Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
Sorted by date Results 1026 - 1050 of 1510
Growing up, when we would start to annoy our parents, they'd tell us to go outside. Run off some energy, go do chores, go do something. The first Friday in March is designated as the National Day of Unplugging (nationaldayofunplugging.com). While we didn't make it to a whole day of unplugging, we spent the day being more aware of how much time we spent on our phones, at computers or binge-watching our favorite series. In Montana we still have "dead zones" with no cell service. It's easy to unplug and go fishing, go for a hike, or just take a...
I often hear politicians speak and just get angry at what I’m hearing. That happened last week when I heard Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer threaten Supreme Court Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh. He was addressing a crowd and talking about the fact that the Supreme Court had agreed to hear arguments on a Louisiana case regarding abortion. It’s important that the reader understand, Schumer wasn’t talking about a Supreme Court decision. He was talking about the fact the court was hearing the c...
Editor: I would like to use this venue to ask your readers if they have any U.S. military memorabilia and war effort materials, pre-1955, they would be willing to loan the Old Jail Museum. This year’s exhibit is commemorating the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. No uniforms please, we have enough in the museum to outfit a small army! To donate please call Vonn at 827-4728 by April 1. Sherry Hagerman-Benton, Old Jail Museum, Thompson Falls...
Last weeks editorials caught my attention! It seems with some folks it’s all about themselves and their little world. Thank you Mayor Lacy and council for seeing the future and working for the greater good to the city and surrounding community, everyone’s sanitation and the extended benefits to the water table and our descendants! We, as a community all need and use the water table in one way or another! The alternative ways to escape the expense seem even less affordable - buy your own place in the country and foot the entire mul...
Last week, a reader stopped in with a bag of trash he collected between the two access ramps in Thompson Falls. It doesn't take long to get a pile if you pick up trash during a walk. With spring comes the melting of snow (usually) and the reveal of trash that has collected along roadways and trails. Beautification Days in Thompson Falls is coming up in April. And as you'll read in this week's Ledger, communities received grant funding for improvement projects. Committees and local governments are working to make our communities better. Even...
Dear Editor, In your viewpoint this week (February 27, 2020), you incorrectly stated that Coronavirus started in China. This is incorrect. The current strain of Coronavirus, called COVID-19, started in China. However, strains of the viruses that are together called Coronavirus are of unknown origin and have been known to science since 1962. More people will get sick and die from the flu this year than this coronavirus. Media outlets such as yours have caused this heighted state of concern that has now spread to the marketplace. I encourage you...
I would like to address this sewer project that the city council and mayor have forced upon their residence. A petition against the sewer system was presented to them with over 55% of the people affected by it. Yet they would not listen to citizens and could not give us a reason why we needed this system. We were promised they would listen if we got 50% of the people to sign. We did and they did not keep their word. They already went ahead with their plans. We were never told that an environmental impact study had been made to prove we needed...
It was in 1991, I think, when I was a member of the Montana House of Representatives, there was a bill to outlaw capital punishment. One of the proponents made a very thought-provoking argument for the bill. He challenged each of us to imagine we were the executioner. His argument was that you only had the right to vote to keep capital punishment if you were personally willing to “drop the trap.” (Hanging was a legal form of execution in Montana then, and the condemned stood on a trap door with...
If you've been in an airport recently, you've noticed people wearing masks as they walk through the terminals. Coronavirus, which started in China, has spread throughout the world. The United States has had 53 confirmed cases, while throughout the world more than 80,000 cases have been confirmed and more than 2,700 people have died from the disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has provided guidance on help to control the spread of the disease, including information about a potential shortage of respirators. There there...
A friend made a comment about this column the other day that really resonated with me. She said that she and her husband really enjoy the column and have had some great conversations after reading it. Obviously, I was pleased to hear that they enjoy the column, but it was her comment about the great conversations they had after reading it that meant more. For me, that’s what it’s all about. I think that the ability to have those discussions (particularly the tough ones) is a dead, or at min...
Last week’s Ledger had a letter, “City should have restrictions for cats…..”. It would seem that the words of Governor Aldlai Stevenson are most appropriate. “It is within the nature of cats to do a certain amount of unescorted roaming.” Governor Stevenson included that sentence in his one-page veto of piece of state legislation relating to having cats on leashes in 1949. It was a most fitting presentation of why such legislation is not proper and the logic of that one-page veto is still applicable today. Ernest Scherzer, Trout Creek...
"The truth is in the middle... progress is in the middle." Actor Harrison Ford made this comment on a recent episode of "CBS Sunday Morning" when talking about why he decided to start speaking up about politics. We want people to have opinions. That's where change happens. When people start speaking their minds, things can get better. Technology, education, transportation and other types of infrastructure have improved throughout the ages when someone has had an idea or thought of a way to do something different. Sometimes things don't work...
The abuse of presidential power for personal gain or revenge is nothing new, but its use has always been kept from public scrutiny because it was rightly considered, both by the perpetrator and the public as dishonorable, slimy, underhanded, and wrong. Lyndon Johnson was a master at using it without getting caught and Richard Nixon used it but did get caught. When Senator Wayne Morse, an Independent Senator from Oregon publicly opposed Johnson’s Vietnam war policy Johnson instructed the FBI to look into possible “dirt” that could be used again...
A few years back, there was a pious Norwegian Lutheran lady named Lena who had dealt with alcoholism in her family for some time. As a result of those troubles, she became a rigid critic of any imbibing, to the point that her friends and even her pastor were getting tired of the constant ranting about the evils of alcohol. Finally her pastor said to her, “You need to remember that even Jesus turned water into wine.” “Ya,” Lena replied, “and dat’s vat I don’t like about Yesus.” Maybe it’s not a true story, but it is a familiar one in Lutheran a...
I am a long-time resident, taxpayer and former dog owner and I would like to use this venue to ask the City of Thompson Falls to address the problem of the over abundance of stray cats in this town. When I asked the city council about doing something about the stray cats in my neighborhood, I was told that cats don’t have to be licensed and the leash law does not apply to cats. If dog owners need to have their dogs in a fenced yard or on a leash, why aren’t cat owners also required to do the same? Cats carry diseases, cat scratch fever, for...
As Valentine's Day comes around Friday, we're already getting a little bit of a sugar headache and the local florists are beyond busy. These days, it doesn't seem like much lasts. People move away, change jobs, change cars. We're always looking for something bigger and better. But take a look at the Question of the Week. Bernard and Kay Parker of Thompson Falls will be celebrating their 58th wedding anniversary in June. She was 9 years old when they met. Just by reading their answers, you can tell they love each other deeply. Those sweet...
Ledger Couldn’t help but notice the photo in the Feb. 6th edition of the first graders celebrating their 100th day of school depicting their physical impressions of what a 100-year-old person might “look like.” Is decrepitude what we are all headed for if this is already their sense of our cultural norm? Bent-over, cane leaning, bathrobe-wearing…. Wondering if this may be an opportunity to model and practice by example that “age” is relative to a person’s own expectations and attitudes. Perceptions can influence how and what we prioritize, i...
Editor: There is no safe form of tobacco. Smokeless tobacco (dip, chew, snuff, snus, and dissolvable tobacco products) can cause cancer of the mouth, tongue, cheek, gum, esophagus and pancreas. It also causes gum disease, tooth decay, and tooth loss. Montana’s smokeless tobacco rates are higher than the national average for both male youth (10%) and male adults (12%). Feb. 16-22 is “Through with Chew Week,” an entire week dedicated to educating Montanans about the health risks of smokeless tobacco and the health benefits of quitting. The Monta...
After the Mueller report was released, I wrote a column where I expressed the opinion that D.C. Democrats were going to squander an opportunity to move forward and work with President Trump. Unfortunately, I was right. They chose to continue their efforts to discredit President Trump and pushed forward two incredibly weak articles of impeachment. Last week, President Trump was acquitted of both those charges. Not surprisingly, those who support President Trump are delighted with the outcome,...
The first edition of the Sanders County Ledger was published 115 years ago in February 1905. This week is our first edition of the 116th volume. Here in the office we have all of the past books of Ledgers. You can also view them online at www.montananewspapers.org. The Thompson Falls Library received grant funding to digitize old editions. Looking back through that very first edition, there was a lot of information on happenings across the country, but there was also a lot of local news. The fir...
“As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air — however slight — lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.” – Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas There is a time when people become willing agents of their own destruction. We follow the wrong path because we are told by those we trust that it is a good...
We have to admit, we've been planning our snacks for the Super Bowl since before we knew who would be playing this weekend. Super Bowl Sunday is big business for the cities that host the big game (this year it's in Miami), and also for communities across the country. According to an article in Produce Retailer, 65 million avocados were sold in the days leading up to last year's NFL championship game. Some of the TV sales we've seen are better than you get with Black Friday deals. It's one of the busiest Sundays in the United States. And...
Last week I saw a news item and video that showed a police officer being attacked and kicked while on the ground wrestling with a person he was trying to arrest. No one intervened to help the officer. I’ve also seen recent videos (plural!) of police officers in New York getting buckets of water thrown on them as they were trying to do their jobs. These are just two recent examples of behavior that demonstrates a disturbing and dangerous lack of respect for law enforcement. Now we are again s...
Hello neighbors, Per last week’s Ledger, I see that the Trout Creek Bridge schedule is set. I was diligently anticipating a mention of Black Tail Rd., Martin Creek Rd. or Stevens Creek Rd. and the Noxon (one-lane) Bridge, I read none the such. This is a disappointment because I suspect our neighboring town of Trout Creek will avoid Blue Slide Road when they need to come west. I was reading that the Blue Slide Road Detour is getting a “check/fix,” new signage will be posted, “no large trucks, new guard rails & striping,” Montana Dept. of Transp...
This summer, the Trout Creek bridge over the Clark Fork River will be repaired by the Montana Department of Transportation. Driving over that bridge this week, we think the project is well overdue. There will be one-lane traffic over the bridge during most of the construction, with the full bridge closed for six full weeks. This sounds like a huge inconvenience — and it will be. There are many people who drive from west of Trout Creek or even Noxon to Thompson Falls for work. Some hospital employees drive all the way to Plains. Having to go u...
