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My oldest loves basketball. He loves playing, watching, reading about, and every other element of the game. I’m trying to be interested and engage with the sport because he is important to me. One facet of the sport that actually fascinates me is the argument about which player is the greatest of all time. I don’t know enough to engage it meaningfully, but I’d argue that Michael Jordan has had the greatest cultural impact. From the game itself to pop culture to how the business of baske...
My little brother is very focused and driven. A few times since we moved to Montana, I have gotten together with my brother and his family for vacations. His family has a vacation nickname for him: “The fun dictator.” I didn’t appreciate the moniker until we began to take vacation with them. As someone who is driven and focused, even when he travels, he strives to fill every minute of every day. It was fun, but it was exhausting. During our joint family camping trip at Yellowstone Park, I hung...
On Saturday, November 8th, the recently formed Big Sandy Speech, Debate, and Drama Team joined 8 other schools for a meet at Havre High School. The event drew class B and C schools from the region. This is the second competition Big Sandy has participated in since the formation of the team on September 29th. Three students competed in two events at the event: Humorous Theater and Informational Speech. Connie Reichelt, who stepped up to organize the team, explained: "Our first two meets have...
The printing press was invented in the late 1430s. It is difficult to overstate the world changing impact of the arrival of the movable type press. Before the arrival of the press, books were copied by hand, were quite rare, and cost several years of wages to purchase. The majority of texts were concentrated in monasteries or elite libraries. Within a few short years, the price of books dropped dramatically. By 1500, more than 20 million volumes had been printed across Europe, more than every sc...
On Halloween night, Main Street in Big Sandy filled with trick-or-treating kids. Locals lined either side of the road handing out candy and other treats in front of decorated cars, displays, and even a short school bus haunted house. The community Halloween tradition has been providing a safe space for locals to celebrate the holiday together for more than 10 years. Trunk-or-treat has something to offer for Halloween celebrators on every side of the evening’s festivities. Parents of young k...
Big Sandy High School students attended a sobering assembly dealing with internet safety on Thursday morning. The school hosted Lacey Griffiths, whose son Gavin Johnson, was the victim of an internet sextortion scam that led to his suicide. Her presentation relayed her son’s story, internet safety guidelines, and encouragement for young people to speak to adults in their lives if they find themselves in situations they see no clear way out of. Her goal is to prevent any other children from b...
When I got out of college, I spent a few months in Houston working as an exterminator. I learned all about insects and rodents, as well as how to kill them. One that caught my attention was the pharaoh ant, which is quite common worldwide. These are the really tiny ants that are nearly blind, but have a strong sense of smell. They follow chemical trails and look for simple sugars for food. If you spray them with regular poison, they recognize the danger and split their colony into smaller...
Through his Over 80 Project, local fine art photographer, Craig Edwards is documenting Big Sandy’s elders. The series of portraits depicts pillars of the community, as well as Big Sandy’s related individuals, in black and white and holding portraits of their younger selves. The project is an ongoing effort to document community seniors and can be seen on display in his gallery, at the Elevated Grains Coffee Shop in town, on his website, as well as individual pieces proudly displayed in the homes...
Last week, I had an opportunity to treat myself to something fun. I began looking around at things I use daily. I have a record player next to my desk that I picked up used from Facebook Marketplace. I often listen to records while working at my desk. I enjoy it, and it makes a positive impact on my work day. I began thinking about upgrading my turntable. I rapidly discovered that the player I enjoy now is kinda cheap, but with exceptional sound. It never sounded inadequate, but the more I read...
The Big Sandy Youth Group Halloween Food Drive is fast approaching and this year’s drive will see a number of changes. The annual event will still involve youth group kids trick-or-treating door-to-door for food donations and will take place on October 29th starting around 5:30 and running as late as 8. The major shift this year is the beneficiary of the donations. All collected items will go to the Angel Basket program, which has taken an increasingly active role over the last few years in cari...
The sign up for this year’s Angel Food program is open and will be open until November 1st. The program provides food for Christmas and Thanksgiving meals as well as Christmas gifts for the kids of needy Chouteau County families. Signing up for an Angel Basket is as easy as visiting the web page and filling out the appropriate forms. The form for signing up for an Angel Basket is a Google Doc that can be accessed by visiting the Chouteau County Angel Committee Facebook Page at w...
Another Big Sandy Medical Guild annual rummage sale is in the books. The sale ran from Thursday the 2nd to Friday the 3rd and raised around $11,000. The Guild will use proceeds to purchase equipment for the Medical Center and provide aid toward various projects undertaken by the Medical Center. The event was a success, due to the hard work of the volunteers and the generosity of the Big Sandy Community. Work organizing the sale began on Monday the 29th, with volunteers from the Medical Guild and...
Big Sandy Church of God will be holding their 14th annual Brisket Cook-Off this coming Sunday, Sept. 28th at 1 PM. This year’s contest will pit sixteen local cooks in a competition for the best Brisket in town and a people’s choice award winner. All of Big Sandy is invited to attend, enjoy some smoked brisket, and cast their vote for which of their friends and neighbors is the top BBQ chef in town. The meal is free, and everyone is welcome. This year’s contest will see a number of surpr...
During my time as chaplain at the Children’s Home, I had a season where I was in conflict with another administrator who worked with me. We were at odds on all manner of issues, with many of our conflicts becoming quite heated. Over time, our arguments became the source of a great deal of stress and tension in my world. Many days, I would find myself grinding my teeth and getting increasingly angry on my drive home every day. Eventually, I realized that I had to do something to deal with the pro...
One of the most famous accounts in the life of Peter took place when Jesus sent the disciples across the Sea of Galilee ahead of him one night. In the middle of night, Jesus walked out across the water toward them. There was a storm raging at the time, and the disciples were struggling to make any progress. They saw Jesus walking on the water in the darkness and were understandably freaked out. Jesus called out to them identifying himself, to which Peter replied: “If it is really you, tell me t...
By Erik Seitsema Around half the Junior and Senior students at Big Sandy High School are taking College classes. The credits they earn through "Dual Enrollment" count towards their current high school diploma and their future College education efforts. The program offers students a bevy of benefits, from a head start on their future education, to huge savings on college classes, to experience with the responsibility of taking classes where they are keeping themselves accountable for their own...
Like many children, when I was young I was afraid of the dark. Late night walks across the neighborhood kicked my heart rate up 40 or 50 bpm. Every shadow felt sinister and unidentified noises lit a fire in my imagination fueled by my love for scary movies. I think most kids don’t like the dark and most little boys would never admit it to their peers. As I got older, I began thinking that I was getting too old for that sort of thing, but just thinking it didn’t turn off my physiological rea...
The 2025 Chouteau County Fair Demolition Derby went off with a bang. This year's car crunchers featured a lone Big Sandy representative. Jarret Jacobi kicked off his rookie season as a derby driver on August 16th behind the wheel of a 1976 Cadillac. The outing was a learning experience for Jarret, who already has made updates to his car based on his experience and is preparing for his second derby in Havre on the 20th of September. Jacobi described the experience: "It was an adrenaline rush,...
Farmers usually pray for more rain to fall on the semi-arid prairie of the Golden Triangle. This year's heavy, late summer rainfall has farmers asking for a reprieve from the wet weather. All of the unseasonably wet weather has presented multiple challenges for Montana farmers. From crop damage to lost labor costs to dealing with mud, this soggy summer comes with plenty of expensive complications. I discussed rain-related crop damage with Nathan Keane, who recently termed out of his time of...
About a month ago, while visiting with Randy Williams, he directed my attention to a bit of a mystery. In one corner of 8 Mile Bench, in a scenic spot overlooking the Missouri River, someone had erected a cross. The cross is weathered and has been there for years, but who put it there or when they did it is a mystery. To add the to the curious nature of the cross monument, about 10 feet away, a steel pipe is sticking out of the ground. There's a cap on the top of the pipe with a triangle in the...
I have a good friend who runs a small business. His home is within walking distance of his shop with an alley separating the two. In recent years, the summer months have presented an increasing problem with vagrants hanging around in the alley, the sidewalk out front, and occasionally coming into his shop. Often, they engage in unsavory behavior, litter, use illicit substances, or represent a danger in other ways. He and I have spent a lot of time discussing his frustrations, the fact that he is...
The unusually wet, late summer weather has been creating difficulties for Montana farmers, wreaking havoc with this year’s harvest. Farms in the Golden Triangle have experienced between 200% and 400% their average rainfall as of the first week of August. Heavy rain like that can damage crops in various ways, cause delays in harvest, and be the source of endless frustration to farmers as they wait to cut and deal with the muddy aftermath of constant rain. The good news is that last week saw t...
A few years ago, a friend encouraged me to read, “The Sun Also Rises” by Earnest Hemingway. The story follows a group of friends who belong to the “Lost Generation” of Americans, who were terribly damaged by World War I. Their disillusionment with the world leads them to wander from vague interest to vague interest. They live for nothing and struggle to find any real, lasting happiness. Reading it, I found that none of the characters were particularly admirable or accomplished anything worth d...
Summer vacation is winding down as the first day of school is fast approaching. Students returning to classes on the 18th will be greeted by a mostly familiar faces as Big Sandy Schools continues to run like a well-oiled machine. Going into the 2025-2026 school year, Big Sandy Schools experienced a very low number of staff changes, a trend that has been consistent over the past few years. That consistency in staffing is ultimately good for the students, who experience stability and...
After the death of his mother and wife within the space of a few short hours, Teddy Roosevelt left his home on the East Coast for life as a rancher in the Dakota Badlands. The cowboys who encountered the future president with his glasses, fancy, fringed, custom buckskin outfit, high-pitched nasally voice, and the manners of a Harvard elite were skeptical. They laughed at him behind his back, calling him a dude (a derogatory slang word for an Eastern tenderfoot or city slicker). Some cowboy...