The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
Sorted by date Results 476 - 500 of 506
Envision Lincoln recently announced the winners a poster contest they sponsored at for Lincoln High School graphic design students as part of an effort to remind Lincoln-area residents to call 911 during emergencies or when they see something suspicious. Alyssa Rios took first place and the $50 prize with her straightforward design featuring 911 in bold red numbers. Mackenzie Storey's design, featuring the tag line "Small things matter, don't be afraid to call," took second...
(Editor's Note: Readers of the BVD who have followed Dick Geary's exploits in Brazil during the past year may have noticed there hasn't been a column from him in the last month. Although we initially assumed he was having issues with his computer or the internet there, that unfortunately proved not to be the case. Everyone at the BVD is glad to hear Dick's health is improving and we wish him, his family and his friends all the best as they work through these challenging...
Ovando residents turned out last Saturday for the town's annual Clean Up Day aimed a sprucing up the town ahead of the busy summer season. The spring tradition fell by the wayside several years ago following several years of late season snowstorms, but was revived in 2013....
With the job of coordinating the initial Envision Lincoln meetings behind them, Trust For Public Lands representative Amy MacNamara began working with locals last week on the plans for a trail system for the town and nearby areas. Shortly after Lincoln was awarded the $100,000 grant from the LOR Foundation last year that funded Envision Lincoln, a priority identified by organizers is the need for a trail system around Lincoln that provides safe walking or bicycling routes for...
Recent high water in the Lincoln area impacted several parts of the valley as low and mid elevation snows melted, swelling the Blackfoot River and the many creeks in the area that feed into it. The recent flooding has prompted the Fores Service to close Sucker Creek rad at the trailhead north of town, as well as Nevada Ogden road in the canyon, where flooding from the Blackfoot River has swamped the Moose Creek Campground and washed out the road. Montana Fish Wildlife and...
The Lincoln High School Track team put up a solid showing on their way to fourth place team finishes for both the boys and girls at last weekend's District track meet in Missoula. "They did awesome. I was very proud of them all," said Coach John Beckman II. "We're excited for Divisionals now." Beckman said he expects to take 14 of the schools 18 track athletes to the Divisional track meet in Frenchtown this week. The Lincoln boys struggled a bit in the running events, but...
The earthquakes that have rattled the Lincoln area intermittently since last July may not have caused any major damage or ripped open cracks in the earth, but Mike Stickney, director of the Earthquake Studies Office at the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, said it's nevertheless been a "pretty spectacular earthquake sequence." The latest notable tremors from that sequence hit just this week, with a magnitude 3.7 striking the area Monday morning at 5:11 a.m., followed just...
As water from melting snow rose throughout the Lincoln Valley, and with an estimated month of high water still in the forecast, volunteers turned out in force last week to help fill an estimated 10,000 sandbags for residents who need them. The sandbag-filling operation began at the Lincoln Volunteer Fire Department's Station 3 east of town, but as the sand stored there ran low, it shifted to Hooper Park to take advantage of the piles of gravel and dirt from street sweeping...
A presentation on last winter's lingering snowpack and the impact it's expected to have on flooding didn't reveal many surprises for members of the Lincoln Volunteer Fire Department, but confirmed that flooding should be expected to continue for the next several weeks. Arin Peters, the senior service hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Great Falls, meteorologist Cody Moldan and Megan Syner, the warning coordination meteorologist, visited the LVFD last Thursday, as...
With floodwaters still on the rise in the Upper Blackfoot Valley and a the likelihood of addital flooding in the coming weeks, Lincoln Fire Chief Zach Muse says it’s time for people to put past differences aside and help their neighbors out. “At this point we’ve got so many problems with the flooding; what is going on your property could be affecting the people below you or above you,” he said. “At this point we’re all in it together and we need to really work together to...
Last month, Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild took advantage of a new way to raise funds by working with AmazonSmile. AmazonSmile, or smile.amazon.com, is a shopping website run by Amazon that allows shoppers to designate a nonprofit charitable organization to receive .5 percent of the purchase price of the items they buy. “It is Amazon, but with tying in with the greater community who order off them, Amazon has decided to contribute to charities,” said Sculpture in the Wild Artistic Director Kevin O’Dwyer. “They...
Last Thursday afternoon, a phone booth re-appeared on the corner of Highway 200 and Stemple Pass Road, in the same spot where one once stood for years. Although the booth differed from the original – some recalled it having red accents rather than blue – it served as the setting for a scene in the independent film "Ted K" currently being filmed in and around Lincoln. That evening, as the crew filmed a scene featuring actor Sharlto Copley as Ted Kaczynski, a choreographed dan...
A male bluebird defends a nesting boss by diving at a marauding swallow that got to close. Swallows have a knack for taking over bluebird boxes for their own nests. (Roger Dey Photo)...
The long winter and lingering ice on area lakes didn't result in significant fish mortality, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, but local reports indicate a significant number of dead fish have been observed at Browns Lake. According to a May 4 FWP news release, Region 2 fisheries biologists conducted surveys on Browns Lake, Harpers Lake and Lake Upsata and estimated fish mortality to be less than one percent. FWP reported that shoreline surveys showed 30 to 40...
The May 4 Government day meeting lacked a quorum of commissioners, so Commissioner Jim McCormick hosted it as a listening session, but the meeting also served as a public hearing on the Treasure State Endowment Program grant application for the Dalton Mountain Road Bridge. County Engineer Dan Karlin and Karl Yakawich with Great West Engineering, the company that completed the Preliminary Engineering Report, discussed the application and the required environmental assessment....
A local weed group developed in Lincoln in 2015 secured a $19,400 grant from the Noxious Weed Trust Fund grant program last month to help them implement the first phase of a project to help area landowners pay for weed treatments. The Lincoln Vegetation Management Group originally applied for a grant of nearly $50,000, to help cover weed treatment costs throughout the entire Upper Blackfoot Valley. Karyn Good, who helped develop the group while working as a community coordinator for the Wilderness Society, said she wasn’t sur...
Lewis and Clark county Public Works Director Eric Griffin said the county is monitoring the roads around Lincoln on a daily basis , and will deal with them on a site by site basis once water stops flowing across them. If the roads become impassable, they will deal with them on a site by site basis as well. The May 1 Snow Pack Summary from the National Water & Climate Center shows the Blackfoot Basin snow pack is still at 180 percent, so more water is expected.(Roger Dey...
A public hearing held by the Montana Business Assistance Connection to take public comments on the application for a Community Development Block Grant that could be used to help a prospective buyer purchase Hi Country Snack Foods, Inc. drew more than a dozen people, nearly all of them Hi Country employees. MBAC's Community Development Program Grant Manager Eric Seidensticker, identified the potential buyers as Travis and Molly Byerly of Bozeman and reiterated that the purpose...
The Missoula Children's Theater returned to Lincoln School last week with their take on the Jonathan Swift classic "Gulliver's Travels," and the play drew a record number of students interested in taking part. Sixty-one students, ranging from kindergartners to high school juniors, tried out for roles that re-imagined Gulliver as an explorer lost in space and encountering various cultures divided by education, color or size, all while traveling between planets using a...
After four and a half years as the front desk person at the Lincoln Ranger district, Lisa Roberson retired from her position last week. Roberson, who has been battling Huntingtons disease for the past several years, bid farewell to a job that made her the face of the Lincoln Ranger District for locals looking for information or a conversation with a staff members, and for visitors stopping in to check out the Lincoln Grizzly. "A lot of people walk through the door and expect...
Lincoln hosted the spring meeting of District 6 of the American Legion of Montana, with about 50 Legionnaires from the "Mining District" and several representatives from the Veteran's Administration gathering at the Lincoln Community Hall Saturday, April 28. Doug Vulcan, adjutant for Lincoln Post #9, said the bi-annual meetings rotate through the thirteen Legion posts in the District, which extends from Dillon to Lincoln and includes posts in Butte, Helena and Philipsburg....
Although Ovando was recently recognized for the community's welcoming attitude and hospitality toward cyclists, one of the major cycling events that used the town as its base fell victim to last year's fire season and the realities of declining fundraising. Last fall, as the enormous Rice Ridge Fire burned through the hills north of Ovando, the Missoula Symphony made the call to cancel their annual early-September Ovando Gran Fondo mountain bike ride. "I think the decision at...
The Copper Queen Saloon, Helmville's only local watering hole, recently changed hands after more than two decades. Former owner and chief bartender Tami Foell, who ran the Copper Queen – Helmville's sole commercial establishment – for nearly 21 years, worked her last shift behind the bar Monday, Apr. 30. "It was just time," Foell said of her decision to sell. The host of the official Helmville Rodeo Sunday night Labor Day Dance, the Copper Queen is known for its old-time Wes...
Issues with absenteeism and failing grades among Lincoln's Junior High School students has taken a toll on the middle school's accreditation status this spring, placing it in an "Advice" category, while both the High School and Elementary School have met the required performance standards and maintained their "Regular" accreditation. Under the Administrative Rules of Montana Chapter 55, which sets the standards for accreditation, there are three categories of accreditation...
Back in 2012, the Blackfoot Valley Dispatch launched the newspapers first website. At the time, blackfootvalleydispatch.com was meant to be a first step in bringing news of the Upper Blackfoot Valley into the digital realm, so we kept it basic. Too Basic. Unfortunately, it lacked much of what readers were looking for. Little did we suspect it would be six years before we'd take the next step. But on April 4, we debuted an improved, full-featured blackfootvalleydispatch.com....
