The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
Sorted by date Results 301 - 325 of 505
Hope you all had a very nice Christmas and the best the new year can bring! First, we would like to thank everyone who helped or donated to our annual Christmas party we had on the first week of December. We had 60 guests enjoy a nice roast beef dinner that was paid for by a friend. Everyone brought wonderful desserts to share. We exchanged gifts, 50/50 cash prizes, door prizes, silent auction and the best was the wonderful little angels from our school who came to sing for us. So cute they are! We would love to hear from...
Lewis and Clark County Public Works Director Eric Griffin reported that work on the North Lincoln Gulch Road culvert repair is moving along. At the Lincoln Government Day meeting Friday, Griffin said the latest reports from the crew working on the repair is that the culvert had been installed, the headwalls are in place and plans called for them to start backfilling Monday, if weather permits. They hope to have backfilling complete by the end of the week and to begin placing r...
For a little more than three years, the Matt King House has been home to several cats who have taken up residence among the stacked timbers of the building. The disassembled building has been stored behind the Blackfoot Valley Dispatch office since 2015, after Heritage Timber disassembled and moved the structure from its original location east of Sucker Creek Road. Since then the Lincoln Heritage Alliance, which formed as part of the effort to save the historic building, has b...
The Lewis and Clark County Bridge Crew began work last week to repair the washout on North Lincoln Gulch Road, but has hit a snag that will delay the project two to three weeks. Doug Nisbet, the Lewis and Clark County Road and Bridge Operations superintendent, told the BVD Monday that the 85-foot long, 90-inch wide culvert delivered last week came with tapered ends. Plans for the repair called for a culvert with no taper. He said the repair project will proceed according to pl...
You could hear the excitement in the kids voices even before stepping into the gym at Lincoln School Saturday morning. More than 70 kids were inside, making their way from station to station at Santa's Workshop to create Christmas gifts for their family and friends. Organizer Jill Frisbee said that the kids and their parents are her favorite part. It's what keeps her coming back to help year after year. "I think sometimes the parents are almost as excited as the kids."...
The Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest announced Friday that it has a new plan for the Stonewall Vegetation Project west of Lincoln. The new proposed alternative, outlined in a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, includes 1,435 acres of treatments including commercial thinning, 270 acres of prescribed burns and other activities. Forest Service crews would have to construct less than a mile of temporary road and perform maintenance on 27 miles of established...
Tracks in the snow reveal some recent wolf activity near Copper Creek. At least four wolves, probably the Landers Fork Pack, crossed Copper Creek Road about a mile north of Highway 200 over the weekend. According to the 'Blackfoot Watershed Wolf and Bear Activity Report for the summer of 2018, the greater Blackfoot Valley area is home to 13 pack of wolves, including the Landers Fork, Stonewall Mountain and Humbug packs. Last Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved...
When Lincoln Schools English teacher Philip Reed heard two of his students discussing Pearl Jam drummer Jeff Ament's skatepark project last year, he encouraged them to write in to the foundation, nominating Lincoln for a park. "There's s quite a large at-risk community here in Lincoln for young kids that most small towns in Montana really don't have," Reed said. "I think...trying to provide as much for the kids to keep them active and out of trouble...that's one of the big...
Trails, traffic, tourism and teamwork were all topics of discussion as Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney sat down with Lincoln stakeholders and Main Street Montana Rural Partners Monday, Oct. 22. Administered by the Community Development Division of the Montana Office of Tourism, Main Street Montana helps communities revitalize and preserve their historic downtowns by uniting community ideas and efforts with program organization and resources. Focusing on economic development, urban...
Continued mild weather contributed to lower than usual hunter activity and harvest through the second weekend of hunting season in western Montana. "Weather is always the driving factor in big game harvest, especially early in the season," said Mike Thompson, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 2 Wildlife Manager. "When the weather is fairly warm, and we have rain instead of snow, deer and elk don't move much, making them harder to spot and track." This is the first year...
Republican Congressman Greg Gianforte has served as Montana's sole representative in Washington DC for a year and half, after defeating singer Rob Quist in a May 2017 special election for the seat left vacant by Ryan Zinke, President Donald Trump's pick as Secretary of the Interior. Gianforte is currently running for re-election this year against Democrat Kathleen Williams of Bozeman. Gianforte, who prides himself on getting out to all the counties in Montana and not spending...
The Blackfoot Challenge announced the selection of Charles Curtin as their new Executive Director in February of this year, but just seven months later, the organization and Curtin have parted ways. The Blackfoot Challenge has been tight-lipped about why they parted ways with Curtin in September. In response to an inquiry form from the Blackfoot Valley Dispatch, Challenge Communications Manager Sara Schmidt said the details are an internal matter and that "it just didn't work...
The Lincoln branch of the Lewis & Clark Library hosted a free "interactive" screening of "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" Friday, Oct. 19. The activity was administrated by Lewis & Clark Library Teen Services Librarian Heather Dickerson, who traveled from Helena for the event, and featured free pizza, kool-aid and a bag of "supplies" for each child. Some of the supplies for the interactive experience included a script, a hat, a wand, two "gold" coins and a nerf...
Work at the UBMC has been proceeding rapidly this year, despite getting off to a late start. The plan for this year included a flexible three-section approach that started with a base bid that ensured remediation of Bear Trap Canyon, from the confluence of Mike Horse and Bear Trap Creeks down to the Water Treatment Plant, would be completed this year, at a minimum. By Aug. 10, the contractor for the project, Missouri River Contractors, had made enough progress that the...
Last Wednesday, about twenty people boarded vans at Hooper Park for a three-hour tour of the Upper Blackfoot Mining Complex for a look at progress that has been made since remediation and restoration work began there in 2014. Cleanup of the UBMC resumed this year on July 23, nearly a full year after efforts were suspended due to a debate among the partner agencies – the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, the Montana Natural Resource Damage Program and the U.S. F...
Logs decked near the Forest Service campground at Flesher Pass were opened to firewood cutters last week after Forest Service personnel determined the there was no market value in the wood. Lincoln District Ranger Michael Stansberry said firewood cutters looking to collect wood from the stack need to have valid firewood permits, which are available at the Lincoln Ranger District office. Permits cost $5 per cord, with a minimum purchase amount of four cords. Cutters can...
Last Wednesday about 45 members of the Mercy Flight air medical service from Benefis Hospital in Great Falls descended on the Lincoln Airport for their annual Safety Stand-down. Every year, Mercy Flight takes and operational break - effectively going out of business for the day- to review their safety procedures, conduct cross training between the medical specialties within their own ranks, and to train with other first responders in the various areas they serve. Mercy flight...
For the past 31 years, once a month, you can find a white motor home sitting outside the Sportsman's Motel. Inside, you will find Dr. Loren Keller waiting to care for the four-legged residents of Lincoln. During his college years, Keller spent his summers on a ranch in the Bitterroot Valley. When the vet would come, he would help out, which stoked his interest in medicine. During a summer spent doing research with a doctor at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Md.,...
The 2018 season closed Oct. 5 and 6 for the Lynx junior high school boys after exciting contests against Hot Springs and St. Regis. Despite having only six players suited up for the away game against the Hot Springs "Savage Heat" squad, the tough Lincoln gridders had a close match and lost by just four points, 40-44. There were no relief players waiting on the bench to give the Lynx starters a breather, but according to Coach Kara Demptster, the team was still playing their...
Varsity volleyball coach Stacey Mannix, all smiles after the three and out victory over the St. Regis Lady Tigers Saturday night, said, "This team is singing their song again." The last set was a close call and the score was tied up seven times coming down the home stretch, but the Lincoln ladies never sank into singing the Blues. The fans were hoarse from yelling, but the experienced juniors and seniors of the varsity squad just kept pounding the volleyball over the net,...
The JV Saturday afternoon contest started off with a come-from-behind win in the first set, but fell in the following match ups: 25-21, 17-25, 13-15 and 7-15. In past years, the Lady Lynx have not always had enough players to field a JV squad, so this bunch of Freshman and Sophomore gals bodes well for the varsity who will graduate four seniors from the team in the spring. Outstanding JV hitters were Andrea LaManna who had four of the team's six kills and Alle Russ who had...
First out of the locker room Wednesday, Oct. 10 was the younger B-team of the hometown Lady Lynx who dressed out nine hitters to face off against the junior high Granite Prospectors from Philipsburg. Students in grades 5 through 7, the B-teams are the "ladies in waiting" of the volleyball world, learning their skills and acquiring a tough competitive attitude while they wait to get into eighth grade and the A-team. Coach Dawn Kirby had prepared her younger ladies for the stiff...
The headliner game of the Wednesday night volleyball marathon was the older, more accomplished A-squad of the junior high Lady Lynx going up against the Lady Prospectors of Granite County in a non-conference match. It was also an endurance marathon for the fans who rooted and cheered through five sets of high-intensity volleyball. Coming out strong - it was “Homecoming Spirit Week” after all - the junior high ladies from Lincoln eked out a win in the first set that was punctuated by a thrilling spike at the net by sev...
The Alpine Artisan's Tour of the Arts returned to Lincoln last weekend as the Lincoln Art Haus Co-op once again hosted an exhibition and sale of their artwork at the Community Hall. Annie Allen, founder of the co-op, said the growing organization now has nine members, including new member Tammy Jordan, a fiber artiss who recently returned to Lincoln. Only one member of the co-op, Steve Woodhouse missed the tour this year, but they invited Margaret Rose Chiltwood, a visiting ar...
The new 911 call box in downtown Helmville may seem a bit anachronistic in the age of cell phones, but with only isolated bubbles of coverage in the area, access to the public landline may be the best option residents and travelers have at times. Located on the Helmville volunteer Fire Department's recently acquired new fire hall on the north side of Highway 271, across from the county shop and the community hall, the callbox is the brainchild of Tommy Applegate, a member of...
