We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
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Readers may not be familiar with St. Uhro's Day celebrations on March 16...that's right, one day before St. Patrick's Day. St. Uhro is the patron saint of vineyard workers in Finland. Uhro, serving as a rural priest many years ago, is credited with banishing the grasshoppers that threatened the grape crop (and resulting wine). Sources say the holiday has not been celebrated here in Blaine County, at least as far as any old-timers can recall, and there are no references to the holiday in...
First graders at Meadowlark Elementary in Chinook were pretty excited when Lion Richard Cronk walked in with a box of miniature American flags. They knew the drill, he was going to talk about the American flag, then give them each one of the miniature American flags. Several of the first graders had older siblings who had come home with a flag in prior years. Lion Cronk asked the kids to stand and pledge allegiance to the flag. It was pretty clear this was not their first time saying the...
Five local churches studying new ways to share resources and ministries are hosting several joint events during this year's Lenten season and Holy Week. The churches include the Havre Presbyterian Church, the Harlem Yoked Parish (a combined Presbyterian and Methodist congregation) and Chinook's United Methodist, American Lutheran and Presbyterian churches. Representatives of these churches are exploring new ways they can cooperate in their outreach. Discerning new paths for small churches Late...
Alert readers will recall a story I wrote last December for the "Journal" about a dog/house sitting adventure. The story recounted how my wife Sherry and I spent five weeks, rent free, in a very upscale Airbnb in a suburb of Seattle near our daughter and her family. That venture into 'serial pet sitting' turned out to be rather costly. Here's the previously untold part of the story. Emergency room costs quickly added up We took two days to drive to Woodinville, Washington. It's about 800 miles...
Darwin Zellmer, of Harlem, recently shared a letter from William McKinney, Col. USAF (Ret). McKinney, and his wife, Jill, visited the Airmen's Memorial in Harlem last fall on the way from their home in Florida to Glacier Park. Part of the trip was to fulfill a promise the retired colonel made to his wife to let her see and experience the memorial to the 13 Air Force crew members who died in an air crash north of Harlem. McKinney was the squadron commander of 11 of the 13 crewmembers killed when...
Three church congregations from Chinook held a joint Christmas Eve service this past week. The evening service was held at the American Lutheran Church in Chinook and joined with the local Presbyterian and Methodist churches. American Lutheran and Chinook Presbyterian churches are currently without pastors. Rev. Jack Mattingly, pastor of the Chinook Methodist Church, led the worship and was assisted in serving communion by Rev. Sherry Edwards, retired and former pastor of the Presbyterian...
My wife, Sherry, and I are completing our fifth week as dog sitters in an upscale suburb of Seattle. How we ended up taking on this unusual task is a story itself. And what we learned about the enormity of the pet sitting sector is, well, a bit amazing. Here's how we ended up in Woodinville, Washington dog/house sitting and some of what we learned about the economics of pet sitting. Pet sitting's an economic sector estimated to be worth $2.6 billion per year worldwide and growing. From Airbnb...
During a stay in Miles city my wife and I visited some of the local tourist attractions. I was especially impressed with the Range Riders Museum. Described as "a celebration of eastern Montana history" the collection includes exhibits of local branding irons to an iron lung. Though the amount of material to view is a bit overwhelming one exhibit, especially, stood out for me: the collection of "It Happened in Montana" panel drawings by artist James Masterson The particular set of drawings on dis...
Crossing Indiana Street near the grocery store a few nights ago I looked south and saw emergency flashing lights. From where I was it looked like a fire truck and firemen running toward the tire shop at the end of the block. Curiosity got the best of me and I headed toward the lights and activity. Turns out Chinook firemen, in full gear and wearing SCBA packs (like scuba gear for firefighters), were moving in and out of the north side door of Chinook Lube Tire and Sporting Goods. Smoke was...
Tami Mitchell, Blaine County's Clerk of District Court, hosted a meeting of other District Court Clerks from around District 6-a geographic area that includes district courts from here east to the North Dakota state line. Mitchell said she was excited to host the group because "we usually meet at Glasgow, or some other place more in the center of the district." She wanted to make the get together special for the visiting clerks. Tami and her husband Dennis secretly planned to pick the ladies up...
Two of five highway improvements are now completed The Lohman East and West project on US 2 is complete per the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) and Schellinger Construction. The project ran basically over ten miles from the Hill/Blaine County line to the west city limits of Chinook. Most construction work was concluded several weeks ago with painting crews finishing the final roadway striping last week. Initial dirt work on the $27 million project began two years ago in the late...
It took about 40 years and two sets of current descendants to make the wish of a "homestead baby" come true. Joe Havlovick's grandfather, Anton, and Joe's father, Paul, homesteaded on two contiguous 320 acre tracts "north of Dodson" on the Big Flat in 1917. Anton Havlovick's great grandchildren believe the two homesteaders were drawn to America by the prospect of "free land" touted in the newspaper ads they likely saw back home in Czechoslovakia. Like many prairie homesteaders, Anton and Paul fa...
About 60 locals gathered last week at the Chinook Eagles for a surprise "thank you" party for Jana McPherson-Hauer resigned recently as head of the Blaine County Health Department. Betty Billmeyer, Betty's daughter Stephanie Billmeyer Silva and others organized the event to, as Betty put it, "Give the community an opportunity to thank Jana for the great job she did as the county's public health nurse." Jana joined the health department in September, 2014. Jana's husband, Jayson, and Stephanie...
I wrote recently about southern cooking based on a recent road trip to Georgia. The road trip was 4,000+ miles through 15 states and eight days of driving. My wife and I had never visited some of the places we passed through and others we had visited but not for nearly a quarter century. Here are a few observations about places we revisited and things we saw that caught our interest. Trends we saw heading east The further east and south we got the more traffic and congestion we encountered. I'd...
My wife, Sherry, and I just returned from a driving trip to Georgia. The trip was to visit a very dear friend from years back and also, well, about nostalgia. We lived for 20 years over two time spans in the state, both our children were born there and I, honestly, had a strong hankering for some southern cooking. Our friend had warned, "Georgia is not the state you left 20 years ago." Though that was true, we were able to enjoy some culinary treats that are still part of the state's culture....
The sound of emergency sirens sounded in Chinook last Saturday on September 11. Local first responders participated in the commemorative parade to honor first responders and civilians who died or were injured 20 years ago in the terrorist attacks around the nation. Chinook Fire Chief Kraig Hansen explained how the local event became a reality. Chief Hansen said, "I saw on social media that several groups of first responders around the country were organizing low-key memorials for the 9/11...
I visited recently with Ken Finley out at his garden and pumpkin patch adjacent to the Chinook Water Treatment Plant just off Cleveland Road on the south edge of town. I'd walked through the pumpkin patch during the growing season and was impressed with some of the 'lunkers' I could see down in the vines. But an orange wooden contraption had been erected at the south end of the patch and I was curious to learn what it was. Ken was happy to talk about this most recent addition to his patch. He ex...
A project to stabilize headstones of veterans buried in Kuper Cemetery (northwest of Chinook) and Alice Nash Cemetery (south Blaine County) will soon be completed. The project involved making and installing concrete pads under the low-profile headstones provided to eligible veterans by the Veterans Administration (VA). Mick Thompson, Cemetery Board Chairman, said about 170 pads were made onsite and installed at the Kuper Cemetery and eight at the Alice Nash Cemetery. The project was directed...
"Journal" readers may have seen the earthmoving equipment working along the north side of the Blaine County Wildlife Museum. That activity is part of the site preparation for a new addition to the existing wildlife museum. The addition was made possible through the generosity of the Brown-Monson Foundation based in New Hampshire. Here's some of the background of the museum, the gift and how the new addition will be used. A short history of the Blaine County Wildlife Museum The idea for a...
Correspondent's note: Alert readers may recall a story I wrote in 2016 about food booths at the Blaine County Fair. I researched and wrote the story after I worked my first time ever in a fair booth. I was curious about how the booths operated, what kinds of revenue they generated and how that revenue was used. Turns out there's a lot more involved with food fair booths than simply opening the doors (or, raising the covering over the serving windows) and taking in money. Here's an update on...
Three Havre-based officers with the Customs and Border Patrol CBP) recently visited with children at Blaine County Library's summer program for kids. The officers did two presentations to educate children about the agency's job of protecting the nation's borders. The Customs and Border Patrol was created in 2002 when the Homeland Security Act combined the functions of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Customs Service into one agency. CBP is now the largest uniformed law...
Motorists coming in to Chinook from the west on US 2 can enjoy a brief "no construction zone" between these two signs on the west edge of town. They are signs of the times as road repairs carried on in both directions along US 2. A wag once said, "Montana: nine months of winter and three months of road repairs." On the other hand, both projects are and will be major improvements along the popular Hi-Line route....
In the late spring I was walking along Stephens Road that borders the Kuper Memorial Cemetery northwest of Chinook. I noticed some construction equipment and workers around the water tower located on the highest part of the cemetery. I figured repair work was going on. A few days later I walked by the cemetery again and the water tank was partially flattened on the ground and the steel tower that held it was gone. I was curious about the history of the old tank and why it was taken down. A few...
Alert readers may be familiar with the phrase "Will it play in Peoria?" The "will it play" expression dates to the 1920's-30's when vaudeville producers gauged the potential success of a new show by taking it to Peoria, Illinois. If a vaudeville production was received well in Peoria it was believed the touring show would be successful across the nation. About a month ago my wife, Sherry, and I visited Peoria. We drove to Grand Forks, North Dakota, picked up our son and headed to Peoria (just...
A friend in Havre recently gave me a book noting, "I think you might enjoy reading this." The book was written by Tim Gilge. Locals may recall the Gilge family, Kent and Lois and their five children, who lived out in the valley east of Chinook in a house across the creek from and owned by Ken and Dawn Overcast. The Gilge family arrived in the area in 1979 when Kent became the first Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MT FWP) fish biologist assigned to this region of the state. And yes, I did...
