We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
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Despite piles of snow in the parking lot and against the building, Chinook’s Creamery opened last week. The Creamery is a seasonal ice cream shop that opens in the spring and closes when the weather turns cold in the fall. The day I stopped by to see how thing were going clerks Kylie Popchoke and Garrett Lowham shared a greeting with me: “It’s never too cold for ice cream.” Kylie even had a long-sleeved T with the phrase emblazoned across the front. Kylie Popchoke is in her fifth season with the shop. She said, “I think we opened later in...
About 30 women attended the American Lutheran Ladies Salad Supper at the Chinook church. Following a salad supper the guests heard Dr. Carley Robertson, MD, speak about an upcoming medical mission to Tanzania that will involve about 20 people from Montana. Dr. Robertson, who is a general practitioner in Havre, has been making the biennial trip since 2011. Robertson is also the Medical Control Officer for all of Blaine County's ambulance crews and is Medical Director at Sweet Nursing Home in...
Congregants of the Alliance Church hosted a reception in honor of Pastor Dennis, Lori and Pat Findorff who are leaving Chinook. Pastor Dennis and Lori have taken a new call to Fortine, near Whitefish in western Montana. Pat Findorff, Dennis' mother, also lived several years in Chinook and will be moving to live near a daughter and family in Cove, Oregon. The event was an informal "drop-in" with an opportunity to greet and share goodbyes with the Pastor and his family. The Findorffs had made...
If I'm tracking correctly this is my fourth time attending the Montana Country Poets and Pickers Western Heritage Roundup. The 2018 edition, and the 24th annual event in the series, met in mid-April in Chinook with venues shared between the CHS auditorium for the nightly, organized performances and the Chinook Inn meeting room for the more informal jam sessions and new poets' readings. The cowboy gathering is also a fundraiser for Chinook High's FFA chapter. The chapter helps promote, organize...
After what seemed like an interminable winter, last Sunday afternoon was lovely with plenty of sunshine and some of the mildest temperatures to date this spring. The Chinook Lions Club and Chef Doug Mitchell were set for 100 guests at the senior center. Club President Richard Cronk said, "After a record turnout last year and a break in this year's weather, we were expecting yet a larger crowd." Someone offered, "People may be home finishing up their tax returns." About 75 guests attended....
Jeff Finley had a golf simulator for several years in a building adjacent to the old "Blaine County Journal" office on Indiana. He and I discussed doing a story about the simulator, but it had some malfunction, then the paper moved and the simulator went off my radar. A couple of weeks ago Finley said, "Hey, as soon as a new part arrives the Chinook golf team will be using the simulator to practice." That got me thinking about the challenges of a long winter and how it affects spring sports for...
The Annual Wildlife Museum Banquet was more than a month later than normally scheduled, but it was still a target of this long lasting winter. Emcee Roger Jorgenson welcomed the guests noting, "It feels like the 95th day of January." Guests arrived at St. Gabriel's parish hall during a cool but dry spring evening. Two hours later when diners left and the prime rib was eaten, the winning raffle tickets were drawn and the auctions were over, it was snowing hard. Organizers have been tweaking the...
Reporter's note: Wacee is a first grader, from Chinook, who has been battling cancer since early February. With Wacee's family still in the throes of dealing with his illness, I was unsure how to get the information to do a story and not intrude further on their lives. I ran into Justin, Wacee's dad, and he said he thought Tomi, wife and mom of the Simenson family, would be glad to help share Wacee's story. Tomi was very gracious and provided a narrative with a lot of information about how the...
A women's retreat was held in early March at the Grand Union Hotel in Fort Benton. While organized by some women from the Chinook Alliance Church, it was open to any who wished to attend. The theme of the retreat was "Broken Beautiful" from a book and video series by Ann Voskamp entitled "The Broken Way." Thirty-seven women from Chinook and surrounding areas attended the two day event. Participants at the retreat heard repeatedly that "the good brokenness of God heals our bad brokenness. Only...
The excitement was palpable as Meadowlark students and staff filed in to the gymnasium for a school assembly. Seven lucky students' names would soon be drawn for their own Kindles (small, hand-held electronic devices for reading downloaded books). The Kindles were provided by members of Chinook Lodge No. 50 AF&AM. The local Masonic Lodge has about 40 members and the reading giveaway was one of several projects for youth supported by the group. To have their names in the drawings, students had...
Eight juniors and seniors at Chinook High (CHS) are taking Education 101, Teaching and Learning, as a dual enrollment course through MSU-Bozeman and Gallatin College. The course, designed for first year college students, is an introduction to the profession of public school teaching. Students who successfully complete the course earn college and high school credit-three semester hours of college credit and half credit for high school. Tammy Edwards, the Librarian for Chinook Schools, is...
Chalk up another local event that succumbed to the hard winter. The annual Easter egg hunt sponsored by the Sweet Memorial Nursing Home (SMNH) had to be held indoors. Jenni Pula, Administrator at the local facility, said, "This is the first time since we've been doing the Easter egg hunt that we moved it inside. Thursday, when I saw the weather forecast for single digit temperatures overnight and possible snow for Saturday, we decided not to expose the kids to those harsh conditions." While...
Will flooding follow this winter with record snowfall? Blaine County officials are trying to prepare for possible flooding. I was invited to the courthouse to visit with Commissioners Plumage and DePriest as well as Emergency Manager Haley Velk and Laurie Huestis in administrative support. The meeting was in conjunction with the National Weather Service's (NWS) Weekly Winter Briefing, Much of the NWS briefing centered on flood potential, monitoring to anticipate flooding and the types of...
Reporter's note: "I know this will sound like an odd question, but..." opened a letter from Stephen Stratton of Astoria, New York. The letter was emailed in early March to the Blaine County librarians in Chinook. After studying the letter a bit, the librarians handed it off to me suggesting, "This might be something that would interest you." It had to do with an event that might have occurred in the summer of 1940 in Chinook. Not necessarily by my own choosing it seems my interest in local histo...
The Chinook Lions Club will host its annual Old-Timers' Dinner on Sunday, April 15 at the Chinook Senior Center. The event, which started sometime in the early 1980's, is open to any self- selected old-timer who would like to attend as a guest. Long time Lion Jack Mattingly said a few years ago, "We've never tried to specifically define what constitutes an old-timer. If you think you might be an old-timer, you qualify." There is no charge. Lions say the old-timers' dinner first began when a...
The Blaine County Public Health Department will host Tough Topics: Talking to Your Teen. The one night program is the second in the Family Education Series the local health department has been hosting. Jana McPherson-Hauer, RN, Health Supervisor for the county public health department, said the evening program will provide tips to parents for talking about several topics of interest and importance to teens. There are four topics that will be covered during the program. Nurse McPherson-Hauer will be talking about reproductive health and sexual...
Rev. Dennis and Lori Findorff will be leaving Chinook in early April. Pastor Dennis will become the pastor at the Fortine Community Church in Fortine, Montana, beginning in May. The Findorffs began their ministry with Chinook Alliance Church in October, 2008. Fortine is a small mountain community about one hour northwest of Kalispell just off U.S. 93. Prior to the couple's coming to Chinook, Dennis was the assistant pastor at an Alliance church in Klamath Falls, Oregon while he completed...
The Iota Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma hosted a program on human trafficking presented by Blaine County Undersheriff Frank Billmayer. Delta Kappa Gamma Society International is a professional group made up of women educators. Part of the group's recent meeting was dedicated to preparing books to be given to each kindergartner in Blaine County. Presiding officer Colleen Brommer said, "Our project to provide a book to each kindergartner in the county is part of several national events that...
The 24th annual gathering of the Montana Country Poets and Pickers will begin Friday night, April 13, and run through Sunday noon. Organizers say the event will follow its traditional schedule. The Saturday day session is open to performers wishing to try out their poetry and receive feedback from audiences. Sunday morning will be cowboy church. Daytime events will be at the Chinook Motor Inn and evening performances at the Chinook High School auditorium. The poets nearing their Silver...
I was born on April Fools' Day 70+ years ago. I've endured decades of, "So, you're an April fool?" and "Do people pull a lot of pranks on you for your birthday?" remarks and questions. This year my birthday will also fall on Easter. That hasn't happened to me since 1956 when I was 12 years old, and I still recall the day fairly well. In my lifetime the two holidays fell on the same day once before, in 1945, when I was one year old. People who calculate future calendars say the next time April...
Christine Brown, Outreach and Education Director for the Montana Preservation Alliance (MPA), recently presented the third program in a series hosted by the Harlem Library and the Harlem Senior Center. Brown is the co-author of "The Barns of Montana," a 2011-released book that features pictures and stories of selected barns from different geographic regions and eras across the state. The program is part of the Montana Conversations project of Montana Humanities. Why and how a book about barns...
(Senior Centers in Harlem and Chinook). A motor coach tour, originating from the senior centers in Harlem and Chinook, will be headed to Mt. Rushmore, the Crazy Horse monument and other attractions in the Black Hills area in early September. The tour, being presented by the Harlem and Chinook Senior Centers, is the second tour the two centers have collaborated on for guests along the Hi-Line. Last year's tour had 44 travelers who visited Colorado Springs. The tour is a seven day, six-night trip...
Readers who have had a third grader at Meadowlark Elementary in the last several years are likely familiar with the term biome. In fact, they've probably helped at least one of their students create a miniature, table top exhibit of a "community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat." About 30 carefully researched biomes, many made totally with materials at hand, are proudly displayed in the lobby of the bank in Chinook. Third grade teacher Mrs. Bobbi Weinheimer and her colleague, Mrs. Br...
Reporter's note: Alert readers will recall I've written about the annual calcutta held at Kennedy's Bar in Harlem for the last two or three years. This year I was able to attend the Calcutta in Harlem as well as the Calcutta at the Mint Bar in Chinook. I decided to compare the two events and share some information about how March Madness also touches the Hi-Line and Montana. For folks who just landed on this planet and may not know, March Madness refers to the annual NCAA Division 1 basketball...
Reporter's note: I'm not exactly sure the first time I saw Tony Collins carrying a branding iron, but I think it was at the old "Journal" office. I was quite intrigued with his ability to fashion steel in to the irons that were both useful and artistic. We talked briefly, he gave me a card and I made a mental note to follow up with an interview for a story. Then life intervened and I didn't think about Tony and his Western Arts of Montana business. Then I saw him at the fair, made another...
