Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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The Water Committee of the Glasgow City Council has determined that water rates are not sufficient to meet costs and fund the reserve account for expensive equipment replacements that will soon be needed. The last increase in water rates was in 1999. John Weikel of Montana Rural Water has advised the committee that without a raise, the city will not qualify for future grants for improvements. To be in line with other cities and meet funding needs, the city should increase the base rate by $10. This could be done in two stages. The current base...
In a unanimous decision last week, the Montana Supreme Court overturned a District Court ruling that prevented the movement of Yellowstone bison from the Fort Peck Reservation. This clears the way for about half of the bison to be taken to the Fort Belknap Reservation, which was the original plan when 61 bison were brought north last spring after five years’ quarantine and testing for brucellosis. In his opinion, Chief Justice Mike McGrath clarified one of the chief objections behind the lawsuit that sought to restrict the placement of the b...
Sleek drawings and artful computer presentations dazzled the Glasgow School Board on Tuesday as they interviewed three design teams for the $16.8 million school construction project. Each multidisciplinary team had an hour and a half to impress the board with their creativity and competence. The Glasgow project is big, complicated and tightly scheduled. The design teams recognized the opportunity it represents to create a lasting legacy here – one called it a “once-in-a-generation cha...
A committee met at the courthouse on June 20 to vote on revisions to the Valley County Resource Use Plan. Envisioned in 1973 as something necessary for the “health, safety and welfare of the county,” the first interim plan was written in 1991 and petitioned into existence, according to Sierra Stoneberg-Holt, a committee member. The 2003 plan was first revised in 2006, and interested people have been trying to get a new revision since 2010. “A resource use plan is important under FLPMA (the Federal Land Policy and Management Act governing the m...
A couple of dry days prevented flash flooding in Valley County Monday night, even though Glasgow received .83 inches of rain. The National Weather Service in Glasgow warned of thunderstorms and heavy rain for most of northeast Montana on Monday afternoon and flash flood warnings were issued Monday night. The Zortman Mine did get dumped on – 1.72 inches fell there. The thunder was loud and the lightning was bright in Glasgow, but the creeks did not rise. The Milk River at Glasgow is down more than 10 feet from its highest stage of 27.8 feet o...
A Glasgow police officer has been awarded the Montana Medal of Valor for his actions that saved the life of a law enforcement dispatcher who was trapped in a burning truck. The medal was presented to Tyler Edwards by Montana Attorney General Tim Fox at the annual meeting of the Montana Association of Chiefs of Police (MACOP) in Billings on May 16. Kim Tribby was on U.S. 2 East, just past Highway 24, driving home to Nashua from her night shift at dispatch on April 23, 2012, when her pickup was...
A Canadian oil exploration company has withdrawn the offer it made to lease minerals on land belonging to Valley County, citing the difficulty of conducting business under restrictions intended to protect the habitat of the threatened sage grouse. In an email to the Valley County commissioners sent on Tuesday, Don Lee, an attorney for Montex Oil Co., said, “Unfortunately because of the sage grouse habitat issues involving federal lands, it will be extremely difficult to conduct exploratory o...
After two weeks above flood stage, the Milk River at Glasgow dropped below the 25-foot flood stage on Tuesday and is expected to fall quickly, to around 16 feet on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service office in Glasgow. The river crested at 27.8 feet on June 11. Tampico saw moderate flooding above 24 feet for several days, cresting at 24.7 feet, but it fell below the flood stage on June 13 and early on Wednesday it was at 16.9 feet. Nashua reached 18.8 feet but never cracked the 20-foot flood stage. It is dropping too, to 16.3...
Everybody at Nemont Manor enjoyed the comfortable wooden bench at the end of the sidewalk, but it was getting weathered. People were afraid it would fall apart, and that was a shame, since it was a memorial to a resident, Martha Luck. Gordon Olson, a Nemont Manor resident since 2007, decided to rescue the bench. Olson disassembled the wooden slats from the iron sides. The Manor’s maintenance man, Jeff Roberton, cut oak for the new slats, which Olson sanded, stained and mounted back onto the i...
Harry Ratzky is protesting the decision to raise rates for rides on the Valley County Transit buses. He told the Valley County commissioners on Tuesday that he believes the increase is in violation of the Montana Civil Rights Act and probably the federal Civil Rights Act, because he has protected status as a senior and a person with a low income. The rate increase, announced May 29 in The Courier, is the first since 1997 and is to go into effect July 1. All rides in Glasgow will cost $1. The fare for seniors and children is currently 75 cents....
The Glasgow School Board hired two teachers at the regular meeting on June 12. Lily Himsl and Kevin Alt will teach fifth grade, replacing J Billingsley, who has resigned to move to another school district. A list of winter head coaches and fall and winter assistant coaches submitted by Willie Thibault was hired, but not named individually. The public’s interest in the board’s practice on hiring coaches was noted. The hiring procedure will be on next month’s agenda. Trustee Dave Irving reported a good negotiated settlement with the distr...
The Glasgow City Council discussed contracts with its unionized employees, police department and city attorney at the regular meeting on Monday. The counter offer from the union was a $.50 raise and an increase in health insurance for two years, but the council voted to offer a one-year contract. They voted to do the same thing with the counter offer from the police department, make the same offer as last time. The Council agreed to renew a revised six-month contract with City Attorney Dave Gorton for criminal cases only, with an added...
Tanja Fransen at the Glasgow office of the National Weather Service is sending out e-blasts again, as she did during the record flooding of 2011. The latest, sent on Tuesday at noon, begins with a cheery “Hello Milk River Flood Group.” Fransen said the Milk River had crested at Saco and was cresting at Tampico, having topped out at 24.7 feet. Water is over the North Tampico Road and it is closed. At Glasgow, things were steadying around 27.8 feet, in the minor flood stage. According to Fransen,...
Glasgow’s high school and middle school music teacher, Dr. Brad Persinger, has been honored as the VFW Montana Teacher of the Year. The award was publicly presented by the VFW’s Art Widhalm at this year’s Memorial Day ceremony. “Brad epitomizes the definition of citizenship,” then-GHS Principal Marj Markle said in her letter of nomination. “No matter what day Veterans Day or Memorial Day fall, Brad is there to volunteer his time and wonderful music ability at their functions.” After Persing...
By Samar Fay Courier Editor Whether the Yellowstone bison now living on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation are classified as livestock or wildlife was the subject of debate at the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 6 Citizens Advisory Council meeting Tuesday at the Fort Peck Fish Hatchery. “The designation of bison will be a contentious and hard-fought issue for many years to come,” said Steve Dalbey, the acting FWP Region 6 supervisor. The memorandum of understanding between FWP and the Fort Peck tribes does not make clear the present or fut...
The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) is seeking comments on a proposal to realign and reconstruct about 1.8 miles of Highway 117, west of Nashua. The project begins at the north end of the Milk River Bridge and proposes reconstructing Hwy. 117 north for 1.8 miles, intersecting with U.S. 2. The project would create a second access to U.S. 2 for the community of Nashua through construction of a “grade separated crossing” of the BNSF railroad. Community meetings were held last year in Nashua for a solution to the problem of trains blo...
The Milk River at Glasgow jumped ahead of predictions and rose to 25.6 feet late Tuesday night. Flood stage is 25 feet, so there is minor flooding in low-lying areas. The latest forecast from the National Weather Service office in Glasgow (1:30 a.m. on Wednesday) is that the river will hold near 26 feet from Wednesday through Friday, and be at 27.5 feet early on Sunday. The situation changed quickly from the middle of the afternoon on Tuesday, when the river was at 23.15 feet and a height of 27...
Because of repeated vandalism at its shooting range on private land south of Saco, the Saco Shootist Society has closed the range to the public. “This has been going on for several years,” said Richard Barnard, vice president of the Saco Shootist Society, “but this last round is the worst.” Barnard said the first damage occurred a couple of years ago. An empty old trailer house on the range was shot up. Now some small metal targets have been damaged and a large metal target has been shot to pieces. This target was made of old railroad tie pla...
A virus has infected several computers in this area, locked them up and demanded money to release them. Dale Bender of Glasgow was a victim recently, and said, “It’s really sick.” Bender was watching an evangelist on the computer when suddenly the screen showed a picture of a young girl. Then it showed Bender on his own screen, using the webcam mounted on his computer. The hijacked computer screen accused him of watching porn, claimed the FBI locked up the computer and demanded $300 to unlock it. Bender said he knows of at least three people in...
No bids to repair the roof of Glasgow’s south side fire hall were received by the deadline last week. Director of Public Works Bob Kompel said three contractors picked up bid packets. He was following up with two of them to ask why they chose not to bid the project. He recommended re-advertising the project with an increased length of time to complete the project to make it more desirable, saying the problem could be “nothing more than a scheduling conflict with only two potential bidders.” At Monday’s Glasgow City Council meeting, Kompel said...
Escorted by kilt-clad junior honor students, they walked in two by two, the Glasgow High School graduating class of 2013, the white-robed girls carrying red flowers, the boys in red wearing white boutonnieres. As Andy Gardner, the class representative, told them in his Senior Address, their class of 47 graduates is the smallest class since 1930, and the smallest from this school building. Seventeen of them started kindergarten together. Seniors are graduating all over the country but today, he...
If you were in it, like Glasgow was Saturday evening, the hail storm was bad. But only some areas were hit while most others escaped. Glasgow was subjected to a heavy downpour that turned into pea-size and larger hail after 7 p.m. It was a record rain for the date, 1.53 inches, and it didn’t take long to create flash flooding. Although not as bad as the storm of 2007, tender plants were destroyed and some tree leaves were stripped and washed into storm drains, causing jams. The underpass was c...
Valley County residents joined many others across America in a ceremony of remembrance on Monday, Memorial Day. They met in the Civic Center to honor those in the military who have died in the service of their country. Connie Schultz, who retired from the Army Nurse Corps as a lieutenant colonel, was the keynote speaker. “Memorial Day is not just about picnics,” she said. Schultz talked about the many ways to remember the fallen, now numbering one million men and women since the beginning of...
City employees discovered a mess at the Glasgow city pool last week. The Recreation Department secretary called police at about 6 a.m. on Tuesday, May 21, saying an employee just told her the pool had been “destroyed.” Officers found every light fixture in the building broken, 21 of them. In the lifeguard lounge, everything on the shelves had been dumped off. Perhaps the worst was the many trophies won by the Kiwanis Swim Team over the years, thrown to the floor. Many were broken. The plu...
