Latest
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TEN-CENT BOOKS, A THOUSAND STORIES, AND A LITTLE OLD-FASHIONED COMMUNITY MAGIC.
By: AmberLi Emery There are few things in this world that I love quite as much as a good book. The smell of old paper. The worn edges of a well-loved cover. The handwritten inscription inside the front page of a book that someone gave as a gift fifty years ago. The little treasures tucked between pages. And the extraordinary thought that something sitting quietly on a dusty shelf might contain an entire world just waiting for someone to open it. I’ve always believed that books are among the greatest gifts we can pass from one generation to another. They…
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By: AmberLi Emery There is something profoundly beautiful about a community that recognizes a need and quietly steps forward to meet it. And right now, there are needs in our little corner of Montana that deserve our attention. We live in an extraordinary place, surrounded by breathtaking beauty, hardworking people, and families who have called…
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I saw the image below – and I realized that the advertisement is targeted directly at folks who learned to use computers in the Eighties – playing the Oregon Trail game. I remember the strategy I was given for the game – eat sparingly and buy lots of bullets. Still, it would often give the…
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Trego began in 1904. There was a dam being built about a mile upstream from today’s bridge across Fortine Creek (then it was still Edna Creek – one day I’d like to learn more about Edna). The route where a railroad could be squeezed between the Stillwater and the Point of Rocks had been discovered,…
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…