Ledger Looking Back 25 Years: 7/29/1998

JULY 29, 1998

Area rodeo fans were treated to back-to-back nights of outstanding action during the 1998 Frontier Days NRA Rodeo at the Whitehall Rodeo Grounds on July 24-25. Some of the top-ranked Northern Rodeo Association competitors participated in the Whitehall rodeo, and cowboys and cowgirls from throughout Montana rode and roped their way into prize money. The 1998 Frontier Days Rodeo was a true Whitehall production: Lillian Rodeo in Whitehall organized the event and provided stock, Brady Cogdill and Rick Moeykens clowned and Ray Tully announced and the Whitehall Saddle Club sold concessions.

In 1998, northern and central Florida experienced the wettest winter in history followed by the driest spring and early summer in history. Add dry-lightning storms to the resulting lush growth in Florida's pine forests and you get the extensive wildfires that swept parts of the state from late May until mid-July. Among the nearly 500 Montanans who were called to fight fire in Florida were John Billeter and Ted Kamrud, from the Forest Service office in Whitehall. Ted was a forester and John was the assistant fire management officer for the Jefferson Ranger district. They were among the nearly 40 employees from the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest called to duty down South. The Boulder-based engine crew consisted of Dave North, Marshall Thompson, and Dan Anderson.

Sharon and David Lofftus purchased the former Gio's Pizzeria and opened on July 27 as Merlin's Pizza Parlor. David and Sharon have lived in Whitehall for seven years and were first-time small business owners. Merlin's featured a new soup and salad bar to go along with pizza, sandwiches, chicken, calzones, spaghetti, ravioli, and stromboli.

Kody Hencz, 13, a homeschooler going into eighth grade, was our Whitehall Reader of the Week. Kody says, "I like mostly all kinds of books, but science fiction is my favorite." Kody reads five to ten books a week. He says there are so many authors that it would be hard to pick a favorite, but that he does like Gene Roddenberry. Kody is the son of Kelly and Lorie Hencz and enjoys doing science projects and magic.