Apr82019
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
Apr82019
Susan Bohleen Crowell was born on March 3, 1946, to Nova and Roger Bohleen. A year later, her brother Calvin was born. She was raised in the Shields Valley. She attended Porcupine School and graduated the Salutatorian from Wilsall High School in 1964. She attended beauty school in Billings, MT. read more
Apr82019
Dear Editor,
I see Jennifer, Krayton and I have one thought in common, the “Country is going hell in a hand basket.” It’s time we put away the childish blame game and took responsibility for our own actions. read more
Apr72019
Dear Editor,
It is great to see all the hard work and community support going towards the Shepherd School bond! Our school board, our school administration, our community, and Collaborative Design have been working diligently to bring this plan to Vote for our community. If this bond passes, that same great team will keep us moving forward. read more
Apr72019
Dear Editor,
Carl, thank you for your comments about writers who submit letters to the editor of YCN in your weakly column on March 22nd. I had been mulling over a response to your constant snide & sarcastic digs at President Trump & his supporters for some time, but you wrote a much better critique of your own writing than I could have. read more
Apr72019
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
Apr72019
8Dear Editor,
“As Montanans, we exhibit and demand honesty and integrity, ‘say it like it is and no beating around the bush’. We all, regardless of party, should want full disclosure…” Truer words cannot be spoken. However, these words must be taken literally to be as honest as portrayed. read more
Apr62019
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
Dear Editor,
The March 16th article, “Shepherd Group Sets the Record Straight,” by Elisa Schlosser does NOT set the record straight! read more
Apr62019
The legislation upon which hopes of funding One Big Sky District were pinned failed to pass through committee to the floor of the Senate last week. SB 340, which would enable 406 Impacts Districts, tied in the Senate Taxation Committee, effectively killing the bill. read more
Apr62019
HELENA – State Senator, Doctor and former US Senate candidate Al Olszewski publicly announced this week t read more
Apr62019
Dear Editor,
We are thankful that the One Big Sky District (OBSD) legislation failed to become Montana law. A special thank you to Pam Ellis and Larry Seekins; they have conscientiously persisted in spite of strong opposition, as they knew in their hearts that this would be harmful for us. read more
Apr62019
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
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
Mar312019
Well Folks, it’s come time to limit the length of letters to the editor. I know in the past that we have allowed flexibility for you to develop your opinion or point of view but it has now come to the point that it has gotten out of hand. Some people are sending letters to us that are taking up half a page or more. That equates to a $260 ad (black and white) and $370 ad (in color) for just half a page.
Mar302019
Call your friends, grab a jacket and come downtown for the ArtWalk on Friday, April 5, 2019 from 5 – 9 p.m. It has been a long, cold winter, and we are ready to bid farewill to snow and icy streets and greet warm weather.
For 25 years, ArtWalk has focused on the ever-increasing community of artists, craftsmen, galleries and museums that support fine arts in Billings and our region. It’s grown from a handful of Montana Avenue galleries in 1994 to a “not-to-miss” event reaching across downtown Billings.
Mar302019
Dear Editor,
You grew YCN, and doubled circulation! Printing Edgar Albert Guest’s poem “It couldn’t be done” will say, better than this writer could, how this was done. Congrats to you!
Mar292019
For 45 years the mystery of who killed Clifford and Linda Bernhardt, both just 24 years old, has haunted their families and citizens of Billings, but none more so than law enforcement officers, who never gave up trying to solve the mystery.
Mar292019
The next step in the development of the Lockwood TEDD (Targeted Economic Development District) is to identify what projects should first be pursued in the development of the district.
Mar292019
by Norma McNiven
The Shepherd Community Education Committee (SCEC) held a public meeting on March 20, 2019, in the multipurpose room of the Shepherd High School. Attended by 85 people present and 35 people online, the SCEC presented information about the upcoming school bond issue. Conducted by Becky Anderson of the SCEC, she began by saying that the Shepherd community consists of many “good neighbors” and wants them to still be good neighbors regardless of the outcome of the bond issue. She told the group about state tax forms “Property Tax Assistance Program” that they had and would give to anyone who was interested for persons on a low or fixed income.
