Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
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Tuesday in the newsroom it was discovered that I had the wrong edition number on page three of the February 3 newspaper. Last week was the first edition of our 118th volume. That's 118 years of covering Sanders County! I was shocked that I had missed The Ledger's birthday. I love celebrating milestones. If you know me even a little, you could probably guess that I was more than excited to celebrate my dog's fourth birthday last month (best pawty ever). As the years go by, we mark significant events in our lives and in the world with dates and...
A bobcat is traveling around the homestead these days, teaching snowshoe hares and ruffed grouse to pay attention, a good and proper thing for a bobcat to do. I see its tracks rambling through my woods. I also had the good luck of a sighting a few weeks ago. In my years in this neck of the woods, I’ve seen three bobcats, and sightings were years apart. One popped out of the woods on a summer day during my teens, scaring the bejeezus out of my first and only horse. Thunder went straight up and sideways, which scared the bejeezus out of me, as w...
Well, it’s definitely an election year. This year, Sanders County residents will choose two county commissioners, a sheriff, a county attorney, school board members, special district representatives and other positions. Candidates are filing and developing their strategies for the June 7 primary and the November 8 general election. The Ledger’s duty is to inform the public. Journalists report the facts and provide readers with all the evidence available so that the public can make informed decisions. The journalists at The Ledger do not jud...
In an age where people are falling all over themselves to divulge their most personal information to the world at large through social media and where people willingly give their permission to internet search engines like Google to gather and sell their personal data, it seems almost absurd to worry about the right to privacy. But the difference in giving up your privacy and having your privacy taken away is significant, and that is why it is frightening to me to see elected officials in Montana and elsewhere belittle its importance and plot...
The other day while driving to Plains, I noticed that familiar gray ceiling. After a beautiful sunny Sunday with not a cloud in the sky, a blanket of clouds hanging over the valley on Monday. If that doesn't give you a case of the Mondays, I don't know what will. You can feel that cabin fever settling in with the inversion in the sky. Most everyone is tried of the snow, the endless ice we've seen, and ready for sunnier days. It's hard to stay positive when it's cold and messy outside when all you really want to do is curl up on the couch with...
It is 10 a.m. on January 21, 1991, when Montana State Senator Eleanor Vaughn (D-Libby) calls the joint meeting of House and Senate State Administration Committees to order and Senator Harry Fritz rises to present, for the third consecutive legislative session – 1987, 1989, and now, 1991 – a bill to create a paid state holiday honoring the legacy of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. It has been a national holiday since 1986, and Montana is one of the two remaining states that has yet to cre...
For a few years I lived in Texas, where high school football is a pretty big deal. On Friday nights, communities fill stadiums bigger than some college playing fields and coaches are treated like royalty. Watching high school football at that level was fun, but you get even more intensity watching sports in rural Montana. Last week we got to see two undefeated teams battle it out on the court as Bigfork and Thompson Falls girls met for the first time this season. Then Saturday, Hot Springs and Charlo went back and forth until literally the...
With the passing of icon Betty White three weeks short of her 100th birthday, people have been sharing the impact the performer had on their lives. From her roles as sweet Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, the dimwitted Rose Nylund on Golden Girls, to portraying the deceptive foul mouthed Catherine Piper on Boston Legal, Betty’s nine-decade career provided a diversity of characters and created an enduring legacy, both on stage and screen. Throughout life, Betty shared her d...
The City of Thompson Falls has been working now for a couple years on how to handle growth in the community. On Monday, the City Council discussed adding tiny homes to the mobile home placement ordinance. The discussion went several different directions. When it comes to growth, it's not just about home size or how many residences are on a lot. The city has to think about things such as guidelines for fence placement, impact to the city sewer and water systems and requirements for off-street parking. Communities within Sanders County are...
At Oakland Airport, I await a flight to Spokane, the last leg home from Seattle. It’s a roundabout way to get there, but it fits the day, which has been roundabout also. I still like to fly, but there are a number of SDRs that go with flying these days that I could do without. “SDR,” by the way, stands for Stupid Damn Rule. I start the day learning an SDR: bags can’t be checked with the airline until four hours before departure. Got it. Won’t make that mistake again. I go back to the hotel and check my bag at the front desk. This takes 40...
This week, the Paradise Center opened its doors to welcome visitors and show off projects and progress. My mom and I visited on Sunday. There were a few people in and out. I didn't mind it being quiet because I'm one of those annoying people at museums who stops and reads every word of every placard. Our guides through the center, Kathleen and John, were full of information about the building and the exhibits. It was really interesting to visit the old classrooms and see how the preservation group is mixing the old with the new. The Paradise...
You can learn a lot by listening to what someone has to say, especially if you disagree with them. I’m not talking about learning only about what issue they might be talking about. I mean that you can learn a lot about the person you’re listening to. You learn to respect them as a person, and I think it goes the other way, too, that they learn to respect you. My awakening about the benefits of listening came around 1993 when I returned a phone call to an irate constituent. I had been in the Mon...
It seemed like each month in 2021, we were asking, "How is it already (insert month here)?" Now look at us. Just a matter of hours to finish all those things we swore we would get done this year. It wasn't that long ago that the county was recovering from the windstorm of January 2021. Residents experienced property damage from falling trees and some were without power for days. Crews worked tirelessly to restore power. The year 2021 continued with the uncertainty of the coronavirus. We saw hundreds more cases in Sanders County and a rising...
On Monday, I read a Christmas book to the kindergarten classes in Thompson Falls. The energy those kids have is amazing. The patience those teachers have is even more amazing. I learned a lot about Christmas from the kindergarten classes. I learned that Santa goes through the door at some houses because the fireplace has a fire going in it. I learned that it's a good idea to leave carrots for the reindeer, as well as cookies and milk for Santa. I learned one kindergartener was just sure that Santa had visited her house Sunday evening. The...
As I’ve grown older, the glistening promise of the winter holiday has become a little tarnished. That’s not to say I haven’t had wonderful Christmases, because I have, but there have been some horrendous ones, as well. I think that’s true of many people. Presence of the celebration during a time of trial serves to highlight any misery we might be suffering, especially if we are alone. There are also the expectations of the season perpetrated on us by marketers, our sense of tradition and even our own greed; expectations that cannot be realist...
This is a story about a close friend who died and the wonderful message that he sent his dearest companion, Gael, with the help of some very caring, nameless people who took care of him alive, and then not alive. By rights Patrick should have become like the smalltime hoods he grew up with, but he also grew up with a couple of friends whose interests in music and art guided him in a different direction and he chose the path of a thinker and of a self-taught artist. Now, art is a subjective...
It's that time of year again. The hustle and bustle of the holidays, school Christmas concerts, rushing to find those last-minute gifts. As happens every year, we're now experiencing those lovely winter roads throughout Sanders County. The state, county and city crews have been busy plowing, salting and maintaining the 1,510 miles of roadways in Sanders County. I've already heard some comments about crews not getting to roads quick enough, but I can't imagine the undertaking it is to clear all of Sanders County quickly and safely. As motorists,...
The last of the Thanksgiving turkey was finally dispensed of just a few hours ago. You might have imagined I could put my feet up and relax with a nice glass of cabernet and quiet, but no, it's already begun. The phone rings, "Are you done with dinner?" my brother asks. "Sure," I say, "What's up?" "What do you guys want for Christmas?" Silence. I should be ready with an answer, but I have not thought of the next holiday because the dishwasher is still cleaning the glassware from the last. Well,...
Last week, Thompson Falls resident Robin Hagedorn passed away unexpectedly. Her obituary is on page six and you can read about her life. But what you won't read about is all the little things Robin did to make our community better. Robin was integral to the success of so many events, but Christmas on Main Street was her favorite. Last year, I took over for her as secretary of the Chamber of Commerce. Robin gave me a four-drawer filing cabinet literally full of all her notes from events. As the year progressed, she would send me little...
Every once in a while, the public’s attention is drawn to an issue with a name that few people understand and many cannot even pronounce; enter “infrastructure”. Whatever it is, we are now going to spend 1.2 trillion dollars on it in the next few years, so perhaps it’s time to think about it. Since “infra” means “below” I think about infrastructure as the foundation on which our society is built. There are two types of infrastructure, commonly called hard and soft. I was taught the difference between them by a mechanic when I was complaining ab...
Did you feel that warm weather that hovered near 60 degrees this week? It's hard to believe that December is here when we are still experiencing that kind of weather. (I realize I probably just jinxed it and by the time you read this, we may have several inches of snow.) The Thompson Falls Chamber (for which I am the secretary) has been busy helping coordinate the Christmas on Main Street events this week. The holiday stroll is tonight with caroling and the community tree lighting, then the ever-popular parade is Saturday. There are craft...
U.S. Highway 10-A (“A” stood for “alternate”) ran by our front gate when I was a kid, on its way to a rendezvous with U.S. Highway 10 just west of Missoula. For the last 27 miles, it coincided with US 93. I’m not sure what happened at the intersection of the three, but I don’t think 10-A continued. Sometime around when U.S. 10 was replaced by Interstate 90, U.S. 10-A became Montana 200. I believe this was just about the time I learned to drive, so it was a loooooong time ago. Since then, I have spent a lot of time driving up and down that r...
Last week there was great energy throughout the Thompson Falls community as the Blue Hawks prepared for their state championship game. Parents and students volunteered to paint windows on Main Street. Businesses decorated with banners, signs and balloons. There was a community pep rally, a parade before and after the game, a team dinner with the 1974-75 alumni and a celebration in Thompson Falls after the game that felt like an all-school reunion. It made me smile to see how the alumni from the previous championship team were so happy for the n...
Does the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, who was accused of murdering two men and wounding another at a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, broaden the way for Americans to take the law into their own hands? Can individual Americans, by claiming that they felt their life was in danger, become judge, jury, and executioner and not worry unduly about the consequences? If the law is a matter of personal interpretation, who can you trust? Imperfect as it is, the American legal system at least spells out...
I met Phoebe at a crosscut saw training with the Cabinet Ranger Forest District in Montana on my first week of work for Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness. I was timid because I hadn’t used the tool before, and she helped me feel comfortable. I liked Phoebe immediately. She has this powerful and assertive way about her that demands respect while simultaneously communicating that it doesn’t matter if you respect her because she is going to go her own way regardless. She’s a wild woman. I’d like to try to characterize Phoebe for you although I...
