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  • More tools needed to keep livestock and wildlife safe

    Updated Sep 2, 2022

    BIRCH CREEK — One summer evening when my daughter was a toddler, I took her by the hand and walked into the backyard to water the garden, when our dog began to bark like mad. I looked up and saw a grizzly bear on the other side of the garden. I had only a second to think, and since the dog had the bear occupied, I scooped up my daughter and dashed back in the house. That’s what life is like when you live with grizzlies. My husband and I run Angus cattle and quarter horses on our family place on Birch Creek, along the Roc...

  • Republican maps for Indian Country: Broken promises

    Updated Sep 2, 2022

    The Montana Districting and Apportionment Commission is responsible for redrawing state legislative districts to reflect every community in Montana. Voters need to be able to elect legislators who represent different viewpoints and can come together to solve the problems our state faces. This responsibility requires the commission to ensure voices are heard in every part of our state, and no one is left behind. That is why it was so unfortunate that when the commission proposed maps earlier this month, the Republican...

  • The Postscript: Not much of a joke

    Carrie Classon|Updated Aug 30, 2022

    It wasn’t much of a joke, as far as jokes go. I saw the man wearing two hats, one on top of the other. The second hat may have been for his wife. It was decorated with intricate drawings. He was walking with her, a third hat tied to the handle of a stroller, and the family was making its way through the artisan market, where hats and ceramics and glass and handwoven, hand-carved, handmade items of all types are sold. The man had his hands full, guiding the stroller loaded w...

  • Letter to the Editor - Fresno's management must change

    Updated Aug 26, 2022

    Editor, Fresno Reservoir, Aug. 23, 2022: The pelicans, herons, plovers, and gulls are mostly gone. The fish are starving, some are dying. The water levels are dropping faster than the clams can move. They die on the shore, far from the receding water’s edge. Fresno is almost 30 feet down and only 15 percent of capacity. Despite the Bureau of Reclamation’s statement to “manage, develop, and protect water in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public,” they have sold almost all of...

  • View from the North 40: Creative reporting takes the sting off

    Pam Burke|Updated Aug 26, 2022

    I tried to read the news this week but, honestly, outside of work where we are treated like a prison work gang, without the snappy uniforms, and forced to read news, I was too tired and rundown (and more than a little, as the British say, couldn’t be arsed) to read much past the headlines. So without further ado, I give you all the news I could make up about my favorite weird headline of August: “Turkish scorpion farmer milks arachnids for their expensive venom,” by Umit...

  • Looking out my Backdoor: When retreat means moving forward

    Sondra Ashton|Updated Aug 26, 2022

    Two weeks. What a gift. I have had two weeks with my son at my home. My guestroom with bath was finished before Ben’s plane landed. He said, “Mom, I don’t want to do a lot of visiting neighbors (of whom there are so few) or any tourist stuff. I just want to be with you and to have solitude to consider my life, to figure out what I want to do next. I want a retreat, away from everyday activities and responsibilities.” And so it went. We filled each day with stories, memorie...

  • On second thought: Eastern Montana voters can make House races fun again

    Will Rawn|Updated Aug 26, 2022

    U.S. House races are boring. It's a Democratic district or it's a Republican district, that's all you need to know. That was definitely the look of Montana's new eastern congressional district at the beginning of the year where recent voting history heavily favored the Republican incumbent. That's until independent Gary Buchanan got into the race with backers from left, right and center. If approval across the political spectrum were the key to electoral success, the...

  • Rosendale plots against Montana hunters and anglers

    Updated Aug 23, 2022

    Montanans are good at forming relationships. As I’ve traveled in the eastern U.S. House district, I’ve met voters who are husbands, wives, friends of friends, sisters, brothers, fathers, mothers … all of whom know someone who knows someone I should get in contact with about my independent campaign for Congress. But one of the most important relationships that Montanans cherish is our relationship with nature and wildlife. In no other state is there such a rich tradition of hunting and fishing. I have enjoyed chasing my son a...

  • View from the North40: Quirks aren't what they used to be

    Pam Burke|Updated Aug 19, 2022

    We all have our little quirks, right. They’re nothing to be ashamed of because they are, in fact, one of the components of what makes each of us unique — quite probably weird, too — but unique for sure. In her Aug. 26, 2020, Pyschology Today article about quirks Sheila Robinson-Kiss says one of the keys to good mental health is recognizing that just because a behavior seems outside the norm, doesn’t make it bad. If it’s not hurting anybody, we should just figure out a way to h...

  • Looking out my Backdoor: The rules

    Sondra Ashton|Updated Aug 19, 2022

    If you ever for one minute think you are different from other Americans in this foreign country, who seem to live by the motto of “I want it; I want it all; I want it now,” just endeavor to undertake a major construction project. You will discover your Gringo sense of entitlement. Guaranteed. My project isn’t major and it is only quasi construction. In a little-used space adjacent to my bodega guest bedroom, I’m installing a bathroom. Rendering my guest bedroom to en-suit...

  • The Postscript: Piccolina

    Carrie Classon|Updated Aug 19, 2022

    I was walking down an old street in an old part of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Brightly colored wooden doors line the streets. There is no indication from the outside what might be within. It could be a courtyard filled with flowers and a fountain, or a small business, or somebody’s kitchen. It is a mystery what is behind these doors, and so, when one is open, naturally I look inside. Last week, a door was open, and I saw a few items of clothing for sale, so I stepped i...

  • Gary Buchanan: An independent choice for an effective choice in Congress

    Updated Aug 16, 2022

    One of the first lessons I learned on becoming a state legislator was to make it as easy as possible for other legislators to agree with me. I saw how those who demonstrated both competence and good will were taken seriously and achieved the greatest success in accomplishing their goals. Several decades ago, there were relatively few ideologues intent on imposing their own narrow ideas of how things should be done. Now we sadly see that there are many more elected officials who self-righteously attempt to impose their...

  • CHRINOS need to revisit the Gospels and cease using Christ's name in vain

    Updated Aug 16, 2022

    Fundamentalist and evangelical preachers of the last century used the advent of radio and television to skew Christianity in ways never before possible. Social media and the Christian Nationalists have taken that Christian world, atilt on its axis by the turn of this century, to a complete reversal of its poles. His disciples and other early Christians, who followed His teachings, were willing to die for their faith, as was He. Today’s Christian Nationalists appear ready to kill for the lack of theirs. Show me in the Bible wh...

  • View from the North 40: A historical moment should be celebrated

    Pam Burke|Updated Aug 12, 2022

    I successfully built and hung a gate this week. It bears pointing out that I conquered my nemesis, the hanging of a gate, by getting the thing hung level and plumb. It swings freely and quietly both to and fro. It looks good doing it. I should be giddy, overjoyed, brimming with pride and other degrees of over-the-moonness, and yet no. At best I feel a sort of grim satisfaction. I was raised well before the era of participation ribbons, nobody cared about bolstering our...

  • Volunteers needed at museum, buffalo jump

    Updated Aug 12, 2022

    Volunteerism in Havre has a long history. From our town’s start, there were people willing to give their time, talents, resources and dedication to worthy community causes. From giving to those less fortunate, to creating health care facilities and forming two libraries, the people of Havre and Hill County care about our town and work to achieve wonderful things, some which last generations. The Clack Museum and Wahkpa Chu’gn Buffalo Jump are no different. From our inception, our growth and successes have been based on vol...

  • The Postscript: Two degrees

    Updated Aug 9, 2022

    They call the impossibly complicated screen I am looking at a “dashboard,” which I do not find reassuring at all. It would be nice not to associate my ignorance of technology with crashing some out-of-control machine into a ravine, although, as I think about it, that is very much how it feels. Learning new technology is a bear. I don’t care what they say. I understand the need to play with it, get familiar with the functions and learn in a less-than-linear fashion. But less-than-straightforward learning often leads me to tr...

  • Paying the cost of war at last for veterans with the SFC Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act

    Updated Aug 9, 2022

    Generation after generation, Americans have gone to war, backed by the promise that their country would take care of them when they came home. Yet for years, our government failed those in uniform who returned home only to face a different kind of battle: the battle of cobbling together their earned care and benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Sgt. 1st Class Heath Robinson was one of those veterans. Heath’s story is, unfortunately, far too familiar among our military men and women. Like many Americans, h...

  • Republicans today not Republicans of the past

    Updated Aug 9, 2022

    I am proud to have served as a Republican all my life. I have been the vice-chairman of the Montana State Republican Party. I served two terms as a Republican county commissioner here in Yellowstone County. I worked 10 plus years for Republican Sen. Conrad Burns as his state director. I was appointed Montana U.S. Marshal by a Republican president. I also forgot to mention a ran as a Republican for the U.S. Congress, but I came up short. I remember being so proud of this country and now I fear for our grandkid’s future. T...

  • Looking out my Backdoor: The horse sat on my chest

    Sondra Ashton|Updated Aug 4, 2022

    Let’s start with the back story. Way Back. Last year, because of the pandemic, I took my travel money and gutted my bodega which was a mishmash of shelves cobbled together from scrap wood. Shoved in rather randomly were what I call man tools and that which I didn’t want stored in the house. It was a mess, but needs must. Once my bodega transformed into my guest bedroom, I kept imagining how nice it would be to have a bathroom alongside my bedroom. In back and along the out...

  • View from the North 40: Time is now meaningless

    Pam Burke|Updated Aug 4, 2022

    What were you doing June 29, 2022? Whatever is was, you did less of it than you think you did because that day was not a full 24 hours. That’s right, we were all bilked out of our precious time together by 1.59 milliseconds. The website Timanddate.com which is a go-to site for things atomic clock-related said that this was the shortest day recorded since the atomic clock got fired up in the 1960s. The atomic clock tracks actual length of days through the modern magic of s...

  • Letter to the Editor - Look for the right solution to deer 'problem'

    Updated Aug 2, 2022

    Editor, I would like to address the city officials about the deer “problem” solutions you have suggested. I quote “problem” because it is not a problem for me personally. I enjoy seeing nature and I enjoy sharing my space with them. I strongly feel this is not just a planet for humans. If the deer bother me, I should move to the big city. I am not interested in doing that. I am not sure what kind of problems others are having with them, but if they are in areas that they “really need” to stay out of then I am sure there...

  • Hansen will be missed

    Updated Aug 2, 2022

    It was a sad day in early July when we laid my District 14 predecessor, Kris Hansen, to rest. Kris was a mentor who was not afraid to let, not only myself know her thoughts, but anyone willing to listen. Kris lived a lot of life in her 52 years, which was very evident at the funeral where friends told quips of her life. She was a very proud veteran and active Christian; her steadfast wisdom will be missed. July has been very hot and dry for the most part. Having driven around my district from west to east and north to south,...

  • Campaigns should be about earning votes

    Updated Aug 2, 2022

    I’m not a millionaire and neither are 95% of Montanans. My campaign isn’t funded by millionaires, but instead, our contributions have come from hardworking Montanans who are putting their money on the line to create real change in our state. I’m proud to say the majority of our donations are small dollar donations. For example, between July 20th and July 26th, 2022, our average individual donation was $64.19. I believe in campaign finance reform and believe most Montanans and most Americans do also. I believe most people are,...

  • View from the North 40: It's a chive-seasoned insight

    Pam Burke|Updated Jul 28, 2022

    I don’t know about you, but I never can tell when I’m going to have a revelation. Like last weekend, I went with a friend to a quiet gem of a lake in central Montana and — boom — there it was a profound moment. I know what you’re thinking, water tends to inspire such things, and this water was clear, warm, glass smooth in a mountain setting, blah, blah, blah. It couldn’t have been more picturesque, but, no. I didn’t even touch the water. I was in a long-sleeved shirt, jeans...

  • Looking out my backdoor: Tip-toeing through tulips metaphorical

    Sondra Ashton|Updated Jul 28, 2022

    Rain fell all night long. The ground was soggy, spongy. Flowers hung their heads from weight of water. The morning sky looked like moldy cottage cheese. Around noon, the sun broke through with promise. Every morning I take a small basket out to my mango tree and fill it with what wants to be picked. Today I put another quart of mango pieces in my wee fridge-freezer. It is jam-packed, literally, since I made two batches of freezer jam and the remainder of the space is...

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