Trotters head to State Tournament

PLAINS – With only one spot remaining in the Western B-C Divisional Softball Tournament, the Plains-Hot Springs Trotters and Thompson Falls Lady Hawks faced off in a winner take all play-in game at Plains High School last Tuesday.

Participants hack and blast their way through Plains trap and golf clubs

Forest Service employees snowed in to desk jobs

SUPERIOR – As hard winter weather and blizzard-like conditions hit the area last week, the Forest Service was forced to delay some of their plans. Tawnya Brummett, district ranger for the Superior Ranger District, said a number of small projects are underway. There have already been a few survey crews out investigating places for future projects. While most of these were in lower elevations, the higher than average snowfalls have caused a few delays in the schedule this year. Most of the delays have not been too serious. There are a number of areas in higher elevations where the Forest Service expected delays to occur. In recent years, they have been able to work on some projects in lower elevations all through the winter. This year has been different for the crews as snow has built up in lower elevations. “[The winter weather] impacted us slightly, I would say, just in some of our low elevation projects,” Brummett said. While a number of areas are buried under feet of snow, the Forest Service has had plenty more fieldwork to do in the winter months. With how many winter recreation opportunities there are in the area, lots of work goes into making sure everything is safe. To this end, one thing the Forest Service does is keep an eye on avalanche risks in the area. Each week, rangers go out to look at the avalanche dangers to assess the risks in an area. The Superior Ranger District coordinates their efforts with the Missoula area and ranger districts in the Idaho panhandle to keep an accurate idea of the area’s condition. According to Brummett, the area around the Idaho state line has had especially high avalanche danger the last few weeks. While there have not been any avalanche fatalities in Mineral County, she said there have been a few around other parts of western Montana. Brummett said the Forest Service crews are looking forward to the warmer weather. Once the weather clears and the ground thaws they will be able to start work on more field projects. Until the weather improves the Forest Service employees are busy with office work, such as requesting grants to fund many of their activities. Brummett described this as possibly the least favorite part of the job for many of the employees at the Superior Ranger Station. She said most of them would rather be out in the field working on projects than stuck behind a desk. “There’s always a lot to do,” Brummett said. “But my folks would definitely rather be out in the woods doing it.” The Forest Service has also begun planning their controlled burns for the spring and summer. Brummett said it was also too early to say how the fire season this year would be effected by the snowpack. She said the precipitation in the area was looking good and the moisture levels were healthy. However, a particularly warm period could dry things out quickly and increase the fire risks. The Forest Service has begun hiring for their temporary summer jobs. The most common jobs available are for firefighters and fire support crews. There are also positions available on trail and timber maintenance crews as well as on the Mineral County Resource Advisory Committee. Brummett said she wanted to get the positions filled early so everyone can be ready to go once the season starts.

Horsemen rise to occasion

Eighth grader hits the varsity court early

ALBERTON – The varsity team is the big leagues, where the big games are played and athletes get their last chance at victory in high school sports. For 13-year-old Creighton Callison, it is the starting point of his high school athletic career. Callison is an eighth grader in the Alberton Public School’s junior high program. He joined the junior high basketball team and was brought up to the varsity team with kids as much as four to five years older than him. This was done to expand the team. This season the Panthers did not have enough kids join to give them a healthy team. While there were enough players to fill the varsity team they had no replacements. Any injuries or exhaustion would have devastated their ability to play. The school also wanted to field a junior varsity team. This is where the eighth graders come in. Alberton petitioned the Montana High School Association for a waiver to bring eighth graders onto the varsity team. The exception was allowed and the players were brought up. Callison and fellow eighth grader Kolton Hensleigh were selected to join the varsity basketball team. Fresh from the junior high season the two almost immediately began practice with their new team. “They were originally going to bring in all the eighth graders,” Callison said. “But a couple of them lived out of the district so they couldn’t and it was only me and [Hensleigh] that could.” The varsity team had recruited from the middle school before. As a result the junior high team was not too surprised when two of their members were promoted. What surprised them more about Callison’s selection was how he had beaten out four freshmen who were also under consideration for the spot. The experience was a challenge for the eighth graders as they played against athletes who were older, bigger and often had years more experience. It was a trial by fire and they had to adapt quickly to the new pace of the game. The year was fun for Callison. There was little concern about the size or speed differences he faced. The hardest part of the experience was getting used to the faster pace of the varsity games. Middle school games are half as long and have a slower pace of play. While Callison took to the new pace quickly in practice, it was three or four games before he got used to how varsity worked and was over the nerves. “It took [awhile] to kind of get used to the rhythm and stuff but with practices I was confident I was fine,” Callison said. Despite the initial reservations, Callison had a good season this year and brought in a number of points throughout the season. This was a surprise for him at the time because he did not think he would have been able to score against some of the seniors the team faced. The difficulties have not changed his feelings for the sport. Callison plans to try out for the basketball team when he enters high school as a freshman next year. He looks at this as a learning experience to prepare himself for what is to come as he enters his high school athletics career. “The year was mainly just about trying to learn what it’s like to play, so next year I’ll be ready for it,” Callison said.

4-H shooters prepare for national competitions

Mackenzie “Spud” Crabb, Aidan Patko and Luke Boyce stood together with their eyes quietly focused through the scopes on their air rifles. The three members of the Mineral County 4-H Shooting Sports team practiced together Saturday afternoon in the 4-H building in Superior. The boys stayed so silent they could hear a pin drop or more accurately a pellet hit a paper target.

Library offers hands on percussion experience

PLAINS – Afro-Caribbean percussion instruments hit the library on Tuesday as eager participants waited to get their hands on different instruments to learn more about each one.

CSKT water compact bill becomes law

U.S. Senators Steve Daines and Jon Tester celebrated their bipartisan bill, the “Montana Water Rights Protection Act” becoming law...

Paradise sewer opponents seek ouster of board members

Paradise resident Cody Lampman has organized and submitted paperwork to Sanders County elections...

Noxon-Thompson Falls baseball kicks off debut season

Cold, rainy weather with doses of snow between the raindrops.

Superior students check in from Europe

Superior High School students who have been touring Europe were expected to return Tuesday. The following trip report was submitted by teacher Jeff Schultz last week.

Lady Hawks stay undefeated in conference action

Part of competing for a championship, coaches will tell you, is you need to win the games you are expected to win.

Trotters topple Troy on the road

If it sounded like the echo of far off pounding hooves that seems to be getting louder, it is likely caused in part by the rapidly improving Plains High School volleyball team.

Plains Boy Scouts reach for sky

A group of Plains and Paradise boys were reaching for new heights last week.

Quilts of Valor

Once again local veterans were presented with a gift for their years of service. The Joint Operations of Mariposa presented a small number of men and women with handmade quilts as part of the Quilts of Valor project.

Shooting victim ID'd as Plains native

MILES CITY — The 21-year-old woman who was shot to death Jan. 25 in Custer County has been identified as Shania Raymond, a native of Plains who later moved to Idaho.

Pilgeram Ranch marks 100 years

William Pilgeram, along with his two brothers, migrated from Germany nearly 100 years ago. Now, his descendants are celebrating the longevity of the Pilgeram Ranch near Plains.

Cowboys come to Thompson Falls Rex Theater

THOMPSON FALLS – Traditional country music will be coming to Thompson Falls this week as the High Country Cowboys perform at the Rex Theater.

TFalls boys off and running in 2015

SUPERIOR – The Thompson Falls Bluehawks went on the road to battle the Superior Bobcats last Saturday.

County teams compete in first meet

SUPERIOR - All three Mineral County teams came together for the first meet of the season in Superior last week with Bobcats, Tigers and Panthers all vying for cross-county bragging rights.