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The Big Sandy Medical Guild had a good turnout for planning the annual rummage sale for their luncheon meeting. They canceled last year's event, but they plan to have the event from September 30th-October 1st. So start getting your rummage sale items boxed up. This year's funds will go to repairs in the kitchen that haven't had any work done since 1986. It wasn't just a planning meeting for the rummage sale at their meeting Leah ? gave an update of the medical center. Big Sandy Medical Center...
They are new to our community. Would you please welcome Gary and Carolyn Mosier? I am so excited for them to be here because they volunteered to help me cover the sports in our community, which can be challenging at times. Difficult to catch coaches and stats because an article is much more than the score. They moved to Big Sandy after they retired to help out at Big Sandy Organics Gary was a facility's manager after he retired from doTERRA essential oils. Carolyn was an office manager and an...
On September15 at 7 p.m. at the City Hall, there will be a town meeting to discuss the new storm drainage system going down the main street, replacing the old nonworking drains on Johannes. The project will start next spring. After the drains are installed, the main street will get a new coat of asphalt. The city council would love a large turnout to this town hall meeting, especially if you have any questions. Mayor Shaud Schwarzbach said, "We got this done, and we didn't have to raise taxes!"...
The day before school started and I was visiting the FE Miley grade school for the open house. She was in the third grade and recognized me and just needed to tell me about everything she bought for school. She was so excited she had a new pair of shoes that sparkled. She wanted to know if I wanted to take a picture of her shoes for the paper. I went to the school and took that picture because sometimes it's this kind of story that is the most important. We are back to school! And once again,...
This last weekend the 10th annual was held at the Big Sandy Skate Park. There were around 200 people in attendance; the furthest away was Alex from Costa Rica. "Dan was coming from Brazil but couldn't because of COVID." They came from all over the United States to take part in the event. Everyone knows Randy Katen, who was a professional in the 70's. They told me to talk to him because he knows everything about skateboarding. I went to where he had a chair in the shade and asked for an...
The 2021 Chouteau County 4-H and FFA livestock carcass contest took place at Pioneer Meats in Big Timber. A total of 55 Chouteau County 4-H animals were evaluated for carcass quality by Mark King (MSU Extension Sweet Grass County). The purpose of the carcass contest is to teach 4-H youth how to correctly select, feed and finish livestock based on carcass data. If carcass criteria are met, youth can be confident they are producing a quality product that is safe, nutritious and good tasting to the consumer. Out of 32 market swine entered at the C...
Paula Witt and her husband Todd, along with many others, have completed the dream of holding a free concert on their farm to celebrate and support county fire departments. Paula said, "it was my husband Todd's idea to support the volunteer firefighters. And have a free concert at the end of summer. We just wanted to do something to give back to the community. Give something fun to do outside. He said our fire departments need to help. The firefighters risk their lives, leave their jobs, leave...
At the last Big Sandy School Board Meeting, they voted to open the Fitness Center to the public again. The exercise room was first closed because of COVID-19. Recently they needed to put new flooring in the area, which also required to be sealed, so it was closed until that was finished. Anyone wanting to use the exercise equipment must sign in at the office during the day. Right now, the area is also open between 4-8 Monday through Thursday and possibly Friday. They are asking teachers to oversee the work area per insurance liability...
The Big Sandy Booster club has finished a special project just in time for Pioneer Football! Rich Jespersen, Special Project Manager for new lockers in the boy's locker room, had the lockers delivered to his home, where he assembled everyone by hand. In the meantime, the locker room itself needed to be gutted and painted. With the help of Coach Thomas Dilworth and some Pioneer Boys, Rich Jespersen removed the old lockers, which was not an easy project, as they were old, rusty, and heavy. There...
I live on Hopp Road and received a text message there was a fire out my way. I got in my Ford Explorer to research it out, and as soon as I was away from the shelterbelt, I saw the fire. It was already burning up Eagle Butte. The wind was strong, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before it was in the breaks. I drove over to the fire, seeing the combines leaving the fire behind them, so I was glad no equipment was destroyed. I learned later, no livestock were lost either. I didn’t go into the area because they didn’t need me starting another fire i...
Lester and Carol Sluggett have been a ranching, agricultural, and rodeo minded team since they married June 2, 1962. Lester came from a farm/ranch that his father Lester Sluggett Sr homesteaded in 1924, 30 miles south of Big Sandy near the Missouri River. His wife to be Carol Henderson, grew up on her family ranch in the Bear Paw Mountains near the tiny town of Warrick. After they were married Lester and Carol bought his dad's Big Sandy ranch and ran it until 1972, when they purchased their...
Lainey Gregory and Seanna Demontiney had planned to go to Hawaii to play volleyball last summer, but with Covid-19, the opportunity was canceled until this summer. So both Lainey and Senna traveled to Honolulu, Hawaii July 6th and stayed there for a week. They played in the Nokaoi Volleyball Tournament. Seanna said, "Hawaii was absolutely amazing! It was something I have never experienced before. It felt so great to finally be able to travel and see more of the world." Lainey said, "It was well...
I was going to attend the Big Sandy School Board meeting on the internet but could not connect. I visited with Kelly Haaland in his office about the last school board meeting. Maddie Jenkins was hired as an English teacher for the Big Sandy High School. She has three years to get her English endorsement with a Class Five license, or she will be in an internship for three years. Maddie has a history endorsement currently but can teach English according to Montana law while working towards her English endorsement. She has taught English before...
I met Renee Hansen and Karen Reinertson at the Montana Room at the Big Sandy Library. This is where you will find all the old Mountaineers bound and available to the public to read. They use them to do their research for the Old-Timers column. So many people were asking who we got to recompile the column, I thought it would be interesting to visit with them about it. Why did they decide to write the column? Karen said, "I hated to see the column disappear." It was too important to her. Renee...
This first article about school funding is my attempt to try in a small part to explain to all of us how Big Sandy School is funded. I might need to rewrite this article to explain further if I get a small portion wrong. I was given 38 pages title Understand Montana School Finance and School Districts Budgets. The years’ complete financial budget is not fully completed. They are waiting for the state to complete the paperwork, so I’ll be referring to last years’ funds in general terms as well as the unofficial Budget Report of 2021. The state...
Heather Dilworth said, "The news is the is Big Sandy Organics is growing like crazy." They got a new contract with an international company to produce Einkorn, another ancient grain, into a snack. I got to taste it and loved it. It is lighter than Kracklin Kamut. It was initially grown just in France but now will be produced in the United States. The contract has the snack appearing for sale after Thanksgiving, but they have already hired two full-time staff starting in August to help them meet...
Fred Terry is the son of Floyd and Marlene Terry. He never saw himself as a writer before, but he got the idea to write a book to help him stay in touch each month, reading the next chapter to his daughters while he was deployed. Major Fredrick F. Terry has spent over "33 years in full-time service with the Army National Guard with three deployments. He and his wife Trish have five children. Kyara-27, Jobe-25, Elisha-12, and twins Amariah and Anaiah-11. They live in Helena on a small farm as...
I needed a break. A break from dry brown land. A break for high heat. A break from discouragement and depression. I went and visited my sister, Dena, in Billings. I knew she would have a lush green yard, and she and I would find numerous reasons to laugh and celebrate. With the frustrations we are all having right now because of the grass-hopers, the heat, and the outcome of a horrible storm, the trouble is we sit in our air-conditioned homes and wait for a different outcome. There are oases...
At press time Monday, it was hard to verify rumors. However, the storm that hit Big Sandy Sunday evening was devastating. You don't need to confirm when your eyes clearly show the damage. No one was killed, but there were two ambulance runs due to the storm. One at least was very serious. Shane Chauvet wrote on his Facebook account, " A severe storm blew a 5-foot steel culvert into the 'Roxor' ( 4-wheel side by side) we were driving on our way home through the field. It was the amazing and...
One thing is for sure the laws have changed since I was in school. I attended a training session by Andrew Vegland, a lawyer from the Helena Montana School Board Association. He handed out a 57-page document discussing current laws governing the Big Sandy School Board. I will not attempt to cover the entirety of the meeting here. However, we need to understand how the local school works and cover various issues further in-depth. There were a variety of issues briefly discussed. Title XX sets out the legal code if you want to look that up. Open...
Although it appears that everyone is tired of talking about COVID-19, I felt it very interesting to discover the long-term effects it was having on so many people. Gwen Ophus came into the Mountaineer and quickly visited me about some long-term effects she is still experiencing. She wondered if anyone in town is still struggling with the same issues she is or if they are struggling with different effects. She has joined an online support group and hopes that she’ll be healing quicker than later. She got COVID in the second week of November 2...
A couple of weeks ago, I received a message asking me to be a true journalist. It contained a comment about a politician I should be pointing out is not a good representative of the state of Montana. In other words, I would only be a good journalist if I wrote an article according to her opinion. She did say I should represent both sides, but it was obvious to me, for her, truth is only represented by her political persuasion. Freedom of speech is one of our most cherished freedoms, but I was raised to understand that with that freedom comes re...
As one person told me when I asked which Freedom came to mind when you think about your rights, “There are so many of them. Our right to have Freedom. I guess.” Actually, that sentence, “There are so many of them,” was repeated numerous times. Some had difficulty putting their thoughts into words, but I understood. It is the “Freedom to do things. The Freedom of choice.” And as an afterthought, they told me, “to remember to say thanks to all those who protect our rights.” The truth is we don’t stop to think about our rights that often. I ask...
This July 11th, the Virgelle Mercantile will be holding its annual Flea Market. The weather will cooperate; in fact, it will probably be hot. Don Sorenson, the owner of the Virgelle Merch, said, "we'll have ice cream, soda's, pop to help keep people cool." Besides the refreshment, there will be up to 20 vendors scattered around. There is one food vendor. "She has a great menu; Indian tacos, wraps that are pre-wrapped, so you can grab it and go. She always has great food," Don exclaimed. It's...
Anton Poelman at Tillemans told me he really enjoys his job because he likes fixing problems. Solving maintenance issue on equipment so they can last is rewarding work for him. “We get trade-ins with over 400,000 miles” Those cars get regular maintenance service. All professional maintenance manual says the same thing. “It is important to stick to the schedule. So easy to let what needs to be done slide, I know. Experts all say to “Follow the maintenance schedule in your car’s owner’s manual. It spells out when to take care of every servi...