closest to the pin on No. 8 and hitting one of th...
