It could be worse. Before 2012, I was giving Zimbabwe million dollar bills as gag gifts at retirement parties – everyone should retire a millionaire, an less than ten bucks bought a million Zim dollars
Author: Sam
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Parties On Economics
This Gallup poll had a simple question – do you have a positive or negative image of socialism, then the same on capitalism. The graphs may explain some of our differences:
I can’t help remembering that Karl Marx was more a critical student of capitalism than socialism as I look at these graphs. Thing is, I live in a mixed economy – part capitalistic, part socialistic. I live in an area where the county government builds and maintains the roads – in other places toll roads are an option (though they are often still government operations). Roughly 3/4 of the county land is government owned. I have socialized garbage collection. My health insurance is Medicare. If I make too much money this year, my payments go up next year. I like owning my own house and cars. My electric power comes from a co-op that was developed as a social program. My world, or at least my state and nation, are a blend of capitalism and socialism. Some aspects of socialism are many steps beyond what I regard as tolerable, others make life easier.
A dislike for Capitalism usually boils down to a dislike for monopolies – and, as we can see in Venezuela, Socialism changes the people who have the monopolies. Under Capitalism, the rich become powerful; under Socialism, the powerful become rich. It seems like we could all agree that what we hate is Authoritarianism in all forms? I guess that’s just too simple.
I’m viewing polls and articles that tell me the younger generation dislikes both political parties – and I can’t help believing that’s a good thing.
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Suspenders
I’m wearing suspenders. Most of the loggers I’ve known slur the word so it comes out ‘spenders.’ I got ’em because of this last hernia surgery – doctor’s orders were to wear something loose around the middle, so I got out my old fat pants and bought a pair of suspenders.
I have 5 more weeks with a 15 pound lifting limit and the caution to wear “loose fitting clothes.” The 15 pound limit translates to “make a lot more trips carrying firewood to the house.” The suspenders, though, mean that even though the pants are so loose I expect them to fall down, they don’t.
I’m not sure I shouldn’t have tried suspenders a whole lot earlier. Also not sure I’ll stick with them after my six weeks lifting limit is over – but with the incisions healing on my stomach, right now the suspenders are pretty wonderful. Now, if I can just remember not to lift anything over 15 pounds.
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County Property Taxes
It’s time to update the annual county taxation article. From a secessionist point of view, with three high school districts, it’s easy to figure out which communities provide the funds that keep our county going.
Market Value Taxable Value Percentage
Libby $2,126,453,001 $18,524,862 36.3%
Troy $1,099,398,488 $ 9,565,190 18.8%
LCHS $2,630,229,684 $25,045,480 44.9%
Total $5,856,081,173 $53,135,632 100%
Data taken from Montana Certified Values
Market value has increased dramatically, taxable value has gone down. Troy’s taxable value percentage has increased by 0.4%, while both Libby and North County have slightly decreased. While the reduction in taxable value looks nice, it is an easy number for them to change.
The Census offered these population estimates from the American Community Survey in 2024 (the ACS is not an enumerated census and its accuracy suffers in small communities)
Zip Code Population City 59923 9,545 Libby 59917 5,001 Eureka 59935 3,505 Troy 59934 763 Trego 59930 697 Rexford 59918 625 Fortine 59933 21 Stryker Since Eureka, Trego, Rexford, Fortine, and Stryker are all in High School District 13, the relative populations calculate:
Population Percent Population Tax Base
Libby 9,545 (47%) 36.3%
Troy 3,505 (17%) 18.8%
LCHS 7,107 (35%) 44.9%
The tax numbers are both precise and accurate – the source is listed should you want to check. I am not satisfied with the quality of the American Community Survey data, but it is the Best Available Data. It is probably coincidental that the abbreviation for best available data is BAD.
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A Big Loss in 2025
Looking at the end of the year, the biggest loss was John Mee. If you didn’t know Big John, you have my sympathy. He was one of those rare people whom it was always a pleasure to know. In the past several years, less than stellar health has confined me more to home, so I hadn’t seen him recently – and I will not see him again. And that is not just a loss to me, but to all of our community.
So be it. Big John was always bigger than life, not just in size, but in personality and character. Let me write some of my memories – if you knew John, you may enjoy the snapshots of his character. If you didn’t know him, you may get a glimpse of the man and of a boy that it was a privilege to know.
One memory is of a time when 4-H was helping set things up for a LEC annual meeting. I was still in high school, so John was ten or less. I’d been given the task of organizing kids to handle the lunch tables – so I dropped the task of setting up the dessert table (all the pies and cakes) onto Big John. If I was 15, John may have been 9 or 10. He had the size to handle the task, and, more important, took his work seriously. An adult 4-H parent (from a community other than Trego) appointed herself to correct Big John, yelling and confronting him about being too young for an important job like handling cakes.
He took it well – far better than I. My response was to explain that she needed a better view of reality, and might get it if she would only remove her head from her fundamental orifice. She left John alone, and went off to complain to my parents. So be it – both John and I liked cakes and pies, and he handled his task competently. On the other hand, I left with the suggestion that I might learn to be a bit more tactful.
Big John had challenges reading – he was a victim of our education system. Figure it was 1966 – Trego had a challenge hiring teachers, and Wilda B. Totten, the County Superintendent, passed on the names of a young married couple. Oklahomans, I believe. Long story short, they were hired before their transcripts arrived, and I remember Dad’s comment: “They didn’t even attend college long enough to flunk out.” Somehow, in the rushed schedule to get school going for a massive increase in students, they had hired a pair of non-readers to teach. To be fair, it was an easy mistake to make, and they left shortly thereafter. I think this story comes from the last conversation John and I had, with him reminding me of the importance of good teachers.
Big John liked lever action rifles – one of my treasured memories is watching the lengthy transactions – it wasn’t really haggling – between Big John and Dad about one Winchester lever gun or another. Or a Marlin. It wasn’t a commercial transaction – it was a friendly visit, over a topic that the two enjoyed. I recall catching guff from Dad for no greater misconduct than selling a rifle ‘before Big John had a chance to even see it.” Selling it at a good profit wasn’t the point of business – the sale, the negotiations that could go on for most of a week was. Lever action – his father’s bolt action Swedish rifle was just a bit too modern. The gas-operated semi-automatics I used after a shoulder injury just never held the appeal of the old lever guns – and that was in the 20th century.
I don’t know if Big John ever had a drivers license – he told me he didn’t. I always suspected it came from the poor instruction at school during those early tunnel years. He explained that he had to be more law-abiding on the road than I did because of the lack – and I’m sure he was.
I remember John’s comment a few years back – that the best paid years of his life were in the seventies. I suspect the seventies ran from 75 to 85 for Big John – but it was a time when a strong man with a chainsaw could make a good living in the woods. I guess, in a way, Big John was born 30 years too late – but if he hadn’t been, a lot of us would have never known him.
So my farewell to a man whose life often brushed against mine. My condolences to Sylvia, and to all he left behind. There are more stories I could tell, memories I will revisit – but we shall not know his like again – a friend, a good man, larger than life in stature, personality and character, born into a time where he almost, but never quite, fit. A heart attack somehow seems appropriate – no heart could ever be strong enough to last the man I knew. I think that losing John was the biggest loss to my community in 2025.
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My Favorite Baseball Player
As a kid, I knew all of the names – Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Joe Dimaggio, Roberto Clemente -the list goes on. My knowledge of professional baseball came from the radio. In 2006, driving across South Dakota, I listened to an interview that epitomized the love of the game.
Edgard Clemente, of the Sioux Falls Canaries, was being interviewed – and he was happy to be able to make a living playing the game he loved. His uncle was Roberto – whose baseball career was much more successful than Edgard’s – but I didn’t know that when I listened to the radio. I was listening to a young man who was overjoyed to be playing baseball, for the Canaries, in Sioux Falls, and was willing to tell everyone in the listening audience just how great it was to have the opportunity to play professional baseball in Sioux Falls.
Over the years, I watched Clemente’s career. He’d started out playing 3 years for the Colorado Rockies, where he hit all of his 8 major league home runs in 1999. He had been a tenth round draft pick. From the Colorado Rockies, he moved to the Anaheim Angels in 2000. In 2005, he played for Puerto Rico in the World Cup – and performed well enough that when I listened to the happy young man, he was on his second year with the Canaries. From the Canaries, he went on to the Somerset Patriots – it was Atlantic League, but he was briefly back in league ball. I’m sure that he felt Sioux Falls was the place that gave him a chance to get back into league ball, even if it was the minors.
In 2010, he played for the Broncos de Reynosa in the Mexican league. The last mention I found as I followed his career was 2012, when he played first for the New Jersey Jackals and ended with the Puebla Pericos (parrots).
His professional baseball career ran from 1993 to 2012. It was rare for Edgard to spend two years with the same team, playing for 23 different teams over his 20 year career. I never saw Edgard Clemente play – but I listened to an interview with a once major league ball player who was happy to be able to continue his career in South Dakota.
Trego's Mountain Ear 