Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana
Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana
Sorted by date Results 1351 - 1375 of 1558
After a decade of showing absolutely zero interest in social media, my mom recently took baby steps and created a Facebook account. While I’m sure this is not the gateway social media step into Instagram or Snap Chat, she is able to get some joy out of it by keeping up with friends and family. On one occasion she shared a picture of a dog that had been going viral on the Internet. There was a message with the picture encourage people to share the picture because it would help raise money for a dog that was badly burned after helping save his h...
With the first day of school just around the corner, families have been extremely busy with school shopping, getting supplies, and trying to get children into a much better sleep schedule. Each year around this time it always reminds me of the first day of school growing up and so many memories, even if they were not that great. When I was in kindergarten I was one of those kids that not only didn’t want to go to school, but would throw an absolute tantrum as I squeezed my mom’s leg in pure terror of what awaited me in the classroom. To this da...
I’m not sure if I’m necessarily a fan of it, but the Google app on my phone has recently been giving me a very comprehensive list of what’s trending in the world every time I try to search for something. I used to get a much less condensed version of this, but am getting used to seeing it as a way of knowing what the big news of the day is and what people are searching for. The past several months I have noticed that about two or three days a week a “national day” is trending. For instance the day I’m writing this column, it is “National B...
Publishing a newspaper every Wednesday I don’t get to travel that much or anywhere too far away. Sometimes this makes me a little bit sad, but all of the time I’m completely okay with it because it means I don’t have to deal with “fellow” travelers. Whether it be in an airport or on a interstate or highway, I believe traveling can bring out perhaps not the “worst” in people, but defiantly some strange and over exaggerated behavior. I don’t really fly much anymore, but when I do it is always the same. Someone is either walking to their gate o...
A fifth-generation rancher, Kami Noyes had a longtime dream of bring fiber artistry back to its roots. Noyes of Ranching Fiber Traditions was able to accomplish this in 2017, when along with Betty Kujawa of Snowdrift Alpacas joined forces for the Copper K Fiber Festival. The festival will return for its second year starting this Saturday and is a wonderful opportunity the residents for a unique event for the Whitehall area. The festival is free of charge and offers both classes and vendors. A trip to the festival is also worth it to see the...
I should have known that the moment I wrote a column about a disdain for several weeks of fireworks in a row that I would pay for it in some sort of karmic retribution for constantly being grumpy about everything. This wonderful gem of a story starts the day after the 4th of July and a time I feel there should be no fireworks unless they are a special show at a baseball stadium somewhere in urban America. By July 5th, my two pets were sick and tired of being sick and tired of fireworks. The poor things were finding hiding spots within their...
It's hard to believe, but the opening of fall practice for the three Whitehall High School sports teams is less than a month away. While the teams will be working hard to get ready for competition, the Whitehall High School Booster Club will bring the community together for their annual Pre-season barbecue. The event scheduled for August 17 will follow the annual Purple and Gold football and volleyball scrimmages. This is a time of the year for the club to raise donations for the 2018-19 school...
I'm most likely way in the minority on this one, but probably my least favorite two weeks of the year are what I like to call "fireworks season". It's the time of the year where stands come out on seemingly every street corner, and I'm jolted out of a slumber multiple times a night by fireworks. It's also a time of year my two cats start to hide and act really weird from all the ridiculous noise. I'm all about the United States of America and certainly about people making money-selling...
After several months rainy weather, the calendar has turned to July, the month knowing for the highest temperatures of the year in the Whitehall area. The July weather is a perfect opportunity for residents to get out and experience a true gem of our area, the Whitehall Community Pool. The pool provides a great setting for people of all ages to enjoy themselves. Along with the normal Monday through Saturday daily hours of 1 to 5:30 p.m., the pool also has night swims Monday, Wednesday, and Frida...
A few days ago I received a text message from a friend who was very upset over a picture that had run in my hometown newspaper. The picture was of her daughter and she wanted my opinion on what I thought of the photo, and if this was something that should be published. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but when she sent the picture I could easily understand what caused her frustration. Along with a girl dribbling the basketball at a recent tournament, her middle-school aged daughter was also...
What should have been a normal Friday in the spring of my seventh grade year took a far different turn. I should have known something was amiss when my bus pulled up to my school and large groups of my classmates were gathered together. It was strange to see because the kids that were labeled as "preps" were congregating with the "hoods" and it was a surreal moment to see this happen. A year later I would read a book called "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton and felt that other than the fact it...
With a little over a month until the 2018 Frontier Day in Whitehall, organizers are looking for volunteers to help out at the popular two-day event. One of the most needed areas for volunteers is the Rancher's Rodeo, but help with any of the variety of scheduled events would be greatly appreciated. In a small community like Whitehall, it takes a devoted team to put together an event like Frontier Days. Chamber members and everyone who helps out puts in a large number of hours, but things always...
Things will be a little bit different when the annual Whitehall Farmer’s Market opens for business next Saturday, and this is a good thing for the local community. Event organizers are transitioning into a “Street Market” in Legion Park and this should bring life back into the market that has seen a recent dip in attendance. The “Street Market” concept still allows the traditional “Farmer’s Market” products like produce, but also opens the door for a lot more vendors that should result in better attendance. This could include favorites like...
Early next month, local resident in Jefferson County will vote on ballot measure that would help pay for operation costs and equipment for Jefferson Valley Search and Rescue and Elkhorn Search and Rescue. The total amount raised by the levy would be an estimated $29,485 per year, and this is money is integral to operations for the organizations that are vital to the community. When the Jefferson Valley Search and Rescue is called to duty, members do their absolute best to help those in need. It...
I'm pretty sure that it could be 100 degrees outside for a straight week and I could still find a way to come inside with mud on my shoes and various part of my clothing. I'm not sure why, but I always find a way to dirty up the bottom of my shoes no matter what I'm doing. I would probably get a lot more done if I didn't take the short cut from the office to the bank in an alley and spend about 15 minutes scrapping the mud off my shoes. I'm not sure what happened the other day, but mud ended up...
Near the end of my eighth grade year I was able to sign up for freshman year classes that included my first foreign language credit. Like a lot of eighth graders, I was a genius in my own mind and thought the best fit would be to take German. I still have no idea what I was thinking. Unless I planned on living in Germany this made absolutely no sense. If I remember correctly, most of my friends were going to take German and that is why I signed up. I would take German throughout high school and a semester and a half in college. I sounded...
Every year prior to summer , residents from Whitehall come together to help tidy up the town with the annual Spring Clean up. This is not only a great way for the community to get the town looking great for the warmer months; it is a wonderful way to show pride in the community. This edition of the Ledger falls in the middle of the clean up, and town officials should be applauded for putting this together every year. Mayor Mary Janacaro Hensleigh has spearheaded this event for many years and her passion to keep Whitehall looking good is...
This week will be the culmination of countless hours of hard work by Whitehall High School students with the Thursday and Friday night performances of the annual spring play. The performances of “See How They Run” by Philip King are scheduled for April 26 and 27 in the Multi Purpose Room at 7 p.m. The local schools have all been very busy as the school year comes to a close, and this is an opportunity to get out and support the kids and show them support for all their hard work. Due to other activities, the kids in the play will often tim...
One great thing about my job is that it is an equal mix of sitting at a desk and being out in the public for games, events, interviews or taking pictures. This is really wonderful because I can spend a lot of time just focusing on writing or building pages and getting the paper sent to the printer, while at the same time not becoming a complete hermit that never leaves the office. Last week I had an experience where I really wanted to leave the office, but there was no way this was going to happen unless it was a mad dash to car for the ride...
The Lewis and Clark Caverns located 13 miles south of Whitehall is not only a popular destination for thousands of tourists each season, the park is also a premier location for locals who utilize the area for bird watching, hiking, mountain biking and other activities. With the Montana State Park set to open for the season soon, this Sunday is an important day for local residents to come out to show their support by helping out with repairing sections of trail, removing invasive weeds, and picking up litter. The Spring Repair Event will take...
I grew up in an area that much like Montana had many open spaces to explore. I was lucky enough to have two of my houses growing up that were by "desert" like locations and I could spend hours on my bike and always find a new dirt road or something interesting. I was also able to go with family and friends to explore the vast backcountry and was always fascinated with how much open space there was. I was also really confused how much garbage and junk would end up in the middle of nowhere. There...
As a kid, I would often times spend from sunrise to sunset in the summer at the golf course with my dad. I would also spend a great deal of time with him watching golf on television. I'm not talking about the four major tournaments either, we would watch the LPGA, Senior Tour, Nike Tour and whoever else was playing golf on a screen. I was surprised at a point in time we didn't drive to the course and just start watching people hit balls at the driving range. By the age of 10, I could probably na...
I recently read about the death of Ken Rex McElroy. If you are unfamiliar with the infamous case, McElroy was a notorious bully in a small Missouri town who had for years harassed and committed some pretty horrific crimes against local residents. In 1981 he was murdered in broad daylight with numerous witnesses. While everyone knows who committed the crime, not one person was willing to come forward and testify because it appears everyone was happy with what transpired and it didn't look like...
I don't think it would be an understatement to say that malls are just not what they used to me. In fact, ten years from now I'm pretty sure there won't be many still around. When I first moved to Montana in 2015 I made a trip to Butte and checked out the mall. I thought I had taken a wrong turn and ended up in Bosnia. I'm sure it was probably once a great mall really enjoyed by residents of Southwest Montana, but it is far from appealing right now. While there are some good things there like...
I'm an avid sports fan and my absolute favorite time of the year is the NCAA Basketball Tournament, especially the first four days. I grew up at a time when the University of Wyoming basketball team had an amazing program and their eclectic player Fennis Dembo even graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. I was able to experience the magic of the tournament watching the Cowboys play in Salt Lake City and those are experiences I will never forget. Unfortunately the success did not last long, but...
