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I’ve tried to write about school funding before. It has multiple levels and at times is difficult to completely understand. But at a recent board training, I was given a Montana School Finance Handout a 25-page document explaining school finances. I thought I would start by giving the Big Sandy K-12 Budget for FY2024. The total of all funds is $3,564,573.44, but having written that it’s important to know there are ten different fund categories. The General Fund is $2,127,853.49. Transportation is $250,000; Bus Depreciation Reserve is $64...
Giving Back I had spent the entire day from 10:00-4:00 watching football in Box Elder starting with Junior High Football. It consists of 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. It’s a fun watch, but a long watch. Two hours of watching young boys learning and celebrating a game they love. The varsity Pioneer football started at 1:00. I tried to take some good photographs, but this game was intense. The kind of game that’s exhausting to watch. I made it to the Harvest Festival at 4:00. I sat down to eat—yes it was early, but I was hungry. I wande...
Veterans Day is November 11th. It always comes so quickly and I don’t have time to put together a good article for the Veteran’s Day paper. I need help. I need the names of every Veteran in the Big Sandy area along with a picture. And I don’t want to leave anyone out. So it’s important to start gathering the material now. So please send information and a picture if you have one to bsm1@mtintouch.net. National Today website has the following information about Veteran’s Day. I don’t want to just give the history of the day itself on Veterans Day...
The Pioneer Parents Team met on September 12th at the FE Miley Library. Officers were voted on: President Rachel Baumgarn; Vice President Sarah Sura; Secretary Scarlet Auble; and Treasurer Misty LeFurgey. This is a group of parents who want to support and encourage the teachers in our community. Its design loosely follows the old PTA. They hope to encourage more parents to care about the classroom and get involved. It is also easy to understand how important it is to support the teachers as they...
A family pet brings enormous joys, of laughter and companionship. Often they sleep in the same bed. Ivan was too big he would take up the whole bed. He was a Great Dane Massive. Nathan bought him when Henry came home from Seattle's Children's Hospital with the firsthand knowledge that life is precious and oftentimes too short. Henry was proof that miracles still happen, and Ivan represented that. He came to live with me on the farm because he was just too big to live in a smaller townhouse....
Civic Duty is a sacred responsibility! One we should all hold in high regard. Those Civic Duties include voting, paying taxes, obeying laws, and jury duty. You may notice a slight difference in the paper this week. We found out on Friday that Leslie had Jury duty on Monday morning. Yes, that’s the day the paper goes to print. I let the Havre Daily know that it would be late getting the paper to press because I was doing it solo. I needed to call an InDesign expert a couple of times because I was totally lost. And Erik Sietsema was enormous h...
Sometimes blessings come in strange ways. I hate to admit it, but I lost my phone in my own house. The Find My Phone application told me it was in the kitchen. Yes, I've had to use the application before. This time the phone isn't where it tells me. The application tells you where your phone is when it was last charged. I thought I put it in the kitchen, but this time it wasn't there. I searched every cupboard, just in case I don't remember I put it in there. I looked through the garbage, under...
Two important opportunities for Big Sandy residents are going on for Big Sandy on Saturday, August 26th the first is the 4-Man Golf Scramble for the Big Sandy Barracuda Swim Team Fundraiser. There are Pin Prizes, a Hole-In-One Contest Sponsored by Taylor's Automax It's a 9 AM Shotgun Start a Beaver Creek Golf Course in Havre Montana. Put together a team Beaver Creek Golf Course Havre Montana. The registration Fee of $400 includes green fees and lunch. To Registration Contact Jolin Sunchild...
The Board of Trustees held their regular meeting and Budget Meeting on August 15th. The meeting itself was a three-hour meeting with multiple important subjects to discuss and act upon. Everyone present was impressed that two high school students expressed their concern that there would not be a bus route to pick them up. They were concerned that their education would be diminished if they could not attend Big Sandy Highschool. They asked the board to find a driver so they could attend school....
Too many times Thoughts by Zoe tend to be more on the serious side. Today I’d like to comment on the rumors that have gone around town about my Ford Explorer and myself. My 2016 red Ford Explorer has kind of been a nightmare for me. Without going into past issues, because the current issue is bad enough. I couldn’t steer it correctly and when I turned it off it locked down and I couldn’t move the wheel at all. The Ford mechanic had left for vacation leaving my red Ford Explorer sitting in front of the Mountaineer. So what I heard was peopl...
The town of Big Sandy held its normal City Council meeting on August 10, 2023. There were no Sheriff Deputies present to report to the council. It was noted that 406 is not responding with the results of the soil testing done early this year. Leslie Gregory asked permission for the pool to remain open for lap swimming for an additional week. She also reported the pool will need improvements next year and she will make a list and present it to the council. Rich Jesperson mentioned he thought the...
Lisa Sipler has been a major part of developing the soul of the Big Sandy Medical Center. Last week when I interviewed Darlene Cline I asked her who she was inspired by and she told me Lisa Sipler. We all need inspiration and Lisa Sipler can inspire anyone. I told Lisa, "You have a passion for your job. You love your job." She smiled and said, "I do love my job!" Her joy is contagious because other employees who work at the medical center have mentioned it to me. She creates an atmosphere where...
Girls on Shred comes to Big Sandy again. Kim Peterson teaches first and second grade in Missoula. And has been skating for more than 30 years. After interviewing her at Big Sandy's Skate Park, I looked her up on the internet and discovered she's a powerful name in the skateboarding world of Montana. "Girls on Shred is a nonprofit organization centered around empowering girls. But when we come to the smaller communities the guys are welcome too! We started as a gathering for girls to snowboard...
I recently attended a four-hour training session for Big Sandy Leadership. I’ll be presenting the information in several articles. I will be quoting information given to the Big Sandy School board as presented by Dr. Daniel Farr MSU Professor, retired Superintendent, and educational leadership consultant. On the front page of his presentation, it said, “The impossible can always be broken down to possibilities.” It was a very informative workshop. Over the years the role of the School Board has changed. Pre-1900 Boards served as admin...
For four years, the First Bank has served our small community. This year to celebrate their appreciation, First Bank asked Marie Jappe, owner of the Mint, to serve lunch on the bank's grass. Numerous tents were set up so customers could eat in the shade. Marie served barbeque shredded pork, coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, cold drinks, and dessert. When First Bank first came to Big Sandy, I asked them to give us information about who they were. First Bank became a division of Glacier Bank in...
Since I was short on articles this week, I thought, why not find out why August 6 is a special day? I was born on August 6, 1952. But what I found out about August 6 that brought me much joy was it is also International Forgiveness Day. On August 6, 1912 --Theodore Roosevelt announced his 1912 platform at the Chicago convention of the Progressive Party. On August 6, 1939, Poland celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Polish Legions' entry into the World War. On August 6, 1942 (Thursday), German forces on the Eastern Front captured Tikho...
Finding Joy Recently I fell in love with a book called Laughing Through the Ugly Cry by Dawin Barton. I loved it because she could express clearly what I believe. Finding joy in my life and finding the blessing that surrounds me every day is something I strive to do. I want "She Found Joy" to be placed on my tombstone when I die. I guess that is why I listen to others and hope to find their joy. It's the reason I get so frustrated with complainers. We must have a lot of stories in our community...
It’s so interesting to listen to people talk about where they live. Sometimes they mention their neighbors or friends as the reason they love it here. Sometimes it’s the weather that makes them smile. People who have lived in larger populated areas say they love the slower pace of life. People are more nice. They smile and say hello. Our town pulls together when one of our own is hurt. It’s understood that we are in this together. Everybody seems to know everybody’s business, but we’re glad when the chips are down. When something affects one of...
Darlene Cline has been a librarian for six years, and in those six years, she has continued to create an atmosphere at the library that makes children want to come. When I asked her why she wanted to be a librarian, she said, "Oh Lorrie, my head is so fried!" Okay, so let's start easy, do you like to read books? "I love to read." I asked her, "What's one of your favorite books you've ever read?" "I think I have too many of those! I wanted to become a librarian for the kids and the community and...
Demra Brown, Big Sandy First Bank branch manager reported that the bank partnered with Rotary to give away school supplies. They will be handing out backpacks full of needed school supplies for FE Miley K-6th grade students on July 26 & 27 between 2:00-4:00. They got the number of students from last year's enrollment. The decision to hand them out in July was so that whatever else they may need may be purchased by their parent before school starts. For example, on the list of school supplies is...
Juliet MacDonald, an artist from Box Elder schools, has created a banner and entered the Paint the State/Meth contest. You will find her artwork online at Paint the State (paintthestate.org), or it's on the fence at the Box Elder School. It's worth the drive to see it in person. It's a huge banner. It is well worth voting for and well worth it for this Box Elder Senior. If she gets the most votes in the county, she can win $3,000; if she wins the statewide competition, she can win $10,000....
The Chouteau County Library system recently recognized one of our own, Dee Pribyl. Dee recently visited with me about the imagination library, and we hadn't got together yet. However, seeing her being honored by the First Lady of Montana was a wonderful surprise. First Lady Susan Gianforte has made it possible for every child ages 0-5 in Montana to register for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. Visit: https://imaginationlibrary.com and click on "check availability," and fill in your zip...
The Big Sandy High School Ad Education received a grant from Montana Farmers Union for a $33,000 subterranean geothermal greenhouse. The greenhouse’s placement site is undecided, but Layne Taylor, ag teacher, will work with Dan Schrock to find a place to place it. They are considering putting it somewhere by the football field. The upgrades to the wagon project are scheduled to start in two weeks. Superintendent Schrock reported he is advertising the Mountaineer. No one has stepped up to drive buses. They will continue to have the bus i...
So what’s going on with the Mountaineer? The Havre Daily’s “motherboard,” which they use to make the pages in the paper, is down. Havre is sending their paper to Cheyenne, Wyoming. We learned about it on Monday, July 10th, right before the Mountaineer was due at the printers. The problem was Cheyenne won’t print a six-page paper, and we couldn’t make an eight-page paper that quickly, let alone we didn’t have enough ads to cover the cost. So many newspapers have closed their doors in Montana, and there aren’t a lot of places to get the paper p...
Cooper Jenkins was in a critical freak accident. He was working on his water well when a pocket of natural gas exploded. Cooper drove himself to the Big Sandy hospital, was taken to Benefis, and then was put on a jet and flown to Salt Lake Burn Center. He has burns on his face, ears, neck, and hands. According to recent news, he has started his acid treatment to remove dead skin. It's a very painful process. Cooper's wife, Maddie, and her son, Haze, were in Melrose with her father. The rest of...