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The 2020 Primary Elections had higher than normal turnout. Statewide there are 696, 262 Registered Voters; of that 382,072 voted making it a 54.87% turnout. Chouteau County has 3,490 registered voters; 2,244 voted for a 64% turnout. Voting is a privilege. I have a friend that lives in Australia. She just recently reminded me that voting is mandatory in Australia. If you don’t vote you receive a “hefty” fine. About 8-10% just scribble on the ballot, but it stills means that 90-92% of the voters make the decisions of the direction of the count...
During public comment, the problem with car congestion by school pickup areas was brought forward and discussed. Big Sandy Booster club was present and talked to the school board members about the Pioneer logo the booster club uses. There is no trademark or copyright connected with it. They also discussed replacing the padding behind the basketball hoops in the main gym. The design will be done at Universal Athletics. Currently, the Booster Club is thinking about purchasing only one wall; however, there is a lot to do before a design is agreed...
The City Council met in the City Hall’s big room, with appropriate spacing, even though some still attended the meeting by Zoom, including this reporter. There were three city employees and two guests present. The meeting started as usual with the pledge of alliance and the reading of the minutes. No Sherriff’s deputy was in attendance. KLJ Engineers presented the Water Certification Survey with the request to purchase ½ an acre for building a building for the new water system. The new building will be for a meter and treatment. They have sugg...
Layne Taylor Ag Ed and FFA advisor has no idea how many FFA contests have been held since 1935. It takes a considerable amount of work to put on an FFA Livestock and Range contest. He was frustrated that all the events were being canceled because of Covid-19. The problem was they didn't want all the kids from all the schools mingling together, so he decided to have the schools come at different times and complete the Livestock and Range competition relatively separate from each other. Ten...
Going down to the Missouri River in the fall is always an incredible road trip. The county road was busy and dusty as we made our way to the entrance of the ranch. It was my first visit to the Pearson Pumpkin Patch. We went first to the pumpkin patch to pick up our pumpkins first, and even though it was Sunday, supposedly the last day, there were still many hundreds of orange pumpkins lying on the ground to be picked up. I kept hearing as I was sitting on the picnic table eating my hamburger, "w...
This time of year, Loma is beautiful to visit. The Loma valley is full of beautiful fall foliage. This year the Republican party held a supper at the Loma Community Hall. Besides the candidates speaking at the event, it was made more special as Maria Bouchard, owner of Ma's Loma Café, was celebrating that she was a new citizen of the United States and was going to be voting for the first time. Senator Daines brought her a flag that had been flown over the capital, and Representative presented...
I first saw Tana Rai Faltrino's art when her cousin Gay Pearson showed me a picture of her granddaughter with a horse that she had. I thought it captured the moment wonderfully. She lives in Havre. Tana grew up on a farm and ranch south of Havre. She was encouraged by her mother and the nuns at St. Judes School to continue to draw and paint. Tana studied painting and Art History at NMC. Another cousin Donna Jenkins, of Big Sandy and Tana, coauthored together a cookbook, Montana Legacy of Love...
Yes, it has been more interesting to meet, but Rotary continues to meet weekly now that fall is here. They wanted everyone to know they are still alive and well! Big Sandy Rotary has remained active even during these uncertain times. They have met every two weeks during the summer and before starting meeting weekly again after Labor Day. They continue to support our community in a variety of projects. The cemetery gazebo project is nearly complete! The directory was placed three weeks ago and...
One thing about a small town, you know almost everyone driving down the street. I was walking down the street when Shane and Gwen Ophus, from Ophus Auction Company, pulled up by the side walk. Shane said he had an Idea he wanted to run past me. It was about recognizing all the good stuff that happens in our community. He wanted to have some pictures in the paper so that everyone could see for themselves what is occurring and bring more pride back to our town. I was intrigued, because I was...
The monthly meeting of the Big Sandy Booster Club was held on September 8th. During this time, when so many activities have been canceled, the Booster Club is trying to maintain a positive approach n supporting the activities of the Big Sandy Schools. It has sent out it’s a letter to the Corporate Sponsors and are making plans how best to support the schools. The Big Sandy Booster Club has seen many changes over the past five years. The booster club values the community’s traditions, and they hold them dear, to their heart while knowing tha...
I was able to talk to Jason Gardiner, CEO of Kart Kleen Technologies, last week about the development of a mobile disinfecting unit that would allow students to clean their personal belongings before they entered the school. Along with company operations director, Jason Gardiner, Joe O’Bresley had their unit scientifically tested by Bill Holbein, a microbiology professor at the University of Montana. Ultraviolet rays at a specific wavelength, not found in sunlight, kills microorganisms, viruses, and bacteria at a 99.9% kill rate. Jason said, ...
Lana Claassen, Chouteau County Clerk, from the Chouteau County Clerk and Reporters office, whose primary job is to ensure we have a fair and reliable voting process, is 99.99% sure voting is fair. Every person who is registered to vote has a statewide registered number. If you have requested a mail-in ballot, there is a name and number on the outside envelope, requiring your signature. It contains your inside envelope with your ballet. She said, “we double-check every single day, making sure that what the computers say is accurate. There are s...
Rutledges are not just my neighbor. Both Lance and Andrea Rutledge had impressive accomplishments in the Red Angus beef industry. Lance Rutledge was one of the 24 Nile Merit Heifer Program participants in the class of 2020. He'll be showing his heifer in October of this year. I visited with Lance about his selection, and although I asked him to brag a little about himself, he played down his accomplishment. His application clearly showed his work in 4-H and FFA. It also required he had three...
You may have all seen this on TV Friday night but did not realize Big Sandy’s own Kris Kulbeck partially designed it. The TV story was about technology using UV lights to Kill COVID-19 germs. Kart Kleen Technologies showcased the system, “Freq Kleen-e” at Hellgate Middle school, which kills 99.9 percent of all bacteria and germs. It was the first working model in action. It takes 28 seconds to kill all bacteria and germs. They use a conveyor belt to place objects on, it then passes through an enclosed UV light tunnel and then it comes out o...
4 has been, at least to this point, quite a year! We tend to concentrate on what's wrong, I mean, what else can go wrong! We are trying hard not to step on people's toes, not to express an opinion that will alienate our friends. Joyce Meyers wrote, "Statistics prove that 10 percent of the people we encounter will not like us. There is nothing we can do about it, except worry, but even that won't change their minds." On Friday, while I was in town working on getting the paper out early, I rece...
Harvest and haying time is always a stressful time. It's hot, sweltering, equipment breaks down, and everyone is exhausted! We have little time to take a break, little time to get a good night's sleep. This year is more stressful than most. We have poor prices, and grass hopers by the millions! The political bickering is getting out of hand. Political maneuvering is more than outspoken. It's downright ugly. And then you add COVID, not necessarily massive in our area, but it affects food and...
I was first given this story by one of the Big Sandy High School neighbors because they saw Gwen Kane out there working fixing up the chair-saw Pioneer by the school parking lot. I immediately went and found Gwen working on the statue again and asked her if I could interview her. She laughed like she always does, and then said, "after the project was finished." It took three and a half weeks, not all day nor in the heat of the day, but she worked on it till the sun went down. Five years ago,...
Sarah Suru says, "I do love art. I kind of grew up with it so.... My greatest influence was my mom. She was doing it since I was little." Mrs. Mangold was Sarah's art teacher at Big Sandy High School. While at Boise State, she was required to take all kinds of art classes but found her love for sculpting metal while she was there. She went to Boise State to get a degree in Art metals. Diane Scalese encouraged her to concentrate on Metals. When she returned to Big Sandy, she worked under Jan?...
At the regular Big Sandy School Board meeting, they once again visited about how best to open the schools. However, before that, the Student Council asked permission to have a dunk tank at the Fall Kick off to help them raise funds. They realized that the Fall Kick-Off is not a sure thing, but was hoping if there was a Kick-Off that they could receive permission to rent one from Great Falls. The board decided that it was an administrative decision. The Building Maintenance Projects that are finished are the ditch beside the gym is completed, si...
The plan to open Big Sandy schools is still in the discussion format. They have asked every parent to take a survey on the Big Sandy School's Web site. It is important to have parents input before they make their final decisions. There are three options: Option 1 full return to school with safeguards in place such as mask-wearing, temperature checks, frequent hand washing/sanitizing, limits on large gatherings, no visitors allowed in the buildings; Option 2 Blending learning model where half of...
I thought I would share “Lighting Up the World” by Tyler Perry, instead of trying to rewrite the subject and doing it poorly. Enjoy! “I’VE BEEN DOING a lot of building over the past few years. I’ve learned that, according to the commercial codes across the country, before you can construct a building, plans must first be reviewed by a board, and they have to pass a “life safety review.” In order to pass that review, the building must meet certain requirements: It must have fire exits, sprinklers, and exit signs, as well as lights with emergenc...
It's been a year and what a year. I feel like I've just started to learn to crawl. I had no idea what owning a business meant. There are still somethings I need to learn. I wanted to be a part of a paper that celebrated our local culture. I believed it was important to support a rural economy and way of life. I told myself I had to learn how to put the Big Sandy Mountaineer together. I don't like jigsaw puzzles, so a six/eight/ten-page jigsaw puzzle is a little daunting, so I still haven't...
Every farmer knows the risk of hail, but when it comes, it’s devastating. This last week there was a storm that brought hail clear across the state of Montana almost. It wasn’t a wide swath, but where it landed, there was quite a bit of damage. No farmer wants a paycheck from insurance companies. They would rather harvest their crops, especially this year, because they looked so good. Nothing like bring in the crops! For those of you who don’t know, there is Crop-hail insurance. It is a type of insurance that pays the farmer for any damag...
Editor's Note: After this article on preparing for an emergency, we will do a series of articles concerning health and safety in your home. First, understand that no-one thinks a serious accident or illness will happen to them, so like almost everyone, we do not prepare for one. EMT personnel are well trained for emergencies and can help get the person to the medical facility. Do not try to take a seriously ill or injured family member to the hospital call 911. When I took training to become a C...
Now and then, someone will ask me how Ron and Don and doing. "I haven't seen them around for a while." If you are new to town, Ron and Don Christensen, twins, for years walked the streets of Big Sandy collecting everyone's pop cans and visiting all the town down businesses. They are 74 years old and have a difficult time getting around, especially Don, who's had a few falls and a broken bone. But they still see themselves at home. They don't ever want to move. "No way!" I asked if I could take...