Sorted by date Results 428 - 452 of 713
Tucker Taylor has been teaching history and coaching Big Sandy students for nearly three years. Tucker was raised in Belgrade and has a strong affinity for small town living: "I like it here. I really like small town communities. Both my parents grew up in small towns. My dad is from Circle, Montana. My mom is from Sheridan, Montana. We spend a lot of time out in the rural areas of Montana. I definitely like the closeness of the small town community. Things get kind of chaotic and wild in those...
The Big Sandy Public Library has brought in a new temporary supervisor from Little Flock Preschool. Alfie the Alligator, who is well known to parents and kids who've been associated with the school in the last 10 years, has been staying at the library since last Christmas. He and his book of adventures will remain there for old friends to visit through the fall. Preschool teacher, Keri Cox intruded Alfie to the school as a teaching tool to help children pay attention and get comfortable with...
FE Miley Elementary School put on two live concert performances last week for the first time in over a year. Due to COVID restrictions, live performances were not possible in the past year, and resulted in all of the band and concert performances taking place via streaming video on the school's Facebook page. Before the Wednesday concert, I asked Heather Wolery, the school principal, her thoughts on the live performances. "It's wonderful! I wish we could have done a normal, in-person, at night...
The Big Sandy Food Bank raffle of 1/2 a pig was awarded to Dusty Alderdice after Deb Louvar drew Dusty's ticket as the winner. The Food Bank partnered with Triangle Communications after they were selected, along with several other programs in the area, to receive the meat to raffle off or to distribute among their recipients. Triangle Communications provided posters and tickets and the community showed their support by buying raffle tickets. The raffle raised $2,030 through ticket sales, with an...
One of my favorite arguments to stoke while hanging out with friends is the “Ford-verses-Dodge-or-Chevy-or-whatever” debate. I don’t have strong opinions on the quality of many vehicles or a loyalty to any brand of car. I jut like teasing folks about things like that. The interesting thing to me is when a person in the argument reaches the point where they make crazy absolute statements, like “Ford has never made a car worth owning.” This would mean that in the entire 118 year history of making...
The 5th Coal Mine Coulee Cross-Country Dirt Bike Race will take place this Saturday, May 8th, at Austin Genereux's ranch off of Coal Mine Road just north of town. First held in 2017, the race will likely attract between 175 and 200 racers from all over Montana and the surrounding states. When I asked about the race itself, Austin explained the difference between the Coal Mine Coulee race and a motocross event: "It's a cross-country dirt bike race. Motocross is a race around a track usually...
A special short season of soccer will be held for Big Sandy’s young athletes running from the last week of April into May. The local soccer season typically takes place place in the fall, with practices and games against teams from neighboring towns. Last fall, the season was cancelled due to the Covid lockdowns. The decision to hold a short make-up season for students was made after the league organizer, Rachel Baumgarn, began receiving requests for soccer from area students. “It’s mainl...
In ancient Israel, the Jewish people followed a very strict set of dietary laws. There are a lot of reasons for these laws, most of them having to do with reminding the Jews that they were separate from other nations and holy. In Acts 10, the apostle Peter has a vision in which he is told that the dietary laws are no longer in effect. There are two huge reasons for this taking place. First, because Jesus fulfilled God’s law and filled the need for holiness a spiritual effort rather than a m...
Several times a day visitors, stick their heads into the soon-to-be-opened "Black Granary: The Bakery," at the end of Main Street in Big Sandy to ask if there are any pastries to buy or when the shop will finally open. The simple answer is "soon." Mary Merrill hopes to start serving customers with pastries and coffee beginning with a soft opening on May 5th. Mary will be waiting to officially open at a later date once the lease has been completed. " I will close for family things. I have kids...
“If I have a superpower in life, it’s the ability to find almost anything interesting.” My brother told me this last year during a conversation we were having related to how to become a renaissance man. A renaissance man is a well-rounded individual. It really refers to the breed of person who develops abilities and skills in a wide range of areas. It was coined in reference to the type of men who emerged during the Renaissance period who made art, studied philosophy, studied the sciences, and m...
Students at FE Miley Elementary School experienced hands-on instruction for Earth Day this week when they took part in a community cleanup effort organized by the teachers. Several weeks in advance, the Elementary School teachers planned the basics of the day and divided the eastern side of town into areas for each class to engage in clean up. The original plan was for the students to go out primarily in the afternoon, but high winds and the cold weather prompted a change in plans. The majority...
There’s a difficult bit of teaching in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus talks about picking the sawdust out of your neighbor’s eye. The idea is that anyone who is going to set about cleaning the eyes of their neighbors should check their own eyes to make sure they aren’t in worse shape. Jesus’ humorous description is of a guy with a log hanging off his own face while looking for specks of others. The analogy shouldn’t be too surprising coming from a carpenter, who likely had to deal with...
Big Sandy High School will be competing in the Spring Music Festival online next week after missing the event last year entirely due to the lockdowns. This year, the Montana High School Association (MHSA) decided that all of the state music festivals would be done digitally, due to concerns over the potential spread of the COVID virus. This decision was a bit of a disappointment for the students and staff who see the festival as a major component of performing arts at the high school level....
Budding musicians in the Big Sandy area have a new resource to learn and grow through the teaching and experience of several local entertainers. The "School of Rock" set out to "give the kids a little bit of music education that is popular music based, not that there's anything wrong with classical music. We just know a little bit about popular music, because we have been playing it forever," explains Chris Meyers who is heading up the School of Rock effort with the help of his father, Larry Mey...
The Big Sandy Food Bank is raffling off a half a pig to raise money to support their food distribution program. Tickets are $5 and the drawing will be held April 30th. They can be purchased from the Senior Center, the offices of the Big Sandy Activity Center, the Mint Bar, or at the Mountaineer Office. They can also be purchased from Terry Grant or LeaAnn Williams. The fundraiser is a result of the generosity of Triangle Communications. The company purchased pigs and cows from 4-H groups last...
In the first century, when Jesus lived and taught, the Jewish people were living under the oppressive rule of the Roman Empire. The Jewish people were violently opposed to the Romans, a fact that resulted in more than a few violent uprisings that set out to liberate the nation of Israel. They did not succeed and eventually angered the Romans enough that they destroyed the country completely, exported its citizens all over the empire, and outlawed the Jewish faith in Israel entirely. This desire...
Erik Sietsema— For the first few years I was here, when I would tell the kids they could go to children’s church, I would say: ‘If you are a small child, or just very immature, you can go downstairs.’ It was just a joke I’d add in. Sometimes I’d mention someone by name, just to tease them. Well, one year April Fools Day fell on Easter Sunday. It was a pretty full house that day, which is kinda normal for Easter. When I said: ‘If you’re a small child or just very immature, you can go downstairs,...
Last year, I preached the Good Friday and Easter Morning Services to an empty room with a camera set up to stream everything to Facebook. All of the other churches in town, and across the country, had the same experience. Like everything that happened in 2020, church services for Easter were cancelled due to the lockdowns. Most churches had had the opportunity to adapt by that point and were streaming their services or running worship online via Zoom or other apps. In the weeks before Easter...
In the ancient world, Jews and Samaritans hated each other. The conflict between the two groups went back hundreds of years and frequently reached levels of venom and spite that we rarely see in our culture. It was common for Jews to kick the dust off their feet before leaving Samaria to make sure they didn’t bring any Samaritan soil with them to their own countries. Jews often crossed the street and spit in the road when they passed Samaritans. Jewish rabbis didn’t even consider Samaritans to...
The Big Sandy Rotary Club will be hosting its annual Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 3rd at 11 AM sharp. The event will take place at the Big Sandy Airport. The event is open to children who are old enough to walk and collect candy, toys, and eggs through 5th grade. The Easter Egg Hunt has been hosted by the Rotary Club for around 60 years. The kids will be divided into five groups by age and assigned to a specific area of the airfield, where candy, small toys, and a few special plastic eggs...
With the arrival of Spring, Big Sandy's gardening and landscaping communities have a local source for buying high quality soil. For the last couple of years, Dan Matthew has been selling Glacier Gold Potting Soil and the Glacier Gold Professional Blend. Both soils are produced by Mountain West Products right here in Montana. Dan explained that the professional blend holds moisture longer. The Mountain West website explains additional benefits, like additional nutrients that are present in the...
A few weeks ago, I made a peanut butter sandwich for my son for lunch. He took his sandwich with him to his room, where he ate and played. Because he’s a typical four year old, it didn’t take long before he forgot about the sandwich and wandered off to do something else. When he remembered his lunch, he returned to it and found that the dog had eaten his lunch, which he had left on the floor in his room. Frustrated, he came to me crying over his lost meal. I made another sandwich, which he too...
I deal with a handful of hard deadlines every week. By Sunday morning, I have to have a sermon written. By Monday morning, I need to complete two articles and a column. Monday through Thursday I have to have the kids out of bed, dressed, fed, and out the door by 7:30 AM. There are a few others, but I suspect most people deal with similar hard deadlines and goals. The thing is that these deadlines don’t necessarily coincide with the larger objectives of my work and personal life. They are i...
"I like to watch kids learn new things and be productive and find themselves and find what they like. I like to foster their curiosity and their wonder of the world. How they see things," explained Melissa Han, the current Junior High math teacher and floating substitute at Big Sandy High School. Melissa and her family moved to Big Sandy just before the start of the 2018 school year from their previous home in Brady, Montana, which is just south of Conrad. For the first two years of the...
Visitors to The Grocery Store last Thursday morning were treated to an unusual service: Captain America was helping customers load groceries to help support veterans. In this case, the man in the mask was Allen Mullins, who has been walking to raise money for veterans for 12 years. "Since 2009, I've made it my job to get out here in this country to find VFWs, American Legions, Vietnam Veterans, families with kids that need assistance. I organize a walk and help them out." When asked about the...