Columns
Searching for opinion based articles? Below we'll share opinion news articles on a wide variety of topics.
Northern Pike: Love or hate?
Before we get full time into outdoor columns about hunting, let me do a final end-of-summer column about fishing.
Taking the long way home
Nine years ago, after my husband had completed work on an 18-month job in New Jersey, I flew out there to join him on a cross-country road trip back to Montana
Love of trees takes root
Kalispell Parks and Recreation pulled out all the stops for the 150-year anniversary of the tree-dedicated day in the United States.
The hummingbird, the opossum and the tarantula
Few would consider southern California a hotbed for wildlife — at least of the natural animal/plant kingdom variety.
For officeholders, the ears have it
The 2022 race for Flathead County commissioner has four contenders in the upcoming election. What makes it such a hot seat? I also wondered, What does a county commissioner do all day?
Food, a universal human right
I had intended this column to be about my memories of Easter Sunday growing up in Columbus, Ohio.
Some jobs start after the buck
“You and I, we could sign up and ride in the rodeo next weekend,” emergency medical technician Kim Vierra told me about the amateur rodeo staged between Kalispell and Whitefish.
Turkey season
It’s springtime in the Flathead. Similar to the fall season, the outdoor person has many choices of what to do in the great Flathead outdoors.
A belated tribute to a musical ‘heartbreaker’
Like most everybody, there are all kinds of music I like and keep on my personal playlist — from classical to classic rock — which doesn’t get fed much new material these days; I seem content enough to listen to th…
Break out the gloves and eye black
A dozen years as a head football coach in California and another 18 as an assistant at the high school and college level have prepared Mark Kessler for this moment. Girls flag football is coming to Montana this Au…
Mad skills soar in the skies
The hardest part about attending the Flathead Audubon Society meeting turned out to be finding it.
Dusting off the good ol’ stuff
I was doing a little digging around in some of my old stuff I’ve saved for dubious reasons last week and the first thing that caught my attention was a set of four purple plastic puzzle pieces in asymmetrical shape…
Online hassle
For Montana hunters, both resident and nonresident hunters, March is time to do some heavy duty planning for the 2022 fall hunting season.
Real connections take a hang-up
Pre-Prohibition Kalispell had 28 saloons. That’s nothing compared to Kalispell precursor Demersville: At the height of its population in 1890 it had 73 liquor dispensaries, or about one per 21 residents.
A wanton act of war
All four of my grandparents immigrated from eastern Europe to upstate New York in the early 20th century.
Thompson Chain of Lakes easement
It’s still wintertime in the Flathead, but spring is just around the corner - I hope. This past couple of weeks have been busy for many of us that hunt, fish and hike in the great Flathead Outdoors.