News you can use
News you can use
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Like a wine expert, a chocolate connoisseur, an opera singer with perfect pitch, a movie sound director, an artist, a sniper, a braille speed-reader, a plush-pile inspector who runs his or her hands over soft, fuzzy fabric and says “Oh, yeah, that’s so soft and fuzzy” (it’s a job, I'm sure), like any of these people, I have a sensory gift. I hear things. If it buzzes, whirs, taps, hums, squeaks, rings, dings, grinds, taps, knocks, clicks, whistles, snaps, twangs, thumps,...
Festival Days weekend’s success would not have been obtained without the continued support from the many volunteers and willingness of the many different entities of the community to come together on this third weekend in September to throw a community celebration for all to enjoy. Our many thanks go to the numerous volunteers, the businesses, community organizations, the vendors and our Festival Days sponsor partner, Montana State University-Northern, for helping the Havre area Chamber of Commerce make the weekend a huge a...
Tragedy has been stalking my house, doing dirty deeds. Tragedy, as you may know, is one of the lapdogs of the Universe, which likes loose its lapdogs to nip at my heels and bite me in the backside, maybe cause a stampede or an avalanche of irony. The lapdogs are kind of like the hounds of hell, but with a cruel sense of humor that tends to make their irony worse than their bite. Still hurts, though. Late last week the valve connected to the floaty-thingy inside our toilet tank...
Few things bring fear or dread into my life. When my car breaks down, I admit to approaching a state of near panic. This is mostly imaginary. When I was 23, a truck plowed into the side of my pick-up while I was driving east of U.S. Highway 2. I went into shock. I nearly lost my life. I have absolutely no memory of fear. And in actuality I cannot bring up one instance of car trouble, in which I didn’t know help was nearby or AAA would gallop to my rescue. My car problems w...
As a 20-year classroom teacher, I’ve seen first-hand how schools constantly work to make their education dollars stretch as far as possible. From textbooks and lab supplies, to technology and instructional tools, Montana educators are ensuring that the resources that are allocated to schools are used in the most efficient way possible. An often forgotten cost of educating students is the expense of keeping lights on and water running in our schools. This is why I’m pleased, this week, to be kicking off the second annual SMA...
I don’t mean to be bossy, but you need to sit down, take a few deep breaths and remain calm if you intend to continue reading. I am, at this very moment on this Friday afternoon of this beautiful fall season, experiencing a major medical crisis. I have an angry, inflamed pimple on my nose. Yes, thank you for your sympathy, prayers and good vibes. Believe me, I’m feeling you feeling my pain, and you will never know how much your emotional support means to me in these try...
My parents did their best to teach their children to be fair to a fault. It made thinking hurt sometimes. Despite our demands for sympathy in disagreements, moral disputes and a wide variety of emotional issues surely destined to ruin our lives — forever — their first response to drama was to tell us to consider how the other person, group or entity felt and to think about other viewpoints of any story or issue. I'm sure they would not approve of my current, and ironic, int...
How do I talk about something about which I don’t even want to think? Give me a good strong dose of denial. Cover my eyes with a blindfold. Bury my head in the sand. This summer I’ve had a good dose of talking with friends about what to do next, about downsizing a life, about disease and death. Two of my friends lost their husbands. Two more are suffering the downward spiral of Alzheimer’s. One friend is struggling to maintain by herself a life she loves which feeds her passi...
My dog and cat have entered into the next phase of our big, life-changing, house project with all the emotional balance and fortitude of your average neurotic, cross-species, counter-crosswise twins. The beginning of this adventure saw the cat happy that we were spending time up at the shop, but the dog angry because he wanted to be in the comfort of his home. It didn’t help that every time we put down a bed for the dog to lie on, the cat would strut across the floor, put one...
I love my Montana home, which, along with Washington, Idaho and our neighbors north and south, is burning. Love is, indeed, blind. If we have any sensibilities at all, our hearts are on fire. Our beautiful state is in flames. And The Platters said it all. When your heart’s on fire smoke gets in your eyes. The air is full of ugly particulates. The horizon has disappeared. Our view is dull, our “Little Sky” hovers, brown and gritty. Looks like a blizzard could blow in any minute...
Editors at Pamville News are bringing readers a healthy dose of international news items to freshen their morning. ABCNews.go.com reports the 20th Air Guitar World Championship started Thursday in Oulu, Finland, with 30 competitors airing their best moves. That first day of competition determined the top 15 international competitors who will go on to the final round today. Hosted by Finland’s northernmost city, Oulu, The competition is a favorite of the town’s mayor who des...
When I lived in Harlem, Shirley, Bev and I gallivanted around the country whenever we felt the strong urge to get out of Dodge, to shake out the metaphorical cobwebs. Since we “solita” women find cooking for one less than fun, someone would take the initiative, “Let’s go to Turner (or elsewhere) for a burger. I’ll drive.” So it seemed natural, while back in Harlem, to revisit our favorite haunts. When the train from Wolf Point pulled into Havre on a Sunday, my friends met me at the station. “Is there anything you want to do w...
If Iran’s ultimate goal is to obtain a nuclear weapon, the deal reached by the Obama administration sets Iran on a course to do so. From the time this deal is agreed to, Iran has ten years to fill their coffers with tens of billions of dollars from newly unsanctioned oil sales and pursue the research and development of nuclear capabilities. As the world’s leader of state-sponsored terrorism, it will only be a matter of time before Iran achieves its ultimate goal: obtaining a nuclear weapon. These are bipartisan concerns. Top...
Historians tell us that we need to know where we came from if we are to know where we are and where we’re going. If that’s the case, we in Havre and the Hi-Line know a lot more about ourselves because of the work of Gary Wilson. Wilson wrote several books on the colorful and sometimes bizarre history of this place we call home. He wrote books on the area, wrote newspaper articles and spoke to groups about the characters who helped build this place. He was the go-to guy for any facts about the how the Hi-Line has dev...
Having spent last week’s column bemoaning man’s inhumanity to the ugly creatures of the world, I must confess that my husband, John, and I are no less guilty of our own prejudices in favor of beautiful creatures. Of course, we have justification. Humans always do for their blatant acts of inhumanity. In our world, ugly is as ugly does. The common pigeon, for example, is quite lovely in all its variations of color and markings, but the droppings, well, I imagine some level of h...
Picture yourself in this situation. You’ve just pulled up to your local garbage disposal site. You’re ready to unload whatever you brought with you. And there, amongst the foul smells and the many items of junk and debris, the things people didn’t want anymore, is a dog. But not just any dog — a very young, very small puppy. A puppy too young and too helpless to survive even a few days in an environment like that. What do you do? Fortunately, for the dog that would eventua...
Right now, there are nine active wildfires in Montana, burning thousands of acres of our cherished national parks, forests and grasslands. Hundreds of thousands of acres in California are burning too. This is in part because of the dry and hot weather we’ve had, but even more so due to decades of poor management of our federal forests. The evidence? One need look no farther than one of the first fires of the season, the Glacier Rim Fire which quickly burned about 100 acres of dead timber and thick regrowth brush in the s...
Oh, dear, my troubles began with air travel. I managed to get me and my bionic parts through security in Mazatlan and through both customs and security in Dallas/Ft. Worth. To me, that is a big deal. The Dallas airport is the size of three European countries. Paste a gold star on my forehead. I even hustled through three gate changes in half an hour, which I count heroic. Let me set the scene. Due to age and recent surgery, I get to pre-board. I travel with a walking stick,...
This week marks National Health Center Week and there is no better way to recognize the work of Montana’s Community Health Centers than to tell the story of our patients. Holly lives in the Flathead Valley with her husband and her mother. Five years ago, she was diagnosed with a lung disorder that began attacking her kidneys. Within six months she was in kidney failure and in need of a transplant. Holly had employer sponsored insurance coverage when she got sick, but she eventually lost her job because of her illness. W...
Cecil the lion, yes, I’ve been avoiding the topic. It’s a matter of prudence and respect to the issue. In case you are among the 1 in 1.02567 million people who doesn’t know what I’m talking about: a hunter from the U.S. went on a dream-come-true lion hunt in Zimbabwe. His guides lured in an older male lion and the American shot and killed the lion with a bow and arrow. Of course this isn’t the end of the story. The lion was part of a 10-year study on the Hwange Game Rese...
My friend Cheryl’s children are urging her and Dave to move right now from their long-time home in Tillamook, Oregon to the inland side of the Cascades. Why? Because they live at sea level between two rivers. We are told the Big Quake, the one where the west coast slides into the sea, with requisite tsunamis to follow, has been scheduled to creak and crack any day now. Certainly, disaster can strike. Look around us. The world seems a topsy-turvy place. But I’m irreverent. I ca...
Two years ago last week we received my diagnosis: “highly suggestive of ALS.” As the last two years have played out, clearly the suggestion was correct. I walked in to the Mayo Clinic in July 2013; I sit in my wheelchair today and for the rest of my life. However, I am still here, still out in public, still working and volunteering. I will continue until I lose my voice, and even then I may keep up my (new) normal life. I am still functioning largely because I have incredible support from my family and friends. We are for...
I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who helped with our summer reading program at the Havre-Hill County Library. “Community Heroes” has been a great success. I appreciate everyone who has made this summer a success beginning with the U.S. Border Patrol for bringing the drug dog and helping with the carnival. Thanks to Brian Simonson for being our military hero and Sheri Simonson for setting up an excellent obstacle course. We gratefully appreciate Jessica Sheehy and her nurse, Shelbee Fritchman, for being local med...
My personal frugality is legendary … if you can call using an old towel dangling from three strips of duct tape as a curtain over the window in the front door a legend, rather than low-class, uninspired, white-trash slothful chintziness. Po-tay-doh. Po-tah-to. I wear clothes for a few months past the point where they are fit only for the rag bag. And notice that I make them into rags, not just throw them away. I purchase used vehicles and drive them until they die of old a...
One never knows, right? It’s one thing to plan. For example, today I mop the floors. Then a friend stops by and suggests, “Let’s go to Callecita for seared tuna and guava pie.” Are you going to be flexible? Or are you rigid in concrete, “I cannot go. I must mop my floors.” Really? Only a few more days and I will cross the heat-shimmering tarmac to board the plane from Mazatlan to Dallas to Seattle to Great Falls, Montana. Originally I planned a trip for March and April, with a...
