Trego's Mountain Ear

"Serving North Lincoln County"

Tag: Trego Montana

  • In the Seventies, it took a Week’s Work

    Now it takes a single click to get the data. So what does it mean?  I measured the record lows back in 1977 – this chart, from the Grave Creek site, shows how the critical snowfall that brings us up to normal or above occurs between the February measurements and April 1.  I don’t know if my record measurements will stand or not – but being the guy who measured something for the records doesn’t count for much. 

    Basin   Site NameElev (ft)Snow Water EquivalentWater Year-to-Date Precipitation
    Current (in)Median (in)Pct of MedianCurrent (in)Median (in)Pct of Median
    KOOTENAI RIVER BASIN
      Banfield Mountain56006.3  11.6  54  13.3  16.9  79  
      Bear Mountain540022.3  35.6  63  39.4  48.0  82  
      Garver Creek42504.8  6.8  71  9.4  13.2(24)71  
      Grave Creek43008.8  10.7  82  22.7  22.0  103  
      Hand Creek50355.4  7.4  73  8.8  11.9  74  
      Hawkins Lake64508.7  16.5  53  17.7  21.2  83  
      Poorman Creek510012.6  23.4(22)54  27.6  39.1(22)71  
      Stahl Peak603021.4  22.0  97  28.5  26.2  109  
    Basin Index (%)67  84  
     
  • Trego: Hardiness Zone 5a

    Trego: Hardiness Zone 5a

    The USDA has updated plant hardiness zones, and despite last winter’s impressive cold, we’ve jumped up a zone (to 5a from 4b in 2012; the average low went up by 6 degrees)

    Hardiness zones are a (partial) climate description that’s been in existence for a bit over a century, though the government didn’t get involved in it until the ’60s (At which point they proceeded to do so badly for a few decades). They use the average minimum winter temperature to determine the zone.

    The current map can be found at usda.gov/ and is searchable by zip code. Here’s the current map for Montana:

  • Patches Pictures

    Patches Pictures

    (Ѝâ@½è’

  • Ballot Problems- Again

    It’s not every day that Lincoln County makes the news outside of our state. Our recent primary election did just that due to an error in ballot size, resulting in a hand-count that delayed results.

    Montana gained a new seat in the house of representatives- and the race to determine the republican nominee for that new seat was a tight one. Tight enough that Ryan Zinke and Al Olszewski had to wait until Lincoln County’s results were counted in order to know who had one (Zinke).

    This isn’t exactly the first time we’ve had trouble with the ballots in Lincoln County, though admittedly the last time didn’t leave such widespread headlines. Last year Trego residents incorrectly received ballots for the Eureka Elementary School Board Election, which complicated the counting a bit. Before that, during the last presidential election, an entire box of ballots was left in north county and not counted until days later (County Clerk Robin Benson, running unopposed for reappointment this November, described this as impeccable). Of course, we have been replacing our election administrator, so the trend belongs to the county and not the person. Still, this doesn’t exactly inspire faith for November.

    I’ve been complaining about the number of elections by acclamation in our county, but I think I have a new request. In addition to actually having an election, I’d like to have one where only the results made headlines. Hopefully November’s election runs more smoothly.

  • Why Can’t We Have An Election?

    I just got my primary ballot and noticed the extreme lack of candidates. On both ballots there are plenty of positions with one candidate or no candidate at all. If you can only vote for one candidate, is it an election?

    The following are running unopposed:

    • Michael Cuffe for State Senator
    • Niel A. Duram for State Representative
    • Jim Hammons for County Commissioner
    • Robin Benson for Clerk and Recorder/Auditor/Assessor/Surveyor
    • Darren Short for Sheriff
    • Steven Schnackenberg for Coroner
    • Marcia Boris for County Attorney
    • Taralee McFadden for County Superintendent of Schools
    • Sedaris Carlberg for County Treasurer
    • Mathew Cuffe for District Court Judge
    • Jay C Sheffield for Justice of the Peace

    There is no candidate for public administrator. The only races with multiple candidates will be for United States Representative, for County Commissioner (district 1), for Supreme Court Justice #1, and for Supreme Court Justice #2.

    In short, there were multiple candidates to vote for in only 25% of the races.

    When was the last election?

    It feels a bit odd to be asking “When was the last time there was an election?” about something local. As a kid, I sort of assumed that elections happened everywhere in our country, as scheduled, and it was only foreign countries that lacked elections. Unfortunately, it’s a question worth asking. About the Trego School Board, certainly. Last year, we were writing about vacant school board positions, and the need to get an application in to the school clerk, for an election to be held in May. That’s what should happen (every year). What actually happens (and not just on…

  • Lincoln County Facing More Elections by Acclamation

    With the primary ballots available (due back by June 7th), it’s become evident that we can expect more candidates elected by acclamation, since 69% of the races are candidates running uncontested.

    Some of our previous comments on local elections:

    Be Nice to the Candidates

    I can claim that I am an elected school trustee.  So can the school board members in Fortine and Eureka.  Yet I (and probably most of them) was elected by acclamation.  There may be a more politically correct way to describe it – but the reality is that I was elected without anyone voting for me.  A lot of school trustees share that reality – but I don’t believe it is a good situation. The challenge is that, on far too many local boards and commissions, we have the same situation.  When a candidate can be elected by acclamation, without…

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    by michaelmccurry

    Uncontested Elections

    What do you call it when only one person runs for office? An uncontested election. It seems like this must be a bad thing, and also that it is increasing in frequency. Is it? It seems, given the explanation about removing term limits at the last Interbel Meeting, that the situation is at least increasing in the telephone cooperatives. Watching the local school board shows a similar trend. How common are they by state? The data’s a bit hard to find- but at least some of it is out there. According to ballotpedia.org in 2020, 100% of Wisconsin’s local elections…

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    by Sam

    Consolidated Polling Increases The Cost of Voting in Person

    It’s only about four and a half miles from downtown Trego to the Volunteer Fire Department for Fortine, which is where we used to go to vote. Going into Eureka (as per that letter we all received from the county) will increase the distance by about thirteen miles (according to google maps). The distance I am supposed to travel to vote just got multiplied by a bit over 3. Of course, I live in downtown Trego, which means that my distance increased less than most. Looking at a map, it looks like the furthest up Fortine Creek Road are now…

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    by Sam