Blackfoot Valley Dispatch - The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980

The other evening my wife and I were over at some friend's house for dinner. While there we watched the Mecum Auto auction for a while. It was excitin...

"It is impossible to please all the world and one's father." Jean de La Fontaine Fables (1668) Family owned ranches and farms demand a familial unity...

Dear Readers, Now that we are getting settled into the new year, many of us are working on getting healthier. There is so much information about...

Dear Readers, Another year is behind us, and now it's time to get back to our normal routines. Many of us, including myself, have overeaten during...

My father and two of his brothers spent their entire lives on the ranch. Two served in WWII, but the other never left the property. They were...

Lately I have found great contentment in some areas that have caused me much stress. However, as I write this column, I find that some of those...

For the most part, the physical and social geography of Southwest Montana has changed little with the passage of time. Ranching and agriculture are...

Dear Readers, The New Year is upon us, and along with it, come those resolutions. There is room for improvement in all our lives, right? As many as 70...

Unearned suffering is redemptive. - Martin Luther King I had been in Barra do Bugres for about six months when a stranger knocked at my door. I could...

Hi, and welcome to the first edition of a new column I've been working on called "From my Perspective." I mean let's face it, everyone has an...

Fur trappers, followed quickly on the heels of Lewis and Clark into the new frontier. Searching for beaver to satisfy the latest fashion demands of...

Dear Readers, I thought it would be good to end 2019 on a positive note, and according to an analysis of the National Health and Nutrition...

While in Barra do Bugres during my third year in the Peace Corps, Sr. René stopped by my house and asked me to attend a churrasco at his place on...

Father Time just keeps moving along doesn't He? Here we are facing 2020 in just another week. Over the past few years I have found it a bit harder to...

Dear Dietitian, My husband has been diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. His doctor told him to lose weight, and he tries, but he ends...

The Brazilians don't trade many presents during Christmas, preferring to have family/friends gatherings centered around "churrascos," or meat roasted...

An important portion of The Corps of Discovery's journey occurred in southwest Montana. On July 19, 1805, Lewis and his men were struggling up the...

Dear Dietitian, This past weekend, a friend encouraged me to try a meatless burger. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was delicious and...

Work and pray, live on hay, You'll get a pie in the sky when you die. - Joe Hill (Joseph Hillstrom) The Preacher and the Slave I've written a number...

As I think back about the way Congress has failed to address some major issues, I cannot help but scratch my head and wonder “What do they think...

Defining a province like Southwest Montana is subjective. For us, an imaginary line commences at Lolo Pass west of Missoula and moves east along Inter...

Dear Dietitian, I have irritable bowel syndrome and appreciated your column on a high fiber diet to manage IBS. My symptoms are usually pretty...

Bless me father for I have sinned. My last elk hunt was several years ago. In Montana, elk hunting is akin to religion. You don't have to be a true be...