VOLUME 100
ISSUE 37
TIMES
FALLON County
fctimes@midrivers.com 406-778-3344
BAKER, MONTANA 59313
$1.00
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2016
Baker kicks off fall in style On September 10, the Baker Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture will be celebrating the changing of the seasons with the eighth annual Fall Festival. The Fall Festival will transform a portion of downtown Baker on First Street West into a walkable street festival with a selection of vendors and activities Saturday, September 10, starting at 9 a.m. Several vendors, crafters and artisans have committed to selling their wares throughout the day. A variety of handcrafted items, artwork, products, and more will be available. Dave and Wendy Shreeve from Forsyth will also be on site selling their famous Prairie Fire Kettle Korn. Members of Fallon Medical Complex Foundation will have hot dogs and tacos-in-a-bag for purchase at lunch time. Children of all ages will have the opportunity to enjoy inflatables brought by Funflatables. The free inflatable fun from noon to 4 p.m. will include five fun activities. At 4 p.m., a Duck Race will be held on the patio of the Baker Club hosted by the Chamber. Ducks can be purchased for the fun race and cash prizes will be awarded. The Baker CowBelles and Chamber will host a Chili CookOff to award bragging rights to the best cooks in southeast Montana. Judging will take place at 5:00 p.m. and prizes will
be awarded for Spiciest, Beefiest, Best Display, and the People’s Choice. The public is welcome to try the entries for free starting at 5:30 p.m. The third annual Rib Cook-Off will also be held in conjunction with the Fall Festival. Ribs and sides will be served to the public starting at 5:30 p.m. for $10 per person, ages ten and under free. Live music and entertainment will be in the evening from 8:00-11:00 provided by Orion and Stacey Potter from South Dakota. They will perform in Thee Garage Showroom. They have been performing together since 2009 and their genre includes 50s and 60s, classic country, country, 70s, and modern music. Products of the Prairie, a farmers and crafters market will also take place Saturday from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. at the Fallon County Fairgrounds. This market will feature Montana made products by numerous vendors including soaps, pottery, crocheted items, metal work, paintings, quilting, garden produce, baked goods & food products, wreaths, repurposed furniture and much more! The $1.00 entry fee will include a Products of the Prairie tote and there will be face painting and other fun activities for kids.
2016 Teacher’s Roll Call
New Siren in Baker By Sherry Vogel Many Baker residents have spotted a new siren in town. I am not referring to a beautiful, seductive woman as referred to in ancient Greek mythology. Remember Odysseus, in The Odyssey of Homer? He had his crew plug their ears and then tie him to the mast, so that he could hear the Siren song but not be destroyed by it. Most women won’t mind if you call them a siren---meaning they’re dangerously beautiful. Now that I have your attention from what might be construed as a very boring subject, this new siren in Baker although tall and slim (actually very, very tall) is not a dangerously beautiful, womanly siren at all, but a new horn device that makes a loud prolonged sound as a signal or warning. Installed on the east side of the old firehall in the downtown district is the new disaster siren. This new beauty in town makes three different sounds. One sound is a warning for an attack; the second sound is an alert for fire calls and the third sound is for chemical spills and other warnings. Want to get to know this new siren? The last Wednes-
day of each month you will hear it sounding at 7 p.m. for the regular monthly fire meeting. Chuck Lee, Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator, said, “Every third month they will sound all three, in turn, so local residents will learn to identify them.” Baker’s new siren is a beauty in her own right as she has 12 separate horns that sound simultaneously. Whereas, the old siren had only one horn that would spin around, 360 degrees, with only one side of it sounding. Another alluring feature of this brand new siren is that it can be battery powered if the electricity goes off. In fact, it takes four truck batteries to operate it. The older siren ran off electricity and was disabled if the power went off. So, by now you have probably figured out Baker’s new siren doesn’t have much in common with The Odyssey’s beautiful sirens. Actually, it might have more in common with the sailors that plugged their ears and struggled not to be allured into the rocks wrecking their ships. They say the new Baker siren alarm is so loud that we may need to plug our ears as we pass by.
TAKE NOTE PTA meeting Parent-Teachers Association monthly meeting will be held Monday, September 12, 7 p.m. in the Fallon County Library basement.
Community Choir practice Practice for the Community Choir Christmas Concert wil be held every Monday in the Longfellow music room at 7 p.m.
Russell’s Clothing Baker, Montana 406-778-2427
By Sherry Vogel The Plevna School District welcomes Teri Downing to Plevna Elementary this fall as the new 1st grade teacher. Mrs. Downing, her husband Brian, and son are returning to the local area as they had lived in Baker five years ago. Back then Teri had taught kindergarten at the Lincoln School while her husband was employed in the oil industry. Upon her husband’s retirement, in Texas, they decided to come back to make Baker their home, because they love living in a small close knit community. Teri stated, “People have made us feel welcomed.” Although Montana winters are totally different than winters in Texas, that’s not a problem for Mrs. Downing because she loves the snow. Downing began teaching 18 years ago
since she has always enjoyed working with kids. Downing grew up in Oklahoma City, OK. After graduating high school she attended the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. She earned a dual degree, a Bachelors of Science in Ele-
Karen Fujimori, Baker, is the new 5th grade teacher at Plevna Elementary this fall. Mrs. Fujimori and her family, husband Andy and two of her three children moved to Baker five years ago, from Olympia, WA. Karen grew up in Olympia. Later as an adult, she owned and operated a daycare center there. The center was licensed for 65 children. Fujimori and her staff cared for children from birth to twelve years old. The center offered an in- house preschool and employed a certified teacher who taught K-5. While managing the center, Karen became interested in teaching children. After moving to Baker, Karen pursued her degree through Western Governor’s University, graduating with a Bachelors of Interdisciplinary Arts K-8 in 2016. She
completed her student teaching in the third grade, this past spring, at Plevna Elementary. She was under the supervision of Mrs. Brenner. “I had the best mentor you could ever ask for,” stated Fujimori. “She would advise me then let me go.” Fujimori shared that she felt very blessed to be able to student teach in Plevna. She said, “I really lucked out doing my student teaching in Plevna. I witnessed teachers that really love and care for their students.” The new grad always felt she would enjoy teaching K-3 grades, but she is very happy to be teaching at the fifth grade level. Mrs. Fujimori shared, “Most students these days are becoming independent at an earlier age due to technology. They are figuring stuff out on their own.” Karen’s husband Andy is the Information Technology Tech for Fallon County.
TERI DOWNING
mentary Education, later receiving a Masters in Reading Education. Mrs. Downing’s motto is, “If you can’t read, you can’t do anything else.” She finds it most rewarding when a student who has struggled with reading starts to read. This leads to her philosophy of teaching. She states, “Every student can learn, but not all students learn at the same rate. Individual students can make great strides in their learning when exposed to different strategies.” In her spare time she enjoys reading. She also loves spending time with her family and travel. This all works well together, since two of her three children live a lengthy distance away. Her son lives in Oklahoma and her daughter is married and makes her home in France.
KAREN FUJIMORI Her oldest son, Michael, 26 is serving in the Marines stationed in Arizona. Her son, Benjamin, 18, recent BHS grad, is attending Montana Tech in Butte this fall. Youngest child, Emi, 15, is a junior at Baker High.
New charges filed in Bowman murder case By Bryce Martin CMI Group Editor BOWMAN, N.D. — Chase Duane Swanson made his initial appearance in Southwest Judicial District Court the morning of Sept. 2, charged with three felonies related to the August homicide of Rhame resident Nicholas Johnson. Swanson and Madison Beth West have been charged with a Class AA felony of conspiracy to commit murder, which has a maximum punishment of life imprisonment without parole, in addition to two Class C felonies of theft of property and felon in possession of a firearm. Swanson is currently being held at the Southwest MultiCounty Correctional Center in Dickinson on a $5 million cash bond. Bowman County State’s Attorney Stephanie Pretzer told The Pioneer that a date for West’s initial hearing is not yet known. Prosecutor Britta Demello Rice of the N.D. Attorney General’s Office will serve as second chair throughout the court hearings and potential trial.
Welcome to Baker for theFall Festival
Saturday, September 10
A criminal complaint made by Timothy Helmer of the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the lead investigator on the case, stated that “the defendants agreed with one of more persons to engage in our cause conduct which in fact constituted the offense of murder.” Helmer continued in the complaint that Johnson was invited into Swanson and West’s motel room at the El-Vu Motel in Bowman where he was ultimately found dead. Todd Anthony Pashano, who allegedly was kidnapped by Swanson and West — though it was not confirmed by law enforcement — was also charged with hindering police, a Class C felony. According to a criminal complaint filed with the court, Pashano allegedly had hindered the police investigation by not contacting law enforcement upon discovery of Johnson’s body and by providing transportation to the couple. Helmer stated in a court affidavit signed Sept. 1 that Swanson, 21, West, 26, and Pashano, 28, had fled the scene Aug. 20 at the El-Vu Motel in Bowman, where Johnson’s body was found, Continued on page 8
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