Mysterious Montana

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Mon Apr 29, 2002 8:10 am

Three University of Great Falls employees were taken to Benefis East to be decontaminated Sunday morning after entering the school's cafeteria filled with pepper spray fumes. (Great Falls [Mont.] Tribune)***They ignored the "Dispose of Fumes Before Entering" signs.*** The pepper spray event at the college is similar to an incident April 18 at the downtown Club Cigar.
The crammed bar had to be evacuated and closed after someone squirted some old pepper spray near the ventilation system.
Investigators believe the two incidents are coincidental. ***Probably. Still, though, it makes you wonder ....***

koyan · **Posted:** Mon Apr 29, 2002 11:10 pm

So are you poking fun at my paper or just Montanans in general?Come on, you can't tell me you've never accidentally doused yourself in pepper spray and walked into a crowded cafeteria before.I guess should just be grateful you didn't pick apart my car booting story. Not that that's an invitation.

JayByrd · **Posted:** Fri May 03, 2002 9:04 am

If we're going to poke fun, lets do it toward the truly deserving -- the Californians.
True story: About four years ago, a California family came up to Montana's Glacier National Park to go camping. Heeding the warnings about the danger of grizzly bears, they purchased high-powered pepper spray bear repellant.
Then, apparently without reading the label, they lined up their kids and sprayed them with it. (My mind pictures the kids running off into the woods in terror, only to be eaten by bears.)
JayByrd in Butte.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Tue May 14, 2002 7:21 pm

"Are You Mr. or Ms. Great Falls"?
Are you a Great Falls resident who is all or most of the following, or do you know someone who is?
If so, and you would like to be interviewed for a Tribune feature story, please call Staff Writer Richard Ecke ....35 to 44 years
White
Married couple
Owns own house
Three-person family
High school graduate
Lived in same house in 1995
U.S. born
Speaks only English
German ancestry
Family earns $35,000 to $49,000 per year
Drives to work alone
Education, health and social services worker
House built 1940 to 1959
Four-room house
House value of $50,000 to $99,999
Monthly mortgage of $700 to $999
Two vehicles
Natural gas heat
Great Falls resident ***Beyond any concern about soliciting interview subjects this way, one has to wonder what kinds of questions Richard will come up with for these people:"How does it feel to be white?"
"Do you wish someone would ride with you to work?"
"How's that natural-gas heat working out?"
"So, what's it like to be so damn average?"
"Mortgage payments really suck, huh."
"Donde esta su casa? Oh wait, you probably didn't understand that, did you?"***
--------
(I'm not picking on the Great Falls Tribune. It just happens to be one of my small-town newspapers of the moment.)[ May 14, 2002: Message edited by: blanp ]

ADKbrown · **Posted:** Wed May 15, 2002 8:45 pm

Three people who have lived in the same four-room house since 1995 might have a lot of good stories to tell.

tommangan · **Posted:** Thu May 16, 2002 12:36 am

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by ADKbrown:
Three people who have lived in the same four-room house since 1995 might have a lot of good stories to tell.<hr></blockquote>particularly if, say, they failed to bathe and never left the house in the interim.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Wed May 22, 2002 6:31 pm

Viewers who tune in to "Face the State" on KRTV stations Sunday probably will do a double-take.***"Honey, what the hell is this? I thought it was time for 'Bassmasters.'"

koyan · **Posted:** Thu May 23, 2002 9:49 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
Viewers who tune in to "Face the State" on KRTV stations Sunday probably will do a double-take.***"Honey, what the hell is this? I thought it was time for 'Bassmasters.'"<hr></blockquote>
"No dear, 'Bassmasters' is Thursdays after 'Tractors 'n Trailers.'"

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Sun May 26, 2002 3:17 am

Soccer and the symphony are not that different.
That's the gospel according to the Hanleys, Billings siblings who have competed in soccer and played musical instruments for the bulk of their lives. Physical soccer and sometimes-sedate symphony both take teamwork and thinking, the Hanleys said.
"They are so different, yet so alike," said Teresa, an eighth-grader and the youngest of the family. (Billings Gazette)***With that kind of thinking, Teresa, you might end up as a reporter at the Billings Gazette.***

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Sun May 26, 2002 3:22 am

KALISPELL - It takes a certain streak of boldness to challenge an incumbent.
It takes a strong faith to run against an incumbent who has held power since the Reagan years.
And it takes a bit of reckless abandon to challenge an entrenched incumbent who also is your boss.
But that is exactly what Paula Robinson has done, and along the way she has elevated what should be a sleepy campaign for Flathead County clerk and recorder to a broad discussion about public service, the clockworks of the bureaucracy, and when, in the eyes of the electorate, enough is enough. (Missoulian)***I don't know. Still seems pretty sleepy from here.***By Dave Reese
The Daily Inter Lake
Paula Robinson is challenging her boss, Sue Haverfield, for her job as Flathead County clerk and recorder.***They're a little more down to earth at the Daily Inter Lake.***[ May 26, 2002: Message edited by: blanp ]

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Sun May 26, 2002 5:44 pm

Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) writes on the state Republican Party Web site:For many years we have taken time out of our busy schedules to pay tribute to the men and women who paid the ultimate price to protect our freedoms and way of life. There are 106,000 veterans residing in Montana today. On Memorial Day, if you come in contact with one of the 18,000 World War II vets in our state, or one of 14,000 Gulf War vets, thank them for their service. Shake the hand of one of 34,000 Vietnam War vets or 12,000 Korean War vets in Montana. Show all these folks your appreciation.***That's nice, Senator Burns, but you seem to be confusing Memorial Day--set aside to honor our war dead--with Veterans Day.***

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Fri May 31, 2002 12:20 am

Tribune Staff Writer"We've got a heckuva problem on our hands," U.S. Sen. Max Baucus said Wednesday at the Great Falls Civic Center. ***And from there, you can go anywhere.***

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Wed Jun 05, 2002 4:01 am

BLACKFEET INDIAN RESERVATION -- Two Kalispell men on a fishing trip at Duck Lake apparently were overcome by fumes from their propane furnace and died in their tent of carbon monoxide poisoning Sunday night or Monday morning, the Glacier County sheriff said. Relatives called the sheriff's office in Cut Bank Monday morning to report the two overdue. The sheriff's office called the Blackfeet tribe, which sent a game warden to Duck Lake Campground, on the western edge of the reservation northeast of St. Mary. The warden discovered the bodies of the men, whose names will not be released until today, pending notification of relatives, Sheriff Gary Racine said. The two, in their late 50s, last were seen fishing Sunday afternoon and appeared to be experienced outdoorsmen -- they had "state-of-the-art" boat and tackle, and were well-prepared for several days in the chilly campground, which still has very few occupants, Racine said. But they fell asleep in their two-man tent with the propane heater on, and asphyxiated. "One mistake is all it took," Racine said. ***Sheriff Racine takes life as it comes.***

Wayne Countryman · **Posted:** Wed Jun 05, 2002 4:22 pm

""The two, in their late 50s, last were seen fishing Sunday afternoon and appeared to be experienced outdoorsmen -- they had "state-of-the-art" boat and tackle, and were well-prepared for several days in the chilly campground, which still has very few occupants, Racine said."" 
Apparently they had more money than experience -- any bozo with a charge card can buy "state-of-the-art" gear, but an intelligent outdoorsman doesn't die in his tent in June from fumes.[ June 05, 2002: Message edited by: Wayne Countryman ]

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Sat Jun 08, 2002 12:34 am

Cascade County Commission Chairman Gayle Morris said Thursday that he was surprised by how few votes he received in the Democratic primary -- but losing is just part of the game.
"That's the nature of the business," Morris said of his 1,361 votes, 15 percent of those cast. ... When his term expires, he doesn't plan to return to either teaching or selling insurance. Friends have approached him about going into business, he said, declining to elaborate except to note with a joke that it would be legal. ***Morris's keen sense of humor will be missed.***

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