Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
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Thompson Falls kindergarten students got to experience the magic of Christmas on Tuesday with a ride on The Christmas Express. The train was brought to Thompson Falls by the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation and Montana Rail Link (MRL). Children boarded the train at the Thompson Falls depot with their teachers, Amy Laws and Amber Yates, as well as Superintendent Bill Cain and elementary principal Len Dorscher. They journeyed through the train cars and along the Clark Fork River, listening...
The holiday season officially kicked off in Thompson Falls last weekend with the annual Christmas on Main Street festivities. Along with a holiday parade Saturday evening and the annual gingerbread contest at the Old Jail Museum, the Thompson Falls Chamber of Commerce added a Holiday Stroll Thursday evening. Local merchants were encouraged to stay open Thursday evening and Santa made a stop at the Black Bear Ballroom for photo opportunities. Saturday evening, thee Men's Prayer Breakfast group...
The Thompson Falls City Council met for their last time in 2019 on Monday, and it was the final meeting for council members Dennis Newman and Tom Eggensperger. Mayor Jerry Lacy presented each with a canvas print of the city and thanked them for their years of service. "Tom, I feel like you mentored me and I appreciate the advice and everything you've done for the city," council member Raoul Ribeiro told Eggensperger. Prior to the meeting, Carrie Gardner with Great West Engineering presented...
The holiday season is in full swing. Last weekend, Thompson Falls presented its annual Christmas on Main Street and Trout Creek lit their town tree. This weekend, Plains will have its own holiday parade. The holiday season is here, and we're feeling the cheer. The Ledger had a unique opportunity to join the Thompson Falls kindergarten classes on Montana Rail Link's Christmas Express train. We've been dragging our feet a little on decorating and really feeling the holiday spirit (a couple of us haven't even put up our Christmas trees yet). But...
How can two different people have totally opposite opinions on the same thing? Well, it’s pretty easy, as we can see in the impeachment hearings going on in Congress. You are not going to be able to talk either side into taking what you have you say into consideration after they have formed their own opinion on what they accept as the facts of the matter. The fact is that the more solid the argument is against their belief, the more certain it will make them that they are right. In short, c...
Dear Editor: Last winter local sportsmen held a meeting in Trout Creek with the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks to discuss the wolf problem in Region 1. Over 300 people attended the meeting and openly expressed their concerns that the wolves were decimating the deer and elk populations. FWP told the public they didn’t feel there was a wolf problem and our elk and deer were doing just fine. It was obvious that FWP was not going to listen to what the sportsmen had to say. Our local legislators were listening. Bob Brown and Jennifer Fielder both s...
4 YEARS AGO • DECEMBER 13, 1979 RELAXING IS FULL-TIME JOB FOR EX-TEACHER Lillian Beamish is the only woman mayor that Plains has ever had. Retired from school teaching in 1971, Lillian lives in Thompson Falls, where she moved in 1958. She says her two-year stint at mayor in the mid-50s was largely uneventful, except that she nearly got thrown in jail for trying to save some property. The Clark Fork River was attempting to consume a residential area directly opposite the fairgrounds. The fairgrounds side had already been rip rapped by the c...
DIANE SCHWEHR, Thompson Falls - “You’re asking the wrong person, I like summer.” KAITLYNN GRIMM, Thompson Falls - “Sledding. The kids love it.” BARRETT GRIMM, Thompson Falls - “Yeah, sledding! Winter is my favorite season because it snows a lot.” CHASITY KEEN, Thompson Falls - “I just enjoy watching my kids sled and play in general.” BOBBY JO FISHER, Trout Creek - “I like going for a drive, or to look for wood, especially when it’s really cold out. If it isn’t cold out, I like to clean up the yard.” MARK HEDAHL, Thompson Falls - “Blow sn...
Ambulance calls: Plains, 11; Noxon, 2; Thompson Falls, 11; Hot Springs, 2. Sunday, December 1 Assault, Dixon. Report of dog bite, no broken skin. Monday, December 2 Theft, T. Falls. Alarm, Hot Springs. Phone related complaint, Plains. Caller claims sister is stealing inheritance from mother’s estate, Camas Prairie. Welfare check, Plains. Tuesday, December 3 Road hazard, blockage, T. Falls. Violation of protection order, Paradise. Animal, Plains. Road hazard, blockage, Noxon. Caller having problems with propane company wanting to come onto h...
Montana Highway Patrol Cody Allestad, 27, seatbelt violation, $20. Michael Mcfadden, 48, speeding in restricted zone, $65. Koltin Polinsky, 22, day speeding, $20. Dewey Arnold, 20, speeding in restricted zone, $65. Jill Malby, 40, speeding in restricted zone, $85. Dale Rasmussen, 58, seatbelt violation, $20. Chance Barrus, 21, seatbelt violation, $20. Megan Jones, 20, operating with alcohol concentration of .02% BAC under 21 years of age, $285. Matthew Lingle, 44, speeding in restricted zone, $65. George Mcmanus, 63, speeding in restricted...
Noxon Superintendent Jon Martin notified parents on Monday of an incident at the school Monday involving a student. “I want to inform you that today an elementary student made some inappropriate and aggressive comments at school,” Martin said in a letter to parents. Martin told The Ledger on Monday that the incident involved one student and that it was taken care of quickly and no one was injured during the incident. “Our staff handled it very well,” Martin stated. “It was not a huge problem. There was no lockdown or hold in place.” H...
by Miriah Kardelis Sanders County residents gathered on Saturday at the community center in Thompson Falls for a meet-and-greet with state candidates running in 2020. Sponsored by the Sanders County Democrats, the three candidates (Casey Schreiner, Monica Tranel and John Mues) made their way to Thompson Falls to connect with the residents and share why they are running. Mindy Ferrell, a member of the Sanders County Democrats, announced that each candidate would get 10 to 15 minutes to speak,...
Young entrepreneurs at Thompson Falls High School are looking to put a little extra change in their pockets. Through a Youth Entrepreneurs business course, taught by Darcy Farlan, students are learning the steps required to develop their own business. Beginning with a business plan, 20 students presented Farlan with a marketable product, sales strategy and financial analysis of their marketing ideas. After reviewing the plan, Farlan determined if she should "buy into the business," students...
The exalted Geminid meteor shower will be visible this week in our area of Montana; with peak nights on Friday Dec. 13, and Saturday Dec. 14. The Geminids, also known as the twins, are located in the constellation Gemini. This particular shower is considered to be the “best in show” every year, because each individual meteor comes in bright and fast, leaving a long-lasting dust trail in the sky. The Geminid meteors have also been known to appear with a bright, greenish-hue, making this meteor show one to add to the list of all the holiday lig...
Dewey Lewis Russel Arnold, loving husband, father, brother and grandfather, passed away on December 5, 2019, in Plains at the age of 84. He was born in Lonepine, Montana, to James and Hilda Arnold on December 15, 1934. He graduated from Plains High School in 1953. He worked at Fisher Body in Flint, Michigan, where he met Janice Harris. They were married on December 30, 1955, in Angola, Indiana. They returned home to Montana in 1959, where he remained until his passing. Over the span of years, he worked in the sawmill industry as a dry kiln...
Ross Chadwick Fratzke, 46, of Thompson Falls passed away Wednesday, November 20, 2019, at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula. He left this world too soon, surrounded by his loving family. Ross was born March 2, 1973, in Missoula to Scott Fratzke and Edna Brotherton. He spent his childhood from birth in Thompson Falls. There, he attended school from kindergarten through high school. On June 22. 1991, 20 days after high school graduation, he married his high school sweetheart, Debbie Thompson of Nox...
Loretta Franck, of Missoula, joined our Heavenly Father at the age of 87 December 4, 2019. A celebration of life service will be held in Missoula Saturday, December 14, at 2 p.m., at Christin Assembly Four Square Church....
SOLUTIONS ACROSS 1. Lariat 7. Bausch 13. Tunisia 14. Rustles 16. OS 17. Milwaukee 19. RU 20. Tares 22. Dug 23. Saber 25. Ekes 26. Urged 28. Lisp 29. Mag 30. Icy 31. Sao 33. CIA 34. USDA 36. Brakes 38. Telia 40. Tress 41. Apache 43. Soar 44. Pit 45. Owl 47. Men 48. Ian 51. ESOP 53. Eagan 55. Anna 56. Rorem 58. Con 59. Yeggs 60. Ed 61. Cockatoos 64. EB 65. Devalue 67. Rigidly 69. Sanely 70. Alarms SOLUTIONS DOWN 1. Lusaka 2. An 3. Rimes 4. Isis 5. Ail 6. Tawdry 7. Bruges 8. Auk 9. Uses 10. Steal...
VFW Post 3596 of Plains usually has to contend with freezing temperatures when the club conducts its flag retirement ceremony each December. The 10 participating VFW members had mild weather Saturday evening, "which was good," said Heather Allen, the club quartermaster, because they had 249 flags to retire this year, four times as many as 2018 and 100 more than the average number. The Plains club holds the ceremony each Dec. 7 to honor the military members who perished in 1941 during the surpris...
Coping with the loss of a loved one can be tough, especially during the holiday season, which is why the Clark Fork Valley Hospital Hospice holds its Tree of Life ceremony in December in an effort to remember and celebrate those loved ones. Thirty-two people from Plains, Paradise, Hot Springs, and Thompson Falls took part in the annual event in the hospital’s Building 1 last Wednesday evening, when hospice nurse Laura Lanfear read aloud a list of former hospice patients. Some names might not h...
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Plains, thanks in part to the art students of Plains High School. Forty-one students from freshmen to seniors painted the windows of 23 businesses in Plains from the Clark Fork Valley Hospital clinic on the west end of town to the Dew Duck Inn on the east side. It took the students nearly seven hours to do more than 70 individual windows from small 3x5-foot spaces to the First Security Bank's 10-foot wide by 8-foot high window. The bank got an...
Last Friday, members of Trout Creek and the surrounding areas, gathered for their annual community Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Held in front of the Northern Lights building, the tree was set to light up at exactly 5:30 pm. Despite the foggy weather, the community still came to show their support. There were about 35 people who gathered to watch the lights, eat cookies, and partake in the local holiday spirit. Liz Stender, President of the Trout Creek Community Improvement Association (TCCIA), has been leading the lighting ceremony for...
The upper MHSA classes have absolutely nothing on Class B-C when it comes to wrestling in western Montana. The Thompson Falls Blue Hawks finished a strong seventh and three other Western B-C squads finished in the top nine in team scoring in the 20-school strong Bob Owen Invitational in Polson Friday and Saturday. Class A power Frenchtown won the meet with 186 points, Lake City out of Coeur d’Alene was second with 179, Class AA schools Belgrade (176) and Missoula Sentinel (165) were third and fourth, Mission-Charlo (143) fifth, Superior (...
With a total of 14 wrestlers signed up, the Plains-Hot Springs Savage Horsemen wrestling team will hit the mats for the first official competition of the season in the Mission Quadrangular, also involving Mission, Eureka and Thompson Falls, Thursday evening. At press time, there were rumors that the mixer format planned for Mission’s Quadrangular would be changed to a dual format, but verification of that fact could not be established. Each team would wrestle in two dual matches each if that format is accepted. Head coach Jeff Kujala and a...
No one knows Noxon basketball like Ryan Weltz, you could even call him Red Devil Ryan. Once a star player for the Red Devils while he was in school in the West End, Red Devil Ryan has spent many of the winters of his adult life since then coaching either the boys or girls. One year removed from a one-year stint as the Lady Devils' coach, Weltz agreed to coach the Noxon boys team this season and guided his young charges into the Western C Tip-Off tournament in Ronan last week to open the season,...
