montana

They're musicians, maybe. Or possibly, imaginary creatures best lured from a small boat on calm waters. Or maybe they're aggressive spotted quadrupeds. If only our intrepid columnist had a fancy dictionary ...

Missoulians have always loved music, especially band music. Within a few years of the city’s establishment, the Missoula Coronet Band was formed. The band, wrote the local paper, was “progressing finely, under the instruction of the efficient teacher, Professor A.B. Charpie."

I had never met such a man before. He grew up on a cattle ranch in Montana. He graduated from the Journalism School at the University of Montana (“MSU” at that time) in 1950. He was a hero of the Korean War, awarded the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for Valor for bravery for “leading his men to rescue soldiers trapped behind enemy lines.”

Jim Harmon writes, "As for those Christmas cards – they may be old fashioned, but I think most folks still enjoy receiving them in the mail."

Jim Harmon writes, "Today’s column seems more like a “Meanwhile” segment on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert than my usual fodder of old newspaper stories."

“DUFFY vs THE CATS” was the headline, describing the warring parties: Anaconda Prosecuting Attorney John H. Duffy versus a neighborhood covey of cats, a flock of felines, owned by Johnny Horn.

Consider this response from a Bitterroot Valley editor to the 1894 presidential election: “I look upon the result of the election as a forerunner of Republican success in the future. I regard it as an endorsement by the people both of the declared policy of the Republican Party and in its ability to do some thing in the line of its policy when in power."

There is “a growing national concern about the need to regulate the use of money in political campaigns.” It could be a headline from today – but it isn’t. It’s from 1918!

“Big Arm needs a banking house, a general drugstore, a gents’ furnishing establishment, a shoe store, a jeweler’s store and a food store!” So proclaimed the editors of the Big Arm Graphic in their 1912 salutatory issue.

The wheels of justice can turn rather slowly these days. In some cases, months and months can go by between the time a complaint is filed and a case is finally adjudicated. What we need is a good football game to speed things up!