Jun122020

38,000 Bottles of Water Donated to Combat Water Contamination

Local

Over 38,000 bottles were donated on Monday to the community of Worden and Ballantine during their water contamination issue. Special thanks to Ted Tallon (blue plaid) and Kristi Dellos (back right) at Costco who transported a semi full of 20 pallets of water to the community on behalf of six businesses. Board member Joey Oltrogge (grey hoodie) is heading up the outreach with the help of district manager, Dan Krum (far left). The shipment had come just in time as the previous stores of bottled water had dropped to less than half of one pallet. “This will be such a huge help,” said Joey.
(Photo by Jonathan D. McNiven)

“We are currently distributing bottled water to over 350 homes,” said Worden-Ballantine Yellowstone County Water and Sewer District board member Joey Oltrogge. Joey, having recently taken over the volunteer distribution of water from board member Gary Fredericks, has been working hard to ensure that the families affected by the increased nitrate concentration in the drinking water will have access to clean water. read more

Jun122020

Search for Clean Water Continues

Local

The Worden-Ballantine Yellowstone County Water & Sewer District met on Monday evening to discuss a solution to the water contamination issue in the area.  Back in the summer of 2019, the main source of drinking water was discovered to be contaminated.  Unusually high levels of nitrates had rendered the water unsafe to consume, and boiling the water had the unwanted effect of raising the nitrate level even further. This forced roughly 350 families to purchase externally-sourced water for their daily cooking and drinking usage. This new expense was not expected or appreciated by the Worden and Ballantine residents, and those at the  read more

Jun52020

Jail Has Outbreak of Virus

Home

Despites efforts to prevent it, some inmates of the Yellowstone County Detention Facility have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Sheriff Mike Linder said that while it wasn’t realistic to expect that the jail would escape unscathed by the virus, they began early on taking preventive measures and implementing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for jails. read more

Jun52020

Yellowstone River Breaches Local Compromised Dike, Flooding Area Properties

Top Stories

The Yellowstone River has breached a private irrigation ditch and is now flooding houses and barns along Pinto Dr and Arrow Park in Shepherd on Monday morning. Here, the river has consumed many acres and shows how it is carving out a channel into the open field above eroding away the river bank. Water around the barn and in the field are flowing in a manner to eventually start a new channel through the properties. (Photo by Jonathan McNiven)

“We’ve lived here for forty-one years, and this is the first time it’s flooded like this,” said Dave Shannon. Local residents Vicki and Dave Shannon purchased 20 acres of river-side property near Arrow Island Park back in 1979 and have never had an issue with flooding, even back during the floods of 2011 until now. However, the cause for the flooding this year isn’t because of an overly snowy winter, or an especially rainy springtime, it’s because a local dike was breached. read more