T IMES
January 31, 2020
BAKER, MONTANA
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$1.00
Legion Auxiliary Cookie Drive
The American Legion Auxiliary of Baker is once again accepting cookies to be donated to the local veterans’ nursing homes, Glendive, Miles City and Fort Meade. Please drop off your cookies after 3 p.m. at the American Legion Club until Friday, Feb. 7. If you have questions, please contact LaNae at 406-772-5813.
Both Keystone XL, Native Americans get ‘go-ahead’
Staff Report
Baker High School Activities Director, Dave Breitbach was named Class B Activities Director of the Year at the 2020 MHSA annual meeting held Jan. 20, 2020 at the Billings Hotel & Convention Center. Billings, MT
Dave Breitbach Named Class B Activities Director of the Year
By Carole Bettenhausen
Dave Breitbach, Principal and Athletic Director at Baker High School, was selected as the 2020 Class B Activities Director of the Year. ADs are nominated by members of the Montana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators’ Association. Some of the comments made by those who know him well include, “Dave is continually described as the ‘voice of reason’ within meetings and his leadership is invaluable to Class B activities as well as all classifications.” Another individual commented, “Dave is the humble voice who is willing to say what others are thinking but are hesitant to speak up about. He always wants to do what’s best for kids.” “He chooses to be a problem solver rather than a situational complainer.” Another stated, “…a friend that will give you sound advice whether it’s coaching, activities, director, or being a principal.”
Dave graduated from Baker High School in 1975 and attended Dickinson State College and later earned his master’s degree from the University of Mary. He began teaching at Baker High School in 1984, where he taught PE and coached basketball, football and track. During his tenure as head basketball coach, his team won the Class B State Championship in 2000. Dave left the classroom to assume duties as vice principal from 2002-2005; he has been the high school principal and Activities director since 2005. Dave comes from a long line of educators, including his father, Howard Breitbach, who was an educator and advisor at Baker High School, as well as his siblings Bev, Sharon, Rodney, Tommy, and Greg and his daughter, Jessica Boggs, who is a teacher and coach at Baker. Congratulations on a well-deserved award Dave; you make us all proud to call Baker home and to be Baker Spartans.
Less than a month after a federal judge ruled lawsuits could continue over the routing of the Keystone XL pipeline through Montana, the Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt signed a decision allowing the Bureau of Land Management to offer a 44-mile right of way to TC Energy The Record of Decision reportedly allows the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to offer a right-of-way grant to TC Energy for a term of 30 years. In addition, it would allow construction of the Keystone XL pipeline across federal lands. The decision was signed Jan. 22, less than a month after a federal judge in Helena ruled that a lawsuit filed by Native Americans could continue. According to the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris, a lawsuit filed by the Fort Belknap and Rosebud Sioux tribes could continue after an attempt by TC Energy and the Trump administration to have the lawsuit dismissed. The administration and TC Energy had argued that the tribes had no jurisdiction over the project. The tribes have been arguing that the administration had violated the treaty rights. The proposed expansion
route from the tar sands area in Canada near Hardisty in the province of Alberta would cross near the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana on its way through Fallon County near Baker and into South Dakota on its way to connect with the main Keystone XL pipeline in Steele City. According to the proposed project, it will cost approximately $8 billion to build the pipeline between Hardisty and Steel City. It would be more than 1,100 miles in length, with a reported capacity to move 830,000 barrels a day. According to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, the pipeline would enter the state near Morgan on the Canadian border and cut across 285 miles of the state before entering South Dakota about 35 miles south of Baker. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality issued a Certificate of Compliance in 2012 for the project, which allowed for the Montana portion of the project and for associated facilties to be built along the route. In a press release regarding the signing which granted a right-of-way Jan. 22, the Secretary of the Interior praised it. “Today’s decision is an important milestone in constructing the Keystone XL pipeline and a great day for the common sense infra-
structure improvement in our country. President Trump clearly recognizes the importance of having the infrastructure necessary to meet our energy needs and to fuel our economic progress,” the Interior secretary announced. Montana Congressman Greg Gianforte also announced his support, saying “the Keystone XL pipeline will create good-paying Montana jobs, boost our local economies, increase American energy security, and help keep energy prices down.” According to information from the company, in the fall of 2010, TC Energy went to the market with a proposal to move Bakken crude oil production by constructing a receipt facility at Baker near the Montana-South Dakota border. TC Energy said the company signed firm term contracts for 65,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil transportation from the Bakken to key US refining markets. The Bakken Marketlink Project will provide receipt facilities to transport up to 100,000 bpd of crude oil from the Williston Basin-producing region in North Dakota and Montana, to Cushing, Oklahoma, and the US Gulf Coast using facilities that make up part of the Keystone Pipeline Project, the company website explained.
Town approves temporary post office in community center By Brad Mosher
bmosher@countrymedia
The town of Ismay has approved plans to put temporary postal boxes in the town’s community center. At a meeting Jan. 20 in the Joe Montana Community Center, the mayor and town officials approved the plans which could allow partial postal service to return to the community about a month after its local post office burned to the ground. Since the fire destroyed the post office in early January, residents have had to travel to the closest post office in Plevna, approximately a 20-mile drive each way. The owners of the building, Gene and Rita Nemitz, have announced plans to rebuild the building, but have said that rebuilding the building would have to wait for warmer weather in the spring at the earliest. “The investigation is done. It has been ruled an accident,” Rita Nemitz said. She added that the tin and other debris could be cleaned off the building site, but any work below ground would have to wait. “We are working on it to rebuild. It is a slow process.” The biggest stumbling block is the weather, she explained. “My husband and I plan to rebuild the building, so you have to go through a process. We are hoping to get something started, but the weather is going to be a problem. We will have to
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wait to get an excavator in there to dig it out and refill it.” As owners, the Nemitz’ hope to find what the post office requirements would be for the new building, she explained. “We are still waiting on specifics from the post office on what they would require back into the building again.” The building, which burned down in the early morning hours of Jan. 4, had been the post office for the community since the 1940s, she explained. According to Nemitz, the temporary boxes which will be placed in the community center are being shipped. “We are supposed to get a phone call for when they get set up. It is in the next week or so, I’d assume,” she added. That would allow most of the daily service to return to the town, although there will be a need for some residents to still travel to the Plevna post office. “They’ll be a removable set of boxes that they will need to secure. Then, service will return to a point in Ismay.” The post office in the old building rented slightly more than 700 square feet, about half the size of the building, Nemitz said. The building had a varied history in Ismay over the years, she added, noting that it could have been an old cafe and an implement store over the years. When the building is rebuilt, the post office portion will probably be a little larger, but not by much, she added.
Rosts place first at Divisional Speech & Drama
Caleb and Rachel Rost took home first place in Classical Duo at Divisional Speech & Drama meet in Roundup January 25.
For up-to-the-minute news visit falloncountyextra.com
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