The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
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Winter will end. Trust me. But what will we see when all that white stuff disappears? A landscape green from melting snow littered with dead deer? Probably not. Yes, February was brutal for much of the state, but let's not lose our perspective. This is winter. This is Montana – a northern latitude state. And for the memory deprived last year was worse or at least longer. This year, few ranchers so far have complained of deer in their haystacks. Nothing like last year. That's p...
This last blizzard got me thinking about how hard the old timers had to work just to keep the house warm from September to May, and to cook every day of the year. Both families and homes were often large in those days, many having a cook stove plus three or four heating stoves. I've been told that some of the houses used over 60 cords a year. Our paternal great uncle took care of the firewood at the ranch, and always maintained the woodshed completely full of split blocks – p...
The Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest are encouraging incoming 9th - 12th grade students who love the outdoors—or are curious about the outdoor-based jobs—to apply to the 2019 Youth Forest Monitoring Program student crew! YFMP runs from June 17 – Aug.1, 2019, Mondays-Thursdays, only. Students will receive one week of training alongside Forest Service scientists, learning forest ecology concepts and field protocol for monitoring streams, soils, vegetation, recreation areas, and black-backed woodpecker populations at th...
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...
Dear Dietitian, My husband was recently in the hospital and diagnosed with congestive heart failure. He has been instructed to follow a 1500 mg sodium diet. He's trying, but it's very difficult. I'm afraid he will get frustrated and give up. Any words of wisdom? Signed, Deborah Dear Deborah, A new diagnosis can be overwhelming and often brings about the need for a lifestyle change. For readers who are not familiar with congestive heart failure (CHF), it's a chronic condition...
The first half of the 66th session of the Montana Legislature concluded March 1 with transmittal of the House of Representatives' general bills to the Senate. We've deliberated on a number of challenging and hotly-debated bills on the House floor. The Montana Republican caucus has been united on many fronts. One of our main priorities remains funding for our local schools. Early in the session, we made sure that our schools received the biennial funding on which they rely. Wit...
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...
He was born December 20, 1941 and lived in Pendleton, OR until he was 13, when his family moved to Sacramento, CA. He joined the Army after high school and spent 3 years in Germany, mainly spying on the Russians and Cubans and verifying that they were indeed building missile sites. After the Army, Terry applied for a job with Duell Vocational Institute in Tracy CA. He didn't have a clue that this was a prison until he drove up to report for work and saw all the towers and...
Reading Hope Quay’s column is often a highlight of the day for me. The one about the dogs made me laugh as I hadn’t laughed in weeks! The column of Feb. 27, though, I found very interesting in a different way and it gave me much to contemplate. Perhaps I can offer a different perspective with regards to Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Now, I admit right here that I’m not on social media, so I may have missed much that is pertinent to the discussion. What caused me concern was Quay’s assertion that there is no reason to like Colu...
As a conservative, I am used to Liberal Democrats accusing me, or the people I vote for as: sexist, bigoted, misogynist, racist, xenophobe, homophobe, climate denier, hater and dumb. I admit, I don’t know what some of those big words mean, but I never thought, until now, that they were right about me being dumb. Liberal Democrat’s just introduced “The new green deal” its brilliance caused me to doubt my intellectual capacity. I never knew eliminating cow gas could help stop climate change. I have thought if you eliminate peop...
“Men Wanted for Dangerous Expedition: Low Wages for Long Hours of Arduous Labor under Brutal Conditions; Months of Continual Darkness and Extreme Cold; Great Risk to Life and Limb from Disease, Accidents and Other Hazards; Small Chance of Fame in Case of Success.” - Ernest Shackleton The above quote was from an advertisement that Shackleton placed in the newspaper to recruit men of quality to his trans-antarctic expedition in 1914. It might just as well be a description issued just before one enters life. During my life I h...
Beginning Friday, March 1, 2019 members of the public will have an additional 24 days to submit substantive comments on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Stonewall Vegetation Project, located on the Lincoln Ranger District. If people have already submitted comments, there is no need to re-submit those comments. This extension is to offset the impacts that the partial government shutdown (December 2018-January 2019) had on the project's original...
HELENA - The 66th Montana Legislature is at its halfway mark and that means that any general bills that did not make it through their first house before the transmittal deadline are effectively killed. About sixty bills have passed both houses and have reached the governor's desk. Gov. Steve Bullock said one of the most impactful laws he's signed is House Bill 159, which will add about $77 million in funding for K-12 education. "I'm glad that the education committee got that...
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...
