We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
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In early August sixteen Air Force veterans and friends, mostly from the west coast, came to Chinook and Harlem to visit the memorials for the fourteen airmen killed in an air collision north of Harlem. The crash occurred in the early morning hours of November 30, 1992. One of the visitors was a loadmaster (crew member responsible for loading and unloading cargo) on one of the four planes doing a practice refueling exercise in the pre-daylight hours. November 30, 2023, will be the thirtieth...
BCJ News Late July my wife Sherry and I stopped in Fort Benton on our way home from Great Falls. After walking along the river downtown we drove north along the highway (MT 387) that passes by Shep’s grave and the airport, then accesses US 87 northeast of Fort Benton. I did a double take when I realized the old paddle wheel boat that sat along the road for years was gone. I’d wondered about the deteriorating boat every time we passed through Fort Benton on our way home. I began inquiring wha...
About 45 local seniors enjoyed a picnic in the park last Tuesday hosted by the Chinook Senior Center. A first of its kind event held away from the Center was well received and attended by about 45 seniors. The weather and mosquitoes (the latter eliminated with some help from the local sprayers) cooperated. The menu was fried chicken, potato salad and slaw. The main meal was complimented with a chocolate pudding dessert and plenty of cold drinks to keep the guests hydrated. The last couple of...
By Steve Edwards BCJ News The 2023 edition of the Blaine County Fair is completed. Major fair activity began on Wednesday when participants brought fair entries for 4-H competitions and hobbyists and artists brought general entries for judging. Two nights of PRCA rodeo followed, then a Saturday night stage show and a final day of Kids' Rodeo. In between those major events fairgoers could enjoy free carnival rides, shop at vendors' stalls in the Commercial Building, look over animals and exhibits...
Anticipating a visit by German guests Stefan and Millie (Hall) Walter and their son, Lukas, from Nuremburg, Germany, the Chinook Senior Center's Director and "guest chef for the week" Ginger Hansen took the opportunity to help seniors learn a bit about Germany. Millie Walter is the daughter of Ben and Patty Hall. Millie and her husband, Stefan, met when he was an exchange student at Turner High for a year. Their nine year old son, Lukas, created a slide presentation titled "Germany from Above"...
By Steve Edwards BCJ News Early last June I stopped in Fort Benton for a walk along the Missouri River. From the Visitors' Center I was driving northeast on Front Street to look at the "Mandan," the old keelboat that sits on the river bank adjacent to the Lewis and Clark Memorial and the boat ramp. I could see the mast was gone from the keelboat. At the keelboat site a group of guys were lounging in the shade surrounded by tools and wood pieces. The fence around the Mandan was open on the river...
In an era when over half the employees in the U.S. stay in one job for only 4.3 years Jim Teel's 37 years with the City of Chinook is a serious statistical abnormality. Jim started with the city as a maintenance worker on June 30, 1986 and retired on June 30, 2023. When I was asked to write a story about his completed career with the city I was curious to learn about this quiet guy that I really only knew in passing. As we started talking about his long tenure as Superintendent of Streets his...
Each first Sunday of the month the four churches that joined to form the Milk River Churches hold a joint worship, typically rotating among the three churches in Chinook (Methodist, American Lutheran and Presbyterian) and the Havre Presbyterian Church. For a summer break from the pattern the coordinating committee opted to hold a Saturday night campout and a Sunday worship and potluck lunch at the Zurich Park lodge. About 40 people attended and all four churches were well represented. It was a...
Brad Taylor was recently selected as "Senior Citizen of the Year" by the members of the Chinook Senior Center. The annual award recognizes a volunteer who made significant contributions toward the operation and services at the Center. At a recent recognition luncheon at the Center Brad received the award accompanied by his wife of thirty years, Sharon, as well as the couple's two adult daughters and six grandchildren, family members and other well-wishers from the community. He is now part of...
About 30 Japanese Americans recently stopped for a visit to the Blaine County Museum. The multi-generational group had traveled to this area for a reunion of the Sasaki, Yoshida and Arakawa families. Those three families were among several Japanese American families who came to north central Montana to work on local farms during WWII. Some of the senior members of the group were children when their parents came to do farm work and several attended local schools. The group was especially...
In 1927, two years after the Chinook Lions club was formed, its members purchased, planted and kept watered 180 Green Ash trees along the boundary of the then new Kuper Cemetery. This past week the club again stepped up to plant trees at the cemetery, this time fewer but more strategically placed. The project was funded by donations collected by two former people who oversaw maintenance at the cemetery. Larry Wisch explained how he and Don Berger provided a way for families to honor loved ones...
The recent story I wrote about approaching my tenth anniversary as a writer for the "Journal" set me to thinking about some published stories that are still incomplete. I decided to revisit some of those old stories and see how they turned out. One of the first stories I recalled was about the unfinished homemade airplane Chinook resident Dick Edgington was building before he died in April, 2016. Edgington bought the plans in 2004 and quit the project, per his son Danny Lee, about 2012 when his...
About 40 guests met last week at the Chinook Senior Center to hear Blaine County Museum Director Sam French and "Journal" correspondent Steve Edwards do presentations about Chinook's own Western artist Evelyn Cole. At the end of the program guests were able to view two canvas tents that Evelyn Cole decorated in 1956 for four girls from Chinook who attended the first ever Senior Girl Scouts Roundup held in Michigan. The ten day campout was attended by 5,000 Girl Scouts and 1,000 Scout leaders....
Organizers of the third annual Big Flat Fun Day held on Saturday July 22 said the event was a success with a good turnout. The car show had a large number of entries and a BBQ at lunch was hosted by the Big Flat Grocery. There was a softball tournament, the Turner Hogeland Lions Club hosted a breakfast and generous donations allowed for two giant water slides for the kiddies-much appreciated on a hot Saturday. This year was also the tenth anniversary of the organizing of the grocery co-op....
John and Dona Clay moved to Chinook from Woodstock, Georgia in March, 2022 to be near their son John and his wife Kim and family. My wife and I first met John and Dona when they visited the Chinook Senior Center. Soon we would see them on walks around town, then more encounters at the senior center. Their friendly demeanor encouraged random chats. At some point I learned about their joint background, they met in an orphanage in Philadelphia, were married shortly after "aging out" of the orphanag...
About 75 guests attended the Pie Social hosted by Chinook Senior Center's staff and board of directors. It was an enjoyable social afternoon visiting with friends and making new friends. And with 40+ homemade pies donated by locals, it was a feast for both the eyes and appetites. Per Center Director Ginger Hansen the freewill proceeds from the event will be used to meet special needs and programming of the Center....
Soon it will be ten years since my wife, Sherry, and I moved to Chinook. She came as interim minister at the Presbyterian Church. I quickly realized I needed a way to get connected to a new community. I visited Chinook and saw a small box ad in the "Blaine County Journal" advertising for a "news reporter." I'd done some writing on prior jobs but never as a reporter. I called and asked for an interview. Long story short I was offered a job. The initial understanding was that if the owners of the...
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte was in Blaine County last week as he continued his annual "56 County Tour," the third such tour since becoming governor. On the tour the governor will make stops in all 56 counties throughout the state. Explaining the "why" of the tour the governor said, "The best and most important part of my job is meeting with Montanans where they live and work." Last Wednesday he stopped in Blaine County to visit the tribal-owned Little River Trading Post in Harlem and then met...
Ginger Hansen recently became Director of the Chinook Senior Center. Last week she helped facilitate the first "international meal" at the Center. She explained, "I wanted to shake things up a bit with some new dishes and different taste experiences for our diners." The first international menu was Greek, a salute to Mary Pyette who is a regular at the Center for meals and activities. Mary's never bashful about sharing her Greek heritage from language to the baklava she brings regularly to share...
Alert readers may recall my wife, Sherry, and I lived in Whitlash (north of Chester in the Sweet Grass Hills) while she served as pastor of the Presbyterian Church there. We lived in Whitlash from December, 2018 to July, 2020. All during that time, even before moving to the Hills, I heard people talk about the Devil's Chimney. The site is one of the most discussed places in the Hills (right up there with the Bears Den) and many locals as well as visitors from foreign countries have explored the...
The ill-fated Dempsey-Gibbons World's Heavyweight Championship boxing match held a century ago was celebrated last weekend in Shelby. The event is likely Montana's most illustrious sporting event because it was such a massive failure and bankrupt several of its backers, including four banks that had to close. It all started as a publicity stunt by some realtors in Shelby hoping to draw attention to the burgeoning prairie town and sell real estate. The stunt ended up in an iron clad $300,000...
Many readers are aware that Kody Farmer, a long time writer for the "Blaine County Journal," has been hospitalized for a couple of months. Readers were surprised to learn that despite being in intensive care at the VA hospital in Salt Lake City Kody's was still writing for the paper. Kody was airlifted from Fort Harrison VA Hospital (in Helena, Montana) on April 22 to the VA Center in Utah. He's been recovering in intensive care since that flight to Salt Lake City more than 70 days ago. Keith...
By Steve Edwards BCJ News On July 1, 2023 Registered Pharmacist Angie Billmayer became the new owner/operator of the Chinook Pharmacy. She graduated from the Skaggs Pharmacy School at the University of Montana in 2006. When the native of Nebraska was asked how she ended up at the U of M she said, "I always wanted to be near the mountains." After pharmacy school she worked several different locations as a pharmacist, then she and husband Frank Billmayer, a Montana native, made their home on the...
Ken Finley's family and friends gathered to remember Ken last Saturday at his pumpkin patch down by the water plant in Chinook. In some ways the gathering for Ken's memorial service was a sad time. But, as Ken's son Jeff noted, "We decided to have the memorial service for dad at the pumpkin patch. It's the thing most people remember him by and it was a place he loved." A reception was held following the memorial service at the Chinook Senior Center. Jeff Finely told me earlier that he and his...
There's just under six weeks until the opening of the 2023 edition of the Blaine County Fair. Debbie Ramberg, Fair Manager, shared some recent changes this year that will make for a more secure overall facility and hopefully attract some new events to the fairgrounds arena in the future. A federal grant and funds raised by the Fair Board Foundation were used to finance the upgrades. The new fence around the fairgrounds Fair Manager Ramberg explained, "Last year a new insurance adjuster came in...
