Ledger Looking Back 25 Years: April 8, 1998

APRIL 8, 1998

Dean Hunt, a rancher south of Whitehall, and Joan Jones, former owner of the Whitehall A&W, won the two open spots on the Whitehall Board of Trustees during the April 7 school election. Hunt garnered the most votes with 223, followed by Jones with 208. A total of 457 votes were cast, 41 percent more than the 270 votes cast in 1997.

Actual fraud and game rigging have been ruled out, but the investigation into the Whitehall Volunteer Fire Department’s 1997 Casino Night fundraiser has been referred back to the Montana Attorney General’s office for possible permit and gaming violations.

The town siren, which sits atop the old bell tower high on the platform near the Fire Hall on Legion Avenue, has been silent for three years but will be silent no longer. Workers trenched the underground line from the Fire Hall to the siren last week, tested the siren, and will begin using the siren for fire calls.

On April 3, the Forest Service burned about 70 percent of a 2,300-acre area, five miles southwest of Boulder, using a helicopter dropping ping-pong ball-sized incendiary devices. Officials said the use of these “ping-pong balls” was a first for the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest and explained the balls are plastic, about the size of a ping-pong ball, and are partially filled with a dry powder chemical. Before the balls are dropped from the helicopter, a special machine injects them with ethylene-glycol. This starts a chemical reaction that results in the balls slowly igniting. Officials opted to use this method to start the burning because of the steep, rocky terrain and the size of the area involved.

For the first time in the school’s history, the Whitehall Middle School sent a delegation of students to the Mathcounts State Competition held in Bozeman. A total of 94 individuals were composed of 23 teams, with Whitehall taking 16th place in the team competition. Only three Class B-C schools finished ahead of Whitehall’s team, which included Sheldon Ross, Neal Bell, Nathan Chadwick, and Katie Mabbott.

Whitehall Student of the Week was sophomore Krystal Redmond who was nominated by teacher Todd Breitenfeldt for her excellence in science class. Krystal is the daughter of Sandy and Jim Rozan and has plans to attend Carroll College in Helena to study law. Krystal enjoys tennis, the theater, and playing the saxophone.

Whitehall Athlete of the Week was senior Meghan Hoopes. Coach Duston Jones nominated Meghan for her leadership in girls' tennis. She has played the number one singles position for three years. Meghan is the daughter of Clifford and Patricia Hoopes and plans on attending Montana Tech to study environmental engineering. She enjoys hiking, reading, playing the saxophone, and drama.