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By Robert Lucke The Big Sandy Barracudas Swim Team is using the entire month of May to recruit new swimmers for their award winning team. Swim coach Travis Baumann says that not only will recruits be able to swim in competitions all summer long but they will be learning a life skill that just could save their lives. On the prairies too many kids do not learn how to swim and as a result every summer North Central Montanans hear of drownings in ditches and prairie potholes. Not if Baumann and the...
For Melanie Schwarzbach graduation is a big deal. Out of three children, Eric is she and Shaud's first to graduate from Big Sandy High school. As interesting as it all is, something else goes through Melanie's mind too. She has to go through this two more times! Melanie had taught science at Box Elder High School for several years. This is her second year of teaching science in Big Sandy. "I am glad I am here for Eric's senior year. I would never have known what was going on if I wasn't here,"...
When Barb Martin's daughter Lisa graduates from Big Sandy High School soon, it will be a piece of cake for Barb because already Lisa's older sister Quinn graduated two years ago. Well, maybe a piece of cake. Sort of. Barb supervised two step brothers graduating from high school too. They were Kasey and Lane. Now, Barb sort of sighs a sigh of relief and says, "We will be working on grandchildren now." Barb said that Lisa, who is very organized, has been doing well in telling Barb where she needs...
We at “The Mountaineer” were talking about our favorite food drive in restaurants. It all came because one of us had been searching the net and found the top twenty-five fast food restaurants in the United States. We were wondering if there could be a story there. The amazing thing about the top twenty-five fast food restaurants in the United States, not a one of them is located in Havre, Montana. There are a couple in Great Falls, a couple in Missoula, one in Kalispell and maybe three in Billings. So we are not well represented in the pop...
This week Vicki picked “FRICTION” by Sandra Brown. This is reported to be one of the hottest Sandra Brown books ever! Crawford Hunt wants his daughter back. Following the death of his wife, Crawford, a Texas Ranger, fell into a downward spiral that left him relegated to desk work and with his five-year old daughter, Georgia, in the custody of her grandparents. But Crawford has cleaned up his act now and the fate of his family lies with Judge Holly Spencer. Ambitious and confident, Holly temporarily occupies the bench of her recently dec...
For Del Starr Simon on July 1, 2016 it will be 41 years at the Big Sandy Medical Center Laboratory and still going strong. The Big Sandy native was born in Havre and raised 19 ½ miles northwest of Big Sandy. Her parents were Neil D and Amelia Kulbeck. Del has an older brother Don. Del attended the North Star School and graduated from Big Sandy High School in 1967. Her father wanted her to become a veterinarian. She was always bringing home animals that needed curing. Del thought that was...
Three people are running for House District 27. Two are Republicans and one is a Democrat. Only one person will come out of the Montana June 7 primary on the Republican ticket to face the Democrat in the fall. Republicans running are James O'Hara and Darrold Hutchinson. The Democrat running is Ryan Rominger. "The Mountaineer sent all three candidates a set of seven questions to answer about their views on various subjects. 1. You will be voting on many education bills. What is the state of...
Most everyone thinks there are six mountains in Glacier National Park that are over ten thousand feet tall. I don’t agree with that. Actually, there are a few of us who don’t agree with that. This is the story of why we think there are really seven mountains in Glacier National Park higher than ten thousand feet! First, the six. Let’s see if I can remember them and how to spell them. Let’s start with the tallest of all, Mount Cleveland. Then there is Sieyh, Kintla, Merritt, Jackson, and Mount Stimpson. It is Mount Cleveland that gives me troubl...
It is that wonderful month of May. My upstairs bedroom window has been surrounded by white apple blossoms for most of two weeks now and it is glorious. I love to get up early, about a half hour before dawn or even earlier and go out to the back terrace and sit and listen to the birds making a joyful noise to herald a new day. That is a beautiful way to start any day. My dog Fallie, who hates it outside with a passion, even has enjoyed this week with the temperatures in the 70’s. He walks slowly around the terrace and smells individual lilac l...
This week Vicki has picked a Stephanie Plum novel called “TOP SECRET TWENTY-ONE” by Janet Evanovich. Trenton, New Jersey’s favorite used car dealer Jimmy Poletti, was caught selling a lot more than used cars out of his dealerships. Now he is out on bail and has missed his date in court and bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is looking to bring him in. Leads are quickly turning into dead ends and all too frequently into dead bodies. Even Joe Morelli, the city’s hottest cop, is struggling to find a clue to the suspected killer’s whereabouts. These are...
One thing is for sure if you talk to perspective employers in Big Sandy, they need more help than they can get their hands on. Take Lorrie Merrill at Big Sandy Activities. She is not shy in sharing her business needs. “There is a huge need here for people to go to work,” commented Merrill. “At Big Sandy Activities I just hired three new employees but I still need two more. I could use as many as eight part time employees.” Merrill said that she can work a schedule most any way a perspective employee wants it so the employee gets the hours t...
Each year "The Mountaineer" gathers a committee together and chooses a Mother's Day Mother to honor. This year it was not even a contest. Sherri Heppner won hands down. Read on to find out why. Sherri and David Heppner have two sons, Calenn and Casten. Calenn is married to Laura. They have four children, Layten, Levi, Lucy and Landry. Casten is married to Katie. Their children are Bailey, Natalie, Cassie, Paezlee and Austin. That should add up to nine grandchildren and that is what is best about...
Loren Jenkins has given "the Mountaineer" a sheaf of stories written about old timers as a school project many years ago. This week, we feature The Blacksmith by Kevin Skaalure. A few horses, a cow, blacksmith's tools, household goods and furniture filled the "Immigrant Car" from Burton, Wisconsin to Big Sandy, Montana. In the midst of the animals in the shadows of the boxcar, at checkpoints, but keeping Archie company the rest of the way, was a stowaway named Charles Beck. (Later he was to...
About the only thing I learn when cooking is that I can make a dish better than the one I just made. For instance I have been making Shrimp Creole for forty years at least. Recently I learned how to make it much better than I had made it before. First, I had always made it to go with rice. I learned I like it much better if it is made to go with wide noodles and there is a meat market in the vicinity that carries very wide and long noodles. If you cannot find wide noodles and want to make your pasta dish with them, just cook up a batch of...
Alan Merrill, president of Montana Farmer's Union, said that Montana Farmers Union had a very complete paper commissioned on the impact of Climate Change on Montana's Agriculture Economy. The report was written by Power Consulting Inc. "The Mountaineer" is including a summary of the paper for several reasons. We are, above all, an agricultural community. If even a portion of the report turns out to be valid, both farmers and ranchers need to be in the know on this important subject. Second, a pe...
I have reinvented a new taste treat for myself. Since becoming 75 I am trying to live the life that I want to live, rather than the life I should live. In order to do that I have started eating large gum drops coated with sugar. I want very large gum drops and want them to taste just like they tasted when I was a boy and would go to the Lyric Theater and buy them in boxes at the counter. My staple for show time eats was a sack of heavily buttered popcorn, a large coke, a box of gum drops and a couple of bags of peanuts. First I would polish...
It is not too early to start thinking about the Big Sandy Pioneer museum according to museum curator Tina Rodewald. "We always need help during the summer," said Rodewald. "It is the perfect time to think about volunteering some time at the museum." Not only is the work at the museum interesting but workers meet people from all over the world who want to share stories about when their relatives settled in this part of Montana. Rodewald said that one of the first activities that will open the...
From May 3 to 7 Lorrie and Alan Merrill will be in Livingston, Zambia for an annual World Farm Organization conference. Both were in “The Mountaineer” office last week sharing some thoughts about farming here and all over the world and some things that will be talked about when people interested in farming from all over the world get into this WFO “Think Tank” for several days. “Basically the conference is to discuss the issues of food, weather and anything to do with agriculture,” said Alan. “It is cattle, fish, animals, grains and really it...
It was five years ago this October that “The Mountaineer” started reporting on making farm fuel out of Safflower seeds. It was about that time that Andrew Long came along and the Oil Barn was born. It was very unusual to go out to the Quinn Farm and see a tractor fueled by safflower oil. It smelled like French fries as it plowed fields around the farm. Since those early days the Oil Barn business has just grown and grown. There are two major safflower oil contracts. One for the kitchens at MSU Bozeman, the other for the kitchens at The Uni...
A friend came in “the Mountaineer” the other day and commented on the long article we ran a couple of weeks ago on old and new world class athletes that live here in Montana. This friend said we had left out Levi Leipheimer from Butte, Montana who is a world class cyclist. He has peddled his way into many worldwide tournaments and won his share. For starters he has won the US national champion twice and is an Olympic medalist. I told the friend I was wondering why Marc Mariani of Havre was left out. He has been playing professional foo...
Bernie Ellingson stopped in “The Mountaineer” last week and commented on the story about the two historians pictured at the Jim Kipp Lookout. They were Dr. Merrill Burlingame and Dr. Vern Dusenberry. Bernie said they would be turning over in their graves for my saying they were from MSU Bozeman. I suspect he is right. The college at that time was called Montana State College. Bernie went on to say when he went to school at Montana State College he took classes from both those gentlemen and when Dr. Burlingame was doing some history at the Roc...
Friday, April 22 junior high track at Fort Benton Friday, April 22 Earth Day cleanup Friday, April 22 Art students art trip to Missoula (2 day trip) Tuesday, April 26 elementary spring concert-----7pm at the high school auditorium Tuesday, April 26 track at Great Falls, Montana A reminder to everyone, Friday, April 29 at 6pm is CARNIVAL! Breakfast and lunch menus for the coming week are as follows: Wednesday, April 20 breakfast is egg, sausage and cheese sliders, assorted cereal, fruit, juice and milk for the Breakfast of the Week! Lunch...
He was born Aaron Pursley on a cold windy day in the foothills of Mt. Centennial in 1935. Very early on his father started calling him Duke and it has been with him all of his life. Duke's mother and father were James and Mildred Pursley. One time Duke was in the hospital in Great Falls when a nurse came in and told him there was only one Duke (referring to John Wayne's nickname of Duke). Duke Pursley looked at her and said, "There is only one Duke and that is me." Duke's Dad ran the Nygard...
In 2015 and 2016 Alvin Bitz hit a bunch of landmarks. He and his wife Dee celebrated their fiftieth Wedding Anniversary on September18, 2015. Alvin was made fifty years a Mason on March 15, 2016 and if that was not enough Alvin turned 75 years of age on April 4, 2016 That is a huge amount of events to celebrate in a short period of time. Alvin and Dee seem to have weathered those events just fine. As to fifty years a Mason, Al celebrated the Treasure Lodge Number 95 becoming 100 years old on...
I do love the spring. In the beautiful Bear Paw Mountains there is an abundance of early spring flowers that just make the coldest of hearts beat warmly in the soft spring sun. In my yard at the house, I have seen most everything coming up from a long winter sleep. I always worry because again this year there was no snow cover to protect the roots of plants, just leaves I had not raked last fall. First to come up are the poppies. Not only do they look healthy but there is a whole new bunch this year in another part of the garden. I love poppies...
