Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/author/edkemmick/page/82/)
Victorious Word Church, 145 Alderson Ave. Service: 10 a.m., Sunday, June 8, 2014
Length of service: 1 hour, 21 minutes. Length of sermon: 36 minutes
It’s a bit awkward when you’re “reviewing” a small church and the minister, recognizing you from your mug in the newspaper, greets you with a hearty welcome. (more…) Continue Reading →
A former Billings City Council candidate who has inserted himself oafishly into this year’s council race has, purely by accident, exposed a general misunderstanding of how that legislative body conducts its business. Brian Kenat, a Tea Party Republican who unsuccessfully ran against Ward 3 Councilwoman Becky Bird in 2013, has been calling council candidates to sound them out on their beliefs—and to badger them if he didn’t like their views. (more…) Continue Reading →
A lot of people are familiar with the work of Charlie Ringer, a metal sculptor who has lived in Joliet for almost 45 years. He figures he’s created more than 5,000 works of art, some of which are in galleries, corporate collections and museums across the country. Countless thousands of people have toured his gallery in Joliet or driven past his property just east of the gallery, fronted by large, whimsical metal sculptures like “The Creature,” dubbed “The Snow God” by skiers and snowboarders on their way to Red Lodge Mountain. (more…) Continue Reading →
At least two people running for seats on the Billings City Council said they received harassing phone calls from a former council candidate, and one of the current candidates said the caller told him he was wasting his time and should drop out of the race. The caller, Brian Kenat, said he is active in Republican and Tea Party politics and was only trying to find out where the candidates stood on various issues, and he denied advising anyone to end his candidacy. (more…) Continue Reading →
First Christian Church, 522 N. 29th St. Service: 10:30 a.m., Sunday, May 11, 2014
Length of service: 1 hour, 28 minutes. Length of sermon: 27 minutes. Today I witnessed my first formal induction of a new church member. At the conclusion of his sermon, Pastor Bobby Shaw invited anyone who wanted to speak to him or pray with him to come forward. Continue Reading →
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. That’s why I’m posting a job description today in place of the regular column. I’m really not in any position yet to take on an employee, but I was so impressed with the job descriptions posted by the Lee newspapers of Montana that I felt compelled to write my own. (more…) Continue Reading →
Tammy Fletcher is a woman with a lot of energy and a lot of ideas. She and her wife, Melody Fletcher, have been running their business, For the Funk of It, on Minnesota Avenue for the past five months, and they have a food truck, Flaming Ladies Barbecue. On the side, they have a commercial cleaning business. (more…) Continue Reading →
FORSYTH—Not too long ago, Arvin Post said, most disabled people knew this drill: “The route to go was the garbage truck route, because wherever a garbage truck could go, a wheelchair could go.”
Even now, he said, rolling down the alley is often easier than trying to navigate a wheelchair through curb cuts in sidewalks, and paved alleys are often flatter and smoother than sidewalks. (more…) Continue Reading →
A few minutes after I posted David Crisp’s column on the Confederate battle flag this morning, I sat down to breakfast and opened the Billings Gazette. On the opinion page, I noticed a guest opinion piece headlined “Remove the battle flag, but then what?” And then I read the byline: “By JOHN M. CRISP, Tribune News Service.” I was reasonably sure that John was David’s brother. I met him years ago when he came up from Texas to visit. Continue Reading →
In Montana newspaper news, two items today. The Native American Journalists Association is reporting the death of Bonnie Clincher Red Elk, whom the association hailed as “a true champion for freedom of the press in Indian Country.” She sounded like a courageous, remarkable woman. The NAJA said she founded the Fort Peck Journal in 2006, after the then-tribal chairman removed her as editor of the official newspaper of the Fort Peck Tribes. Last year, the association presented her with its Wassaja Award, “given in recognition of journalists’ and publications’ dedication to continuing to report the news in the face of challenge and even threat.” Continue Reading →
