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Following
are abbreviated versions of the week's top stories.
This digest is updated once a week, usually on Thursday.
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Mountain
lion blamed for attack
By
Amanda Breitbach
Ranger-Review Staff Writer
A
small horse was attacked Saturday night by what was
probably a mountain lion. The horse, Reba, is owned
by Ryan and Deniel Campbell but was boarding with
Jim and Trish Mires at their home on Colin Avenue.
Jim
said he had gone out riding with his daughter and
son, from their home to Makoshika State Park. When
he and the kids returned around 6 p.m., they unsaddled
the horses and put them in a round pen to cool down.
The group returned to the house, which Mires estimated
to be about 300 yards from the pen. Before going in,
Mires heard some noise in the corral and saw his horse
kicking with both hind legs.
“My
horse was just going plumb crazy and so was Reba,”
he said. He watched the animals, but when they calmed
down he assumed they had just been irritable from
the long ride and dismissed it. About an hour and
a half later, Mires went back down to check on the
horses and saw that Reba had injured the area near
her front shoulder on the fence and also had a wound
on her eye.
Mires
thought Reba had injured herself when the horses were
kicking earlier and busied himself by taking care
of the largest wound. The next day Campbell came out
to look at her injuries. On closer inspection, the
two noticed four large scratches on the horse’s
rump as well as smaller scratches around the eye.
Based on the size of the scratches, they suspected
she had been attacked by a mountain lion.
“When
we looked at her really carefully, you could see (that
it was a lion),” Mires said. Campbell took the
horse to veterinarian Dr. Cara Voss on Monday when
the wounds began to swell. Voss shaved portions of
the horse’s hide, revealing several puncture
wounds and a bite mark at the base of her neck.
That
convinced the two that the attack was made by a mountain
lion, and they called Howard Burt, a biologist for
Fish Wildlife and Parks, to come out and inspect the
horse.
Burt
looked Reba over on Wednesday night and agreed with
Mires and Campbell that a mountain lion attack was
a definite possibility. “I could almost say,
yeah, that’s a lion. I don’t know what else
could do that,” Burt said.
This
attack was the strongest evidence he had ever seen
of a lion so close to town, he added. Burt said it
would be difficult to estimate the local cat population
or to tell if it is increasing, but the mountain lion
population is clearly linked to deer populations.
“This
is a really difficult creature to put your fingers
on,” Burt noted, adding that he himself had only
seen two in his life. Signs that may indicate a mountain
lion’s presence include tracks, or buried, half-eaten
game. Domestic animals like dogs and horses will usually
smell a lion and act strangely when one is around.
The
Saturday attack was unusual because it happened so
close to the house and during daylight hours. The
family dog accompanied the group on their ride, but
may not have smelled the cat because of windy conditions.
The dog and horses have seemed alarmed several nights
running this week, Mires said. If necessary, Burt
said that FWP can call in a tracker from Savage who
has worked with the agency several times, using hounds
to hunt the big cats.
While
he encouraged using caution, Burt did not want people
to panic. “It’s a real fine line we have
to tread,” he said, explaining why FWP does not
publicize sightings of the big cats when there is
no concrete evidence left behind. “It’s
called urban wildlife. You’ve just got to be
smart about it,” he added.
Trish
agreed. “I tell the kids it’s like rattlesnakes;
you just have to be careful,” she said.
Still,
the experience was rattling. “I can replace the
horse, but there were little kids over there,”
Campbell said. “I won’t ride now without
a gun.”
Demolition
digs up memories of old grocery store
By
Melissa Smith
Ranger-Review Staff
Workers
this week may have torn down the building that once
housed the iconic Crisafulli Grocery Store, but the
memories haven’t gone anywhere.
Buried
in the rubble, they found a vintage inscribed letter
opener, something neighbor Kathy Green said she is
sure belonged to her grandparents, Mary and Joe Crisafulli,
who built the store in the early 1900s after emigrating
from Italy.
Green
has since polished the silver piece and will add it
to her collection of family memories.
“It
really is beautiful,” she said.
Of
course, the demolition has also brought up memories
for members of the Crisafulli family and neighbors
who remember the store in its heyday.
Green’s
father, Joe Crisafulli, Jr., now in his 90s, said
he remembers living in the diverse neighborhood of
immigrants who would come into the store often. The
business carried Italian, Greek and American groceries,
including some 50 types of pasta, Crisafulli said,
adding that his family also raised all of the produce
sold in the store.
“My
parents’ philosophy was, ‘Have a house;
It might not have any floor or windows, but have land
as far as you can see,’” he said. “They
had a lot of land.”
The
store also carried some clothing and hardware, and
there was a gas pump out front.
Some
of his favorite memories, Crisafulli said, come from
the lively meals hosted by his parents with his mother,
Mary, acting as cook.
“I
loved her pasta best,” he smiled.
“My
father made Italian wine, and he’d always go
down in the basement to bring a bottle up for dinner.
Most of the Italians in the area would be there. The
priest was always there. We’d have a house full.
My mother was a wonderful cook.
“My
parents were wonderful people. Everyone loved them.
They were very polite and respectable and they cared
about people. We had two big boxes with store credit
books.”
In
1913, Crisafulli’s parents set up their household
in the back of the store, something that was common
practice in that era.
He
was the oldest of five children; his brothers Frank
and Leonard have since passed away, and his brother
Angelo still lives in Glendive. Their sister, Rose
Croonenberghs, now lives in Missoula.
It
wasn’t always an easy life, operating the family
business, he said. There was hard work to be done
in the fields, but Crisafulli said he and his siblings
were brought up to embrace the work.
“Dad
would be up at three or four o’clock in the morning
and say, ‘Okay, guys, let’s go,’”
he said. “Everything we did, we looked forward
to it. He wasn’t slave driving.”
Crisafulli
said his father was a natural entrepreneur and developer,
patenting his own brands of food, even pop. He also
invented the Crisafulli Pear.
“He
was one of those people that did a lot for this town,”
Crisafulli said.
Green
says she has many memories of visiting her grandparents
at the store, and, eventually, the house she now lives
in.
“I
can remember as a child running in and out of the
store and playing in this neighborhood and looking
forward to all of our visits,” she said.
One
of the people she remembers spending time with is
Tom Taylor, who lived two doors down from the store
and is still in the neighborhood.
Taylor
said he has fond memories of Green’s Grandpa
Joe.
“He
always had a trick to play with you,” Taylor
remembered. “He’d put his hand out and say,
‘Put your finger between mine,’ and then
he’d always squeeze your finger.”
Taylor
said he would go in to the store to buy cinnamon bears,
two for a penny.
The
Crisafullis sold the store, Green said, in the late
1950s or early 1960s to Noni and Jerry Morasko. Eventually,
the building became a residence and became unstable
with age. It was condemned and demolished by the county
for safety reasons.
Both
Green and Taylor said seeing the building torn down
this week is an emotional event.
“I
looked out last night and could see the house next
door to it, and I couldn’t have done that before,”
Taylor said. “It’s kind of sad. I’m
sad to see it go, but hopefully something good will
come out of it.”
“It
was kind of a shock seeing it that first time,”
Green said, adding that she agrees it was time for
it to come down.
Crisafulli
said he has not seen the demolished building and isn’t
sure if he wants to see it.
“I
have a feeling I should, and I have a feeling I shouldn’t,”
he said. “I don’t know if I want those bad
memories.”
Instead,
Crisafulli said, he will hang on to the good memories
– the laughter at the dinners, the love of his
family and the prime of his parents’ life when
people would come from all over to visit their store.
“My
family, we’re proud people,” he said. “My
parents came here with nothing and they built many
things. My family, we haven’t done bad. Actually
it’s gone the other way.
“That’s
what I want people to remember. ”
Correctional
facility garden offers many benefits
By
Cindy Mullet
Ranger-Review Staff Writer
Gardening
gives inmates at the Dawson County Correctional Facility
a constructive activity to do and cuts down on food
costs.
Prison
officials working with Dawson County Extension Agent
Bruce Smith started a garden at the correctional facility
three years ago, Warden Steve Ray said. The Correctional
Facility garden is one stop on the Glendive Garden
Club’s garden tour this year.
They
started small, talking with the cooks in the kitchen
to see what produce they could use.
They
also made a contract with the company that provides
food services for the prison in which the company
agreed to purchase all the garden produce the prison
cooks could use. With a prison population of 175,
they use a lot of vegetables, he added.
The
first year, the garden was so successful that they
expanded to a second plot almost twice the size. They
have vine plants at one end of that plot and have
chosen varieties that store well. Last year they grew
some really large pumpkins which they donated to the
Head Start program for Halloween, he said.
Last
year their corn crop didn’t do well and Ray debated
planting corn this year. So many local farmers have
corn that they can usually purchase what they need
from them, but in the end he decided to give it another
try. He has been checking other corn fields and theirs
looks as if it is doing about as well, he said.
This
year they have expanded the garden project again,
putting up a high grow tunnel below the prison on
land that is being leased from the city. They have
planted tomatoes and cucumbers in the center of the
tunnel and have herbs along the sides. If the herb
garden is successful, they hope to sell some locally,
he explained.
The
garden project is a good fit for the prison since
it is labor intensive and inmates have a lot of work
hours. Almost all of the garden is planted from seed.
Six to eight inmates work in the gardens every morning
and again in the afternoons, planting, watering, weeding
and then harvesting. Their pride in the work can be
seen by how clean of weeds the garden is, he said.
Before
they are allowed to work in the garden, inmates must
meet certain criteria set by the Department of Corrections
for outside activity. Screening for the project is
based on inmate behavior. Most of the men who work
in the garden are usually nearing their release date.
“It
is good for them to help produce food and it reduces
the cost of their incarceration,” he noted.
Some
of the inmates have had limited experience gardening.
For others it is completely new. Prison officials
have various levels of expertise in gardening too,
so are always looking for volunteers who can give
advice and counsel, he said.
Along
with the garden project, the inmates have started
a small orchard, planting cherry and apple trees.
Half were planted last year and half this year. They
are looking forward to the trees producing fruit that
can be used by the inmates and perhaps sold locally,
he said.
The
garden work is popular with the inmates. The gardeners
look forward to the opportunity to work outside and
the challenge of learning new skills. Many may never
have taken on a project and been successful with it,
so this is a good experience for them, he said, adding
that even those who don’t work in the garden
enjoy the fresh produce.
“We
get a lot of positive feedback for the fresh vegetables,”
Ray said. “They really appreciate it.”
Obituaries
The
following obituaries appeared in The Ranger-Review
the week of July 20, 2008.
Thomas Michael Tillman,
62, of Pocatello, Idaho, passed away Tuesday, July
15, 2008 at a Pocatello, Idaho care facility.
Theophil
“Ted” Bonnet,
79, of Glendive, passed away on Wednesday, July 16,
2008 at the Glendive Medical Center.
Darline
Smith,
59, of Glendive, passed away on Sunday, July 13, 2008
from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.
SPORTS
14-15 years olds take state title
By
Kevin Miller
Ranger-Review Staff Writer
The
Glendive 14-15 year old baseball All-Star team claimed
the top trophy this weekend at the state tournament
in Whitefish and Columbia Falls.
After
finishing 2-1 in pool play, the local team went undefeated
in tournament play to capture the state crown. The
first place finish moves the All-Stars on to the Northwest
Regional tournament in Lewiston, Idaho.
Glendive
entered the championship round of play as the No.
2 seed out of its pool. The team’s first round
match-up was against Kalispell, who Glendive defeated
3-0. In the semi-final game the All-Stars knocked
off South Valley 8-5. Glendive then downed Mission
in the championship game 14-3.
Glendive’s
first opponent in pool play was Havre. The Glendive
All-Stars used a big seven-run third inning to open
up a comfortable 8-0 lead. Havre scored single runs
in both the fourth and fifth innings to cut Glendive’s
lead to 8-2. Glendive answered those two runs with
two of its own in the top of the sixth. Havre did
not give up, coming back with three in the bottom
of the sixth and then tacking on one more run in the
bottom of the seventh, but fell by a final score of
10-6.
Kyle
Hinebauch pitched five strong innings and retired
the first nine Havre batters he faced. Alex Burlison
drove in two runs and scored two runs. Bryce Benson
hit a home run and scored a pair of runs.
Glendive
017 002 0 10 – 6 – 3
Havre 000 113 1 6 – 7 – 5
Glendive
fell in its second contest to Glacier 15-2.
This
was a very close contest through the first five innings,
with Glacier holding on to a 2-0 lead. Glacier exploded
in the sixth inning, scoring eight runs. Trailing
10-0, Glendive was able to score twice to keep the
game going. Glacier then added five more runs in the
seventh and held Glendive scoreless to win by a 13-run
margin.
Tyler
Tolan started on the mound for Glendive and pitched
a nice game in his five innings of work. Burlison
and Charley Cunningham each had a hit and one run
scored.
Glacier
010 108 5 15 – 11 – 2
Glendive 000 002 0 2 – 2 – 4
The
Glendive All-Stars bounced back in the team’s
third game to take care of South Valley (Bitterroot)
12-2. After two and a half scoreless innings, Glendive
pushed across four runs in the third, then added another
in the fourth.
Glendive
had another big inning in the fifth, tacking on six
more runs. Trailing 11-0, South Valley scored a couple
of runs in the top of the sixth to stay alive. However,
Glendive came back with a run in the bottom of the
inning to end the game by the 10-run rule.
Pitching
and defense were the keys to this Glendive win. Austin
Eggert and Charley Cunningham combined on a four-hitter.
Cunningham was two for three at the plate with two
runs scored. Hinebauch had two hits in four at bats.
South
Valley 000 020 2 – 4 – 3
Glendive 004 161 12 – 8 – 1
In
one of the most exciting games of the tournament Glendive
got by Kalispell 3-0 in nine innings.
Kalispell
was the No. 1 seed out of its pool and one of the
favorites to win it all. This game was a pitching
duel throughout as the two teams combined for just
seven hits. Entering the ninth, Glendive had yet to
get a hit in the contest. Eli Bachmeier led off the
top of the ninth with a single to left field. Cunningham
drew a base on balls and Benson followed with a two-run
double to break the ice and give Glendive the 2-0
advantage. Cody Clausen followed with a two-out RBI
to bring in Benson. Kalispell managed a lead-off single,
but the Glendive pitching again came through in the
clutch to preserve the win and the shutout.
Hinebauch
and Tolan combined on the five-hit shutout. The Glendive
win moved them into semi-final action.
“This
was the most exciting game I have ever been a part
of,” said Assistant Coach Pat Burlison.
Glendive
000 000 003 3 – 2 – 1
Kalispell 000 000 000 0 – 5 – 5
Next
up for the Glendive All-Stars was a rematch with South
Valley.
Glendive
scored twice in the top of the first, only to see
South Valley answer, taking a 3-2 lead after the first
inning of play. In the top of the third, Glendive
was able to push across another run to even the score
at 3-3. Glendive put together a five-run fifth inning
to open up an 8-3 lead. South Valley kept it exciting
as the team came up with two runs in the sixth to
cut the deficit to 8-5. Glendive pitching rose to
the challenge and shut down the opponent in the last
inning to secure the win and move the Glendive All-Star
team into the championship game.
Tolan
and Cunningham pitched this pivotal game for Coach
Pearcy. Cunningham also had a big day at the plate,
going three for four with an RBI and two runs scored.
Glendive
201 050 0 8 – 8 – 1
South Valley 300 002 0 5 – 10 – 4
The
Championship game pitted the Glendive All-Stars against
the Mission All-Stars.
Mission
scored first in the bottom of the first to take a
1-0 lead. After a scoreless second inning, Glendive
woke up the bats in the top of the third. Four hits
led to four runs in the inning for Glendive, giving
them a 4-1 lead. They kept things rolling in the top
of the fourth inning with another three runs on three
base hits. Mission came back with a pair of runs in
the bottom of the fourth to cut the Glendive lead
from six runs down to four.
After
neither team scored in the fifth , Glendive erupted
for seven huge runs in the sixth. Mission needed at
least two runs in the sixth to keep the game going,
but Hinebauch was able to close the door with a 1-2-3
inning. This gave the Glendive All-Stars the 14-3
win and the State Championship.
Burlison,
Cunningham, Benson and Bachmeier all had a multi-hit
game. Benson had three hits, three runs scored and
drove in three runs. Eggert scored three times and
Bachmeier and Burlison each had two RBI’s.
Glendive
004 307 14 – 13 – 3
Mission 100 200 3 – 4 – 3
Glendive
will face North Oregon in its first round game of
the regional tournament on July 28. In round two the
team will square off against Idaho. Next Glendive
will be up against Alberta, Canada.
The
final game in pool play pits the All-Stars against
British Columbia, Canada on August 1. The top two
teams from each pool will advance to the championship
round.
-News
stories and vital records from current and back issues
of the Ranger-Review are indexed at the Glendive Public
Library-
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