Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
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In the middle of his 56-county tour, Gov. Greg Gianforte made a stop in Thompson Falls last week to discuss forest management. Included in that conversation was Sheriff Tom Rummel, County Commissioners Tony Cox and Glen Magera, State Senator Bob Brown, District 13 Representative Paul Fielder, Public Service Commissioner Jennifer Fielder and four community members. Gianforte began his day in Frenchtown giving high fives to the local first graders as they went into their second day of school. The...
Plains School officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony to dedicate its new multi-use facility Thursday afternoon. "The building was based on the needs versus the wants of the district," Plains School Superintendent Thom Chisholm said at the dedication ceremony, where he assisted in cutting the orange and black ribbon inside the new gymnasium with Neptune Lynch IX, a 1943 graduate of Plains High School and a substantial donor to the $1.75-million facility. "New is a great color, it looks great...
The new Family and Dollar Tree combination store is opening in Thompson Falls this week. Family Dollar, located at 2410 Main St. East in Thompson Falls, will open Thursday, September 2. Construction on the 11,710-square-foot building began earlier this year. The Family Dollar section of the store will provide everyday essentials, as well as frozen and refrigerated food, pantry goods, beauty and health merchandise, household supplies, basic apparel, baby and toddler necessities, pet food, electronics, toys and home decor the company announced...
What seemed impossible to a group of volunteers became possible, and a new film is telling the grassroots story of how it happened. "Return to the Big Skies – The Story Miss Montana to Normandy" is a documentary screening this month that tells the story of the Museum of Mountain Flying's effort to restore a WWII aircraft in time for the 75th anniversary of D-Day. "It is really hard to describe. Good things just keep happening," said Bryan Douglass with the Museum of Mountain Flying, one of t...
If you need something uplifting and inspiring, read my story on the front page about the documentary premiering about Miss Montana. If you need to be even more inspired, watch the film or read Bryan Douglass's book. I've seen it and I've read it, and they both have incredible stories of this incredible adventure these incredible volunteers embarked upon. The Miss Montana volunteers literally started out with nothing. Well, they had a run-down World War II plan and an idea. That was enough to get them going though. They worked so hard. Not just...
Dear Sanders County Citizens, We are currently experiencing a resurgence of COVID-19 infections. Over the last few weeks, we have cared for an increased number of patients who are very ill with COVID-19. Many are younger and previously healthy. It is clear that COVID-19 is back with vengeance. We care deeply about our neighbors, friends, family, patients, and community. Most of the severe COVID-19 infections we are seeing are in unvaccinated individuals. About 90% of people who have been hospitalized with COVID-19 in Montana over the past 2...
I am writing this letter in support of our local schools: the administration, the school boards, the teachers and other staff, and the students. Groups of people across the U.S. are opposing any type of mask mandate proposed by schools and supported by local health departments and the CDC, based on the misinformation that they’ve learned, most often off the internet and by word of mouth. These very vocal individuals are encouraging their friends and neighbors to attend school board meetings and voice their opposition, sign petitions, join in l...
KEEPING IT TOGETHER If Americans really want something to worry about, let’s worry about keeping our country together. A politically divided nation is easy prey to its enemies and a weak partner to its allies. Many of us think we know what path the nation and its citizens should follow. But if the philosophy is to prevent the other side from enacting their vision of America by making it impossible to get things done politically, then each side loses, and we are in deep trouble. It is far better to make a deal that gives us all something i...
2 YEARS AGO SEPTEMBER 23, 1911 A PLEA FOR THE FAIR The first Sanders County Fair will open at Plains on October 5 and will continue for three days. It is the desire of the management to interest every citizen of the county in making the fair a success and in order to do this I am printing this appeal to every citizen to be present at the fair, and to bring or send an exhibit, if it is only a small quantity of any grain, grass, vegetable or fruit. Bring any livestock, as there are premiums offered for all kinds of produce and stock. The...
Donna Farrington, Thompson Falls - “I think winter begins on Halloween, because it always snows on Halloween and that’s when hunting season starts. summer starts to end a little bit before that, about the end of September.” Frances Lane, Thompson Falls - “Whenever summer decides to end. It is different every year.” Theo Nygaard, Thompson Falls - “When the snow flies.” Morgan Totzauer, Thompson Falls - “Summer usually ends around November, when it stops getting hot and the fires die.” Steve Totzauer, Thompson Falls - "Summer is over when we p...
Motor Carrier Services Brandon Stedman, 34, seatbelt violation, $60. Montana Highway Patrol Leon Robbins, 43, driving while privilege revoked or suspended, 1st offense, $285; seatbelt violation, $20. Jerren Borgmann, 16, seatbelt violation, $20 Michael Hochstetler, 17, seatbelt violation, $20. Melvin Garvida, 39, day speeding, $70. Michael Boys, 24, day speeding, $20. Bridge Jackson, 22, day speeding, $70. Shane Robins, 43, day speeding, $20. William Ryan, 19, day speeding, $20. Adam Peretz, 31, day speeding, $120. Jianzhou Chen, 50, speeding...
Ambulance: T. Falls, 12; Hot Springs, 3; Trout Creek, 4; Heron, 1; Plains, 2. Monday, August 23 Coroner called, Plains. Drugs/narcotics, T. Falls. Property damage/criminal mischief, T. Falls. General animal call or complaint, Trout Creek. Harassment/privacy in communications, T. Falls. Request for welfare check, Plains. Livestock, Perma. Welfare check, Hot Springs. Tuesday, August 24 Assist other agency, Dixon. Automated alarm call, Hot Springs. Person missing, paradise. Assist motorist/citizen, Hot Springs. Abandoned vehicle, Hot Springs....
Jerry Flodin, a Sanders County resident until he was 21, died of COVID on August 19 in a hospital near his home in Fairbanks, Alaska. Jerry and his twin, Larry, were born in Everett, Washington July 19, 1937, joining an almost 2-year-old sister, Mary Lou. Their parents, Swan and Rena Flodin, were living near Granite Falls, Washington, where Swan was running a fledgling sawmill business. By 1942, lack of available timber forced the Flodins to move the mill to Plains, Montana, where there was an a...
Harley Leroy Huntley passed away August 23, 2021, of natural causes at Cherry Hill Assisted Living. Harley was born July 10, 1937, and called Thompson Falls his home for the rest of his life. He attended all 12 years of school in Thompson Falls. In school Harley was active in sports and excelled in pole vaulting and high jumping. He also played football for the Blue Hawks. In his teen years Harley began honing his skills as a craftsman by building model airplanes. His attention to detail was...
In 1996, when my brother passed away due to a work-related accident, I met a wonderful friend of his, Charles. Charles was in the late stages of AIDS; his ravaged body was skeletal and his face was marked with multiple open wounds. Almost certainly, his lifestyle was the cause of his illness. Meeting Charles and observing his dire situation, it never occurred to me that I should for a moment condemn and ostracize Charles for any actions that may have caused him to contract a terminal illness. In fact, most of us who recall that period cannot...
One Sanders County organization has discovered an ingenious way to put old worn out bicycles to good use. They might have flat tires, broken chains, missing seats, bent frames, and are peppered with rust, but together, with their mismatched colors, styles and sizes, they have a purpose - a flashy fence. The Paradise Center's bike fence presently has 24 bikes along a railing that separates the two parking lots. One of the latest bicycles was a Sears 24-inch single speed from Paradise resident...
After last year's cancellation due to COVID-19, Montana Shakespeare in the Park (MSIP) returned for its 2021 season. This year's summer productions were, "A Midsummer's Night Dream" shown at Trout Creek Park, sponsored by Trout Creek Community Improvement Association (TCCIA) and "Cymbeline," shown at the fairgrounds in Plains, sponsored by Plains Woman's Club. MSIP has been touring for 49 years, traveling nearly 7,000 miles through Montana and neighboring states. After a year of uncertainty, the...
Upgrades to the Thompson Falls Airport are progressing. In 2020, the airport received $733,276 in federal grant funding for improvements including upgrades to the runway lighting. "The 2020 grant was always intended to be coupled with a future 2021 project grant," said Lance Bowser, Airport Group Manager at Robert Peccia and Associates, the firm who has represented Thompson Falls and Plains airports since the mid-90s. The $3.4 million project began its construction on July 6 of this year and is...
PLAINS – Mountain Cats, Bobcats, whatever you want to call them, they can still play some pretty good 8-Man football. The newly rechristened Superior Bobcats, who broke away from a cooperative with Alberton for sports this summer and are no longer considered the Clark Fork Mountain Cats, opened the season with a 66-8 win over the Plains Horsemen in Plains Friday. Coach Jeff Schulz's Bobcast scored early and often against the Horsemen, who were playing their first game for new head coach Ryan Har...
Maybe Chucky, that scary, ugly, movie star doll who keeps coming back to life and creating all kinds of mayhem on the silver screen, should be the team mascot for the Thompson Falls Blue Hawk football squad. After all, the Hawks have been a recurring nightmare to the other teams of Western Conference 8-Man football since entering the league at the beginning of the 2019 season, winning 16 of the 17 conference games played that year and in 2020, and dastardly Chucky might be considered an appropriate choice as a mascot based on those results....
Starting the season with some things old, and some things new, the latest Thompson Falls Blue Hawk volleyball team again looks like a legitimate contender for Western B honors and quite possibly another State B tournament bid. Although no high school athlete should dare be considered old, coach Sandra Kazmireczak has three returning District 7B all-conference players back this year to anchor the squad in seniors Scarlette Schwindt, Elli Pardee and Arianna Wood represent the Hawks' old guard....
With the preseason tournaments out of the way, the volleyball action gets real this week in western Montana. Fresh off playing in the Mission Tournament Saturday, coach Jesse Butcher and her Trotters will again compete in District 7B this season, after several years in the local District 14C conference. The Trotters will return to Mission for a 7B conference match Thursday and will then host the Arlee Scarlets in Plains Saturday. Also fresh off an appearance in the Mission tourney, coach Dana Grupenhoff and her Noxon Red Devils will visit...
Feed-N-Fuel shot the low team gross, Bear Muscle the low team net and Noxon Quik Stop took over the league lead in Tuesday Night Men’s golf action at River’s Bend last week. Ryan Ostwald led Feed-N-Fuel around the Bend with the low individual gross of 42 and Doug Fisher captured low net honors with a well-adjusted 31. Ostwald, Kelly Kovarik, Mike Normandin and Dave Petteys posted the low team gross of 176 for Feed-N-Fuel while Rick Hagedorn, John Mosher and two unnamed substitutes put together the low team net of 138 for Bear Muscle Fitness. In...
Wild Coyote slipped back into the league lead as Highlead shot the low team gross and Moore Oil the low team net in Wednesday Night Men’s league play at River’s Bend last week. As is his golfing wont lately, Ryan Ostwald shot the low individual gross of 38 and Randy Hojem used his handicap to arrive at the low net of 33. Chadd Laws, Jesse Mosher, John Mosher and Hojem combined to shoot the low team gross and RT Brown, Bary Moore, Gary Moe and Larry Eddy added up the low team net of 141. In other Wednesday highlights, Paul Flemmer was clo...
It was the Jeanne and Tina show at River’s Bend Thursday as Jeanne Holleran and Tina Wheeler shot the low team gross and posted the low individual gross and net rounds in Women’s League action. Wheeler led all the ladies of the Bend with the low gross of 46 while Holleran calculated the low net of 33, and the pair combined for the low team gross of 99. The current league leaders, Kristy Beaty and Danice Toyias stayed ahead of the pace by posting the low team net of 76. In other Thursday action, Hollearn was closest to the pin in four on No....
