Libby Chamber’s annual awards and fundraiser banquet a success

Left to right: Kim Peck, Liz Whalen, and Chelsea and  Byron Sanderson pose for a photo after the Dome was honored for business of the year at this year’s annual Chamber Banquet. Photo courtesy of Libby Chamber of Commerce.

 

By McKenzie Williams

 

One Friday, Jan. 24 at the Memorial Center, the Libby Chamber of Commerce hosted their annual awards and fundraiser banquet. As always, some very deserving locals were honored for their contributions to our community.

Those include:

  • Business of the Year – Dome Theater (Chelsea and Byron Sanderson)
  • Community Impact Award – Liz Whalen
  • Customer Service Excellence Award – Libby Auto Sales
  • Event of the Year – CARD’s Big Sky Bash
  • Libby Leadership Award – Penny Kyes

 

Those weren’t the only awards given out that evening the City of Libby, Lincoln County, and Libby Schools also participated.

Those include :

  • City of Libby outstanding employee—Jody Martin
  • LC Employee Appreciation Award– George Jamison
  • Libby Public Schools Educator of the year – Jim May

The event raised around $25,000.

Libby High School student commits to Carroll College

By McKenzie Williams

 

On Friday, Jan. 31, Libby High School senior, Jaycee Thornock, signed to Carrol College for cheer.

Thornock is currently the Libby Logger cheer squad captain, and is looking forward to continuing cheerleading after graduation.

Thornock told the Montanian, “I’m looking forward to extending my cheer career and doing what I love at the school of my choice.”

Thornock has committed to Carroll and will start in the fall after graduating from Libby this year.

She plans to study pre-med as she has a passion for the medical field.

The high school senior will surely be missed.  Libby Logger cheer squad coach, Jennifer McElmurry said, “I’m so proud of Jaycee. I’ve had her for four years in cheer. She always works hard and puts 110% in everything she does. I’m going to miss her. Carroll College is lucky to get such an amazing young lady as their cheerleader.”

Good luck Jaycee and congratulations.

Left to  right: Tara Thornock, Jaycee Thornock, and Jennifer McElmurry  pose for a photo while Jaycee signs her commitment to Carrol College. Photo by McKenzie Williams, The Montanian

High winds cause power outages, road closures

By Tracy McNew

 

Flathead Electric Co-op (FEC) and Northern Lights in Troy both experiencing widespread local power outages following a windstorm that began early Saturday morning, Feb. 1.

Strong gusts of wind caused trees and branches to fall on power lines and over roads. Personal items including garbage cans, and even sheds were also blocking roadways.  Power outages were reported throughout Libby, near Happy’s Inn, in Troy, and at Bull Lake, around the Kalispell area and toward the Idaho border.

The National Weather Service in Missoula warned of winds 25-40 miles per hour (mph) in the valleys and gusts up to 60 mph at higher elevations.

According to FEC, hardest hit areas seemed to be locations between west Kalispell and Libby. Highway 2 between Libby and Kalispell near McGregor Lake was  closed to travelers headed both directions for a few hours on Saturday morning as well.

“At the peak, FEC experienced up to 90 separate outages, impacting approximately 10,000 members,” said a press release sent on Saturday evening.

Internet outages were also reported. MontanaSky posted,  “We think most problems systemwide from the wind storm are fixed,” on their Facebook page Saturday evening.

Flathead Electric’s crews started working at 3 a.m. and the bulk of their power outages were restored by midnight on Saturday.

On Sunday morning, Northern Lights posted on their Facebook page, “Northern Light’s Line Crews worked hard throughout the night to bring on nearly all of the remaining locations without power resulting from yesterday’s damaging wind.”

To report Flathead Electric outages, call 751-4449. To report Northern Lights outages, call 866-665-4837.

For safety’s sake, never touch or drive over a downed power line, and if you see one, please report it right away or contact a law enforcement agency. Also, it is important that addresses on your homes and businesses are clearly visible to linemen and emergency responders.

Cabinet Heights Road with downed power lines in the foreground and a fallen tree in the background on Saturday morning, Feb. 1 following strong winds.  A power pole also fell across Cabinet Heights Road trapping residents near Cabinet View Country Club in their neighborhood for a few hours on Saturday morning. Photo by Tracy McNew, The Montanian.

Tall Cop teaches about drugs

By Riley McNew,

Junior reporter

 

Last Tuesday, Jermaine Galloway, also known as the Tall Cop, spoke to the community at the K.W. Maki Theatre at Libby’s Central School. The presentation was for teachers, the community, police officers and more. He also spoke two other times while he was in the area. He was brought to town by the Lincoln County DUI Taskforce and Unite for Youth.

Galloway said, “I do it to help people understand what’s going on with drugs.”

The community members in attendance learned  a lot about drugs and the problems they cause. They learned that many kids are dying from drugs and that e-cigarette companies are targeting kids. They also learned that drug dealers can disguise their drugs as candy. They have found Xanax in gummy bears, heroin in smarties, and more.

You can buy nearly any drug online including heroin and prices are going down. One vape pen can cost as little as $0.99. Vape pens can be disguised as anything even sweatshirt hoodie strings. Also, you can put any kind of drug in a vape pen, not just nicotine and marijuana.

The two-hour presentation was an eye opening experience. One attendee, Steve Voss said he came with his daughter because she is interested in being a police officer. I went to write this story but it was so interesting, I didn’t want to leave.

Marijuana has a lot of names and comes in many different forms. For a long time it was not very potent, but recently, some purified forms, like oils, can be almost 100% THC. They were an average of 20% just a few years ago. Marijuana has never killed anyone but it also kind of has since the drug can make you crazy. It can make you think that there are demons chasing you and you might jump off a building or something else.

Drugs don’t all work the same. Some make you see things, and some make you hyper and some make you calm. Marijuana can do all of these things depending on the type you use.

We learned a lot about drugs and how kids are being targeted and now we know to watch out for anything suspicious.

Tall Cop, Jermain Galloway, poses with Lincoln County Sheriff, Darren Short at the K.W. Maki theatre last Tuesday night prior to his community presentation. Photo by Riley McNew, The Montanian..