Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
Sorted by date Results 1426 - 1450 of 1510
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark came through our area more than 200 years ago on the Corps of Discovery Expedition. They became famous for their exploration out west. A lot has changed here in two centuries, but their names are still prominent, from counties to rivers and monuments. Though Lewis and Clark are an important part of our history, other famous Americans made an impact in the area as well. Teddy Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, was one of those. Roosevelt came to Thompson Falls to hunt the “great white g...
Last Wednesday I had an amazing experience to be allowed to attend the “1700” minute Thompson Falls High School response to the National Day to Walk Out. I want to offer acknowledgment and deep appreciation for this day-long activity. From the point of inspiration of the idea, to all those that contributed to and participated in this remarkable day, thank you!!!!! We as a community are fortunate to have all of you. I experienced such respect, attentiveness and engagement from all but three students (that chose not to attend). The connections de...
Editor, I just want to say how happy I am that I live in the area of Thompson Falls. I live on the Thompson River, and I’m thankful for the crews who are always out there to remove snow. Also I’d like to thank the power company for always working long hours to make sure we have electricity. Finally, I want to thank our community – the schools, churches, city workers and emergency service personnel always on call to help. Life is good, but it’s even better here in Sanders County. Susan Rynearson, Thompson Falls...
With dysfunction in Washington DC near an all-time high, it’s nice to see the Montana delegation help lead the way to a badly needed deal to help our federal forests. Last week, in spite of a four-inch “blizzard” in our nation’s Capitol, a deal was reached that will truly help Montana avoid another smoke-filled summer, and hopefully start bringing the health of our forests back from the brink. Working with colleagues from around the country, Sen. Jon Tester, Sen. Steve Daines, and Rep. Greg Gianforte helped broker a compromise which provide...
So, here we are. Again. Rehashing and rehashtagging an all too common issue. Unfortunately, the issue is being presented as cut and dry, black and white, either/or – again. As with most things in life, there are more than two sides to the views expressed on the school shooting issue – which is showing no signs of slowing or going away. Either you support gun rights or you want them all taken away. At least, those are the two views overwhelmingly being presented. As with most things set before me, I’ve got mixed feelings about all of it and c...
I have been giving some thought to the beliefs of some—such as the Bundy clan of the aptly named town of Bunkerville, Nevada— that the federal government cannot own property and therefore whatever Bureau of Land Management land the Bundy’s are using as grazing land actually belongs to the county, in this case, Clark County Nevada. If I follow the logic, because the BLM, as a branch of the federal government, cannot manage land the government cannot own, the Bundy’s need no BLM permit or permissi...
March can be hard to handle. While signs of Spring are making their way through the last of the snow mounds, it’s still cold and some of us are just waiting for the snow to melt off the fairways so we can start working out the kinks in our golf game. For years, I’ve been saying I need to get away in March, just to take the edge off of those last weeks of winter. This year, my buddy and I took a quick trip to Phoenix to get some sun. We were mostly looking forward to seeing new places and making new memories. What I found is that I love our hom...
Scandinavians: In Search of the Soul of the North, by Robert Ferguson, (Overlook Press, 2016) This is a good read on its titular topic, if you’re up for page-and-a-half paragraphs and 150-word sentences, all stuffed with literary allusions, European history, and wanderings into psychological analysis. In truth, you need some extra motivation to get through it. Bleak winter weather sets the right mood, as would a melancholy personality, which is in fact what the author suggests Scandinavians possess, at least in popular lore. He wants to know w...
MARILYN LAWRENCE, Thompson Falls — “If anybody can, he can.” HEATHER MILLS, Thompson Falls –“I’m hopeful for everyone’s sake. I really don’t want a war.” CHERYL FRASER, Thompson Falls – “I think that Trump needs to be very careful because Rocket Man is very deceptive. He’s making a deal with the devil. I wouldn’t believe him for anything.” JAMES LACER, Thompson Falls – “Yes he could because he has a backbone.” WAYNE KIMBERLY, Thompson Falls – ”I hope so. Try to get him to back off on nuclear weapons. The Clintons gave them all the information...
There have been a lot of movements in Hollywood lately. Usually it comes with celebrities speaking out, raising money and hashtags such as #timesup and #metoo. Often, the movements are hard to relate to from rural Montana. It’s hard to imagine that celebrity problems are the same as what we face in one of the poorest counties in the state with some of the highest rates of unemployment. During the Oscars on Sunday, a video montage of military movies ended with a message of thanks to veterans and troops. Now that’s something we can relate to....
This past two summers, Sanders County has had two major fires and Mineral County one major fire. We have all complained that these fires should not and would not have been so major if we had proper forest management carried on for the last 30 years. As a farmer, I am in total agreement with that line of thought. That is something we need to work on and support. This letter is to point out how small changes have come about in recent years relating to forest management and why. As you drive down the highways in our communities, you once again...
As a fourth grader, when the siren heralded the air raid drill I dutifully crawled under my desk and put my hands over my head and didn’t move until the all clear sounded. During the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 I was as scared as anybody that the Russians were going to bomb us to oblivion and vice-versa but figured that putting my hands over my head wouldn’t cut it. Now, with North Korea, Russia and the U.S. bragging about their nuclear capacity, I mostly just hope for the best because the...
PEGGY CARLSON, Trout Creek – “The Subway sandwich shop is closed. We’ll wait and see what they will do there.” PAUL “ARNE” CARLSON, Trout Creek – “A technology business. Any kind would do. We need jobs.” JIM KROGMAN, Thompson Falls – “We need something to keep our young people here. We’ve had a lot of discussions, but no answers.’ CHIRP HJELM, Thompson Falls – “We need a tire store in town and a drive-in in town.” NADEAN NELSON, Trout Creek – “There’s lots of businesses that we need in Thompson Falls like a dollar store. Plains has one. We ne...
Often times people are afraid to speak up about sensitive issues. Don’t talk about politics or religion at the dinner table. On Feb. 14 in Parkland, Florida, the country experienced one of the deadliest school shootings. Immediately the gun control debate took center stage. It’s a touchy subject, no matter what side of the fence you’re on. Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where the shooting took place, started organizing marches and speaking up to their lawmakers. The tragedy these students have witnessed made them take a sta...
Editor: Kudos to Shana Neesvig and the Ledger for the wonderfully written feature on Olympic shooters Eric Buljong and Lones Wigger! Having spent much of my career as a public affairs officer for the Army’s marksmanship programs, in which both men were involved, I have seldom, if ever, seen such a factually correct and heartwarming story on the wonderful sport of precision shooting at the elite level. Shana actually “got it right,” which is so rare for a civilian journalist on this subject. Thank you for your excellent story, and thanks also...
Editor, Just last Friday I heard from several people that the Postmaster of Trout Creek was going to submit a request to annex over half of the Blue Slide Road (at least 10 miles) as well as land on the West side of the river by Beaver Creek, into a Trout Creek mail delivery zone. She confirmed this “proposal” by phone to me this Monday morning. I might suggest that if you currently live in this area and don’t like the idea that a single, unelected, government employee can cause you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in costs to chang...
Dear Editor, We have enjoyed the Tapestry Season of amazing performing artists presented by the Sanders County Arts Council. The Arts Council not only presents these artists in two wonderful venues, the Paradise Center and the Rex Theatre, but also provides free transportation for community members to access these locations. The Arts Council has obtained a grant to fund a bus to either transport folks from Thompson Falls to Paradise or from Plains to Thompson Falls, venue dependent. What a wonderful gift to all of us interested in seeing these...
Thomas Jefferson favored amending the Constitution by “taking from the federal government the power of borrowing.” He also favored a requirement that taxes would have to be sufficient for each generation to pay its own debts. Managing debt has always been a fundamental problem of American Democracy. In the early 1990’s there was a widespread movement to amend the constitution through a “convention of the states” to require that in balancing the budget, the federal government could not do so by passing on “unfunded mandates” to the states. N...
JEANETTE LORD, Thompson Falls – “Educate the parents to not let their kids play such violent video games.” DIANA CURRY, Thompson Falls – “I think it should be brought down to help the individual kid. Kids shouldn’t just be passed through. The real issue is how much bullying the kid has to experience.” KRAZY ERNIE FRANKE, Thompson Falls – “You can’t prevent all of this violence. When we grew up every house had a gun. They knew guns killed. I drove school bus for 30 years and have seen the difference between how the kids behaved then and no...
To the editor, Seems we often hear that common sense is lacking these days. From my point of view that looks to be the case with the proposal by the USPS to change many Blue Slide Road addresses from Thompson Falls to Trout Creek. Why make a major change when the current situation works very well. Having lived on the Blue Slide for 28 years and having a business on our property most of that time, I am very pleased. The service from the Thompson Falls PO and Carol our carrier is as good as it gets. There is no room for improvement. For several...
This week, we were hit with some of the coldest temperatures of the season. Waking up to below-zero temps makes us want to stay snuggled on the couch all day with a blanket, cocoa and some Lifetime movies. The colder temperatures remind us to make sure pipes are properly maintained, that we clear sidewalks and driveways, and remember to wear our spikes on the icy roads. It also reminds us to take care of our furry friends. Local ranchers are tending to their herds of cattle as calves are being born. We’ve seen plenty of deer and other w...
They were dumb and dirty drunkards, they did not love America, they worshipped a foreign god, they took jobs from native born Americans, they were illiterate and terrorists to boot, and it looked like they would soon outnumber the American populations in many cities. And, in fact, like a nightmare come true, in a few short years they were indeed running some of the biggest cities in America. They were the Irish and they were not loved. Help wanted notices were qualified by stating, “No Irish n...
Editor, If your doctor diagnoses you with cancer, do you seek a second opinion? Good, that’s what you should do. But if you seek 99 more opinions and 97 of 100 doctors say you have cancer, who do you believe? On top of that, all your non-doctor friends are telling you about their personal experiences. Your brother had a mole once, but he’s ok, so you should be ok. Your sister’s friend’s mother had cancer and she’s dead, so since you’re not dead you don’t have cancer. Who do you listen to? The 97 well-trained doctors who say you have cancer and...
JORDAN JOHNSON, Alberton – “Sometimes just by looking at them. You can usually tell if they are sketchy.” TANNER NEWELL, Eureka – “Get to know them.” ZACH MORKERT, Thompson Falls – “I think it is how they present themselves, that says a lot.” LEIGHA CREW, Thompson Falls – “I can tell by how they talk about others. If they are constantly badmouthing people, they are probably going to bad mouth you, too.” LARRY LACK, Thompson Falls – “When they look you in the eye. If they don’t, you can bet there’s something behind that.” LISA SCHULTZ, Tho...
To get a flu shot or not to get a flu shot, that is the question. When you ask someone if they have been vaccinated, there aren’t many middle of the road people. You have people who get it every year, and people who have never been vaccinated. I am one of those people who never got a flu shot. You hear stories of people getting sick from the flu shot (a myth squashed by Dr. Black in our front page story), or people still getting sick even though they got vaccinated. So why get a flu shot? Not that I was worried about getting sick, but I’ve alw...
