Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana
Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana
Sorted by date Results 1362 - 1386 of 1557
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...
In a little under five months, both current and former residents will help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Cardwell School. The event is scheduled for Saturday, August 4 starting at 10:30 a.m. at the school, and will also include a dinner later that day at the Cardwell Pavilion. This event is a wonderful way to bring former students, teachers, staff and anyone affiliated to the school together for what should be an amazing day. Much like is the case with any small town school, the building in Cardwell means so much to so many people,...
When I started my career in journalism as beat reporter for a daily newspaper I would often times have to take photos at meetings, games, or various events. While the paper did have a digital camera, they were not very handy at the time for anything other than “grip and grin,” type photos that are basically people posed and not moving – think of someone presenting a group with a check. I was given a nice camera to work with, but it wasn’t as simple as going taking a picture and being done. My first week on the job I was sent into a dark ro...
The Town of Whitehall conducted a meeting late last month to obtain public comment to assist their pursuit of grants that will not only help the town meet their water requirements with the Department of Environmental Quality, but to also benefit future community development. It was very unfortunate the town water levels tested above the acceptable limit for Uranium in 2015, but it did happen. Without finding an acceptable water source the town will have to build a water treatment facility and while this is costly, pursuing grants will help...
I'll be the first to admit that I enjoy nothing more than a day off spent at my house binge watching my favorite new show or basketball, but every once in awhile I like to get out of town for a few days. My hometown is eight hours away, which is a trip I will do two or three times a year, and I also don't mind loading up the car for a trip to Seattle or Las Vegas. Sure the trip can be a little bit long, but it sure beats the cost of flying four people anywhere. Plus with the drive to an...
Montana winters can be brutal. Sometimes it is the well below zero temperatures,or the howling winds, or it can be a huge blanket of snow that sticks to the road. Several times a winter all three happen at once and it makes traveling near impossible. No matter how bad the winter conditions are, it is important to always remember law enforcement and emergency responders, as well as state, county, town employees working hard to make things better. It doesn’t matter when the bad weather hits whether it be a holiday or the middle of the day, t...
A few weeks ago I was at the district basketball tournament when I witnessed something that really bothered me. The Whitehall Trojans boys basketball team was taking on Manhattan in a game with everything on the line. The winner would live to play another day and advance to the divisional tournament in Billings and the losers would be done for the season. Anyone who has been to the district tournament knows that it is always a great atmosphere with a lot of passion and this was certainly the...
When I was a little kid it was always a big deal when my Grandma Smith would take all of the grandkids to McDonalds. It was a special time with a special woman who always made sure we had McDonalds coupons in each of our Christmas and Birthday gifts. There would also be a savings bond, but to a kid the coupons were a much bigger deal. There was one time my Grandma who was a notoriously bad driver attempted to take us to McDonalds and we ended up 15 miles away in a neighboring town, but I...
As a publisher, people will often times ask me about the current state of the newspaper business and their relevance in todays society. I will certainly admit that large publications in metropolitan areas have been struggling and many of them have closed their doors. At the same time, I will happily say that smaller community papers still have a very relevant role in today’s society and many of them do very well. While it certainly isn’t the same with social media and the Internet playing a key role on how people do things, but for smaller comm...
Often times the pages of a small-town newspaper are full of articles and pictures for high school sporting teams and this is certainly the case in the Ledger. I also feel it is very important to recognize some of the other great things going on at local schools and there is no better place to start than with the Whitehall Schools Music Department. Last week was a phenomenal one for the department. Not only did they host seven teams at a middle school music festival, the high school music department was notified they were recipients of a $2,000...
While I was in college, I always dreaded summer coming. It would mean I would have to stop the laidback lifestyle of being a student and have to work my butt of to raise money for tuition. This was certainly different than being a kid and counting down the days for the school year to end which always meant a long summer of riding my bike in the desert without a care in the world. In my hometown there were always a ton of college kids who also wanted to raise money and there were always a few...
Whether it is a cup of coffee with a friend, putting together a puzzle while catching up with the latest town gossip or a nice lunch, the Whitehall Senior Center is an important gathering spot for local residents. Next Sunday, the Center is hosting their annual fundraiser and this an integral time for local residents to come together to help with day-to-day operations. Even the smallest of donations will help the center remain a valuable part of the community. Throughout the year, the center puts together a great menu of lunches Monday through...
The other day when picking up a sandwich for lunch I decided to grab a bag of Doritos as a side. I got an interesting surprise when I opened the bag and an astonishing four chips came out. I've noticed the amount of chips that generally come in bags has slowly decreased over the years, but this seemed a little bit ridiculous. So rather than pay for some tasty chips, it appears I spent money on a brightly colored bag of air. It's almost as if with each new flavor introduced, they decide to put...
