News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 2299 - 2323 of 3214
This week the Havre Daily News published a series of articles which indicate the county has a mystery afoot in the housing market but, fear not, I am a font of answers that will set your mind at ease. A mysterious entity is buying up properties with delinquent taxes and not doing anything with the properties but letting them go derelict. It’s causing a noticeable blight in this county and others across the state. It’s aliens. I was going to lead into that better, maybe giv...
Silly childhood ditties often carry substantial wisdom. Consider “Row, row, row your boat.” On second thought, I’ll come back to that in a moment. First I announced that I bought a finely maintained old-Mexican style casita in the little village of Etzatlan. Next thing you know, Kathy and Richard from Victoria, British Columbia, made inquiries about a neighboring casita. Then Crin, Kathy’s sister, began asking questions, eliciting more interest in a possible retirem...
In a world where men and women suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder from military and law enforcement service and unimaginable tragedies, I seem to have gotten PTSD from my kitchen drain being plugged. I know it sounds ridiculous, but in my defense, that drain pipe was plugged for several months, and if you have never had that experience, then you cannot imagine the psychological damage a tragedy like this can cause. For sure there is a way to explain why the drain...
Where do I start? At the beginning, you say. That was almost three years ago so let me start with last week and back track to the beginning, what say? Last week in Etzatlan I bought a casita. A beautiful brick Spanish style casita with arched windows and doors, tiled roof, and plenty of wrought iron. Sounds like an impulsive buy, doesn’t it? Like I said, the process began three years ago when I first went to Etzatlan to visit my new friend Lani. Etzatlan is a small village, about 20,000 people, sprawled in a wide and verdant...
February? Oh, right, I’m supposed to hate February. It’s the second month in a row without a vacation-worthy holiday — after that Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year glut of free time. The rest of the world is talking about spring and that liar Punxsutawney Phil, but up here in the near-Arctic no skunks are out, no bears have emerged looking for tourists to eat, sewer lines haven’t thawed, horses aren’t shedding, only the impatient cows (and the ones seduced by errant, vagabond...
Back in the day, I loved that song. I suspect it was my “whistling past the graveyard” attempt. Believe me, I was anything but the “Happiest Girl in the Whole USA.” I was full of pretense and misery, unemployed and broke, a single mom, newly divorced. In those days women bore the onus and responsibility for a “broken marriage.” Men were simply labeled “single and up for grabs.” It was not a pretty place for a woman to be. So I had a bit of an internal giggle at myself when the words of my once-favorite song looped through...
My sister often asks me “What is the most interesting case you have going?” Of course, I cannot give any names (not to protect the innocent, but to protect the guilty), but it seems there is never a lack of “interesting” cases. Some time ago I had a case that showed the undesirable underbelly of our community. This was a set of circumstances I, who has lived here all my life, knew nothing about. To begin this discussion, I set curfews in criminal release orders at 10 p.m., often stating: “Nothing good happens after 10 p.m....
By Robin Cunningham, Dan Vermillion and Ed Tompkins As Montanans we live close to the land. Our unique way of life is directly tied to the quality of our lands, waters, fish and wildlife. We are people who are counting on cold, clean waters and an abundance of trout. The quality of that resource directly impacts not only our personal recreation but also our business interests and our livelihoods. Each year guides, outfitters, fly shop owners, restaurants, hotels and their employees watch Montana’s snowpack anxiously. In an e...
Pamville News editors have meticulously scoured world news sources to bring readers highlights of importance. The nerds of India Yahoo News reported this week that Tata Motors Ltd., a car manufacturer in India, will be changing the name of its new Zica car before it is sold to the public because the name sounds like the new Zika virus that is gearing up to be the new pandemic to sweep the world, wreak havoc and endanger lives. Even corporations like to make healthy choices....
Ai-yi-yi, but I had a difficult day. My theory is that misery is contagious. My neighbor Ted from Edmonton was griping about the rock bottom value of the Canadian dollar, which has been on a steady decline for weeks. Frank on the other side of my door kept up a steady whine (steady decline-steady whine —t hat’s called internal rhyme) about the plunging value of his investments. Both of them moaned about the rising cost of living in Mazatlan. I stood in my doorway and lis...
I broke a significantly sized corner off a front tooth when I was 10 years old. Sorry to make you cringe right out of the gate. I was at the public swimming pool and as I was getting out of the water my hands slipped off the gutter. I slammed my mouth into the cement. It could have been worse, but I still remember looking in the mirror, choking back tears and the sickness in my gut. I was sure I was going to look wretched and stupid for the rest of my life. I was 10. I...
I’m thinking of running for president. You can’t run. You are too old and crippled. You walk with a cane. Walking doesn’t have the same elan. Listen: “I’m walking for president.” Who would vote for that? True, you won’t appeal to the youth. But consider, how many of the youth of today bother to vote? Good point. By rights, young people should rule the world. “A Game Boy in every hand.” “Make Angry Birds, Not War.” But if the young people don’t care to rule, I have an even be...
As a lifelong sportsman and gun owner, I’m committed to protecting law-abiding Americans’ right to keep and bear arms. And like many Montanans, I know that protecting the Second Amendment isn’t about hunting — it’s about freedom. President Barack Obama started off the new year by unilaterally creating new barriers to purchasing a firearm. His actions are an affront to our Second Amendment rights and a gross abuse of executive power. And like so many times before, Obama has pursued a “go-it-alone” approach on his gun contr...
I have a long and successful track record of failing at productive introspection. My natural philosophy generator has two settings: ultra-pragmatic and ohmigawd(!). It creates two types of responses the “whatever” and “life's too short for (insert curse word of your choice)” kind and the “life is over” and “what ___?!” (as in “what did I do?!” “what just happened?!” “what'd you do?!” and “what the (insert curse word of your choice)?!”) kind of thing. I read something a while...
I thought it wouldn’t matter. Under Arturo’s guidance I had been doing physical therapy twice weekly, for almost six months. I was walking strong and sure. When walking along the street I used my handsome walking stick, which I had purchased many years ago from a S’Klallam gentleman in Port Gamble, for balance. Now comes the really stupid part of my confession. I paid lip service to Arturo in August when he told me I would need to continue my exercises, especially the ones for...
Just like a stopped clock that gets the time correct twice a day, PSC Commissioner Roger Koopman’s critique of my earlier column on the Montana response to the EPA Clean Power Rules had one thing right, I do like hamburgers, preferably made with Montana beef. Otherwise, the representations he makes in his column indicate he didn’t even read my column, much less examine the data available at the Public Service Commission upon which I based my column. Readers can be excused for being confused when a current member and a for...
I'm sure you've all heard the terrible news by now: I did not win the big Powerball jackpot. I know, you wanted it for me as much as I did. Thank you for that, but I'll be OK. Really. I didn't cry myself to sleep that night at all — mostly because I didn't stay up to see the results of the draw. I just wanted one last night of imagining what I'd do with a big jackpot. By the time I went to sleep I had bought a ranch, populated it with rare and expensive horses and hired a ranc...
Laurel: Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and Havre Public Schools have launched a great program “Hooked On Fishing — Not On Drugs.” Kids from Lincoln-McKinley Primary School were taken ice fishing Tuesday, offering them an introduction to a wholesome sport many may not have had the opportunity to partake in. It opened the door to an important part of Montana culture and, hopefully, it offered them an alternative to drugs. Dart: There is a healthy dose of arrogance going around these days, but Tim Blixseth, the one-time billio...
I can imagine life without my right arm. I experienced that for a few months. I can imagine life without a leg or even two. My experiential months altogether add up to a couple years. I coped. The age of the dreaded cataracts has come upon me. With terror I imagine life without the sight of my eyeballs. Yesterday, after a sleepless night, I met my highly recommended surgeon. He put me at ease. That is good. He said I am not ready yet. Mucho bueno. Maybe six months, maybe a...
When it comes to militia members taking over Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Range, many people are confused by what’s perceived as a random act, or they pass it off as the actions of some renegade kooks. It’s dangerous to minimize events through these lenses. The Oregon Occupiers represent the latest incarnation of county supremacy, a well-established doctrine of right-wing movements. Sometimes county supremacists claim county commissions can exert control over all the land within their boundaries and ignore envir...
Those who view the Environmental Protection Agency as a planet-saving benevolent dictator will apparently go to any lengths to “prove” their point. An astounding article by former Montana Public Service Commission Chairman Greg Jergeson recently asserted that the EPA’s massive new regulations on power plant CO2 emissions won’t increase energy costs to Montana consumers. It makes you wonder what kind of mushrooms he’s been eating on his hamburgers lately. While I appreciate Mr. Jergeson’s past service, his analysis of the Clea...
Oh, woe is me in these dark days. A darkness, black and cold as the long nights of winter has settled into my heart, stolen my life, my livelihood, my reason for Internetting. As if the prospect of waiting nearly five months for my next paid holiday hasn't been weighing heavily enough on my heart, my desire to go on, I now suffer the lack of my dear friend, co-worker and creative companion, Computer. Oh, Computer, my beautiful workhorse, your keys are stilled, your speakers...
While I have great respect for the past, I am not one to yearn for olden days. Not for me the re-enactments of historical events. I’ve no desire to escape today’s trials through romanticizing the past. I’ll happily trade your retro calico bonnets, buffalo robes, corncob pipes and bushy mustaches for my flush toilets, electric lights and a full set of teeth. As the New Year approached, my group of women with whom I graduated high school sent one another wishes. We ignor...
New Year resolutions don’t work. Don’t go there if you are faint of heart or weak of will. I remind myself of that every year and normally don’t flirt with this danger, but this year … yeah, call me crazy, call me bold, call me a fool’s fool, but I’m doing it. I’m not going with anything too weird, like “get organized,” or physically unattainable, like vowing to climb the Matterhorn or anything equally unattainable like running a 1K marathon. The list contains all the basic, b...
Three weeks ago I left the sunny climes of Mexico for the frigid badlands of the Yellowstone River around Glendive, one of the strangest trips I’ve traveled. As the holiday season which ends the Old and precedes the New Year rolls around, I tend to be introspective. Plunked down in the country where my ex-husband lived out the last years of his life, here for his memorial service, made me even more so. Memories surfaced like snippets of film. When a couple have children t...
