T IMES
February 21, 2020
BAKER, MONTANA
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$1.00
Good Luck Baker Spartans & Plevna Cougars at
District Basketball Tournaments!
Kinsey elected President of the Montana Auctioneers Association
This years’ Montana Auctioneers Association (MAA) Convention was held January 24-26, at the Billings Hotel & Convention Center, Billings, Montana with Peter Gehres, National Auction Association (NAA) as the featured speaker. The Montana Auctioneers Association Business Meeting held on Saturday lead to the following board members elected for 2020: President, J.K. Kinsey, Kinsey Auctioneers & Real Estate LLC, Baker, MT; Vice President Nick Bennett, Western College of Auctioneering, Bozeman, MT; Treasurer Merton Musser, Musser Bros. Inc., Billings, MT; Past President Kevin Hill, Kevin Hill Auction Service, Corvallis, MT; Directors Brian Young, Rick Young & Sons Auctioneers, Fishtail, MT; Reed Tobol, Rivers West Auction Company, Ronan, MT; Gideon Yutzy, High Mountain
Realty, Eureka, MT; Robert McDowell III, Butte, MT; Wade Affleck, Musser Bros. Inc., Billings, MT and Tucker Markovich, North American Auction Company, Bozeman, MT. This year featured an Auction Marketing Contest open to all auction companies in the Montana Auctioneers Association. Kinsey Auctioneers & Real Estate LLC of Baker, Montana had best of show overall placing First in three divisions, Company Booklet Division, Post Card Division and First Place Color Brochure. The 2020 Bid Calling Championship Contest had high participation with 16 contestants in the Pro Division and five contestants in the Rookie Division. The participants sold three items with the top five contestants in the Pro Division coming back to sell in the second round. After some very tough completion Dan Goss, Montana Auction Company out of Sidney, MT took first place in the Professional Division of the Bid Calling Championships. Gideon Yutzy from Rexford, MT was the First Runner Up and Brian Young from Absarokee, MT was the Second Runner up. Cole Morrison from Bozeman, MT was the 2018 Rookie Bid Call Champion.
Vicinity map showing the repairs being applied to each street.
City of Baker Street Conditions either poor or fair.
Proposed Baker Special Improvement District draws angry response Staff Report
A proposed Special Improvement District for improving Baker streets came under fire Tuesday in the Fallon County Courthouse. The City of Baker held the hearing on Resolution 706 with an overflow crowd filling up the hallway outside. According to one person, there were more than 30 people outside complaining they couldn’t hear what was going on and left early. The response to the proposed tax planned for the district was negative, with several of the people complaining that it would be too costly for those residents on a fixed income, and unaffordable to many others. The SID #36 would defray the cost of the improvements with a tax assessment over a short five-year span. Some people were angry that the tax assessment would be effective for just a five-year time span, while others asked why Fallon County wasn’t participating in the project when many people using the streets live outside Baker. According to Todd Griffith, it was an opportunity for the city and county to work together and to utilize the county equipment and city labor, and spread out the cost. For Lane Stanhope, the project should have been postponed from the start since there will be oilfield construction and the work to improve the streets would be impacted. He also said that if the city were to go through with the planned district that there would be a lot of vacant lots in the city. One of biggest responses at the hearing was over how the process had been handled, citing a lack of transparency and sending letters out about earlier meetings regarding the proposed assessment district. Dustan Davis told the council they needed to send out the letters sooner and not scare the public. “I don’t appreciate how vague it was. If you really wanted public input about the last two meetings, why didn’t you send out letters at that time too. We are all here because we were scared.” Dick Chester asked what happens after the five-year assessment. According to Mayor JoDee Pratt, the streets would be chip sealed and would be temporary fixes that would last for five years. She explained that the city has been looking at streets for over a year to figure out how to go forward. The city asked Brosz Engineering, Inc. to do a course study to see if there were any roads they
See SID PROJECT Page 5
Plevna changes security at school Staff Report
A recent arrest of an intruder at the Baker School campus has prompted Plevna school officials to launch a security audit of the facility and make some changes. “Given the incident in Baker, it is prudent for the Plevna School District to audit our school safety protocols and identify changes necessary to improve our school security and maximize the safety of our students,” Nick Schumacher, the school superintendent announced in a letter. According to the superintendent, currently all exterior doors are locked and closed. School visitors must access the school through the front doors via an intercom system operated in the school office. “The office staff is able to visually identify all persons entering and exiting the building. After the school day, the exterior doors of the school are unlocked and remain unlocked until 5:30 p.m. As a result, both friends and strangers have the ability to freely enter the school building with unfettered access to our school, classrooms, faculty, staff, and kids,” the superintendent explained. But there will be some changes in March. “Starting Monday, March 2, the Plevna School will begin limiting the time our school doors are unlocked. The doors to the Plevna School will be unlocked between the hours of 7:35 a.m.- 8 a.m. and 3:16 p.m - 3:45 p.m. “Our front door entry system will continue to be staffed during office hours to provide after school access to the front door of the school. “With the increased security of our building, the pickup of students attending the free after school program will be moved to the rear of the building at the multipurpose room entrance. The exterior doors near the multipurpose room will remain locked and a doorbell system will be installed to provide access to the building,” he added.
TODAY’S FORECAST High: 37 Low: 19
Sunny
Files of the Times..............2 District Brackets.........................3 Upcoming Events..............5
A beautiful southeast Montana sunset.
Spartan Scroll...................7 Cougar Tracks....................8 Classifieds.........................9
Fall n C unty Times Valentine L ve S ng Scramble
For up-to-the-minute news visit falloncountyextra.com
Love Song Scrambe Winners on Page 4!!!!
1. ____________________________________________________
1. ERCFTPE
2. ____________________________________________________
2. YM ATHER ILWL OG NO
3. ____________________________________________________
3. LPRPEU INRA
4. ____________________________________________________
4. FI I NATI OGT UYO
5. ____________________________________________________
5. ZCU I OEVL OYU
6. ____________________________________________________
6. NTCA PEHL AFLNILG NI VLEO
7. ____________________________________________________
7. LAL OUY ENDE SI OVEL
8. ____________________________________________________
8. HES LIWL EB ELVOD
9. ____________________________________________________
9. SUJT HET AWY YUO EAR
10. ___________________________________________________
10. REOVL
11. ___________________________________________________
11. LAL FO EM
12. ___________________________________________________
12. AZRYC NI VEOL
13. ___________________________________________________
13. UWLDNTO TI EB CINE
14. ___________________________________________________
14. OLVE NO TEH RIBNA
15. ___________________________________________________
15. HTE YAW UYO OOKL NITTOHG
16. ___________________________________________________
16. ODG AVGE EM OYU
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17. A EMNMTO IKEL HIST
18. ___________________________________________________
18. VEOL LEIK ZYCAR
19. ___________________________________________________
19. WDLORANLWE
20.___________________________________________________
20. HWNE I OKOL TA OUY
3-2-1 Try Your Drink Specials Luck in our Casino Fri. & Sat.
$10 in Love Bucks
to be used at participating businesses. 1. Unscramble the names of the love songs. 2. Complete the entry form and drop off at the Fallon County Times or mail to Fallon County Times, Box 679, Baker, MT 59313. 3. One entry per person. Only Original forms accepted 4. Deadline Monday, February 17 at 4 p.m. 5. All correct entries will be put in a drawing for “Love Bucks”. Three winners will be drawn.
We want to hear from you: See how to contact us on Page 2 Vol. 104 No. 08
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Daily Lunch Specials The Biggest And Best Mon.- Steak Sandwich w/ gems Tues.- Finger Steaks w/ fries Wed.- Chicken Strips w/ fries Thurs.- Double Cheesburger w/ fries Fri.- Fish & Chips
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