The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
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Travis Byerly sees a lot of potential for the future of Hi Country Snack Foods. "The future of the business looks very promising and exciting," Byerly, who is on the cusp of purchasing the business, told the BVD. "It's a good local manufacturer in a rural community that needs to keep jobs. Our goal is to grow the business, expand the business, keep it headquartered in Lincoln and create more income opportunities in Lincoln and expand on that. To do that we have to grow the...
Lincoln’s April 5 Government Day meeting covered a lot of ground. In Town Trails Karyn Good presented information on the progress of the Envision Lincoln in-town trails project that has been in the works since last year. “Our overarching goal for the in-town trails plan was to create a connected trails system that would connect our existing assets safely, and would be available to all,” she said. “We realize this is a costly process and likely a very long process so we’re starting small.” Good said they began looking fir...
A Lincoln man was found dead along the Blackfoot River last Wednesday after failing to return from a fishing trip the day before. A friend of James Savstrom called the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Department Tuesday night, April 2 after seeing Savstrom’s truck parked along Highway 200 near the Powell County line that night, Deputy Robert Rivera told the BVD. Rivera, who is based in Lincoln, responded to the report when it came in just before midnight. He searched the river area near Savstrom’s vehicle, but was unabl...
Paige Gilbert jumped up and down with excitement after going a full nine rounds and walking away as the winner of Lincoln School's National Geographic GeoBee. Gilbert bested the rest of the schools 4th through 8th grade students Thursay afternoon in the first geography bee held at the school in several years. Through a total of nine rounds Gilbert correctly answered the most questions that tested the kids' knowledge of subjects ranging from locations of cities to economic...
The Pit Stop, Lincoln Schools and the Senior Center's Lincoln Dinner Club were among 59 dining establishments in Lewis and Clark County recognized for their food safety efforts in 2018. The school and Senior Center have been recurring winners since the awards were introduced in 2011. The School earned Gold Fork awards, the highest recognition, for their efforts in 2016 and 2017. The Pit Stop won their first Silver Fork last year...
The bitter cold temperatures that gripped the area in February and early March is believed to be the culprit behind a fish kill near the bridge at the end of the 4x4 Road, east of Lincoln. Billy Smock of Lincoln noticed dozens of dead fish around the bridge Friday while out walking in the area. She reported the kill to Lincoln-area Game Warden Ezra Schwalm, who arrived that afternoon to check it out. At first, Schwalm didn't suspect cold weather or ice was the cause. "This...
Members of the Tenacious Dames, the women's motorcycle club organizing the 2019 Lincoln Bike Rally for the Lincoln Valley Chamber of Commerce, hosted a meeting at the Community Hall Sunday to discuss community planning for the July 13-14. event. Club President Julie Fink and Tina Bundtrock, their state special events coordinator, stressed the need to find out if the town is behind the event. "This is a community event, so it takes all of the community's buy in to make it work,...
The Lincoln Loggers wrestling team placed second for small teams, and 11th overall, at the Central Montana Little Guy Wrestling tournament in Lewistown, Saturday, March 23, scoring a team total of 58 points. Among the kids younger than 10, Elijah Barnett brought home a 1st place win in the 10 and under 57-pound weight class. Likewise, Ray Ortega, in the 8 and under, 54C weight class, also placed first in his division. The 1st place wins earned 10 points each for the Lincoln...
The Community Halls annual clean-up is a significant undertaking, with a to-do list covering about two pages. Doug Vulcan, who has been volunteering for the clean up for the last four years, said part of the trick to maximizing volunteer efforts is to break tasks down into small chunks that don’t seem overwhelming. Cleaning the walls of the century-old building may look fairly straightforward, but Vulcan said it can present a challenge. He said the first year he helped clean t...
The Powell County Planning Department is scheduled to host a pair of fact-finding, informal open houses in northern Powell County to discuss possible changes to zoning in northern Powell County and to gather comments about the current zoning map. The first open house is scheduled for April 1 at the Ovando School from 5-7 p.m. A second is set for April 3 at the Helmville Community Center, also from 5-7 p.m. For residents who cannot attend either meeting, they can provide input...
To the surprise of many Ovando residents, Montana's 2018 Community of the Year found itself highlighted in a new commercial promoting tourism in the state. A new 30-second commercial called "Montana: Discover the Moment" features shots of the town and local businesses as a cars pulls into town and stops at the Blackfoot Commercial Company, before a couple heads out to do some exploring on their bikes. Word of the commercial reached Ovando by way of Couer D'alene, where it was...
The Montana Department of Commerce announced last week the approval of a $400,000 Community Development Block Grant for Economic Development that will be used as part of a funding package for the purchase of Hi Country Snack Foods by Travis and Molly Byerly of Bozeman. The grant to Lewis and Clark County for the Hi Country transaction is part of a $1.2 million funding package awarded to three projects around the state, including a grant for to the city of Hardin for medical...
Lincoln firefighters descended on the Lincoln Community Hall Friday afternoon and Saturday morning to prepare the hall for their annual Fireman's Ball. Lincoln Fire Chief Zach Muse said efforts to get the Fireman's Ball up and running was "a bit chaotic" this year, following a few tough months. Muse said circumstances this year, including the passing of Fire District Chairman Bill Frisbee, health issues within the families of various firefighters and even the extra plowing...
The Lincoln Baptist church welcomed a new pastor to town this month with the arrival of Marshal Visger. Visger comes to Lincoln from Glasgow, where he worked as a Valley County Deputy Sheriff. "I'd been involved in Southern Baptist for quite some time, and felt the calling of the ministry and I saw Lincoln was looking," he said. "There were very few places I wanted to move to and Lincoln was in the top three." Visger comes to Lincoln with his wife Katelyn and a 10-month-old...
Dave Sitch said his family is so thankful and appreciative for the continued support of the Pete Sitch Memorial Basketball Tournament. This year marked the 32nd annual tournament created in honor of the Sitch family patriarch, who was killed in a logging accident in 1984. The Lincoln Telephone Company team took home the top spot after beating Big Rock, a team based out of Boulder, in the championship game Sunday afternoon. Sitch said this year's tournament had a full roster of...
After a snowmobile season that got off to a slow start in January, followed by a bitterly cold February and that saw the Ponderosa Snow Warriors' groomer out of commission for a month, conditions finally turned favorable for the club's annual scholarship fun run Saturday, March 9. Clear skies, bright sun and temperatures that finally rose above freezing gave the 40 or so riders who took to the trails a long-awaited nice day. Organizers took advantage of the conditions and the...
The blast of cold weather that decended on the state March 4 likely set a new state record low temperature for March at Elk Park, but Lincoln didn't offically beat its own March record low of minus 40 degrees, set in 1955. The official reading of 39 below zero on the morning of March 4, missed the record by just one degree. However, given the sheer number of unofficial thermometers around the valley that recorded 40 below on that day, most locals know this year was at least a...
The Lincoln School Board brought their search for a new superintendent to a close at their meeting Monday night with the approval of a contract for Jennifer Packer, who will take over the position from Carla Anderson July 1. Anderson, who has held the job since 2015, announced her decision to step down from the position in December, citing health concerns. The school board, working with the Montana School Board Association began their search in January and chose Packer from...
If you ever took a CPR class and found the old Resuci-Annie CPR dummies a little...creepy, the idea of a medical mannequin that can scream at you, move its eyes and deliver a moving baby may seem like the stuff of nightmares, but such a simulator provided important and realistic training for members of the Lincoln Volunteer Ambulance last weekend. A mobile lab from the non-profit Simulation in Motion-Montana, Inc. made its first visit to Lincoln Saturday as part of the...
As 2018 rolled into 2019, the dearth of snow in the Upper Blackfoot Valley was raising concerns we might be in for the return of a warm, dry winter. Around Jan. 20, that concern began to lift as a healthy snow storm rolled in and began more than a month of snow and cold that has seen record February snow falls in many areas. Locally, the recurring storms brought valley snow depths up to a level roughly equivalent with last year. With spring (hopefully) just around the corner,...
Heavy snowfall since mid-January has bolstered Lincoln area snow packs and has led to renewed concerns about possible spring flooding, but the cold that has accompanied the snow may help mitigate the risk locally. "Last year our snow had a lot more water in it because we were warmer," Lincoln Fire Chief Zach Muse said at the March 1 Government Day listening session. "This year, it's more of a dry, cold snow, so I think we'll get three or four or five days of above freezing...
Old Man Winter’s strangle hold on Montana this year caused Ovando residents to tap out on their annual effort to shake off the winter’s dreariness with a little Hawaiian whimsy. After last weekend’s extreme cold weather and wind chills scuttled a second attempt to host the Annual Ovando Community Mid-Winter Luau, residents cried “Uncle!” and called off the event this year. It was the first cancellation of the event since it began in 2005. Typically held every year on the Saturday following the Super Bowl, the Luau has serve...
Gusting winds have been a regular occurrence in Lincoln, accompanying the recurring cold weather that shattered the local low temperature record for March. Temperatures in Lincoln dipped to minus 39 degrees at 7 a.m. Monday morning, easily beating the previous record of minus 19 degrees set in 1989. The cold snap set new records for March low temperatures across the state, including Helena, Butte and Lewistown. However, in Elk Park north of Butte, a new state-wide record for...
Groomer operator Gordy Becker heads back to the Ponderosa Snow Warriors groomer shed after spending the night preparing the snowmobile trails around Lincoln ahead of last Saturday's Fun Run. "Gordy groomed all night long so we had it all ready for the Fun Run Saturday. We were pretty excited, so our fun run was good," said Snow Warriors Secretary Bonnie Christian. "Everybody had a good ride," she said. "(The weather) didn't stop them from staying out. They stayed out in the...
The lawsuit and subsequent counterclaim that pitted the U.S. Government against Lincoln-area miners in a dispute over mining regulations and property rights ended last week with a decision in favor of the U.S. Forest Service. The Feb. 21 decision by Judge Charles Lovell ordered Intermountain Mining and Refining, LLC to remove any unauthorized locks, signs and explosives, and an unapproved 12x20 foot garage by June 30 of this year. It brings to a close three-and-a-half years of legal wrangling that began Aug. 11, 2015, when...
