Fallon County
T IMES BAKER, MONTANA
May 1, 2020
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Fallon County Commission Candidates District #1 Page 5
Compass Coffee offers caffeine kickstart
By Brad Mosher
bmosher@countrymedia.net
Joe Epley and Kaleb Renfro admit they have great timing. They just hope customers visiting Compass Coffee will agree they also serve a great cup of Joe when they officially open at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning. The “soft opening” they plan has fit right in with the governor’s plan to restart the retail economy of the state. “That has worked out well. The timing is pretty perfect,” Epley said. The opening will be small, giving the business a chance to get off to a start before having a “grand opening,” Epley explained. “I think we are going to start with a few small social media giveaways. We will just run a regular week to get the
kinks out. Maybe if these restrictions continue to lift, we might, a week or a month down the road, do an actual grand opening of sorts. We’ll probably try to do some fun things.” One of the challenges has been coming up with a way to meet the new distancing requirements, he said. “We have been doing a lot of work on the interior of the building, renovating and bringing in new furniture, a new color scheme. It is going to be good.” The coffee shop has ties to the Assembly of God Church in Baker. Epley has been running the youth and community center for the church for the past six years, he said. “We have been stable and consistent … and here for the long haul. There will also be changes to the building exterior, Epley said. “The building is owned by the Grace Lawler Trust and the one stipulation was it had to have Lawler in the name.” “So we came up with Compass Coffee at Lawler’s. We are going to have a new sign and add some lights to give it that old storefront look,” Epley said.
Working on the interior has been a lot of fun, he said, because of the volunteers helping out. “We’ve had a lot of people volunteer dozens of hours of labor, time and materials. They’ve made wonderful things out of wood and counter tops and furniture. It has been a real group activity on behalf of a lot of the church members,” he said. At least to start, the interior of the coffee shop will be simple, he explained. “The menu will be what you find in a coffee shop, with a bunch of different drinks, both hot and cold. There will be some bagel sandwiches, regular bagels and a few breakfast items.” According to Epley, the focus of the coffee shop will be on the food, drink and the atmosphere. “One of our main missions at the Baker Assembly of God Church is just to find ways to give back to the community. One of the ways we have done that so far is our youth and community center. “The coffee shop itself is run as a non-profit. Whatever money we make will be invested, both locally and to other international causes, but primarily, it will be locally first,” he explained. “We
See COMPASS Page 4
Plevna School Board Candidates ew have attended Plevna Public Schools. I received an amazing education and I want to ensure that that tradition continues on for all of our students.
What do you feel you can bring to this office? I
Name: Lisa Rieger
Residence: I grew up on a ranch in Fallon County and recently moved to Plevna Education: I graduated from Plevna Public School. I then went on to South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD for my college education. I received a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology with Minors in Spanish and Criminology. Current job or position: I work for the State of Montana Department of Revenue. I work as an appraiser for Fallon, Carter, and Powder River counties. Related experience: I have served on the Plevna School Board for five years.
try to stay up to date on school policy, funding, and changes in school legislation. I feel that I am a good communicator and am always willing to listen. I am open to change and am willing to try new ideas and philosophies.
What are some of your goals and visions if elected to this office? I want to
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Why are you running for this office? I am a father
of three students attending Plevna School. I am running for the Plevna School Board as I feel I need to be more involved with the schools decisions while my children are in school.
What do feel you can bring to this office? With continue to assist Plevna Public Schools in our growth. I want to continue to push forward in our thinking and always strive to provide a quality education. I will continue to provide support for our staff and our students. We are all a part of the Cougar team.
Why are you running for this office? I have served
on the Plevna School Board for the past five years. I want to continue to serve on this board to help keep the Plevna School running at its very best. I am proud that my grandparents, my parents, myself and my siblings, and now my nieces and neph-
Education: High School Family: Wife - Missy, Children - Wyatt, Whitney & Wiley Current job or position: Rancher, Husband, Father Related experience: I was a past Plevna School Board Member
holding a previous board member position, I have had experience in the operations of the school district and believe I could be an asset to the board.
What are some of your goals and visions if elected to this office? My number one goal is maintaining the safety of students and faculty. When I was previously on the board I proposed cameras and locking the facility after viewing numerous other school facilities. I also was a member of the transportation committee. My goal is to review all of the schools transportation protocols to again keep the safety of the students and faculty top priority.
Name: Robert Thielen
Residence: 211 Burnt Station Rd., Plevna, MT 59344 Obits.................................2 Files of the Times..............3 Candidates........................5 Spartan Scroll...................6
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Cougar Tracks....................7 Car Care.............................9 Classifieds.........................10
L-r: Caleb, Ailey, Carole, Shane, Rafe and Slade. Darby in front.
Bettenhausen ends career with lots of memories, changes By Brad Mosher
bmosher@countrymedia.net
Winning three state titles in a row is memorable. But when Carole Bettenhausen did it with her children on the Speech and Drama squads she coached at Baker High School, it made it even more so. A fixture at Baker for more than 40 years, she will be stepping down at the end of the semester, leaving the administration to fill some big shoes in the Advanced Placement English courses, as well as Spanish, publications and speech. She coached the Speech and Debate and Drama program for 38 years and picked up not only memories but trophies along the way. Bettenhausen remembers coaching more than a dozen students to individual state titles. “We have had a lot of success,” she recalled. “We were very fortunate to have a lot of hard working students who wanted to do well.” Even in her final season leading the program, her team had eight individual state champions in addition to winning the state team title. Although she stepped down as the coach several years ago, she remembers the three straight state championships the most fondly because of her childrens’ participation in the rare accomplishment. “My daughter was on the three back-to-back-to-back state championship teams, so those are the most memorable ones for me... getting to coach my own children and see them succeed,” she said. “We have invitational meets throughout the year and then they go to divisionals and then they compete at the state level,” she said. The season for speech, drama and debate runs from October to January, she explained. Changes There have been some changes over the years since she started in
the late 1970s. “There is more dependence on technology perhaps,” she said, comparing her early years as a teacher to the present. But the curriculum hasn’t really changed that much. “I think that in every class, no matter what you do, there is more use of technology to create, but it is not a change in curriculum.” But the current COVID-19 pandemic and closure of the schools has brought the biggest changes, she said. “Now, we are having to do it online since this shutdown, but it hasn’t changed the basic curriculum. We are still focusing on communication and developing strong writing skills. Those have been and will always be part of any English curriculum.” The pandemic has changed her classes a great deal this spring. “If you don’t have the face-toface or one-on-one interactions, it is difficult to get the students together and the class together at the same time. So, it is more difficult. That human connection is missing right now. “I think every teacher would agree that it makes it more challenging to connect with students,” Bettenhausen said. “This is all kind of a work in progress because initially I think we thought that we would just be off and out of school for a couple of weeks. “No, it looks like it might be longer. Who knows for certain. It is a pretty changing situation in how we are handling it,” she said. In addition, some students do not have access to the technology and some are taking care of brothers and sisters. “It is a challenging time,” she stressed. AP courses Bettenhausen said that her AP English students are always facing challenges. “The AP English is a college-level class and students who take the AP classes in high school earn dual credit at
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the college level. The whole purpose of AP English is to develop and hone their writing skills, and interpret and understand literature.” The school began offering AP English courses about 15 years ago, she explained. “Now, there is quite a variety of AP courses offered at the school. “But the curriculum hasn’t changed. It is just offering students classes with dual credit at college,” Bettenhausen explained. “We have online now because of the shutdown, but AP is not online normally. It is just a college level class and the students who take that do get college credit if they do well. Every college has different requirements that the students have to meet.” Normally, she has had about 15 students in her AP English courses, taking one as a junior and the other as a senior, the teacher explained. The courses are offered on alternate years, so one could start with literature first and follow it with the language the next year. “They get the chance to take both,” she said. Publications Bettenhausen is also in charge of the publications program at the school, working on the yearbook and having students submit articles to the local newspaper. “Writing is pretty much writing,” she added, noting that the students started submitting work to the Fallon County Times about two years ago. “They enjoy it. They get to write about what they participate in and what they know.” Bettenhausen grew up in Fromberg and graduated from Eastern Montana College (now Montana State University at Billings) with a degree in English and minors in accounting and Spanish. Her first job was in Baker, as a business teacher, but eventually she was switched to the English and Spanish classes.
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