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EDITOR'S NOTE: The Mountaineer will be running a series of Christmas stories this season. Keeping the Spirit of Christmas alive for all of us. When people tell you their memories about Christmas, it's seldom about the gifts, unless there is a much larger meaning to the present. It was a difficult financial year and with four children all wanting a variety of toys, the parents tried to think of way to make Christmas special. The children knew they didn't have any money, so the toys they asked for...
This Christmas give yourself and others a gift of thinking before you speak. This is a recent poem I wrote for the Variety Show recently held in Big Sandy. It’s called The Power of Words. I’d love to write a poem where the words have power Power to help people to sing and dance Or the power to crawl out of a hole Or move them to action and stir them to service I’d love to use words to help people to find peace and tranquility allowing them to breath deep and finally to rest Words can bring sweetness to the soul By giving healing power to pain...
It's here-Christmas. The Annual Chouteau County Christmas Stroll always ushers in the Christmas season. This year Big Sandy's Christmas Stroll is "A Cowboy Christmas". Over the last three weeks the Mountaineer has tried to prepare you for this weekend. It takes a lot of work to accomplish the "Cowboy Christmas" and the Big Sandy CSI committee members Marlys Myers, Tina Cook, Tracy Schuster, Leslie Gregory, Danielle Weaver, Crystal Geyer, Dave Louvar, Pete Jerrel, and Travis Baumann have been...
Sun Shine Snippers 4-H Club is a service organization not just an organization with learning projects. When they sold Martinson's Chocolates as a fund raiser this year they had to declare a service project. This year they decided to create a Hats and Mittens Tree at the FE Miley grade school. Teachers were encouraged to find students in need of hats and mittens and allow those students to pick them off the tree for themselves and for their siblings. Any hats or mittens left will be donated to th...
Her trip was everything she wanted it to be. She learned a lot of things and meet a lot of people. A lot of people she met changed their minds, but she didn't! She wants to be a Forensic Pathologist. Passions sometimes start young and going to the Medicine and Health Care Summit only intensified her goal. During the Summit, there was a lengthy discussion of career exploration concerning medical career fields. There was also lengthy discussion about medical ethics including the Hippocratic oath....
Thanksgiving according to all accounts is the largest family holiday during the year, at least with the amount of travelling done--48.5 million people drove their cars this Thanksgiving, 4.27 million traveled by air, and 1.48 million went to family celebrations on a bus or train. We all have Thanksgiving traditions we repeat and repeat because they give us comfort. Although many of us eat turkey at Thanksgiving ham is a favorite too. One of the foods that has become a family tradition at the holidays at our house is a cauliflower and broccoli...
I love talking to Kindergarten kids. I wanted to talk to them about Thanksgiving. What were they thankful for? Mrs. Samantha Weaver asked them. "Good News Club", and then a few repeated the subject. "God in the Heaven." "Jesus." "Praying to God." One little boy said he was thankful for "special blankeys". Another boy said "I-Pad" when a little girl answered quickly, "I don't have an I-Pad." I realized they had learned their lessons that week when the next answers were "Veterans" and "The Flag"....
It was busy with everybody doing their last minute preparations. Bob Quinn was tuning his trombone behind the curtain. People were finding their seats. Marla Ray started the show on time by introducing all four High school students, Audrey Sipler, Abriana Blanton, Grace Finke, and Everett Works as this Variety Show was to support their musical trip to Europe. Marla said, "No one wants to volunteer to go first. So, I will." She sang a song called "There's a Place at the Table for Me" a song she...
Mrs. Amanda Robertson, Big Sandy Music teacher, asked every student to wear red, white, and blue to their Veteran's day concert. The patriotic theme was everywhere. But no one took it to the extreme like Labuda, who painted her face blue, wore a red shirt and white pants. Every age group participated in the Veterans Day Program held at the High School on November 12th. The High School 7-12 grade choir sang the Star-Spangled Banner and the 6th grade class lead the audience with the Pledge of...
Although Russel Nemetz is not from Big Sandy there isn't a farmer or rancher that hasn't listened to him on the radio and television. He has done a great job of representing agriculture and I was interested in talking to him about his legacy. Sitting down with me between his own television interviews I wanted to know what it was that made Russel so successful. He was genuinely willing to visit with me. I was inspired. I recorded him like I do everyone, but transcribing his comments became...
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, because it reminds me to always have a thankful spirit! If I can live life thankful I'll have fewer days of pity, fewer days of regret, fewer days of anger, and fewer days of depression. A few years ago, I learned of the true story of Squanto, also known as Tisquantum. He was a Native American of the Patuxet native American tribe near Plymouth Massachusetts in 1588. Squanto was captured as a young man in 1605 by Captain George Weymouth who brought...
Larry and Chris Brumwell have been teachers in our schools since the fall of 1978. That's 40 years of teaching. Larry was born and raised on a farm in Power, Montana. Chris was born in Iowa and lived there until she was 12. At that time, her father was 56 and had cancer and wasn't supposed to live so, when her mother was offered a job for the Ford Motor Company in Great Falls Montana it was decided to go where her mother's job would be. Her father lived till he was 92! Chris went to school at...
Roberta Edwards wanted to design a button making sure the rope was an integral part of the design knowing the CSI Country Christmas was using rope as a central decorating point in the Cowboy Christmas theme. Roberta has been taking art classes at MSU Northern Montana in Havre and was excited to use what she has been learning to create a button to help celebrate the season. She always has fun experimenting using a different approach to each art work. This button was created on watercolor paper...
I can’t help but comment about our responsibilities as citizens of this state and our great nation following the mid-term elections. It was a great turnout, but it can’t end there. Whether your candidate won or lost it is our responsibility to stay engaged with the issues facing us. I remember a Montana Senator once told me a number of years ago that he had gotten a lot of letters concerning an issue and he decided he needed to research it to see what he could do to help. I was curious and I asked him, “How many letters did you recei...
Representing Big Sandy this summer at the Northern Ambassadors of Music European Tour will be Abriana Blanton who plays the flute, Grace Finke playing the alto or bass clarinet, Everett Works playing the trumpet and Audrey Sipler who also plays the flute. Last spring, they were nominated and chosen to be a part of the Ambassadors. They will be traveling to seven different countries including England, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Liechtenstein, and Germany. These four students along with...
Jeff Hull has come to Big Sandy now for a number of years. He loves the area and its people. He wants to especially thank Craig and Vonnie Sterry for their hospitality. Their cabin outside of Hingham was where he wrote the entire book. Ray and Amy Sibra let him stay with them off and on for over a decade and without them the book simply would not exist. Josh Danreuther and Nathan Merrill took him out on the landscape and helped him see it in new and fascinating ways. "I don't know why I write...
The town of Big Sandy celebrated Halloween with activities including trick-or-treating, attending Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, and watching a concert of Halloween music. Big Sandy celebrates the holiday as a secular celebration but Christian religious observances of the holiday is called All Hallows' Eve, which includes attending church services, praying for the souls of friends, relatives and pets. Soul c...
While I was at a conference recently a statement was made that has stayed with me. She said, "Remember in this day and age perception is more powerful than truth." It reminded me how currently to many people only listen to, read articles and books, and watch only the news that already proves what they believe. Our perception drives our vision. It reminded me of a photo I took. It had been a very stressful day. I took my camera and went for a walk down Hopp Road. I had walked this gravel road so...
There was a Christmas Button contest this year. Jessica Jaramillo the art teacher at Big Sandy High school had her students design a button for this year's Christmas Stroll. The theme this year is Cowboy Christmas. The children's stroll buttons will show the art work of the four students from Big Sandy High school who won. Eli Dixon a seventh grader is the son of Clay and Kelly Dixon. Faith Gasvoda, Brooke Schwenke, and Lainey Gregory are all Juniors this year. Brooke is the daughter of Chris Sc...
Now that the agriculture seasons has slowed and lots of the farm equipment put to bed one would think that farm injuries would be slowing down, but in truth farm accidents increase during the winter. Animals are the second largest cause of injuries. Slips and falls are the largest cause of worker related injuries. Les Graham and Ron Larson are the states experts when it comes to farm safety. Sitting down and visiting with them during the Montana Farmers Union Convention. Larson said, “Let’s start with the feeding of the cattle and the rep...
Chase Hill Outfitters was established in 1986. They have been guiding for 32 years. Bill Brown said, "I hope one of the kids will take over." Both Megan and Weston are currently home helping during the 2018 hunting season. They just finished guiding two kids during the youth hunting period which takes place two days before the regular hunting season begins. Chase Hill donates the youth hunts. But they have opportunities for youth throughout the season. "We have incorporated a program to encourag...
Diane Scalese will be inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame on Thursday November 1, 2018 at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth Texas. " The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame honors and celebrates women, past and present, whose lives exemplify the courage, resilience, and independence that helped shape the American West, and fosters an appreciation of ideals and spirit of self-reliance they inspire." Four or five years ago, a friend told her she was going...
Welcome Sean Janssen new pastor of the Christ Lutheran Church of Big Sandy and Havre's Messiah Lutheran. Sean told me, "The first time Vanessa and I worked in a church setting was in the Dominican Republic. We taught English there for nine months." Part of the reason they returned to the US was because they were pregnant with their first child. "When we came back I started working to become an Associate Pastor for a church in Wisconsin. To make a long story short, it didn't work out." So, he...
Red Ribbon week is celebrated nationally normally between October 23-31. This year both the high school and the grade school will be focusing on the purpose of Red Ribbon Week which is to encourage student to make a commitment to live safe and drug-free lives. Red Ribbon week was first created in 1988 after an DEA Agent Enrique Camarerena was kidnapped, tortured and murdered in Guadalajara Mexico as an undercover agent. His home town placed red ribbons around to try and increase awareness to...
Gwen has been a part of Big Sandy's down town business for 35 years. She married Shane Ophus in 1984 and started her business down town in the Odd Fellows Hall. It cost $50-$75 a month to rent the front part of that building, and that was for everything! She opened her current shop in 1986. Gwen had a lot of people try to discourage her from opening her own shop, but those who had shops in town already weren't interested in hiring anyone. She always knew that eventually she wanted to have her...