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A Chat with the New Owners of the Local Rag
by Gary Robson
Gary: Who are you guys, anyway?
Melissa: I'm Melissa Cross. I grew up in western Montana and moved to Red Lodge about 8 years ago from Missoula. I have family from Red Lodge, so I visited often as a kid. I use my degree in interpersonal communication (with focus in argumentation and rhetoric) at work, as a bartender at the Snag. I live in Red Lodge with my kitty, Earl.
Heather: I'm Heather Robson. I've lived in Red Lodge on and off since I was 14, and just moved back a couple years ago from Colorado. I live in a tiny house with my three cats, two dogs, boyfriend Steve, and my three-year-old son, Brodie.
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A Few Words from the Outgoing Editor
by Gary Robson
Thirty-seven months ago, I wrote my first editorial in the Local Rag. Today, I write my last. Oh, I had written articles for the Rag before then (book reviews for Jean, fiction for Kari), and I will hopefully write more. But this is the last time I'll write as your editor-in-chief.
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Afraid of the Flu Shot? Fiddlesticks!
by William George
As county health officer, I must respond to Gayle Hayley's concerns and fears regarding the flu vaccine. This is a pretty serious topic, as influenza is attributed to over 36,000 deaths in the U.S. yearly and the flu vaccine is very effective in preventing illness from the flu virus.
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Ann Zimmerman's 1st Grade Class, Holiday Gifts for Parents
Children in Red Lodge Mountain View Elementary School answered the question: "If you had all the money in the world, what would you by your parents for the holidays?"
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Deb Bratton's 3rd Grade Class, Holiday Gifts for Parents
Children in Red Lodge Mountain View Elementary School answered the question: "If you had all the money in the world, what would you by your parents for the holidays?"
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Donna Wailes' 1st Grade Class, Holiday Gifts for Parents
Children in Red Lodge Mountain View Elementary School answered the question: "If you had all the money in the world, what would you by your parents for the holidays?"
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Flu Shot Dangers
by Gayle Hayley
Thimerosal is a preservative that is used in vaccines to kill bacteria. It's cheap and has a long shelve life. That is why it is still being used today in vaccines. But the problem is- that it contains a large amount of a highly toxic form of mercury, ethylmercury, nearly 50% by weight.
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Hibernating Bears
by Shawn T. Stewart
This past summer was marked by a scarcity of natural bear foods. Many chokecherry plants, injured by the early frost in 2009, failed to produce berries. At higher elevations few whitebark pines produced cones. The failure of these two foods resulted in an abnormally high number of calls to Fish, Wildlife and Parks about bears that were trying to eke out a living in Red Lodge and the surrounding developments.
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Horrible Gifts
by Bethany George
We've all been in that awkward situation. When Aunt Muriel, the one that no one likes, hands you a gift. Your hands are already sweating with anticipation and memories from last year come flooding back. What other horrible gift could she possibly have gotten you this year? Unfortunately, I have been in that situation too often. So often in fact that I can mask the first feeling of "ugh?" very well! I wondered if there was anyone else that could relate to me, so I asked some fellow students of Red Lodge High School if they had ever received terrible, embarrassing, age inappropriate gifts. This is what I uncovered:
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Marge Nearpass' 2nd Grade Class, Hoiday Gifts for Parents
Children in Red Lodge Mountain View Elementary School answered the question: "If you had all the money in the world, what would you by your parents for the holidays?"
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Robb Sager's 3rd Grade Class, Holiday Gifts for Parents
Children in Red Lodge Mountain View Elementary School answered the question: "If you had all the money in the world, what would you by your parents for the holidays?"
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Shop Red Lodge
by Corey Thompson
Still thinking of a Christmas gift for Aunt Gladys in Ohio? Or your cousin Dan in Michigan? Look no further than right here in Red Lodge, where you can find a wonderful variety of Montana-made gifts that will provide just the right Montana flavor for those friends and relatives unfortunate enough not to live here.
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The Cheapskate Wines
by Randy Tracy
This month, the Cheapskate Wine Snob does something a little different. Okay, a lot different.
Randy has done 30 wine columns for the Local Rag (all of which can be found at localrag.com: just click on "Cheapskate Wine Snob" in the right-hand column), and he's recommended quite a few different wines for us to enjoy.
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Tom McCoy, A True Renaissance
by Jeanne Thomas
Many people may have heard that the Carbon County Arts Guild had been working on the restoration of the old caboose behind the Depot Gallery. Tom McCoy is the artist who completed the entire restoration project, including returning the walls and woodwork to pristine condition and embellishing them with his trademark artistic style.
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Beer Snob:
Mexican Beer Travelogue
by Gary Robson
November seemed like a good time to get away from the sudden chill in the Red Lodge air and visit someplace warm. Someplace with beaches and deserts and ... beer!
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by Jeff Ewelt
It is with a heavy heart that I write my column this month. The thought of Gary and Kathy selling the Local Rag is quite sad. In fact, the only thing keeping me from releasing a freshly shaken hive of bees into Gary's store is the fact that they have sold the prize publication to their wonderful daughter Heather and her business partner Melissa Cross.
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by Gene Rodman
Recently I was given three old copies of Popular Photography from 1940. Film back then was becoming readily available in rolls, and 35mm cameras called "miniatures," were all the rage because of their ease of operation. Sure you had to carry a separate light meter to measure the brightness of the light of the scene you wanted to photograph.
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by Doug Robson
This year just gained another animated film for its record. With the success of How to Train Your Dragon and Despicable Me, can it stand up to its competition and hold its own? It's arguable, yet entirely probable.
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A New Red Lodge Motorcycle Rally?
by Gary Robson
For those who have followed the Beartooth Rally since its inception, it will come as no surprise that there is a good deal of contention in town about it. Rod Bastian of Beartooth IGA wants to change that, by reinventing the rally from the ground up.
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A Renaissance at the Elks
by Gary Robson
In the February, 2009 Local Rag, I wrote an article about our Local Elks lodge struggling for survival. There weren't enough volunteers to serve as officers or committee chairs, and negotiations were underway to shut it down and transfer all of the assets to the Elks lodge in Livingston.
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A Summer in Yellowstone 1: The Adventure Begins
by Patty Mills
With the Yellowstone Association employment application filled out and mailed, the next step for me was to wait and see if someone would call, or if I'd receive a nice "thanks, but no thanks" letter. This was one of those adventures that I thought about many times. I had no control over its ending now, with the application being filed away in a metal cabinet or shredded, or someone reading it and thinking, hey, let's give this woman a call. (This is part 1 of Patty's series. Use these links to catch up on the rest of the series: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.)
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An Open Letter to the City Council r.e. the DUI Ordinance
by Gary Robson
In my editorial in the November Local Rag, I did something I normally don't like to do: I complained about something without offering any solutions. I sent this letter to the City Council (with courtesy copies to Mayor Roat and Police Chief Pringle) urging them to reconsider Ordinance 887 and making positive suggestions about our DUI problem:
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Anna's Story: Part One
by Becky Hardy
She was not yet called Anna when I first met her, and she was so beautiful she took my breath away. Her greasy hair was in a topknot, and her filthy toes poked from her flipflops onto the dirt floor of the squatters' kitchen. Fresh evidence of a runny nose belied her recently washed face and hands, and her intense brown eyes seemed somehow bigger than her face. Even through thick smoke churning from the open fire, I could clearly see fear in her eyes. She was trying to be strong.
So was I.
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Beartooth Billings Clinic
In late November, I took a tour of the almost-completed Beartooth Billings Clinic, Red Lodge's new combination clinic/hospital. When I got back to the office, I was sorely tempted to write a one-word article: "Wow!"
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Catfish Heads & Coyote Feet
by Craig Beam
Ok. Everyone knows me as the Trout Scout, fly fishing purist. Wouldn't touch a spin casting rod to save my life. Every time a client refers to my hand-tied flies as "bait" I have a seizure. It wasn't always so.
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Christmas Stroll 2010
December 3 and 4 will be this year's Christmas Stroll in Red Lodge.
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Christmas Trees
Speaking of Christmas, we're lucky to live in a place where we can go out into the wilderness and cut our own trees. No picked-over Christmas tree lots for the intrepid outdoor-lovers in Carbon County!
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Does Red Lodge need an ambulance district?
by Gary Robson
Everywhere you look right now, there's information -- and misinformation -- about the proposed Red Lodge/Roberts Ambulance District. Proponents say we have an extremely high level of service for a small rural area and we need to maintain it. Opponents say it's a waste of money, among other arguments.
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Five Love Stories
Five long-wedded couples tell us about how they met: Dan and Marklynn Lynn (married 65 years), Bob & Ruth Wendt (61 years), Ernie & Marge Strum (55 years), Eldon & Yvonne Jensen (50 years), and Tom and Carolyn Flaherty (47 Years).
Add your own story at the end!
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Glacial Change in the Beartooths
by Dan Seifer
Glaciers erode landscapes ten to twenty times faster than liquid water and are one of many ever-changing geologic features in the Beartooth Mountains. Glaciers are large flowing masses of ice formed by the compaction and recrystallization of snow.
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History of the Local Rag, part I: Lou and the "Local News"
by Gary Robson
In September of last year, my wife Kathy and I purchased a 16-year-old newspaper called the Local Rag. It's fun, it's challenging, and it makes one stop and think: how did my predecessors do this? Where did the Local Rag really come from and how does it work? To answer these questions for our readers, we're pleased to present part one of this multi-part saga: History of the Local Rag.
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No Flowers?
When the historic lighting was installed in downtown Red Lodge, each pole included hangers for flower baskets. The flowers, however, were not in the original budget. A group of downtown merchants got together and decided to make this happen.
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Red Lodge City Council Solves DUI Problem
by Gary Robson
Montana has a drunk-driving problem. Or, should I say, "had" a drunk-driving problem. Because it appears that our City Council has fixed it with the ordinance passed in October.
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Red Lodge High School by the Numbers
When you hear about the new Red Lodge High School, are you interested in how much, how many, how long, and how big? Then take a look at RLHS "by the numbers."
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Red Lodge High School Graduation 2010
May 30, 2010 was probably the last graduation that will ever take place at the Civic Center in Red Lodge, as the school has received grant money to finish building out the auditorium at the new school. The class of 2010 handled it with style!
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Robson's 20th Book Released: His Newspaper Shamelessly Promotes It
by Gary Robson
The 20th book by local author Gary D. Robson hit the streets last month. Realizing the newsworthiness of the event, Local Rag editor Gary D. Robson cornered our enthusiastic author in the mirror one morning.
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Salon Music, Take 3
by Randy Tracy
When I was a kid, my family would gather at my grandparent's house on Sunday afternoons for dinner. Still in our Sunday best clothes -- I had to wear a coat and tie starting at age seven -- my father and I would get out our instruments and play along with my grandmother, who would accompany us on the piano.
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Starting a Reading Group
Reading groups (also frequently called book clubs) are a great way to discover new and interesting books and make a social occasion out of it. Red Lodge is a town with a rich literary history and enough people with diverse tastes that you should be able to put together a group no matter what you like to read.
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The Bull Pen: An Ambitious Project for the Next Rally Weekend
Red Lodge has had some fairly ambitious events in the past, drawing thousands of people for rodeos, motorcycle rallies, concerts, and festivals. Nothing, however, has been as ambitious as next year's Bull Pen Concert series, going on during the Beartooth Rally in July of next year.
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The Story of the Senia Trail
by Allie Wood
In 1919, Alfred Croonquist began developing a dude ranch on the Beartooth National Forest in the West Fork Rock Creek drainage, known as Camp Senia.
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Things I Most Love About Red Lodge
by Lou Ward
This article was first printed in 2001 when Lou Ward, founder and creative vision behind the Red Lodge Local, was moving away to Ireland. The current owners of the Local Rag happened to pick up that issue of the paper, and it was one of the things that convinced them to move to Red Lodge, buy the bookstore, and eventually end up buying the Rag.
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Top Ten!
Each year, the American Planning Association (APA) recognizes and celebrates ten neighborhoods, ten streets, and ten public spaces in America. Locations are chosen in part "because of their interesting and unique characteristics; their strong sense of place; and because they are a vibrant and have lasting value."
Based on APA Chapter Presidents Council Advisor Andy Epple's speech, Broadway Avenue in Red Lodge was chosen more because
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Two Red Lodge Women Walk for the Cure
by Lola Ashby
Stephanie Schnell and Lola Ashby, both of Red Lodge, took to the streets of San Francisco to raise funds to fight against breast cancer.
After months of training on the trails, streets and roads around Red Lodge, Stephanie and Lola joined 1,400 other participants in the "Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure" in San Francisco, a 60 mile, 3 day event. In order to participate, walkers were asked to raise $2,300.00. Stephanie and Lola can honestly say the 90% of their donations came from Red Lodge locals.
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Veteran's Day
November 11 is Veterans' Day. We all know people who have served or who are serving today.
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The Beer Snob Explores Mead
by Gary Robson
Most people think of beer as fermented barley and wine as fermented grapes. Often, this is true, but in reality the definitions go farther than that. Neither one, however, goes quite far enough to include a wondrous beverage from ages past that's making a comeback in America: mead.
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Life's a Bear
by Jeff Ewelt
As cold temperatures start invading our space, animals all over the state are preparing for the onslaught of snow, ice, and wind. Swainson's hawks are flying to South America, soft shell turtles are burying themselves in the mud, and chipmunks are getting their food reserves cached and ready to dip into when needed.
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Organizing and Backing Up Your Images
by Gene Rodman
It's getting to that time of year when we we'll have the time to organize our images and also do what we really needed to do all along; back up our photos. Organizing and backing up our images is not part of anyone's creative process. It's like brushing your teeth; you know you need to do it every day but unless you develop a routine you can easily overlook doing it and pay for it later.
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Rural Internet Service Options
by Gary Robson
Gary speaks of Internet Service in the outskirts, where you might not expect to get any. If you want Internet access, but live in the middle of nowhere, this article describes your options.
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I Love This Place
by Clare Witcomb
About the 10th of every month I start sweating what the subject will be for the Green Scene article in the Local Rag. Writing about environmental issues can be both uplifting and downright scary. The last 2 months' articles have been in the "scary" category. Coal ash containment ponds and natural gas "fracking" are just some examples of the problems facing the globe when it comes to natural resource development.
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Introducing: Baba Ram Baba
by Baba Ram Baba
Something is changing here. A positive energy is flowing over this peaceful corner of Montana that we call our home. I have felt it as surely as I have felt the wind caressing my face as I come out of the cave near Hellroaring Plateau where I now dwell.
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Live For Today
by Ryan Sankey
Above my desk in the office, among pictures of good friends, interesting news clippings and words of encouragement, is pinned a quote from Yves Saint Laurent; "Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it." Those are big words coming from one of the world's most acclaimed designers.
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The Social Network
by Doug Robson
Do you use Facebook? Then you might be interested to see how it came to be. The Social Network follows Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg), a student at Harvard, as he attains the idea for a social networking site, launches it, and makes it a commercial success.
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