Latest
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RAISED WITH LOVE, ROASTED WITH PRIDE, AND SMOTHERED IN GRAVY
There is something pretty special about sitting down to a meal that began right here on our own little piece of Montana. These chickens were raised here and cared for here. The potatoes and sweet corn came from our garden. Then it all went into our homestead kitchen, where the woodstove was fired up, the cast iron came out, and everyone hovered nearby pretending they were “just checking” on supper. But this meal was not created by our hands alone. Processing more than 100 chickens was a shared effort among a group of hardworking, like-minded people. Everyone showed up ready…
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When I worked for Trinidad State Junior College, as the only ag teacher I had the task of outreach, with a program called FARM (Farm and Ranch Management) taking an early accounting program to ranches in southern Colorado – five apple // computers traveling in a Chevette. Many evenings I drove 350, when the lonesome…
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By Amberli Emery Sam Forstag’s campaign wants western Montana voters to see a smokejumper, union leader, and working-class champion. That biography makes a compelling campaign advertisement. It does not erase his political record. Forstag is not merely a firefighter who happened to become a Democrat. Before running for Congress, he was a registered lobbyist who…
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Since 1973, America has lost an almost unimaginable number of children. An estimated 100,000 to 120,000 children under the age of 18 have been murdered in the United States since the 1970s. Based on available information about identified offenders, approximately 68,000 to 91,000 of those children were killed by adult men. An estimated 16,500 to…
local
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We started the Mountain Ear (both times) because we wanted better coverage of local news. There are so many board meetings, and all of them are important. The Tobacco Valley News faces the same problem we do- not enough people and too many meetings, and their focus is on a larger area. So we started…
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An emergency meeting of the Trego school board was called again on May 4 at 4 PM to update the community on the methamphetamine contamination of the school grounds.. Although the meeting was poorly noticed, there were nearly 40 community members in attendance, these included parents, teachers, former students and teachers and interested community members.…
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Earlier this week, a meeting was held to formalize the existing long-term relationship between the TFS Community Hall and the TFS Fire Department. Tables were set to form a circle, and the meeting began with introductions. It was a joint meeting meant to prevent future problems, without any reason to expect them. The issue: an…
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An emergency school board meeting was held at the TFS Community Hall, Saturday at noon (which coincidentally is the time the Rendezvous Parade in Eureka began). The board acknowledged that they failed to provide adequate (48 hours notice) on the meeting, and cited the requisite MCA code allowing it in the event of an unforseen…
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When I went to get some repair work done, the person I was consulting advised fixing the structural issues and then putting the same ancient dilapidated siding back on the building. The rational? Property taxes. Last summer, we joked about how much the nice flowers my mother had on their porch raised their taxes. They…
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I spent most of a year away from the school after I finished my term. I attended a couple of board meetings because I was asked – on one hand, there was, at the least, the appearance of an unlawful board meeting . . . unlawful because it appeared to violate Montana’s open meeting law.…
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Historically, independent voters, and voters for minor third parties, do not get a large percentage of votes. Often, they’re considered “spoiler” candidates, who lose the election for someone by dra4wing critical support away during a close race. Or their thought of as simply “protest candidates” with no chance of winning. In Montana, for the presidential…
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Not many years ago, if you were faced with a cluster of unacceptable clowns on your ballot, you could write a name in and cast a protest vote. Hell, I guess you still can – the thing is, your write-in protest vote won’t be counted or reported. With the elimination of subsection 7 last year,…