Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
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Work to get the roads of Plains fixed began last week with Farmer Street, considered the worst of the 12.5 miles of town streets. The crew of Traver's Excavators Service, Inc., of Thompson Falls began work on Monday installing a storm drain near the intersection of Farmer and McGowan Streets. Ben Travers, the company owner, and his crew, Josh Meuchel and James Warner, dug a five-foot deep ditch that went for about 30 feet to install two concrete catch basins, which will have grated manhole...
Special Deputy Sanders County Attorney Steven Eschenbacher has filed two counts of felony theft against Naomi Leisz, a private attorney and a current candidate for Sanders County Attorney. The theft charges center around a piece of heavy equipment. According to Naomi, this case has no business being a felony charge and is simply a “civil dispute between my ex-husband and myself.” Naomi feels this is an unethical, tactical decision to discredit her as her runningmate Bob Zimmerman, Sanders County Attorney, could have filed this one year ago, but...
MIDAFTERNOON DELAY – A truck hauling a camper trailer met its demise when it bumped into the railing of the Highway 200 bridge just west of Trout Creek on Monday. The single vehicle accident forced the highway to close from 11:30 to around 5 p.m. The vehicle's passengers, who were uninjured, were traveling from Sandpoint, Idaho to Tennessee according to bystanders. The wreck left substantial amounts of debris on the roadway and was cleared by using shovels, like shoveling snow, while Saint's T...
Every summer the Idaho Panhandle National Forests receives reports of people getting too close to the mountain goats on the Scotchman Peak Trail #65. Mountain goats can become habituated to humans as a result of hikers enticing the goats with food and sweaty salty hands. These close encounters can be very dangerous because mountain goats are known to behave aggressively in an attempt to obtain human foods and/or salt. People play an important role in keeping this popular trail open by...
Kootenai National Forest, Forest Supervisor Christopher Savage has announced that he has signed the decision for the Cub Creek Salvage Project located on the Cabinet Ranger District. The signed decision recovers the economic value of fire-damaged timber, reduces hazards, and provides reforestation opportunities to steer the forest toward desired conditions as described in the Kootenai National Forest 2015 Land Management Plan. This decision focuses on areas where treatments would be the most effective on the landscape while minimizing impacts...
This month, our small communities have come together to honor veterans, celebrate the U.S., and have a little fun. Each year, Noxon puts on a fantastic fireworks show and parade. Not to mention the awesomeness that comes from watching kids trying to herd their reptiles in the turtle races. In Plains, athletes will gather later this month for a large co-ed softball tournament. And earlier this summer, Plains Day brought out not just the locals, but people from around the region. Thompson Falls used to have a Fourth of July parade, and the...
“The rise of corporate dominance and the theft of human rights.” That grabs your attention, right? It is the subject of the book Unequal Protection — How Corporations Became People, and How You Can Fight Back by Thom Hartmann, and not a new subject by any means. There have always been a few wealthy, aggressive people who seem to want to exercise control over the general population. Before our modern industrial age, it was a feudal system of kings, queens and divine rights. Thomas Jefferson fought hard to include the phrase “freedom from mo...
Editor, Recently, the Thompson Falls Trap Club installed stanchions and provided wooden frames with cardboard to attach targets in the pistol and rifle range. Our goal was to improve the public’s shooting experience at the Thompson Falls Range. The metal stanchions were secured to the ground with four spikes at their base and extended four inches above the ground with a rectangular tube that holds a four or five-foot-tall wooden frame, twenty inches in width, with cardboard attached to the frames that targets are secured to. The stanchions a...
I am horrified by the President’s words at the European Summit and his subsequent meeting with Putin. This is a man who sees himself as the center of the universe; anyone who disagrees with him is “stupid,” including the country which he serves. He is crude, rude, callous and without loyalty. He disdains the experience of the people that surround him. He leaves a wake of lives ruined. Sadly, he also may be the mirror that reflects our future. What have we become, and perhaps even more than we, what have I become? This is a question that each...
4 YEARS AGO • JUNE 20, 1978 SINCE I LAST WROTE FOR THE LEDGER By Harry L. Billings (AKA Peanuts, TFHS Class of ’29) Gretchen and I are pinch hitting for “Doc” and Gladys while they are on a flying trip to Connecticut to see their family. Except for an occasional letter to the editor, it’s been a spell since I did any writing for The Ledger…some 50 years plus to be more specific. Like so many Sanders County rural teenagers of another day, I spent my high school years living in the old “dorm.” At that time we didn’t have a four-year high school...
DAKOTA GOATLEY, Thompson Falls – “Yes. Finlay Flats. You get the most sunfish there. We don’t eat them. We catch and release.” BECKY MAZUR, Thompson Falls – “I do have a favorite place, but I won’t tell you where.” CALAN ROCCO, Florence, Montana – “We like to fish in Rainbow Lake or Dog Lake.” JIM McQUILLIN, Post Falls, Idaho – “I’m an avid fisherman. I don’t want to tell you where my favorite fishing spot is because then lots of people will go there and it won’t be my favorite fishing spot any more.” SUNNY PARDEE, Thompson Falls – ” I don...
Ambulances: Noxon, 3; T. Falls, 4; Plains, 6; H. Springs, 1; Dixon QRU, 2. Sunday, July 8 Report of legs coming out of a hay bale, Hwy. 200, Belknap. One vehicle rollover crash with injuries, Hwy. 200, T. Creek. Evicted person refusing to leave residence, Plains. Suspicious activity, person walking around an empty lot, Plains. Juvenile starting a fire on a hillside, T. Falls. Stalking, T. Creek. Vehicle vs. deer, Hwy. 28, H. Springs. Vehicle vs. elk, Hwy. 200, Eddy Flat. Monday, July 9 Trespassing, individual repeatedly dumpster diving,...
A defendant entered not guilty pleas in 20th District Judicial Court on Tuesday to four counts stemming from a March 24 crash on Highway 135. Julie Goodwin pleaded not guilty to theft, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, driving while license is suspended or revoked, and driving without a seat belt. According to charging documents, Goodwin was taken to Clark Fork Valley Hospital in Plains after the crash, where she told a Montana Highway Patrol trooper that she was drunk, and the trooper noted that Goodwin did not remember the...
Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Shawn Houdek, 40, unlawful purchase of residential license by nonresident, $1085. Greenup Wayne, 56, fishing without license, $85. Montana Highway Patrol Javier Collazo, 22, speeding in restricted zone, $85. Driving with suspended license, $135. Errol Balfour, 33, speeding in restricted zone, $65. Katrina Ek, 20, night speeding, $70. George Erickson, 65, speeding in restricted zone, $95. Stephen Buck, 65, seatbelt violation, $20. Bruce Hayden, 67, speeding in restricted zone, $65. Norman Myers, 56, seatbelt...
You never know who is going to walk through your door. At The Ledger earlier this month, a gentleman walked in wanting to review the newspapers from 1980. The newspaper has volumes of past editions. The man, Jon Rose, grew up in Missoula and was a member of the band Just Ducky. He was looking for an article about his band playing in Hot Springs. Just Ducky was booked to play the Hot Springs prom on April 29, 1980. Rose said the band was a punk rock band, but he said their agent booked them for t...
Danielle Wood of Thompson Falls is offering a little help in beating the heat this summer. Wood, a Pampered Chef consultant in Thompson Falls who also works for the Chamber of Commerce, is offering a pre-filled water balloon service, called Balloonatics, and serving all of Sanders County. She began taking orders Wednesday, July 18. It is preferable that an order is placed 24 hours in advance, she said, but same-day service may be available. Wood thought that “this would be a fun service to offer customers, taking away one hassle of having a s...
Sanders County students who made the Dean’s List at Flathead Valley Community College were Addison O. Mueller, from Hot Springs and Hailey R. Coe, from Plains....
Trout Creek will go back in time with the annual Cool Summer Nights car show at the Lakeside Resort. The event will feature cars, trucks and motorcycles from all eras. Jake Rostker with the Lakeside said he’s excited about the weekend and the warm weather forecasted for the Cool Summer Nights. He noted that the previous two years, the car show was met with rainstorms. He’s expecting as many as 50 classic vehicles this weekend, with temperatures predicted in the high 80s. Registration for the event is 5-8 p.m. Friday, with the car show starting...
A July 5 Sanders County Ledger article about the Heron bridge dedication mentioned that a representative for Sen. Steve Daines read a statement at the ceremony. A representative for Sen. Jon Tester also attended the event and read a statement....
Thomas “Tom” Willard Ormsby, age 87, passed away on Sunday, July 8, 2018, at Hot Spring Health and Rehab Center in Hot Springs, Montana. Tom was born in Tracy, California, on January 24, 1931. Tom was a crop duster for 25 years and retired from the Air National Guard as a Master Sergeant. In 2000, Tom married Leslie Fike in Hot Springs. They have been together for 21 years. Tom was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife Leslie, son Mark Ormsby, grandson James Ormsby, brother John Ormsby and sisters Luella Sexsmith and Jea...
Cheryl Gene Conlin passed away at home where she was cared for by family and hospice. At 75 years young, Cheryl was born in Missoula and raised in Thompson Falls. She graduated from Thompson Falls High School and married Larry Conlin, a U.S. Airman. She had three children and traveled to many different places as all military families do. She received her teaching degree from Alaska University in Anchorage. Cheryl requested no service. She will be remembered for her love and compassion for animals, her cookie baking with the grandkids, the...
Editor: As a disabled U.S. Army veteran who relies heavily on VA for my health care, I respectfully take issue with Commander (Ret.) Thomas Humphreys’ laudatory remarks about Senator John Tester’s effectiveness in supporting veterans’ health care. Tester has not fixed the problem as he claims he has. While I’m glad Tom finally got his hearing aids from VA, I am still waiting for VA to schedule a mammogram which I should have already had done several months ago. The horrible “Veterans Choice” program is still very much alive and well, but the na...
Native fish restoration projects are being proposed for Graves Creek, Crow Creek, Copper Gulch, Fishtrap Creek and upper Prospect Creek. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has identified these areas as vital to native westslope cutthroat and bull trout populations in the Lower Clark Fork watershed because they provide “high quality spawning habitat and contribute to increased juvenile and adult survival,” according to the USFS scoping letter. Since the areas of interest tend to have few quality spa...
Mike Hensler, a longtime fisheries biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP), is the new regional fisheries manager in northwest Montana. Hensler began serving as the FWP Region 1 fisheries manager, based in Kalispell, on July 1. “Mike has been one of FWP’s emerging leaders for a long time when it comes to both native fish conservation and recreational angling, and we are fortunate to have him step into this important leadership role,” FWP Region 1 Supervisor Jim Williams said. Hensler is replacing Mark Deleray, another longtime FWP e...
