The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
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Restoration work at the Upper Blackfoot Mining Complex wrapped up for the year due to weather and the Forest Service re-opened Meadow Creek Road to the public Oct. 31. "That area is now officially back open," Lincoln District Ranger Michael Stansberry said at the Lincoln Government Day meeting Nov. 1. "At this point it's a month earlier than we normally open." National Forest land in the area has been closed to the public since the end of May, as work to clean up mine waste in...
The Montana Fish & Wildlife Commission will meet Nov. 12 at FWP Headquarters in Helena. The meeting will be streamed live via video to all FWP regional offices. The meeting will also be audio streamed online at fwp.mt.gov. The meeting begins at 8:15 a.m. and will end at 1 p.m. The commission will hear the following presentations and proposals: Madison River Petition presentations from Madison River Foundation, Montana Sportsmen Alliance (Trout Unlimited, Skyline Sportsman Association, Anaconda Sportsmen Association, and the P...
International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day is the one day a year when people affected by suicide loss gather in their local communities to find comfort and gain understanding as they share stories of healing and hope. Survivor Day was created by an act of Congress in 1999 and since then has been sponsored and supported by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. In 2018 there were 370 total events, including 32 international sites in 19 countries. For many loss survivors, attending a Survivor Day event is an...
With Lincoln Telephone Company ending cable TV service to the community Dec. 31, cable subscribers only have two months left to settle on their future entertainment options. The company's decision to drop cable comes amid a growing nationwide "cord cutting" trend that has seen users move away from cable services and toward online streaming options. Lincoln Telephone is one of the last communication companies in the state to abandon cable service. 3 Rivers Communication in...
After a month with only one trustee, The Lincoln Hospital District board has been reconstituted with the swearing in of four new trustees at their meeting Tuesday Oct. 22. The new members include Sherri Wood as the board Chair, Josh Lattin as Vice Chair, and Jim Agner as secretary and Tracy Daniel as the fifth at large trustee. Karen Frank-Plumlee, the sole remaining trustee following the resignations of Judy Spath, Shane Brown and Maryanne Brown in September, remains on as...
Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) officials have identified two additional cases of illness related to the national outbreak of e-cigarette use, or vaping. Montana now has five identified cases, including one death. DPHHS officials said one new case involves an individual from Cascade County in their teens who was initially hospitalized this past summer and then again in October. The second new case involves an individual from Lake County in their 30s who...
PureView Health Center's Lincoln site, Parker Medical Center, has hired a full-time provider to increase healthcare access for Lincoln residents. Lanna Zobel is a Family Nurse Practitioner with proven track record in patient care and family medicine. She brings over twenty years of healthcare experience to the Lincoln area. Zobel completed her Doctor of Nursing Practice – Family Practice at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire and had previously completed a Bachelor of S...
Lincoln Ranger District Recreation Manamgent Specialist Josh Lattin joins trail crew members Mike Lundahl and Zach Craft Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 16. for a look at the new bridge over Beaver Creek Bridge, near Pine Grove Campground. Lundahl and Craft completed work on the bridge last week, connecting the campground to the new Lincoln View OHV trail completed over the summer. The trail closed to ATV use Oct. 14, but the bridge will be available for winter use by snowmobiles...
Lincoln Fire Rescue added another vehicle to its inventory last week with a "new" Rescue Response Truck acquired from the Helena Fire Department. The specialized vehicle, built on a 4x4 2000 Ford F550 chassis, sports a red, white and gold paint job, resembles an ambulance and is outfitted to carry everything needed for rescue operations, from the department's extrication tools and rescue equipment to hazmat gear, basic medical supplies and fire extinguishers capable of...
A Blackfoot Valley Dispatch subscriber told the BVD Monday that they had received a call from our phone number requesting payment for a subscription. The caller claimed the subscription had expired and requested payment information. The call did not originate from the BVD; instead the call came from a scammer who spoofed our phone number. The BVD will not call subscribers requesting payment information. Instead, we send out reminder cards for subscription renewals. If you’re uncertain about your subscription’s expiration dat...
Helena – Electric bicycles (often referred to as “e-bikes”) have grown in popularity for both recreational use and hunting on public lands and are currently welcome on more than 52,000 miles of roads and 7,700 miles of trails throughout the Northern Region’s nine National Forests and Dakota Prairie Grasslands where motorized vehicle travel is authorized. Specific to the Helena-Lewis & Clark National Forest in west-central Montana, approximately 2,545 miles of system road and 813 miles of system trail are available for e-b...
Non-resident off-highway vehicle users coming to Montana this fall will see a slight increase in their temporary use permits. The increased fee is a result of House Bill 355, which was passed by the 2019 Montana Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Steve Bullock. The revenues from the fee increase will go towards OHV trail maintenance, noxious weed abatement, search and rescue missions, and OHV enforcement efforts throughout Montana. HB 355 raised the OHV non-resident...
UM News Service MISSOULA – The University of Montana Big Sky Poll recently asked participants "What is the highest number of U.S. Representatives that Montana has ever had?" Only 39 percent of respondents answered correctly with two. Although Montana currently has an at-large congressional district that represents the entire state, Montana had two districts from 1913 to 1993. Montana could regain a second congressional seat as a result of the 2020 census. The 2020 census in M...
With the activity at the Lincoln Airport this year, including construction of a new taxiway that will provide space for several more hangars, Lincoln Airport "guru" Jerry Cain felt the time was right to create a formal organization to assist the Montana Aeronautics Division with the upkeep of the facility. For several years, Cain has been coordinating events and maintenance at the airport and he said circumstances came together this spring, including the arrival of snow...
The Montana Tobacco Quit Line has launched a new program for teens who want to stop using tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes and vapes. Nearly five million teens across the nation are vaping and using tobacco. Lewis and Clark Public Health has seen a significant increase in the number of local high school students who use electronic nicotine products. In 2019, 48.7 percent of high school students in Lewis and Clark County reported being current users. Yet there...
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality hosted a tour of the Upper Blackfoot Mining Complex Saturday, Oct. 5 in coordination with the Blackfoot Challenge. The tour gave guests a chance to earn the story of the UBMC and to get a first hand look at the clean up and restoration that is nearing completion. One month earlier, on Sept. 5, Missouri River Contracting removed the final load of contaminated material from the project area....
At the end of next week, voters in Lewis and Clark County will be receiving ballots for the Nov. 5 election. Outside of Helena, voters will see a ballot with only one issue to decide: whether to allow non-partisan elections for county government. The question comes after the 2019 Montana legislature approved House Bill 129, which allows county governments in the state to legally put the question before voters, and it's something Lewis and Clark County Commissioner Susan Good...
The Lincoln Hospital District board of Trustees is down to just a single member following the resignations of three of the remaining four members Monday, Sept. 23. Secretary Judy Spath and Trustee Mary Anne Brown both submitted their resignations to board Chairman Shane Brown prior to the scheduled monthly meeting Sept. 23, which was cancelled due to the lack of a quorum. Shane Brown, who said he had been considering his own resignation for several months prior to the...
A group of local artists met last week to discuss preparations for the upcoming Alpine Artisans Tour of the Arts. Now in its 16th year, the Tour of the Arts features six studios, two historical museums, and more than twenty-five artists demonstrating and showing their work in the Seeley Swan and Blackfoot Valleys. Artist Annie Allen has been participating in the Tour for several years and has joined with other local artists to be part of the festivities. This year, artists...
The Lincoln Council for the Arts President Annette Gardner welcomed old and new faces alike to their meeting Monday, Sept 16, from Lisa Smith and Sylvia Johnson who started the Arts Council in 1988, to Gardner and Liz Cain who came on board a couple of years later, to brand new faces like Toni Austad and Lee York who hadn't attended meetings before. The council heard recaps on the Lincoln Arts & Music Festival and the Farmer's Market season as well as plans for moving forward...
Lincoln got off light during the winter storm that blanketed most of western and north central Montana in deep snow. According to the National Weather service, the Lincoln area only received about five-and-a-half inches of snow, on the lower end of a list that saw areas east of the mountains covered in several feet of snow. The towns of Babb and Browning topped the list, with snow depths of 48 and 42 inches, respectively, while Augusta and Choteau both saw a total of 19 inches from the storm. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock declar...
The early winter storm that brought heavy snow to the much of Montana Saturday and Sunday prompted visiting Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild artists Stuart Ian Frost and Alison Stigora to head out a day early to beat the weather and nearly led to the cancellation of the official launch of the new work. But a handful of locals braved the cold and showed up Saturday afternoon to check it out regardless. BPSW President Becky Garland and Artistic Director Kevin O'Dwyer le...
The Friends of the NRA held their fifth annual banquet in Lincoln at the historic Lincoln Community Hall Sept. 19, with roughly 150 people attending the sold out event. The group held their first banquet in Lincoln in 2015 and in its early days, they raised approximately $13,000. Since then it has been steadily growing in both attendance and the amount of money raised each year. Committee chairs Jan and Wendell Weaver have been involved in the NRA for several years. What...
The Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks toll-free hotline for reporting wildlife poaching, property damage, and violations of fish and game laws is in operation 24 hours a day. TIP-MONT is the acronym for Turn in Poachers-Montana. Poaching includes: • hunting out of season or at night using spotlights • taking more than one's legal limit • nonresidents who purchase resident licenses • professional and commercial poachers who illegally offer outfitter and guide services. When it...
Citizen’s Bank hosted a retirement party last week for long-time employee, Jewelie Hoxworth. After 14 years with the bank, Hoxworth decided to retire from her position to be home more and to help care for her mother, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. While she had not planned to retire for another five years, she just felt it was time. “Mom has been living with us for two years now and she just needs more help.” Hoxworth said. She explained that juggling the demands...
