Articles from the July 31, 2024 edition


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  • HCE schedules Shut off August 5th to the 9th

    Jul 31, 2024

    Hill County Electric (HCE) will be making semi-permanent repairs to our Verona Substation. The Verona Substation serves the Virgelle, Colony Bay, Big Sandy and Hopp-Illiad Substations. The outage will take place for the entire week of August 5th through the 9th. As you are aware, HCE had a 30-hour unplanned outage back in April. Luckily, that failure did not cause irreparable damage and HCE was able to make temporary repairs and reenergize the transformer. To mitigate the risk of possible catastrophic failure, HCE needs to perform additional...

  • Senior Center makes changes

    Zoe Merrill|Jul 31, 2024

    At its regular annual meeting, the Big Sandy Senior Center voted to raise its meals to $7.00. This was necessary to cover the cost of food and supplies, which kept going up. They could also use donations of any kind because donations are a key factor for keeping the center running. While monetary donations are greatly appreciated, there are other diverse ways to contribute. The following items were mentioned: Eggs, vegetables, powdered lemonade, coffee, tea, toilet paper, trash bags, dish soap, computer paper, file folders, file hangers, pens,...

  • St. Margaret Mary's youth group raising money to make pilgrimage to Rome

    Erik Sietsema|Jul 31, 2024

    The Saint Margaret Mary Catholic Church Youth Ministry's raffle to raise money for a pilgrimage to Rome is complete and the results are in. The effort was a smashing success, raising around $19,000. The drawing was streamed on Facebook Live on July 5th. Judy Yirsa, who runs the youth program, shared the results of the drawing: "Our first prize winner was Katrina Benjamin from Fort Benton. Later, when she picked up the Can Am from my house, she said she only bought one ticket. She bought it at...

  • Green Acres

    Tyler Lane|Jul 31, 2024

    Horticultural Tips for August Below are some rules of thumb when tending vegetables, lawns, flowers and trees during the month of August. • Renovate strawberries by mowing a minimum of every three years. Some people mow their strawberries every year following fruit production. Be sure to set the mower high enough to mow the leaves. Mowing too low may damage the crowns and kill the plant. • Topdress strawberries after harvest with a complete fertilizer like 16-16-16. • Pinch the tops of indeterminate tomatoes and reduce watering to promo...

  • Waterwise Yard starts this fall

    Zoe Merrill|Jul 31, 2024

    With the recent hot weather, the right time to discuss how to have a nice lawn without using so much water is now. What is a Waterwise lawn, and how does it work? There is and will continue to be a battle about who owns the water in our state. Working for change is essential because the planet is worth the effort. My 100-year-old uncle Les Rutledge said, "Do what you can while you can. It is one lawn, one neighborhood at a time." With the help of Waterwise Project LLC, he created a...

  • Sunshine Snipper gearing up for the Fair

    Jul 31, 2024

    The Choteau County Fair in Fort Benton is coming up this month Aug 15-18. Its going to be a long but fun week. There will be fair rides, a derby, tractor pulls and the livestock auction. Every day during the fair the 4-H kids from all over Chouteau County will be showing off all of our hard work with projects. There will be rabbits, pigs, cows, sheep, goats and dogs. Some kids will have sewing, welding, wood working, photos, and baking projects just to name a few. I will be taking a black angus steer named George that I raised. The market pig,...

  • Fall Sports Gearing Up

    Jul 31, 2024

    Mark your calendars for August 13th. The annual parent-player meeting for all BSHS fall sports teams will be held at 7 p.m. in the BSHS auditorium. This is a great opportunity for parents to meet our football and volleyball coaches. Important information regarding the season and school policies is disseminated at this meeting. Please plan to attend if you are a parent of a 5th-12th grade boy planning to play football or a 6th-12th grade girl planning to play volleyball. As a reminder, all athletes must have a current sports physical before...

  • Successful Summer Wrestling Camp

    Zoe Merrill|Jul 31, 2024

    Recently, wrestling camp came to Big Sandy. Kyle Rodewald held a four-day wrestling camp in the city hall. It was scheduled at the school, but the electrical company decided that was the week they were coming to town, and all the electricity at the high school would be turned off. The wrestling mats covered the city hall floor well, but it did get hot in there towards the end of the day. Kyle told me, "I think the youngest is kindergarten up to seniors," for a total of 34 kids. They came from...

  • Barracuda take third at state

    Zoe Merrill|Jul 31, 2024

    Big Sandy Barracuda took 3rd in class A with 17 swimmers. The state swim meet was held in Sidney last week, and the western division's best faced the eastern division's best. The state meet consists of 19 teams. The teams that competed were Big Sandy, Bitterroot, Chester, Chinook, Choteau, Columbia Falls, Conrad, Cut Bank, Fort Benton, Glasgow, Glendive, Harlem, Lewistown, Malta, Plentywood, Roundup, Scobey, Sidney, and Shelby. There were 451 swimmers from around the state. The Barracuda's had a...

  • Arctic Tern arrived at Big Sandy

    Zoe Merrill|Jul 31, 2024

    While driving to and from Big Sandy, I noticed large flocks of what looked like small white birds. I had to find out what they were because I had never seen them in our area before. I researched at the All About Birds Organization and Audubon sites. "The Arctic Tern is a small, slender gray-and-white bird with angular wings, the Arctic Tern is well known for its long yearly migration. It travels from its Arctic breeding grounds to Antarctica, where it enjoys the Antarctic summer, covering...