Wednesday, August 27
PHS, T-Falls fail AYP tests
Most Sanders County schools received a passing grade from the No Child Left Behind school results which were released last Friday. According to the Montana Office of Public Instruction Web site, out of 17 schools tested, only four failed to meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) scores for the 2007-2008 school year.
Alberton discusses Legacy Project
Alberton and Mineral County residents met at the Alberton Community Center Thursday night with a representative from the Montana Legacy Project to discuss the effects the conservation effort may have on Mineral County.
Small lady hawks team look to capitalize on agility
The Thompson Falls ladies’ volleyball team isn’t going to let a short roster stop them from having another great season.
Superior 'cats get ready for rumbling
The Superior Bobcats Football Team is gearing up for another strong season and their head coach can hardly stop saying positive things about them.
St. Regis Tigers aim for success
The St. Regis Lady Tigers have spent the past week sharpening their claws and getting ready for the coming season.
Ronan Dealership donates two cars to Hot Springs police department
The Hot Springs Police Department acquired two police cars Aug. 11, through a donation by Ronan Dodge in Ronan. When asked how he got the cars, Hot Springs Fire Chief and Mayor laughed.
Plains Trotters get ready for season
Walking into the Plains gymnasium it’s a scene of movement and noise, a percussion of volleyballs slap against clenched palms, tennis shoes squeak against the floor and intermittent shouts are heard reverberating off the walls. This is the home of the Plains Trotter Volleyball Team and they’re prepping themselves for their first game and season opener in Mission on Sept. 6.
Alberton starts four-day week
Alberton schools may have been the first Mineral County Schools to get started this year with classes beginning Monday morning, but they will be taking Friday off this week, and every week for the whole year.
Warrants still out in Alberton assault case
Two Alberton men with warrants out for their arrest were still at large Monday in an Alberton assault case.
Looking for a few good melons
If watermelon-eating contests were a measure of human achievement, Dixon’s Melon Days last Saturday might be considered a slice of pure nirvana.
Horse sculptures donated to Plains resident
Don Grazier has been sculpting for 22 years. At the age of 87, he said he’s not quite done yet.
School is in
For Kendra Brown, it was a day of firsts: after all, it was first day of kindergarten. But it was another first that occupied her mind on Monday morning.
Rebuilding a life from ashes
eff Tautges does not like to linger in what is left of his charred second-story St. Regis apartment.
Heat seek to build on last season's successes
The Hot Springs volleyball team is looking to continue with the success that they accomplished last year. Last year the team won the district tournament, got second in divisionals and went on to state for the first time ever.
Sanders County Fair draws 3,000 entries
The 97th Annual Sanders County Fair began on Monday after months of preparation.
Wednesday, August 20
Friends face off over the ballot box
Despite a national political climate overrun by negative campaign ads and attack politics, two local candidates for Montana’s House District 14 cannot seem to find a negative word to say about one another.
Sheriff $300,000 over budget
Nick Ianniello
Savage Horsemen hit the field
The Plains/Hot Springs Savage Horsemen football team started practice Monday evening and head coach Seth Pettit is excited for the season to start.
First court appearance for men accused of assault
Nick Ianniello
Horsemen help Chippy Creek
Jason Shueh
Plains school board refutes sports rumors
The Plains School Board met last Saturday to discuss how the new funding policy for sports would be created and to dismiss rumors about the district charging players $250 for football.
Needless waste of childrens' lives
Kellogg and the Silver Valley has something in common with Plains.
Man injured in motorcycle crash
A motorcyclist was severely injured last Friday when he skidded off the road heading southbound on Highway 28 four miles from Plains.
Plains veteran self-publishes war memoirs
Bob Williamson had never seen the sea before he enlisted in the Navy on June 20, 1942. He was seventeen and living in Eldora, Iowa. Population 3,500.
Luau celebrates life of a resident
Family, friends and residents at the Mineral County Hospital in Superior gathered on the front lawn of the building Thursday to enjoy the weather and participate in a luau and memorialize the loss of a dear friend. Ruth Dunn Fitzhugh, a hospital resident, passed away on May 18.
Thanks for saving my life
My name is Jeff Tautges. I am the man who was trapped in the burning apartment in St. Regis a few weeks ago. I don’t know all the details of my rescue by the St. Regis fire department. But some information is coming into me now. I could explain the horrors and utter terror of being on fire and believing I was going to die right there and then. But what is more important is my rescue. I have only learned within the last few days that it was Jerry and Gary Dockter who caught me as I dove out of the second story window apparently on fire. Although I have not yet made personal contact, I want to take this opportunity to profoundly thank Jerry and Gary for getting me out of that inferno which came within just a minute or so of taking my life. I am in the process of getting resettled. But I will find Jerry and Gary soon to thank them in person. Thank you all in the St. Regis fire department.
Car wash honors dreams of shooting victim
It had always been 12-year-old Michael Tasakos’ dream to either donate money to a children’s hospital or to open his own children’s hospital. Sadly, that dream came to end Aug. 9, when Tasakos and his mother, 37-year-old Alexia Laslo, were shot by Laslo’s boyfriend, Israel Keyes, 39. Keyes then took his own life.
Physical therapist moves to Plains
Whether it's the rising swell of the mountains, the flow of branching rivers or the simple amities of rural living, Montana has always had a strong gravitational pull for the Clark Fork Valley Hospital's newest physical therapist, Ursula “Shana” Dieterle.
Wednesday, August 13
Over the edge and 30 feet down
There are a lot of questions that go through your mind when you are paddling the last three feet toward the edge of a 30-foot waterfall in an 8-foot, 6-inch-long kayak.
Letters
Fraud, not assault
Huckleberries draw a crowd
Liz Cintrino, the 29th Annual Huckleberry Festival chair, called the event a huge success.
Fighting for life
ain crashed, lightening flashed and thunder boomed, but not even the loudest of thunderstorms could extinguish the flame of hope in the heart of Superior's Relay for Life Teams Friday night.
Sexual assault trial ends with hung jury
After nearly five days of testimony and six hours of deliberation, the jury could not return a verdict in the trial of a Plains man accused of sexually assaulting an underage, physically disabled girl.
Piranhas team swims powered by pie
Don't underestimate the power of pie. It's a three-letter word that can have an appetite for grabbing attention. Just ask the Plains Piranhas Swim Team that held their Homemade Pie and Dessert Social last Thursday at the Plains Pool.
Loran Clyde White
Please Come & Celebrate the life of Loran "Clyde" White who passed away on June 25, 2008 on Saturday, August 16 at 2 p.m. in the 4-H Building.
19 wildfires burn county
About 28 separate fires raged this past weekend in Sanders and Mineral Counties.
T-Falls coach writes first Montana cross country book
Cross-country running has never been known as one of the most publicized high school sports, but one Thompson Falls High School cross-country coach hopes to change that image by publishing his own book about crosscountry running in Montana.
Three dead in Plains double murder-suicide
Police found three people dead Saturday after a reported double murder-suicide just west of the Wild Horse Plains Golf Course in Plains.
Liquor & flower shop grand opening
Balloons hung outside, women received free roses and complimentary refreshments covered two tables last Friday as the Garden Gift and Floral/Plains Liquor Store celebrated it's grand opening.
Police investigating hit-and-run injury
A party-goer woke up early Aug. 4 to an unpleasant surprise - a broken leg, a broken ankle and numerous lacerations.
Back meets Vivaldi in Paradise
The silence stretched like a taut violin string as more than 150 people sat waiting for sundown.
Alberton mayor loses grandchildren to alleged drunk driver
The second victim of a drunk-driving accident in Missoula last Monday passed away at a hospital in Seattle Tuesday morning.
Superior girl aims for success
A local 4H Club Member got the opportunity to make Montana proud and go to a national air rifle competition and compete with youngsters from all of the United States last month.
Charles James Antos, Sr.
Charles James Antos, Sr. age 78 of DeBorgia, passed away on February 16, 2008 in Missoula. He was born in Chicago on October 22, 1930 to Olga Antos and was married on June 20, 1959 to June. He loved hunting, fishing and sports but most of all family. He is survived by his wife June, son Thomas and Linda Otzwirk, daughter Deb and Jim Tatowski, son Mike and Lori Antos, daughter Lynn and Dennis Startin, son Chuck and June Antos and many, many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by two daughters and one son. There will be a Celebration of Life in his honor on August 16, 2008 in Haugan on Savenak Road at 2 p.m. followed by a pot luck pig roast.
Huckleberry girls shine at Miss Huckleberry pageant
Not every 14-year-old can win a pageant, much less organize one.
Friday, August 8
Father/daughter duo tie up competition
The team roping event at the Mineral County Fair Thursday saw a lot of tough competition but was dominated by a father-daughter team that placed in both heats and wowed the crowd with their precision.
Bennett gets 15 years for vehicular homicide
Almost one year after an accident which left one Thompson Falls woman dead, John Thomas Bennett, 20, of Thompson Falls was sentenced to 15 years with 10 suspended in Montana Department of Corrections custody for vehicular homicide while under the influence of alcohol.
Beulahmae Marchbanks
July 13, 1917 - July 30, 2008
The power of the presidential purse
Dan’s Column
Great day for a rough ride
Rodeo fans from Mineral County and beyond packed into the Mineral County Fairgrounds Saturday and Sunday for an evening of roping, riding and wrestling at the annual Mineral County Fair Rodeo.
Hope in the darkness
Under the glow of the Plains High School field lights, a crowd of 250 people sat looking upward late last Saturday night. Unlike most large gatherings, this was a scene without chatter and without fidgeting. Everyone was listening.
Reader disgusted by column
When I heard that we would have a new editor at the Valley Press, I was so interested that I made a point of reading the articles she wrote. When I went into the Valley Press to talk with Ms. McBride about an article that she wrote, she said, “She had the right to her opinion,” and if I would like to comment about the article that I could write a letter to the editor. So…Here is my opinion!
Trial stars for man accused of sexually assualting disabled juvenile
A Plains man went to trial on Monday for allegedly sexually assaulting a physically disabled girl.
New tricks for dog owners to protect pets
We’ve all heard of the “dog days of summer,” the hottest days during the summer months. Although the saying would have you believe that dogs enjoy being out in the heat, take it from me as the owner of a new puppy, that it is not the case.
Room with a view
Solitude.
Unwritten words and untold stories
Nobody ever told me that Ernie Pyle was a poet.
75 rafters tackle the Clark Fork River at reunion
Last Sunday, the Clark Fork River saw a surge of activity as about 75 family members from the Ward family reunion piled into eight whitewater rafts and floated from the Sander’s County Fairgrounds in Plains to the “Mouth,” an inlet about 10 miles toward Thompson Falls from Plains.
Man rescued from burning house
When he got a call from dispatch to respond to a man trapped in a burning building in St. Regis, all St. Regis Volunteer Fire Chief Jerry Dockter was thinking about was the training he and his team had received two weeks earlier.
Mental health clinic offers family support programs
Struggling families in Sanders County now have another tool to help them during stressful times and crisis, Western Montana Mental Health has begun a new family support program to aid families in need.
4-H hosts annual livestock auction
Seven Mineral County 4-H Members brought their livestock to the Mineral County Fair Saturday for the club’s annual livestock auction. Each one had worked hard to raise their animal.
WIC offers nutritional support to mothers in need
Women and infants in Sanders County, who are within a certain income range, have a place to go for help with nutrition education in the Sanders County Women, Infants and Children Program (WIC).
Piranhas place three at state swimming contest
The Plains Piranhas competed at the State Swim Meet in Fort Benton this past weekend and they had quite a showing.
Superfund site plans move forward
Representatives from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, Environmental Protection Agency and the Forest Service met with the Mineral County Commissioners again Tuesday to discuss listing the town of Superior, some surrounding land and the Flat Creek Mine Site as a Superfund site.
