Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana
Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana
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This evening the Whitehall Chamber of Commerce will honor Whitehall Eighth Graders with a special event scheduled for Legion Park. This event is just one of the many recent hosted by the chamber in an effort to not only honor local students but to also help local small businesses. A very dedicated board of directors is making a difference during a time when they are needed the most and they are doing a fantastic job. With the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, events like "Rally...
There was some great economic news last week with the Golden Sunlight Mine announcing they have secured a customer for their Tailings Reprocessing Project. Mine officials have been working meticulously with the project and this is a very positive sign. Not only will this allow the mine to reduce their overall environmental liability, but this will also add additional jobs at the site near Whitehall, as well as tax revenue. By securing Nevada Gold Mine's (NGM) as a customer, it is a win-win for b...
For about five straight days I don’t think I slept more than a few minutes. Just about every type of trouble I could get myself into I did, and it felt so good doing it 2,000 miles away from home. There were rules, but I was like a 1970’s punk rocker in London and I didn’t care. Despite all of this, I also learned a lot about the history of the United States. I was scrolling through social media the other day, which I complain about all the time, but spend half my time on anyway. I came across someone talking about how their kid would not b...
I have witnessed a lot of aggressive debate over the past several weeks about how the government has been handling the COVID-19 pandemic. Some feel they are doing the right thing by keeping people at a distance and slowing it down, while others feel their rights have been stepped upon. That is certainly a debate I will never get into because nobody wins, people just seem to get mad. I also see non-stop bickering between political parties and that is also a can of worms I just cannot open....
With the cancellation of sporting events across the county, ESPN has really had to get creative to fill content not only on their network but as well as on their web site. One thing the network has always done well at not many people know about is their documentaries and "30 for 30" series which is high-quality television. They have also captivated viewers and earned big ratings the past couple weeks for the documentary "The Last Dance" which details the final world championship run of the...
I was sitting at the drive-in window at the A&W/KFC in Whitehall last when a memory I had blocked out for good reason resurfaced and I really wish it wouldn't have. As I sat waiting for my Papa Burger, I was reminded of my first job interview and it instantly made me want to roll the window and spew. This is probably the first time I had thought about this wretched 15 minutes of my life since I had interview number two. I was a 15-year-old sophomore in high school and was encouraged to get a...
My older sister lives in Los Angeles and probably has some of the best dining options in the country. She can experience the cuisine of so many different cultures, plenty of fresh seafood, lots of healthy options and of course can anytime go to In and Out Burger. Despite all the choices offered in California, her pallet has not completely changed since her days in high school in Rock Springs, Wyoming. She has not lived in her hometown for around 30 years, but one of her first stops is always to...
I am a true-crime junkie. It does matter if it is a book, television series, podcast, website, or documentary, I will check it out. To some, it certainly may sound like a macabre past time learning about serial killers or the mob, but I just cannot get enough of it. I usually spend at least some of my weekends working covering sports or other community events but this hasn't been the case for the past few weeks. This has allowed me to binge-watch a few television shows. I've always known people...
This week, I had a conversation with U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to discuss national responses to the COVID-19 outbreak and how the U.S. Department of Education can assist Montana schools. I encouraged flexibility for Montana schools. We also discussed equitable alternative education delivery and what that looks like in rural Montana, especially for special education and other at-risk student groups. As communities across Montana were forced to rapidly adapt in response to the...
I spend a lot of time cooking and take pride in the dishes I create. I would like to think they are generally pretty satisfactory but every once in a great while, it can be a real disaster. Unfortunately, this has been the case a few times too many lately. I absolutely love pizza and have tinkered with various homemade recipes over the years. I've always found that the biggest issue is getting the crust just right and believe I finally have this down. A few weeks ago, I decided I would make...
It is always important for residents of a small town to shop locally and to eat at local restaurants. This is even more important right now. While dining rooms at restaurants across the area are currently closed, they are still offering take-out and delivery options and people really need to think about supporting them as much as they can during this time. Having a dining room closed is such a big deal for a small-town restaurant and it is time for the community to band together to go and pick...
A little over five years ago Melissa and I went to go watch a UFC fight card in Las Vegas that featured Conor McGregor as well as many other well-known MMA fighters. It was a glorious time and I still think fondly on it often. Although most of the trip went smoothly with a lot of smiles, there was one hiccup that has also been remembered. We knew it was going to be a very long night of the fight card, so we made sure to stop and get a big meal at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant in Caesar's Palace....
I have so many fond memories of my childhood spent with my Grandpa and Grandma Smith. The two were a huge part of my life and we spent many days attending the University of Wyoming football and basketball games and many fun-filled vacations to places like Jackson Hole and Salt Lake City. There were numerous days spent at their house with countless hours spent in their backyard playing with my cousins. As many games as we would go to, there were always the ones we did not make and for those we...
Say the magic words "pizza party" at a school and chaos will ensue. There will be yelling, screaming, and the happiest group of kids you could possibly find outside of a birthday or Christmas morning. Kids love pizza and they like it even more when they can have it at school. As a kid I would also get very enthused when a teach mentioned pizza, in fact I would get pretty darn excited anytime anybody mentioned pizza --- and still do. During my elementary years, I would go just about every Friday...
Over the past several years I've covered a lot of high school basketball games in gyms across the western United States. Easily one of my favorite parts about this has been covering the annual 5B District Tournament in Belgrade and last week was no different. It is always filled with a lot of passion from both the teams and fans and an atmosphere that is hard to match. My first experience at the tournament five years ago was definitely an eye-opener and I had no idea what to expect. After a...
While there are certainly nights I can hop right in bed and fall asleep there are also those nights where I toss and turn for hours. It often times has to do with some stress for work but other times it is for a really mundane or strange reason and this was the case last week when at 2 a.m. I was thinking of a giant sandwich. The night had started off pretty good as I wondered to go to bed at 9 p.m. That may sound a bit early for some but not for me. I don't mind going to bed early and in fact,...
Each year in my household the “Super Bowl” serves as a wonderful opportunity to have some wonderful “game day” type food. I would like to say it is also a chance to also watch football but that isn’t always the case for everyone in the house. While the game was going on, the two teenaged girls in the house had no interest and were instead went into the family room to watch what they wanted which was certainly not the Kansas City Chiefs or San Francisco 49ers. We used to make them sit with us and watch but they were miserable the entire ti...
I think it is probably safe to say that nobody in my house is a morning person and the rides to work are usually pretty quiet. Every now and then I will badger Shayla on the way to work with a bunch of random questions that drives her up the wall. She turned 13 on Monday so she is at the age where she is fussy all the time and over some of the stupidest things so the random questions really can light a fuse under her. Although it is kind of like poking a bear it can still provide some laughter...
There were probably a lot of people I graduated high school within Wyoming that instantly matured as they took their next steps in life, but this was certainly not the case for myself or my trusted crew The couple of years following high school were very eventful, never dull, and included a lot of pranks. Looking back, it may seem a bit childish now, but my friends and I went back and forth so hard at each other with our pranks that I once was left screaming in the bathroom at 4 a.m. because of Mel Gibson. Probably my biggest partner in crime...
It’s never fun to get the flu, and it is even worse when it hits you like a Conor McGregor left on your busiest day of the week. This was certainly the case last week when I struggled mightily and am still unsure how I got both of the newspapers sent to the printer. While I think the absolute biggest stinker of a time to get the flu would be on vacation, a Monday for me is pretty close to being stuck in a tiny bathroom on a cruise ship while the rest of those on board have a ton of fun. I had been pretty lucky to not have been sick for a while...
It's always an exciting yet scary time when moving to a new community and this certainly was the case when I lived in Washington a few years ago. Normally when I had moved in the past, I had a job at a newspaper lined up, but this time was different, and I was very much in need of a job and in need of one quickly. I applied at a huge daily newspaper and while I did make it to the interview process, I did not land the gig. I wasn't discouraged and kept applying everywhere I could and a few weeks...
A few weeks ago, I talked about how I would do my best to stay up until midnight to ring in the new year, but I was in bed well before the new decade. I remember my Grandpa once telling me nothing good ever happens after midnight, so I probably didn't miss anything too positive and I was also rested for a day off in the middle of the week which is a rare treat. If it was a decade ago, I probably would have spent my New Year's Day with a headache and watching football, but football on January 1...
When I was growing up, I never usually had much say in what television show was being played in the house. In the days before the remote control, I would certainly have to be the one to get up and change the channel but that was my extent of being a decision-maker. I guess I was the remote control. If it was my older sister in charge it would be either soap operas or MTV when it used to play music videos instead of the garbage reality programs that have seem to find quite the niche with today's...
In a few days, people across the world will stay up until midnight to welcome the new year. I most likely will not be one of them. In fact, it has been several years since I stayed up that late that night. This was not always the case and I can remember spending about 20 straight watching the "ball drop" at Times Square or singing and shouting with a great group of friends or family. New Year's Eve always was a way to bring a great group of friends together and always made for an interesting...
I was watching a television show about how stuff is made, and they had an episode about gum. While I still enjoy a piece every now and then, it brought back memories of my childhood. As a little kid, I would always try to get a pack of gum at the store. If I found out I would not be getting one, I would throw a major tantrum which usually didn't help, but every once in a while, it would result in a brand-new pack or two. I'm still not sure why to this day I would oftentimes prefer gum over...
