News you can use
News you can use
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The bodies are piling up and the continual scenes of carnage are starting to eat away at my soul, causing me to ponder the deeper implications of the bloody actions of my quarter-feral, yellow-tabby cat. Frankly, I had been thinking for a while now that I might be harboring a serial killer, but then earlier this week, in the faint pre-dawn light of morning, I saw him snag a bat out of the air mid-flight and it occurred to me that I may be operating a secret base for a...
My cousin Nancie will board the plane for her home in Washington today. Three weeks wasn’t enough time for her to finish the long list of tasks she set herself in her new casa. But she painted and made curtains and cleaned and scratched off great chunks of her list. We found time to visit each day, often during work breaks or sharing meals, mugs of coffee, cups of tea. Years ago I had a friend in construction work who, with a wink, said that paint hides a multitude of sins. I...
When I read Mr. Kevin Zoren's letter to the editor about the article I'd written and we published Friday, "Man arrested in bizarre parking dispute," my first reaction was to seriously consider if I mishandled the story. We reviewed the article and even discussed it as a staff. Mr. Zoren claims I mocked the mentally ill and was "eager to sensationalize the admittedly abnormal behaviors of a man who at first blush, appears to have suffered some form of psychotic break." Mr....
Chances are if you called the Havre Daily News during the last 15-plus years, I was the one who answered your call. During my 17 years at the newspaper, I have answered the phone thousands of times helping customers and directing telephone calls to my fellow employees. If you dropped off a payment or came in the office looking for an end roll, I was probably the one who assisted you. Over the years, I got to know by name many of our regular customers especially those who came in monthly to pay for their Havre Daily News...
Back in the dark ages when I was young and the internet wasn’t even a twinkle in Al Gore’s eye, my contemporaries and I would imagine what it would be like to read people’s minds. We were convinced it would be awesome to the nth power, even though many smart people who studied human behavior — like psychologists, sociologists, secret service interrogators and moms — all said that knowing what people are truly thinking is really not a good thing. We dismissed their warnings....
I want to introduce myself, and my goals, to the readers of the Havre Daily News. Some of you already know me. My name is Tim Leeds, a former reporter and assistant editor at the Havre Daily, and I took over as the head of the news department Aug. 5. Before I say anything else, I wanted to thank and congratulate my predecessor, John Kelleher, for his more than four decades, including nearly a decade here at the Havre Daily, in getting out the news. His dedication and hard work...
The workmen are finished. Thanks to daily rain my damaged lawn is repairing itself. No more mud and crud. My house is in order. Trees are planted. I’m weeding the neglected flower beds. Two-or-three-or-several times a week I am rendered speechless with gratitude with a-hit-me-over-the-head-look-at-how-different-my-world-is-than-it-coulda-woulda-been. Whew. Think about it. I grew up in Harlem, Montana, in the 50s and 60s. A trip to Chinook was a big deal. The Harlem News u...
The Universe has been conspiring this summer to make me long for one of the few things I miss about living in the mountains of western Montana: Clear water. Lots and lots of clear, cold water. It gathers in lakes, vast and small, roils and surges in wide rivers, tumbles down mountainside creeks, trickles up through fresh springs. It pours cool and remarkably tasteless from the tap and leaves not a single stain on the counter top or the laundry. I didn’t appreciate it enough, until I lived where bodies of water were scarce a...
A couple of months ago, Fortune magazine did one of its surveys on the worst jobs in America. For the third year in a row, newspaper reporter was listed as the worst job you could hold. The low pay, long hours, financial trouble of newspapers, stress of deadlines and almost always displeasing at least somebody were cited as reasons for my profession’s low job satisfaction. Today is my last day as a reporter. I’m retiring after 44 years as a reporter/editor in small towns from New Hampshire to Havre in Montana. Fortune mag...
My mind is a mess. Twenty-three days ago the men began work in my backyard, front yard, patio and, yes, even inside my house. Twenty-three days of mud and crud and cement dust, of men and tools and Mexican music, of piles of sand, water barrels, ladders and stacks of brick across my lawn. Did you know fresh cement has a distinctive smell? And handmade sun-baked brick has its own flavor? My wall is complete, my patios are finished. I can sweep, “rearrange the furniture” and “ha...
What do you do when your life is literally too boring for words? You turn to the weird news of the world: While the temperatures have been hot all across Montana the past few weeks, the east coast has seen some record high temperatures. With those stories dominating the news it makes sense that NBC affiliate WDSU in New Orleans thought to go “there.” By which I mean “down there.” You know, the unmentionable down there that you would find showing at a nudist colony — and they...
I’m the fish, pacing my casita. I feel like I live in an aquarium. Bubbles rise from my mind. Occasionally I gasp for oxygen. Three weeks, every day but Sunday, blessed reprieve of Sunday, workmen swarm my yard. The projects creep forward. Abel and his nephew, also Abel, called Pelon, which is a nickname that translates “bald,” along with Josue show up at eight in the morning and work until four or five in the afternoon. Pelon, a teen, has beautiful dark hair. I wonder if he acquired his name when a baby, born without a hair...
And “the best things in life are dirty,” the gospel according to Ben Rumson (Lee Marvin) and Pardner (Clint Eastwood), words to live by from “Paint Your Wagon.” Amen. A lot of spiritual truths hide in songs and when I’m up to my knees in mucky ol’ mud, and the song, even a song from a cringe-worthy musical, makes me smile, so be it. Rainy season is here, an undeniable truth. Josue and Abel are building my new wall between my casita and the neighboring property. The man who...
I started taking a yoga class for all the usual reasons: to work on strength, flexibility, balance, humiliation. Now, if I were writing this column strictly for my family to read, I could stop at that first sentence and have them rolling in the aisles, as the saying goes. Really, I’d be killin’ it in those 18 words. They’d react, saying: “There’s more?” “Are you kidding?” “You had me at yoga.” Ha ha ha hardy har har, guys. “Strength, no problem. She’d be, like, ‘I am Pam Sch...
The lyrics, “Ah, ha, oh, no, don’t let the rain come down, my roof’s got a hole in it and I might drown” woke me as once more waters pounded my roof and the lake of run-off lapped against the west side of my casita. The early ’60s voice of Ronnie Hilton crooned into my ear, silly lyrics to a slightly calypso beat. Every night, every single night, sometimes sooner, sometimes later, count on it — the rain falls freely. “So, you who have lived here your whole life, how long will...
Now that the primaries are over, many folks are taking the temperature of Montana’s political climate. It feels “hot” or divisive, and many believe it will only get hotter as the political season advances. They may also agree that the November election results will have major implications for Montana. Many even believe we are at a critical juncture in our state’s history. We certainly see this, at One Montana, where we are trying to create a vibrant Montana through common ground. The general campaign will tell us where t...
(Havre High School band member Amelia Beard wrote about the band’s recent trip to Washington, D.C.) The D.C. trip was amazing and the experience to march in the D.C. parade was absolutely outstanding. This is a memory I will never forget. This trip definitely brought the band together, and we all became closer with each other. The trip was well organized. All of the monuments we were able to see were phenomenal. The two days of traveling back home wasn’t the bad for me. We made new friends in D.C. who were also marching in...
(Jessica Otto, a Havre High School band member, was impressed by her visit to the Holocaust Museum.) The most memorable part about Sunday was indefinitely the Holocaust Museum. At the beginning before you start the tour they give you a card asking you to find which photo would stick with you the longest. The one that's stuck from the moment I read the description overtop was in the section about what happened to those with disabilities. The photo had a little girl. She had curly hair, couldn't have been more than 10 years...
In pursuit of the perfect flooring for my some-day new-to-us home, considerable research and countless hours of analysis paralysis have led me to this: I’m bringing dirt floors back into fashion. Think about it before you dismiss the idea. First of all, eco-friendly options are all the rage. And I don’t think we can get more ecologically grassroots than we do with dirt. Plus, it’s immeasurably practical and economical. What are the most time- and money-consuming issues encount...
The Havre Daily News asked some members of the Havre High School Band to reflect on their trip to Washington over the Fourth of July holiday when they participated in the National Independence Day Parade. Band member Meggan Smith gave her thoughts about the experience. We started marching down this street after warm-ups, we didn't really know where we were going, but we hoped the parade would start soon. All of a sudden, we turned onto this street filled from curb to building with people. Thousands of people squished...
The trouble with using sarcasm as your favorite communication device and then doubling down on that by writing a humor-based column is that it hurts your credibility. It’s not that people think I’m a liar, it’s just that they think they can’t necessarily believe what I say. Sure, that’s a fine line, but I like to think it’s an important one. When a co-worker asks, “Do I put a comma right here?” and I say, “Only if you want to sound like an ignorant hillbilly” — whic...
Every morning at first light a symphony of birds sings me awake. I don’t say it’s necessarily pretty birdsong. The New York Philharmonic it is not. But it is loud. And it is a mixture of voices of whatever birds are hanging out in this part of the state at any particular time. Perhaps a better description is of musicians tuning their instruments prior to the performance. Tuning takes a good hour. At full light each singer flies off to greet the day with its perfect song. At any one time I look out my windows and see doz...
I love Havre in the spring and summer, and this year it’s so green and beautiful. A kind of new beginning. New calves in the field, robins and meadowlarks singing on the fences, budding trees, the spring and summer flowers are making their showing and the burst of color from the wildflowers carpet the hillsides in Beaver Creek Park. We are so fortunate to have this natural beauty and abundant fresh air right out our back doors — we sometimes take it all for granted. Our community is blessed with a great heritage and bea...
“So, Sondra, why aren’t you married?” Bonnie questions my back. There I am, lying unclothed on a bed, needles poking all over me, getting an acupuncture treatment for sciatica and related pains. How can I answer? Her question triggers feelings of discomfort, squirminess. But I don’t dare squirm with needles poking out all over. OK, yes, the squirming came from inside, not outside. Still. I’m asked this question a lot. Almost everyone I meet has asked me why I’m alone. Alon...
Something in the human mind loves lists: Top 5 businesses to work for and Top 5 not to work for; 10 most impressive acts of laziness in history; 24 things women over 30 shouldn’t wear; 24 things females under 30 shouldn't talk smack about; 100 must-read books; 7 must-have futon features; and on and on — the lists being too numerous to list. I have decided to feed this humankind need with a list of my own, and I give you: 5 Most Seductive Foods. 5. Bread. A mealtime staple in...
