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Valley Press - Mineral Independent
Testa celebrates long career with Mineral Community Hospital
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Baby Boomer women on average hold 12.1 jobs in their lifetime, while men hold 12.5 jobs. According to Zippia, a national job search engine, the average American worker has 12 jobs throughout a lifetime. Their stats are close, so, working with those numbers, what happens when you place Jan Testa into their equations? Testa retired from Mineral Community Hospital last Friday after 33 years and three months. “It’s here,” she said. “It’s hard to believe it, but it’s here.”Testa has been the Medical Supply Procurement Queen delivering boxes, bags and bottles up and down...
Road work begins on highways 200 and 135
Montana 135 between St. Regis and Paradise is a 21.5-mile-long route known as the cut-off road. From 1960 to 1978, it was a connection between U.S. 10 and US 10A and later Montana 200. There was a toll ferry to cross the Clark Fork River close to midway, known today as Ferry’s Landing picnic area. From there, the road and railroad run along opposite banks of the river. The Montana Department of Transportation along with construction partner Riverside Contracting, Inc., will be resurfacing portions of Montana 135 and Montana 200 beginning the week of July 8, weather and other factors permitting. Construction...
Practice makes perfect for Sanders County 4-Hers
Tuesday night was an evening for members of local 4-H groups to perfect their showmanship for the upcoming goat and sheep competition during this year’s Sanders County Fair.Sanders County 4-H project leaders Juli Thurston and Raelyn Cox were on hand to teach the showmanship class. This is the first year goats were included in the showmanship class. Two Sanders County 4-H clubs, South Side Sparks and Thompson Falls Mountaineers, had members attending the training. Most of this year’s kids were first timers showing their animals. The Silva family have three entries with all of them showing off sheep for the first...
Legals for July, 3 2024
INVITATION TO BID Bids will be received by the Town of Superior via QuestCDN until 12:00 PM, local time, on Monday, July, 15, 2024, for construction of the Superior Wastewater System Improvements – 2024 project. All Bids will be opened and read aloud in the first-floor conference room at Robert Peccia & Associates, 3147 Saddle Drive, Helena, MT 59601. Interested parties may request to participate via conference call and will be provided with a phone number and passcode prior to the bid opening. BASE BID: LAGOONS AND AERATION IMPROVEMENTS 1. Remove and dispose of approximately 200 dry tons of existing sludge...
Recipe for success: Hot Springs hires new basketball coach
Ingredients and the blend. Those, according to new Hot Springs High School boys basketball coach Mike Benson, are the keys to success. And while that may be true in things like chemistry and baking, it is also a fixture of Benson’s approach to basketball and creating a team environment. Benson, who was named boys coach this Spring following two disappointing seasons , is eager to get to work. Benson had previously been an assistant coach for the Savage Heat. This year, AD Brady Ovitt will be Benson’s assistant. “We do have a solid group of guys coming back,” Benson said. “My job will be...
Plains Library earns state recognition
For their hard work and dedication, Plains Public Library, staff, and volunteers received the Excellent Library Service Award (ELSA) by the Montana State Library Commission. The award recognizes a library’s commitment to excellence programs, services, partnerships and aligning programing with community needs. It is given to 25 libraries in the state each year that meet many requirements. Each library must apply to the Montana State Library Commission for consideration for the award. Plains Library Director Nikki Ericksen said she was notified at the end of May about being chosen for the award. The director since 2021, Ericksen was instrumental in starting...
Superior sandwich shop settles into new location
Longtime Superior residents recall KC Sullivan Management/Tax Preparation, The Strand Theater, The Rocking Rodeo Bar & Grille, and Sully’s on the 100 block of River Street. “Ruby Burgers at Sully’s were the best ever and cost 45 cents when I was in high school. Add a nickel for a coke and you had lunch,” remembered Diane Magone. Now, the location is home to Riverside Soup & Sandz, which began about a year ago in the old Superior School. “The move has been as seamless as it could be so now, we’re getting used to the new equipment and traffic flow,” Said Bailey Moree...
COLUMN: Olympic marketing
Speaking of France...We weren’t? Is anyone, especially when it comes to the 2024 Summer Olympic games? Is it just me or have I been watching too many home building shows that are not sponsored by the Olympic games? If this was the Super Bowl rapidly approaching, would we not be ingulfed in Super Bowl ads, some of which are about Super Bowl ads? Heck, I saw more hype about the NBA Finals than I have about the Paris Olympics and neither team was based anywhere near Montana. That new deodorant bar that is supposed to last 72 hours has gotten more airtime than...
St. Regis ignites for Independence Day celebrations
There’s nothing quite like celebrating the Fourth of July in a homegrown, small town, with streets lined with Old Glory, ice cream smiles, fireworks and U.S. pride. If you’re looking for some Yankee Doodle Dandy fun, head on down to St. Regis for Independence Day.First is the annual pancake breakfast hosted by New Day Fellowship at the St. Regis Community Center. This flapjack serving tradition first started with the Methodist Church and the torch was then passed to the congregation of New Day Fellowship. From 8 to 10 a.m. come and fuel up for all the patriotic festivities that will...
Locals compete for Junior Princess
“I don’t know how many years I’ve been doing this (judging), but this might have been the most difficult year to choose the Junior Princess. It almost came down to a coin toss,” said Shawn Heyer with the Superior LIONS Rodeo Committee. The competition to become the Junior Princess with the other royalty in the Go for the Gold Rodeo was held at the Felsted’s Riding Arena at the I-90 Lozeau/Quartz exit last week. “Mary Grace works with these kids in the 4H Horsemanship program so she knows them already,” Heyer said. Mary Grace Donally has been a judge for four...
Is anybody out there? Radio operators use field day to test equipment
Ham radio operators from around Western Montana spent last weekend practicing their trade during the 2024 American Radio Relay League Field Day in Thompson Falls Power Park. Radio equipment for the weekend exercise was supplied by members of the Clark Fork Valley Amateur Radio Club. The field day, held during the fourth full weekend in June, is the most popular amateur radio event in the U.S. and Canada. First envisioned in the 1930s as an event to evaluate the field preparedness and emergency communications skills of early amateur radio communities. Field Day has evolved into the largest on-the-air operation of the...
Rediscovering home: Superior's pool
The Mineral County Pool in the Park recently took a jump off the “high dive.” Everyone who first braved a leap off the approximately 10-foot-high diving board at the old pool in Superior before it was taken down, knows what a celebrated milestone it was. MCPIP has left the umbrella of the Mineral Community Foundation and created its own non-profit. The five-year effort to bring back the pool reached a key milestone: Preparing to hire an architectural/engineering firm to prepare preliminary plans for the pool. Cheryl Crabb of the MCPIP explained that getting to this point is huge as...
Bob Marshall packer shares tales from the trail
Lifelong Montana packer, guide and cowboy Arnold “Smoke” Elser shared stories and memories of his life along the trail to a packed Paradise Center on Wednesday evening. The evening’s event was co-sponsored by Back Country Horsemen Wildhorse Plains Chapter and the Paradise Center. Wildhorse Plains President John Errecart opened the evenings fireside chat, sharing with the audience the many accomplishments of Elser. Errecart spoke about Elser’s many years teaching the art of packing to a worldwide audience ranging from Navy SEALs, Army, National Park Service, Forest Service personnel, and many thousands of people. For over 60 years Elser has been...
Plains to drill new water well
Plains Council members unanimously voted to drill a new town water well at a special town council meeting last week. During the special session, council members reviewed the proposed drilling contract from Wet Water & Environmental Technologies, that is based out of Kalispell. The company is an environmental, engineering and geoscience consulting firm that designs projects that include site development, utility master planning, distribution systems, wastewater treatment and local utility development. The well will be drilled by Coldwater Drilling and Pumps out of Arlee. Water & Environmental Technologies will manage the project on behalf of the Town of Plains. The location of the well will be near the intersection of Kruger and Upper Lynch Creek roads. The cost of the project will be $79,030 which includes engineering design, drilling and site cleanup. Drilling is expected to start within the next month. The new well project, expected to be around 200 feet deep, will be deeper than any of the town’s previous wells. The idea of drilling an additional water well was first conceived by previous Mayor Dan Rowan.
Groups target cleanup of Frenchtown mill site
The national conservation nonprofit American Rivers has named the Clark Fork River among the nation’s most endangered rivers, citing industrial pollution and flooding risks from the shuttered Smurfit-Stone pulp mill in Frenchtown. At the Community Center in Alberton last week representatives with the Clark Fork Coalition, EPA and Montana Public Interest Research Group held an open house called “When the Berm Breaks.” There was standing room only as the event attracted local farmers and ranchers, fishing guides, home gardeners, a kayaking couple and curious residents. Much remediation has been done on the Clark Fork River between Butte and the Milltown...
Four-day hoops camp held in Thompson Falls
It was hard to tell who was having a better time and liking basketball more at the Thompson Falls Basketball Camp this past week, the more than 100 kids or the staff of former Blue Hawks players. Both groups clearly had a great time at the camp, headed by T Falls basketball coach and activities director Jake Mickelson. This was the 12th year Mickelson and T Falls have hosted the basketball camp for these age groups. The four-day camp, held in the TFHS gym Monday through Thursday was a hit however you looked at it. “I really had fun,” said Louis Hannum who...
Hoop fest draws hundreds of ballers to Plains
If you are an ardent basketball fan who wandered up Montana 200 near the Plains Airport, you most likely did a double-take or pinched yourself to make sure the site wasn’t a dream.What your eyes would have gazed upon was a roundball fan’s dream come true...the 2024 Wildhorse Sports Association’s Three-on-Three Shootout hoop fest, a gathering of 73 teams and nearly 300 players, along with hundreds of fans from throughout the area. During day-long tournament, a substantial financial boost was raised to keep the site of the event, the Amundson Sports Complex, one of the best outdoor sports venues in the...
'Passing league' gets kids on football field during summer
Several years ago, eight years by his reckoning, Superior High football coach Jeff Schultz was looking for a way to keep football players active in the sport during the off season.The result: what could be described as a giant gathering of players from throughout the “neighborhood” who take part in a “five players on five players”, no pads, passing only game. Like a neighborhood pick-up game run amok. Throughout the month of June, Schultz and his Superior Bobcats, along with players from as many as 10 other schools, gather in Superior Monday nights for the “Passing League” unofficial set of games. Much like...
State funding supports Superior pool project
On the first day of summer, Superior's Pool in the Park committee received a nice splash from the Montana Department of Commerce. They are one of eight Montana towns, cities and counties who will share more than $317,000 of grant funding to help plan significant community development projects. The funding is through Commerce’s Community Development Block Grant Planning Grant program. The Town of Superior will receive $39,500 of CDBG planning grant funding for a preliminary architectural report for the Town of Superior’s swimming pool.Brogan Keenen, vice president of Pool in the Park which is a nonprofit 501C (3), explained that this...
Valley Press - Mineral Independent
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We are the local newspapers for Sanders & Mineral Counties in Montana. The Clark Fork Valley Press is published in Plains, and the Mineral Independent is based in Superior. Both papers are published weekly on Wednesdays. Our office (at 105 W. Lynch St., Plains MT 59859) is open Mon. - Fri. 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
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