Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana

Articles written by Keith Hammond


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  • Don't Like Your Local Government? Vote to Change It.

    KEITH HAMMONDS, Boulder Monitor|Jan 31, 2024

    Jefferson County and its cities of Boulder and Whitehall have had the same forms of government in place for as long as anyone can remember. But on June 5, voters will have the opportunity to decide if they’d like to contemplate something different. Montana’s state constitution requires that every 10 years, all municipalities and counties ask voters to choose whether to establish a commission to study their current form of government and consider alternatives. It is a uniquely Montanan mandate, intended to give citizens the power to decide if th...

  • Headwaters Country Jam Rocked...So Did the County

    KEITH HAMMOND, Boulder Monitor|Aug 2, 2023

    Last weekend, some 4,000 revelers arrived at a pasture between Cardwell and Three Forks for Headwaters Country Jam, an annual three-day country music festival. As the bands played on - Ashley McBryde, Koe Wetzel, and Parker McCollum were headliners - Jefferson County, within whose boundaries the festival venue (barely) lies, was very much behind the scenes. The county Sheriff's Office stationed eight to nine deputies at the site throughout the weekend. The county sanitarian, Megan Bullock, ensur...

  • At Monitor Forum, Candidates Find Much to Agree On

    KEITH HAMMONDS, Boulder Monitor|Nov 2, 2022

    In a Volunteer Hall decked out in spider webs and skeletons for “Fright Night” festivities, candidates for County Commissioner and Sheriff faced off Monday evening at a Boulder Monitor Forum – most often revealing how much they agreed on key issues facing Jefferson County. The forum brought together four native Montanans, all of them longtime residents of Jefferson County with extensive careers as public servants. Chad Cross and Tom Grimsrud, who are vying for the Sheriff’s job, both have worked in Jefferson County law enforcement for about t...

  • How a Small Town Got Its Child Care Center

    KEITH HAMMONDS, The Boulder Monitor|Jan 12, 2022

    In the pre-dawn hours of Dec. 16, a massive haul truck inched into Boulder carrying a 70-foot-long building. Crews steered the structure off Main Street at the L&P Grocery, then down Monroe Street for a few blocks before turning onto West Fourth Avenue and settling, around 6 a.m., behind Boulder Elementary School. Boulder had its child care center. The building's midnight run, from the Jim Darcy Elementary School north of Helena, took six hours. Really, though, it capped a yearlong journey that...