Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
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With a truly broken heart, I am paying tribute to one of Thompson Falls most beloved citizens, Neil Carman. Neil was so reflective of what this community has always been - caring, kind, generous, ever helpful to each other in so many ways. Many of us over many years have been recipients of Neil’s kindness and generosity, and benefited from his hard work on our behalf. Neil dedicated much of his time doing work for others, creating, always thinking of ways to be helpful or make things better. He would remind me he wasn’t college educated, and...
The ability to have a say in government by voting is the bedrock principle of democracy. Because of that, every vote should be of equal value and carry the same weight. That is true for every political office in the United States except for the office of the Presidency where some people’s votes carry more weight than others depending on which state they vote in. Within the boundaries of a statewide or regional office all votes are equal. They are tallied up and the person with the most votes w...
Lolo National Forest Land Management Plan Revision The Lolo National Forest has been reaching out for comments on their proposed actions for their forest plan revision. This comment period ends on April 1, 2024. All to often when the USFS reaches out for comments on any type of project, people feel like someone else will do the commenting or the USFS has made their decision and asking for comments is only a formality. This is not true. Now is your time to put in your ideas on the forest revision plan. This plan covers all issues from forest...
My favorite show growing up — and still one of my favorites now — was Little House on the Prairie. I love the idea of small communities supporting themselves and each other. When there was a barn raising, everyone showed up for the work and the celebration. When it was time for the harvest, everyone would gather for a large meal after the harvest was done. Food brings us together. In times of sickness or distress or in times of joy and celebration, there is always a meal to share. Think about when a family suffers a loss or an illness. Peo...
Taking exception to Mr. Elliott’s column on the 14th of March Mr. Elliott’s lamentations of the Republicans of old falls flat on its face in every aspect of those who have lived and learned and seen our political and judicial processes of our elected officials in D.C. become more and more perverted as the two parties became incestuous seemingly right under our eyes. Mr. Elliott further laments how the Republican Party has been taken over by a radical right movement we call MAGA, inspired by former president Trump during the 2016 pre...
Dear Editor, Schools set protocols for improving mental health (March 14, 2024). Although I appreciate the positive attention to this topic and the implementation of counseling sessions, school assemblies, and motivational speakers, I wonder if we are getting to the root of the problem or just putting out the fires. Should we not return to the foundation of education and approaches that improve our mental health in the schools and the community? Should we not return to teaching our children the skills they need to be successful members of a...
Before moving here, we lived in a tourist trap of a town at an elevation of 4200’ in the mountains outside of San Diego, California. We’d get more snow there in one night than we’ve ever gotten in an entire season here in Thompson Falls, but the trouble was as soon as it snowed you couldn’t leave your house. The citiots, as we called them, appeared in droves blocking traffic for 20 miles in both directions and turning the hour-long commute into a three-hour crawl. The problem was our sweet little town with zero traffic lights and two stop si...
The warm weather invites us to open up the windows to clear the air in our stuffy homes. The season of cleaning is upon us. Some will scrub top to bottom making sure all the old dust collected in corners is removed. This can be refreshing for the habitants of the house. It also gets rid of stored energies that need to be flushed out. This clearing is good for everyone in the household. Stagnant air and energy can cause fatigue, breathing problems and even emotional unrest. The clearing goes deeper than scrubbing the cobwebs from the ceiling, th...
It is hard to believe that one year has passed since this first Mortgage Minute article came out. It has been fun working this up every month. I would like to thank those who encouraged me to write the article, those who provided ideas, and those who have helped review and fine tune each article that has come out. Back in March of 2023, there was optimism that mortgage rates would drop from the average 30-year rate of 6.85% that was prevalent at that time. A quote that I had in that first article from bankrate.com stated “Depending on what t...
When our reporter Shannon Brown started talking to schools about mental health, we had several conversations as a staff around the conference table about what direction the story would take. With three teens dying by suicide in the last six months, we felt the need to start a conversation. We watched schools and communities grieve and begin to heal. As journalists, how do we cover that? What can we do to help the communities? After recent presentations at Thompson Falls High School, we decided it was our responsibility to keep the conversation...
I wrote the following article 9 years ago, on February 23, 2015. Some of the terminology is outdated, but the thoughts are not. My father and his brother, younger by 20 years, were both ardent Republicans. They came from rural poverty, worked hard, and became successful, each in his own fashion. Along the way, they got an education in public schools, went to taxpayer supported land grant colleges and worked for the privilege of an education. In the summer, after the farm work at home was done,...
I believe it is unfortunate that open public meetings are used to divert the city council’s time, taxpayer money, annoy public employees and elected officials in attempts to find something, anything, that proves alleged illegal or underhanded activity by TF city. Facebook is no place to conduct public business. Read the postings of agendas, legal notices and minutes in the newspaper, on buildings and the city website. The website has a wealth of information on numerous city related topics. It is citizen’s responsibility to be up to date on iss...
Something to think about when you turn on your water faucet….. Thompson Falls city water system is part of the original water system built for the railroad in the late 1800’s with significant updates completed in the 1930’s and 1940’s. The city has owned and operated this system since 1936. Our current system provides service to almost 750 users and provides basic domestic water service, irrigation service and partial fire protection. The city’s water supply system consists of a spring supply source (Ashley Creek watershed), two operating...
When it comes to upcoming video game releases, I am generally pretty well in the know and have a good idea of what I am going to spend money on and what I am not. With that being said, there are still many games that fly under my radar, and the most recent and notable game that this happened with is Helldivers 2. I remember seeing a brief mention about a year ago that the 2015 Helldivers was getting a sequel. I had never played Helldivers and didn’t know anyone personally who had spent any amount of time playing it, so I quickly moved that i...
You see a lot of instances in professional sports of athletes putting on a show of arrogance and entitlement. Flashy touchdown dances, photos of epic reactions to a dunk, or comments attacking an opponent (kind of like politics). It makes for good television and water cooler gossip. In that last week, though, I witnessed two instances of athletes being humble and grateful for everything they achieved. The first was Iowa's Caitlin Clark scoring her 3,685th point and breaking the all-time Division I basketball scoring record set by Pete Maravich,...
In Missoula is a house on North Street referred to by its occupants as the Food Shack. It’s home to college students, recent graduates and miscellaneous other young singles, a successful experiment in rotational communal living that I’m privileged to be part of, even if it’s in a peripheral sort of way. A couch in the living room has often been mine for a night or five, and the sensibilities of my hosts and hostesses are remarkably like my own, given the disparity of our ages. They’re the kids and grandkids I didn’t have, full of fun and joy a...
Empathy ( noun): the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Tuesday was a dark chapter in Noxon’s story. Residents were sad, angry, and anxious all at once. We were tired of the line of out-of-county gawkers who drove by to get a glimpse of our community’s misery. Monica Tranel asked, “How can I help?” She told the story of how her community came together during a fire. It was a childhood memory that made a searing impression. Although, like I said, I was tired of the “rubberneckers,” I selfishly invited her to come down,...
For the record, no babies or women were physically harmed in the making of the heart-wrenching Biblical story of Solomon and the two women fighting over the baby. Also, because Solomon asked for wisdom rather than other things, he got those as well. To clarify on the subject of ectopic pregnancies, a medical professional with several decades dealing with saving lives and pregnancies has addressed the moral issues eloquently: “TERMINATION OF ECTOPIC/TUBAL PREGNANCIES HAVE NEVER BEEN CONSIDERED ABORTION. The purpose of the procedure is not to d...
Apologies readers, but somehow February was a month of memoir; I’ve been drowning in them (and it’s been wonderful; what a way to go). Unfortunately, that means I only had a couple works of fiction for you this month. If fiction is your jam, I will hopefully have many more recommendations for you next month as I just found three books I’ve been looking for at the Thompson Falls Public Library (libraries for the win!). Also, I get a lot of requests for more middle grade book recommendations and sadly, my kids are currently obsessed with Pokémon...
February was not very wintery, but the market feels a little more wintery. . . While there are still sales, this is when the market tends to get quietest. The inventory levels are down in all categories except commercial indicating more of a seller's market remains, unless you include days on market which is growing and percentage of list to sale prices which is dropping, while seasonality certainly plays a role. A consequence of this low inventory is that prices are remaining high. The contingent sale activity is also encouraging. The...
When it comes to upcoming video game releases, I am generally pretty well in the know and have a good idea of what I am going to spend money on and what I am not. With that being said, there are still many games that fly under my radar, and the most recent and notable game that this happened with is Helldivers 2. I remember seeing a brief mention about a year ago that the 2015 Helldivers was getting a sequel. I had never played Helldivers and didn’t know anyone personally who had spent any amount of time playing it, so I quickly moved that i...
Tuesday morning, the community of Noxon suffered an absolutely devastating loss. Several buildings and businesses were destroyed by fire. It is heartbreaking for the whole community, especially the business owners and employees. The loss of property is only the tip of what these community members - our neighbors - are going to endure in the aftermath of this fire. Thankfully no one was injured in the fire. Along with the cleanup efforts, now comes the "what do we do next?" stage for the community. When you only have a handful of businesses in...
The 15th of March is fast approaching. It’s been five years since Mark Legard was taken from us. What are the reasons? No one has come forward with any information on what happened to Mark and the investigation into his death has become a cold case. His family and friends are left hanging onto his memory praying for peace and closure. Each year brings no new news and the heartache only deepens. We wanted this letter not to be somber, but to celebrate the person that our beloved son, father, brother, cousin, and friend was. We keep Mark’s mem...
Thank you for your patience during this time as you await communication regarding budget cuts and potential staff reductions. I know there is anxiety and concern, which is understandable. Please be aware that the difficult discussion of budget shortfalls and the subsequent steps of considering how to best reconcile the situation is fluid and continually evolving. Knowing what to communicate (and when) is challenging until we get through that process and reach a consensus, some of which has occurred in the past four weeks as the budget committee...
Remember the Biblical story of the Judgment of Solomon (I Kings 3:16-28)? That’s the one where two prostitutes, living together, have babies three days apart. On waking one morning one of the women finds that her baby has died and places her dead infant next to the other woman who is still asleep and takes the other woman’s live baby as her own. Wanting her live baby back, the woman asks that King Solomon make things right. Solomon listens to the women, each of them claiming that she is the chi...
