Ed Kemmick

Ed Kemmick has been a newspaper reporter, editor and columnist since 1980. Except for four years in his home state of Minnesota, he has spent his entire journalism career in Montana, working in Missoula, Anaconda, Butte and Billings. "The Big Sky, By and By," a collection of some of his newspaper stories and columns, plus a few essays and one short story, was published in 2011.

Recent Posts

A worthy goodbye to Elvis Old Bull

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Exactly one month after he died, basketball legend Elvis Old Bull has gotten the tribute he deserved, on Vice Sports. Old Bull played for the Lodge Grass Indians from 1988 to 1990, when the team took three state titles and Old Bull was named tournament MVP all three years. I never saw Old Bull play, but I was lucky enough, at the state tournament in Butte in the early 1980s, to see Hardin player Jonathan Takes Enemy, another Montana legend mentioned in the article. As I say, this tribute by Patrick Sauer is worthy of its subject. Here are two of my favorite parts:
In Old Bull’s sophomore season, the Lodge Grass Indians came out of nowhere to win the Class B title in Missoula, and he exploded onto the state basketball scene, long before the advent of YouTube or MaxPreps, back when a 20-second clip on Chris Byers KULR sports wrap-up was all the footage hoop fans were going to get. And this:
Old Bull had his demons. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Elvis Old Bull, Jonathan Takes Enemy, Lodge Grass Hardin

Two cities give Billings advice on helping street people

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Babock

Nearly 200 people gathered in the Babcock Theatre Wednesday to hear how other cities developed innovative programs to ease two of the biggest problems in downtown Billings. Representatives from San Diego, Calif., talked about their Serial Inebriate Program to help alcoholics finally kick the habit, and the president of Haven for Hope in San Antonio, Texas, talked about what has been described as the largest single effort in the country to do something about homelessness. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Billings, News, Babcock Theatre, Downtown Billings Alliance, Haven for Hope, Northern Hotel, Serial Inebriate Program, Tina Volek

At the Community Crisis Center, an hour of storytelling

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Carrie

A fiction writing workshop held Tuesday evening a couple of blocks from McKinley Elementary School got off to an enthusiastic start. Local author Carrie La Seur was waiting at a conference table as those attending the session filed into the room. The first person to enter, a woman, exclaimed, “I heard ‘book seminar’ and I hopped to it!” (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Billings, News, 'The Home Place', Americorps VISTA, Carrie La Seur, Community Crisis Center, Deirdre Loftus, Jessi Courier

Roberts man’s mustache takes the gold in Portland

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Cordes

Early in 2013, when he started growing a mustache, John Cordes had no particular plans for the facial extension. “The first of February, I don’t know why, I just decided to see how long I could grow one,” he said. “And then my wife said, ‘It’s going to be gray.’ So I had even more incentive to grow it.” (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Diversions, Heavy Horse Bar, John Cordes, Red Ants Pants Music Festival, Roberts, World Beard and Moustache Championships

Oil tank deaths raise serious questions

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Well

Since 2010, four Montana natives have died under similar circumstances in the Bakken oil fields. All were found unconscious or already dead on steel catwalks above tanks of crude oil whose levels they were checking. Trent Vigus, 30, of Glendive, originally of Butte, died at an XTO Energy well site near Lambert, Mont., on July 2, 2010. Dustin Bergsing, 21, of Edgar, originally of Livingston, died at a Marathon oil well near Mandaree, N.D., on Jan. 8, 2012. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Bakken, Blaine Otto, Dustin Bergsing, EnergyWire, Mike Soraghan, Trent Vigus, Zachary Buckles

A fine tribute to Joe Medicine Crow on his 101st birthday

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Medicine Crow

A really fine profile of Joseph Medicine Crow was posted today—on the occasion of Medicine Crow’s 101st birthday—at Al Jazeera America. His story is familiar to most people in this part of the world, but this is the most comprehensive piece I’ve read about him, and it seems to capture his personality very well. The story was written by Mary Hudetz, a native of Crow Agency and editor-in-chief of Native Peoples Magazine. Here’s a bit more from her profile at the website of the Native American Journalists Association, of which she is president:

“She is a former editor on The Associated Press’ West Regional Desk in Phoenix, where she filed national breaking news and daily stories on broad range of topics and events in the West. She also worked closely with a team of reporters to develop stories specifically about Native issues and communities.” Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Al Jazeera America, Janice Little Light Hudetz, Joe Medicine Crow, Leo Hudetz

Study says Meth Project less effective than advertised

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Meth

A recently published study has found that in eight states where the Meth Project anti-methamphetamine advertising campaign has been used, there is little evidence that the campaigns had any effect on meth use among high school students. The study did find, however, that there was “some evidence” that the Meth Project may have decreased meth use among white high school students. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: News, D. Mark Anderson, David Elsea, Montana Meth Project, Montana State University, Office of Public Instruction, Tom Siebel, Youth Risk Behavior Survey

The pleasure of voting for Mike Wheat

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Wheat

In almost every election there is something on the ballot I feel good about voting for or against, something to balance my cynical distaste for politics. A few years ago it was the chance to vote for our beautiful new library. When I pass it now I can say to myself, “I built that,” and it’s kind of true, in a way. In other elections, during the time I was covering the City Council, I could for vote for an incumbent I knew from experience to be a good public servant—or against one I knew to be an annoying jackass. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Prairie Lights, Chuck johnson, John Adams, Lawrence VanDyke, Mike Wheat, Montana Supreme Court

High Plains BookFest opens with talk of the ‘other’ border

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Safarik

Of course it was planned and was not a lucky accident, but still, you couldn’t have found a better way to officially open this year’s High Plains BookFest on Friday. The theme of this year’s festival is Border Crossing, meant to celebrate the literary kinship of the people of the High Plains, whether they live in the United States or Canada. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Culture, Allan Safarik, High Plains BookFest, James J. Hill, James Welch, Pinkerton, Tim Lehman, Western Heritage Center

Alexie delivers rollicking, raucous speech at Rocky

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Alexie

It’s a safe bet that the Skyview High parent who did not want her child to read Sherman Alexie’s “Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” would not have wanted her child to attend Alexie’s speech in Billings Thursday night. The wildly popular author delivered a 65-minute talk and then spent 48 minutes answering, more or less, just three questions from the audience in the gymnasium of Rocky Mountain College’s Fortin Education Center. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Culture, Common Read, Fortin Education Center, Luella Brien, Rocky Mountain College, Sherman Alexie, Steve Germic. Leo Goes Ahead