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The Big Sandy Booster Club makes a significant impact on our student athletes and participants in extracurricular activities. I spoke with Cheryl Strutz about the club’s direct impact on our kids. Cheryl is a member of the Booster Club and the mother of three boys, who have been prominent in Big Sandy Athletics over the last few years. If you’ve watched a football game in our town recently, you’ve seen Kyle, Kade, or Kody take the field. Cheryl explained to me that, “It’s really important that the community knows that the kids actually...
The community of Big Sandy has always impressed me with their wholehearted support of local sports and student activities. You always see the stands full at basketball games and the sidelines crowded for the football team. When the team bus rolls out of town for a tournament, the windows of shops and the roadsides are filled with signs supporting our student athletes. I didn’t grow up in a small town and have only been in town for a little over a decade, but I have been deeply impressed by the volume of outpouring of support from our little tow...
Being the parent of a child with ADHD can be frustrating. Careless mistakes, clutter, distraction, fighting over school, dealing with their messiness, and a slew of other “quirks” make their schooling and daily lives challenging to say the least. It’s no different for adults, who struggle with what appears to be absentmindedness, disorganization, or laziness. The truth is that what appears to be character flaws is actually a result of the portions of the brain that control executive functioning being less active. The effects of this condi...
Coach Bob Wooden led the UCLA basketball program to 10 national championships in 12 years. His success as a college basketball coach is legendary. The philosophy that he implemented in his record breaking tenure at UCLA has come to be known as the Golden Pyramid. Because I am not a basketball fan, I learned about the coach from a TV show recently. I picked up his book, explaining the principles behind the Golden Pyramid. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it is actually a collection of Bible studies explaining the various character qua...
In 1923,Big Sandy won their first football district championship and were highly favored to win state. Several days later, the title was stripped from them and their trip to the state championship tournament was cancelled over a technicality. The team that was awarded the district title went on to state despite having fielded a 21-year old player in the tournament. For context, The Mountaineer pointed out that the Great Falls team fielded a 22-year old "high school student" against Big Sandy...
Big Sandy Schools will be making a “Mental Health First Aid for Youth” available to the community on January 23 and 24 from 4 to 7 pm both nights. The Monday and Tuesday trainings are part 1 and part 2 of a 6 hour course that will cover a wide range of issues to help equip parents and anyone who works with young people. I spoke with Diana Keane who organized the training. She explained that, “This is a training that is open to the public for adults (18 and older) to help youth with mental health. It covers a wide range of mental health issue...
Last week, I found a treasure trove of Big Sandy history artifacts while doing some work on my house. What started out as a cold weather attempt to protect my plumbing and insulate our 3-seasons porch rapidly turned into an adventure in local history. For background, I need to explain that my family bought a house in town last year that many locals know either as the Brumwell or the Faber house. Before it was either of those, it was the Shamrock Hotel. In the early days of our town's existence,...
By Erik Sietsema If you Google “Why do we celebrate Christmas on December 25th,” you’ll get a slew of answers associated with a handful of popular theories. It is easy to just pick one and go with it, but this approach felt kind of uncomfortable to me. Many hours later, I have a rough answer, which is way too long. I also have an excess of background knowledge on all of the popular theories. If I address them all here, the article would be excessively long and most people will give up long before they find out the answer. I will dig into the b...
Christmas Day is fast approaching and the various churches in the community are preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The holiday lands on a Sunday this year, which raises questions as to whether or not local congregations will be holding Sunday services. I visited with the pastors in Big Sandy and here’s what I learned. Pastor Rich Jesperson, of Grace Lutheran Church did a great job of summarizing this season of worship and our invitations to the community to join us in celebrating the birth of Christ. “There are two major festivals of th...
I spent the majority of last week studying the history of Christmas and the Bible’s account of the angels announcing Jesus’ coming to Mary and Joseph. Every time I drill deep into the story of Mary and Joseph, I find myself taken aback by what was taking place. First, the story of Christmas itself is the story of God looking at us and realizing that we will never manage to climb the ladder of perfection that is required to reach Him. So, He chose to come down to us. Many people find Christianity difficult, because they assume that it req...
On December 7th, the nation observed Pearl Harbor day. It’s an easy observance to miss in the mix of Christmas shopping and work days. As I was preparing to research Christmases past as covered by the Mountaineer, I found myself thinking about how close the surprise attack lands to the Christmas season. This prompted a thorough dive into the Mountaineer archives from 1941. The first issue of the paper to come out after the attack was on December 11th, giving local editors three to four days to react to the news. At the time, newspaper c...
The theme for the Christmas Parade at this year's stroll was "A Montana Christmas." Thinking about our town and the holidays got me wondering what the town did for Christmas in the earliest years of its existence. Big Sandy has a wonderful collection of Christmas traditions and a fascinating history that stretches back more than a century. A little searching into The Mountaineer archives quickly revealed the ghosts of Christmas traditions past. The most interesting thing about The Mountaineer's...
Many times over the last couple of decades, I have encountered a strange argument about Christian Christmas observances. The argument is that Christians adopted pagan customs for their own religious observations. One example that is frequently cited is the Christmas tree. Folks will say that Christmas trees were associated Druids or Egyptians or Roman cultic groups and that the church simply co-opted them. This morning, out of curiosity, I began researching the origin of the Christmas tree. I learned some surprising things. It is true that...
Last weekend my children and I were blessed with the opportunity to participate in the Big Sandy Community Theater play: “It’s a Madhouse.” One of the coolest moments for me took place when my daughter came out in her lawyer outfit for the first time. She looked so very mature and grown up. As a dad, it was a moment of mixed feelings. I am always so proud of her as she grows up, but also kind of sad that her childhood years are rushing past so quickly. Then on opening night, near the end of the show, my little girl and I were standing on stage...
The Big Sandy Christmas Stroll will be returning this weekend after a two year hiatus. The event is returning with a full roster of activities. Many old favorites will be back, like the button drawing, visits from Anna, Olaf, and the Grinch, and the parade. Some new activities will also be taking place, like every restaurant in the community having a Christmas lunch special and the opening of Charbaby Clay on Main Street, and this will be the first year the Breakfast with Santa will be hosted...
F.E. Miley Elementary School kicked off a new Thanksgiving tradition last Tuesday before breaking for the holiday weekend. "Friendsgiving" was an opportunity for students to plan their own class meals and share lunchtime with their friends. For "Friendsgiving," the school was divided in half by grades. Kindergarten through third grade planned their own event, while fourth through sixth grade did their own thing. The younger grades prepared class soups and bread for lunch, with each child...
Big Sandy Theater will be putting on their largest show yet, on December 2nd and 3rd. It’s a Madhouse is a “Super fun and crazy spin on a classic ‘who done it’ tale,” according to Dianna Keane, the co-director of the production. It’s a Madhouse tells the story of the Pembrook family, who are fighting over their recently deceased father’s estate. They are taken by surprise when Father chooses to distribute the family inheritance in a “finders keepers, losers weepers” type treasure hunt between his heirs. That’s just the beginning of the ma...
Joking with a friend recently, I commented that the Montana state tree is, in fact, a fence post. Though the Ponderosa Pine is the actual state tree, the prairie boasts far more fence posts than trees any day. When I first came to the area, the thousands of miles of fencing often made me wonder about their purpose. I know fences are there to divide property and keep animals/people in or out. Still, there are many pieces of land surrounded by barbed wire that don’t seem to need it. Though it is not my place to do so, it would be easy to c...
Big Sandy Organics won the Albertsons Trail Mix Competition during this year's Boise Entrepreneur Week. Winning the competition brings a $50,000 prize and shelf space at Albertsons Supermarkets. Heather Dilworth, who owns the company with her husband, Thomas, explained the road that brought them to this recent win. "We went through some challenges this year. We had 11 employees earlier this year, and we had to lay every single one of them off, except for my husband and me." All of that began by...
FE Miley Elementary students enjoyed a special Halloween treat this year thanks to the High School Student Council, the National Honor Society, and the initiative of Jessie Jaramillo (the art teacher and class sponsor). Halloween at FE Miley is always a big day, with both the students and teachers showing up dressed in costume, class parties planned for the afternoon, and concluding with the parade from the elementary school to the nursing home for trick-or-treating. This year, an addition of...
The youth group trick-or-treat food drive that took place last weekend was a smashing success, with over 800 items collected. Terry Grant, who ran the food bank side of the event, remarked: "I had no idea this food drive was going to gather the quantity of food it did. The youth group leaders and youth of the two churches did a fantastic job in making this happen, especially at this time of the year. It's community support like this that makes it possible to continue providing food to our...
While watching my oldest play on the Jr High School Basketball team this year, I noticed the young man who was coaching the team. At first, I thought he was one of the High School students who was coaching as a learning experience. I caught up with Rhett Simonton, who is not in high school, but says he is often asked if he is. The 21-year old young man has been coaching in Big Sandy for two years. Rhett explained how he arrived in our community: "I graduated from Malta in 2018. And pretty much,...
James Garfield, who was the 20th president of the United States, is only remembered for one thing. He was shot by an assassin in July of 1881. In an interesting twist, he did not die until two and a half months later. The length of time between his being shot and actually dying is due largely to the efforts of Doctor Willard Bliss. Dr. Bliss was a disgraced physician, who became something of an expert in ballistic trauma as a result of his service as a surgeon during the Civil War. He was called in by a member of Garfield’s cabinet after the p...
Tables are now available to vendors for the Craft Show at the 2022 Christmas Stroll. Information on reserving tables is available at the AgriPrairie office in Big Sandy or by contacting Cassie Bahnmiller. Table reservations opened last week after the organizers of the committee met to finalize details. Tables have quickly begun to fill up, with demand heightened primarily due to the fact that the sale has not taken place since 2019. The 2020 & 2021 strolls were cancelled due to Covid. Cassie Bahnmiller, who is heading up the organization of...
Last week, Big Sandy Schools let out midday on Wednesday and did not have classes on Thursday. The school calendar identified these as MEA Teachers’ Conference days, though at other times throughout the school year, they are labeled “In-Service” days. I am sure I’m not alone in wondering what in-service days are and why schools shut down for the MEA Teachers’ Conference. I spoke with Big Sandy Superintendent Dan Schrock about the scheduled days. “The state says you have to have a certain number of pupil-instruction-related days or what we cal...
