Apr122019

Expose the causes of socio-economic issues

Opinion • Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,  

  Poverty, is it a cause or an effect?  Some have said alcoholism and mental illness are a treatable disease. Some have said poverty is just a lack of education or ambition.  So, are addiction, crime and abuse effects of poverty or the cause?  Does lack of education mean lack of knowledge, experience or discipline?  Are addictions genetic or taught by background, example?   The same with any violence or abuse, has it become an acceptable way of life?  With sex trafficking and suicide being high in Yellowstone county, does that make it okay? read more

Apr122019

Unveiling more of the YCN iceberg everyday

Features • Meanderings

Well, Folks, the ballots are in and we have some winners! Actually, we have 40 winners to be exact plus my Editor’s Choice Award winner that we will be announcing in next week’s edition of Yellowstone County News. Thank you for your patience and to all the readers and voters that participated in the process.  We’ll be announcing even more things to come in the near future so keep your eyes glued to your paper as those announcements come to light. read more

Apr122019

Local School Bond Levy controversy gets personal

Local • Shepherd

The controversy over a bond for the Shepherd School District has become personal, stepping over legal lines with the posting of Vote No signs without property owner permission. The amount of misinformation on both sides is causing more confusion than clarification. On May 7 the votes will be in on the matter but for now, information and so-called facts continue to vary widely. read more

Apr102019

Obituary: Kenneth “Ken” Joseph Johannes

Obituaries
Kenneth “Ken” Joseph Johannes

Kenneth “Ken” Joseph Johannes, 79, was called home to his heavenly father April 8th, 2019 surrounded by his family.  Born in Billings, MT on October 13, 1939, Ken was the oldest son of Conrad and Frieda (Reich) Johannes.  He attended Huntley Project Schools, graduating in 1959.  Upon his graduation he entered the US Navy where he served 2 years. read more

Apr82019

Obituary: Marie C. Johnson

Obituaries

Marie C. Johnson, 89, passed away peacefully on February 7, after complications from a long, difficult battle with Alzheimer’s.  Alzheimer’s stole her mind, but her inner soul remained pure and strong until the end. Her passing is a blessing, but the vital, intelligent, and loving woman she was before this horrible disease interfered is what we remember and miss. read more

Apr72019

Wealth is no longer limited

Opinion • Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

In Robin Hood’s time the rich (government) were rich at the expense of someone else. Everything was limited. A coat might take 100s of hours to produce. The rich had food others had to starve. Gold, silver and land belonged to the king (government) even coins of the realm were limited by primitive production methods. Rich or poor life wasn’t a party, but rich was a whole lot better.

Skip forward. Understand that money has no value other than trust. It is a storage instrument. $1000.00 might buy a cow, television, gun, etc. Point being, the party selling the cow trusts that the worthless paper will be accepted for the television.  Money in the wallet or bank has no value, it is the cow or television that has value. The fact that someone else has more money does not restrict your ability to have money and things. Clothing is now so cheap people give it away. The rich have more expensive clothes, but it functions the same as yours and doesn’t deprive you of clothing.

Comparing life style the commoner and rich are pretty equal. Both have a living place with hot/cold running water, heat/air, motor vehicle, air travel, food, medical, leisure time. The rich might have more expensive things, but they serve the same functions. The rich don’t exist at the expense of someone else. In fact, the common man’s access to air travel, large screen TV, computers, smart phone, vehicle, gas, food, entertainment, medical care, etc., etc. is probably what made them rich.

Liberal Democrats are now trying to get votes by convincing people that the rich deprive everyone else.  Unlike the days of Robin Hood, wealth is no longer limited. The fact you have a smart phone or big screen TV does not deprive someone else from getting one. The opposite is true, the more you have the more they make and the cheaper they get. Buy a computer and Bill Gates and a lot of others get richer. But you have the wealth, the computer. They only have worthless money which might just be an entry in a computer, useless until it is spent and when spent they make others richer.

The only value income inequality has is that liberal Democrats can use it to get the suckers to vote for them

Don’t let liberal Democrats steal your votes with their Robin Hood lies.

Gary Fitzpatrick

Billings

Apr62019

Shepherd bond is money wisely spent

Opinion • Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

In response to the ad placed by Vic Feuerstein. The design for the cafeteria, yes, it is large, yes, it has high ceilings, and yes, it is expensive, but when broken down by the sq ft. it will be $240.00. Other square footage on the new construction will be $220.00. So for only $20 more per sq ft  we can use this for numerous activities. Money well spent to use this cafeteria to serve breakfast, lunch, and…. whatever else we can. This would not be a gym but a cafeteria that has been designed well. 

Here at Shepherd we have a little more than 30% of our kids on free or reduced lunches which may sound high, but we also have a large number of foster kids in our community. My family never received free or reduced meals until we were asked to care for my nephews. Now my children receive reduced lunches, but we still pay our taxes. 

Our school district is either above, at or less than 5% below when it comes Smarter Balanced and ACT scores. The only category that does not fall into those numbers is math, with that said district wide we have new math curriculum. 

High School students have to have two years of physical education to graduate, the weights and cardio that are being relocated to a new space is only 200 sq. ft more than what we have now. Will our sports program use them? I hope so, again using the equipment for more than physical education is great plan. 

To bring in mobile classrooms will cost money, which is not in the budget. We then will have the cost of insuring and heating these classrooms. I am all for giving the kindergarten classrooms but to pay taxes on a “band-aid” and still not have the issues taken care of does not sound like good leadership to me.

I have so many more facts that I can not share with you for lack of space, but I would encourage all of you to come out to the next meeting is Monday, April 15, at 6:30 in the multi- purpose room in the high school.

Finally, we have a fairly new board, only two of the seven were on the board the last time we tried to pass the bond, and research shows they have been freely giving their time and efforts to present the best option to support all of our students.  The new board has hired a new Superintendent who has been here 18 months. Mr. Carter lives in the Pioneer District and is committed to improving our school. His recent achievements include leading a school in receiving the Blue Ribbon Award in Harrington, Kansas. Let’s work with the school board, superintendent and the community not only to improve our school but our future for our community. 

Natasha Zabel

Shepherd

Apr62019

Lib calling the kettle bully

Opinion • Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

I found C. Wolf posting 3/22 was indicative of typical liberals.  Complaining of bullying by “people who just want to put other people down” while all Carl and his ilk have done for past two years is put down President Trump, all members of the GOP, middle America, whites or conservatives.  He is now accusing us of dysfunctional thinking.  Its apparent that, if you are a liberal progressive socialist, you are enlightened and superior to all others. read more

Apr32019

Obituary: Sharon I. Michaels

Obituaries
Sharon I. Michaels

Sharon loved her family, dancing, writing, bowling, her flowers and gardening.

She was born Sharon I. McCaskill Todd on March 4, 1944 in Wibaux, MT to Adrian Steve and Helen Virginia McCaskill Todd. She attended school in Shepherd, MT graduating in 1961. After graduation, Sharon worked at Ryan Grocery in Billings.

On June 11, 1963 she married Jim Michaels in Couer d’Alene, ID and moved to Basin, WY. They later moved to Worland, WY, where she worked for KWOR radio station and Mountain Bell as a telephone operator.

After moving back to Billings, Sharon and Jim built a home together from the ground up, near Shepherd. Their two sons attended the Shepherd School, just as Sharon did when she was growing up. During this time Sharon was a stay at home Mom, tending to her garden and yard. read more