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3 years ago, while attending a cousin’s wedding in Chicago, I broke my foot playing basketball with the guys in the wedding party. The doctor who treated me pointed to my two broken toes, said that was the problem, put a cast on me, and sent me on my way. 6 weeks later, the doctors at the military hospital in Northern Virginia took one look at the X-rays the Chicago doctor took and blew a gasket. After a series of meetings and a ton of additional X-rays, they let me know that the previous doctor had missed the crushed joint as well as n...
“‘Tarzan of Tetons’ Appears to Have Escaped Trap” shouted the headline on the cover of the Havre Daily News from March 24th, 1939. The story is nearing its 86th anniversary, which is perhaps why Doug Giebel sent the edition to me with a note about the unusual story. ‘Tarzan of the Tetons’ sounds like something that would have appeared on the cover of a tabloid rather than Havre’s city paper. I couldn’t help but dive into the story and research the background. While it’s not a Bigfoot style narrative, the real tale is no less interesting. The...
A man and a woman are walking down the street towards each other. When they get close to each other, both turn to walk into the same building. The man, realizing they share the same destination, runs ahead and holds the door for the woman. Somewhat offended by the gesture, she asks him: “Are you doing that because I am a woman?” Without missing a beat, he replies simply: “No. I am doing it because I am a gentleman.” The story is simple, but the point is important. The fellow did not choose to act based on who others are, but rather who he is....
Last week was the beginning of the season of Lent on the church’s calendar. I decided that it would be a good idea to teach my middle school Sunday School Class about Lent and the church calendar. When we started talking about it, the kids were full of questions, which made me think it would be worthwhile to explain a little about Lent, Ash Wednesday, and the church calendar. “Lent” comes from the German word for “Spring.” The observance of the season of Lent isn’t universal in the church, as many Protestant groups don’t observe various parts...
On June 5, 2012, my wife, daughter, and I drove into Big Sandy for the first time. A couple of months later, Robbie Lucke interviewed us for a story on “the new pastor in town.” After our conversation, he asked me to consider writing a weekly column, which I agreed to with a great deal of excitement. After 13 years of pastoring in our little community, writing Patching Cracks, and in the neighborhood of 6 years as a regular reporter for the paper, I am going to indulge myself by sharing a little of what I have learned and seen from our com...
Big Sandy High School senior Severin Heimbigner was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout on Saturday, February 22nd in a ceremony held at the Big Sandy Museum. Eagle Scout is the highest rank achievable in the Boy Scouts of America. The ceremony was attended by the local scout troop (Troop 1450), area representatives of the Boy Scouts, friends, and family. Bill Lanier, a fellow Eagle Scout and the District Advancement Chair for the Boy Scouts, has known Severin throughout his scouting career and...
The Missoula Children's Theater put on two showings of Alice in Wonderland this weekend with the children of Big Sandy as the stars of the show. Two volunteers from the Children's Theater came to Big Sandy on Monday, held auditions, gave every child a role in the play, spent the week rehearsing, and finally put on two shows for the community over the weekend. The Children's Theater had been putting on shows in communities all over the world, bringing high production values as well as...
My brother-in-law is a marine, and he served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He once told me that they would sometimes face an odd challenge when they would experience their first time in firefights. Some soldiers would collect their spent brass in the middle of combat. It seems weird, until you recognize that, in the intensity of those situations, fight-or-flight kicks in and folks replay what they did in training. This includes collecting their spent brass after they finished shooting. It’s a crazy reality that however we train is a strong i...
February 2nd was the 55th anniversary of the Big Sandy Cornfield Bomber's landing in a field north of town. What made the story so remarkable is that the pilot of the F-106 ejected from the airplane to escape a flat spin that would've inevitably resulted in a crash. The act of ejecting seems to have corrected the spin on the aircraft's flight path, causing the aircraft to level out and slowly descend, ultimately executing a near perfect belly landing, with minimal damage done to the aircraft. Tw...
I have been dealing with intense headaches for years and have experimented with all sorts of cures and solutions for dealing with the strange ailment. While Christmas shopping with my wife last December, she noticed that the florescent lights in stores like Sam’s Club or Walmart seem to trigger my headache symptoms. I researched the phenomena and found that it isn’t uncommon for light to cause headaches, particularly florescent lights. I quickly picked up various types of filtering glasses, including blue light and florescent light fil...
The generosity of the community of Big Sandy has shined through in the community's support of the Food Bank over the past year. Now the Food Bank wants to thank the community for their exceptional efforts. In particular, the First Bank of Montana and Big Sandy Schools went above and beyond in their efforts to make certain that locals in need would have both food and paper products over the 2024 holiday season. The Big Sandy Food Bank wants to extend their thanks to the community, First Bank of... Full story
Next week marks the 55th anniversary of the February 2nd, 1970 unmanned landing of an F-106A Delta Dart in a field north of Big Sandy. The story of an emergency landing alone is more than enough to be memorable in small town lore. The event's significance is amplified by the fact that the jet completed its near perfect "belly landing" without a pilot at the controls. Dubbed "The Big Sandy Cornfield Bomber," the jet was quickly collected by the Air Force, returned to Malmstrom Air Force Base,...
Big Sandy Public Library is closed this week for carpet replacement. The renovation work began last week on Thursday and will continue for the duration of this week. The library will reopen next week for regular operating hours. The decision to replace carpeting is based on wear and tear the facility has experienced due to heavy traffic from local patrons. Darlene Cline, the head Librarian in Big Sandy, explained the decision to replace the carpet: “We had the funds to be able to do it. There are rips that create tripping hazard areas and n...
The Fort Benton City Council is considering a proposal to erect an enormous 20' by 38' American flag. The flag is to be donated by the Flying Freedom Forward project, which also proposed the idea. The initiative is the mission of Nate Duram, from Eureka Montana. If the city agrees to go forward on the project, it will be the second in Duram's larger mission to see a large flag flying over every town in the state of Montana. Duram is a physically large man, with an even larger personality, who de...
It is the first full week of 2025. Many of us are setting goals and resolutions for the coming year, in hope of making positive changes to our lives in the coming months. I have written more than a few columns on how to make resolutions and goals that stick and a couple on new year’s observances in Big Sandy history. However, until this week I never asked where the practice came from in the first place. It has always seemed like something we just do because it’s what everyone has always done. Where did the modern practice come from? The mod...
Over the weekend, I was talking with a friend of mine who has an upper management job in a large international organization. He was telling me about a documentary he watched on happiness that featured the story of a Vietnamese rickshaw cab operator. In the interviews, the man talked about his life and was surprisingly positive given the level of poverty he experienced. He spoke of how much he enjoyed his job because he got to work outside and be active. At the end of the day, he had enough money to eat a good meal with his son, who he was...
Big Sandy High School's Christmas concert highlighted the hard work and talent of young musicians last Tuesday evening, December 17th. The High School choir, individual musicians, vocalists, and the full band performed Christmas classics, setting the mood for the holiday season. TJ Bond, the Big Sandy music teacher, opened the program by pointing out that many locals tell him that it isn't really the Christmas season for them until they attend the High School Christmas concert. True to this repu...
In October, a group of Massachusetts teenagers running an Instagram account called “Boys With A Bus” built a four-story raft on the shores of the Missouri River and embarked on a 5-day adventure through the Big Sky wilderness. Along the way, they met Dan Schrock, who invited them to visit Big Sandy High School and share the tale of their adventure. Over the last few months, the Mountaineer has relayed the story of these young men and their modern Huckleberry Finn style journey. Thus far, we have looked at their presentation to the stu...
A 2019 study looking at the work habits of 1000 employees found that nearly half of all employees believe that they could perform better at work if they were not worried about making mistakes. The study found that employees were hampered as much as 40% of the time by fear of failure. As a pastor and counselor, I have spent no small amount of time talking through past mistakes with those who lament their errors in judgement, missteps, wrong moves, and outright mistakes. It seems like the easiest thing to do in life sometimes is to carry our...
Students from FE Miley Elementary School were treated to a brief visit from Santa Claus Thursday morning for their last day of classes before Christmas break. At 8:30 AM, the jolly old elf met students at the door with his trademark laugh and candy canes. Saint Nick’s appearance was part of a holiday tradition at FE Miley for the last day of school before Christmas break. Students gathered at the High School theater to watch a movie, eat popcorn, and enjoy the morning together. The High School Student Council made popcorn for the event and h...
Over the weekend, news broke of a possible significant archeological discovery in the Antalya province of Turkey. The limestone sarcophagus could possibly have been the original burial site of the fourth century Christian bishop, Saint Nicholas. Saint Nick is best known for the character his life story elements evolved into: Santa Claus. The recent discovery is interesting on its own, but the story of the bishop and how it evolved into something so different is fascinating as well. The sarcophagus was unearthed near Saint Nicholas Church...
With 2.4 million subscribers watching online, 6 young men on the shore of the Missouri River built the raft they had designed at home in Massachusetts and set sail for their 5-day adventure in the style of Huckleberry Finn along the same waterways that Louis and Clark traveled over 200 years previous. The Boys With a Bus, as they were known from their Instagram account, have been covered in two previous Mountaineer articles. The first highlighting their talk with students at Big Sandy High...
With Thanksgiving weekend upon us, Big Sandy prepares for a short week followed by visits with family, sleepy afternoons after eating turkey, pumpkin pie, and ideally a day of grateful hearts for the gifts and blessings God has provided to us in the past year. Growing up, I remember learning about the Puritans, though they were always called Pilgrims, having their first harvest meal with the natives in the new world while making “hand turkey” crafts for my mom to hang on the fridge. When I got older, I heard all manner of other tales, myt...
In late October, a team of 6 recent high school graduates set sail for adventure on the Missouri River in a boat they designed and constructed themselves. The Boys with a Bus' Instagram account documenting their 5-day journey and other adventures has attracted the attention of over 2.4 million followers on Instagram. Their vessel didn't resemble the barges Louis and Clark used to travel the Missouri River or the raft Huckleberry Finn and Jim used to travel the Mississippi. It's safe to say...
The youth groups at Christ Lutheran Church and Big Sandy Church of God held their annual trick-or-treat food drive to benefit the Big Sandy Food Bank last Wednesday, October 30th. Organizers described the event as very successful, with students collecting around 1,000 non-perishable food items through the course of the evening. The food drive has historically been run as a friendly competition between the two church youth programs; Ultimately, Christ Lutheran squeaked out a tight victory with 6...
