One Nation, Under God
One Nation, Under God
Off the dozen or so subjects broached at the first Malta City Council meeting of November automobiles were a hot topic, specifically how to park them and where to race them. At the final meeting of October, the council passed a resolution to of-fer to sell lots of land at the old Phillips County Airport south of Malta to the Phillips County Motor Sports (PCMS) organization which cur-rently rents lots at the area and hold several races per summer there. The resolution called for an offer of $90,000 and Malta Mayor Shyla Jones brought the offer to the races shortly after the October meet-ing. At the November council meeting held on November 14, the council members accepted a counteroffer of $75,000 to make the sale to PCMS (approximately 30 lots.) The old airport is currently listed as a Superfund Cleanup site by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the City is currently in a 99-year contract with the PhillCo Economic Growth Council who has been tasked with bringing economic development to the old county airport land. The Superfund cleanup was nearly to completion at the begging of the year, but an incorrect price quote earlier in the process by the engineering firm left the project short the funds needed for completion (nearly $38,000 short.) PhillCo members felt that Mayor Jones had gone behind their back to make the sale of-fer and wondered if the sale was legal. Mayor Jones said an attorney was drawing up the sale and council felt the sale was indeed legal. Councilman Jim Sintler said he had heard that several towns were seeking to lure the motorsport organization away from Phillips County and PCMS members said in the past that they did not want to deal with PhillCo, but rather the City of Malta when it came to the purchase of the land. PCMS has also said that with the purchase of the land that they can expand the raceway, get bigger sponsors involved, and host more racers. "If we weren't going to be benefitting all three parties, we wouldn't be doing it," Mayor Jones said. "This is truly benefitting all three parties because it is going to get the cleanup done and (PhillCo) is going to be able to sell the other (remaining) lots." The City of Malta plans to use a portion of the sale price to finish the Superfund cleanup, use some of the money for surveying and closing costs and then give the remaining money to PhillCo. The first instance of automobile-talk at the Malta City Council Parking occurred earlier in the meeting and touched on angle-parking, or the lack thereof, in parts of the City's downtown area. Several business owners were at the meeting and requested that an-gle parking is allowed on South 1st East from the Coffee Corner's Corner (formally 3 Sisters) all the way east toward Stretch's Pizza and A&J Mobile Fleet Repair. The idea of angle parking arose this summer when construction for the City's water project was underway down-town and left people but no other option but to park at an angle in front of many businesses. Currently, angle parking takes place at several sports along South 1st East - in the Todd's Technology, Family Matters and Mint Bar region - as well as in front of Patty's Floral and the VFW on the western portion of the street. In her preparation for the night's meeting, Mayor Jones said that she discovered that the topic of angle parking had been discussed as re-cently as 2006 when a temporary ordinance was passed to allow the already existing angle parking but added that the ordinance was never finalized. At the end of a nearly 20-minute discussion, it was decided that a committee comprised of business owners and a councilperson (and assisted by Malta Public Works Director Jim Truelove) to re-search what would be the best course of action to take with a possible permanent change to parking along the street. If and when the change is proposed, the City's insurance agency would look at the proposal and, if need be, new signage would be placed in the area ahead of the change. The Great Northern Hotel's 'Elfin' Around' miniature tree at the Phillips County Museum is home to this elf. The GN's tree is one of 10 on display at this year's Christmas Social.
The top of the P.C. Museum & Historical Society's 2017 mini-Christmas Tree entitled "Good Night Montana."
The First of a flurry of Christmas themed gatherings takes place next Thursday, November 30, as the Phillips County Historical Society and Museum host their annual Christmas Social, this year named “Christmas A’ Glow.”
“We are really looking forward to seeing everyone again this year,” P.C. Museum Curator Lori Taylor said. “Everyone is always so supportive of the museum and we are just very excited to see everyone again this year.”
The front section of the Phillips County Museum has been converted into a winter wonderland and features 10 mini Christmas trees decorated by Phillips County residents, businesses and organizations and are awaiting voter’s gold coins to determine this year’s top trees (20 coins for voting can be purchased at the museum for $5, now until the night of the gathering and the tree receiving the most votes will be awarded a gift certificate.) Admission for the Christmas Social is free. Along with the trees are nearly 20 items for the live auctions and bucket raffles (bucket raffles tickets can be purchased and placed before the night of the event as well) The doors for the event open at 6:30 p.m. with refreshments, voting for Christmas trees continues and bucket raffle tickets sold and dropped (the event will not feature a silent auction this year.)
As always, if tree-auction winners would like the Historical Society to assist in finding homes for the decorations, they can oblige (in the past, they have gone to such places as the Hi-Line Retirement Center.)
The night will also include live music — rumor has it that a few KMMR Talent Show contestants from last year may make appearances along with a tall, cowboy hat-wearing crooner — and the night will once again be emceed by KMMR’s Greg Kielb with Cliff Rustad handling the auctions.
The decoration of this year’s mini-trees run the gamut as far as creativity and design go. For the inner-child, the Great Northern Hotel has festooned their tree with red, silver, gold and green ornaments, a few bows and a couple of elves in the project they titled “Elfin Around.” For a more “manly” Christmas, Malta Chapter Walleyes Unlimited’s Christmas tree features, fishing lures, bobbers, fish ornaments galore and is topped with a sign which reads “Ice Fishin’ Nelson” in case you didn’t already know where our local fishermen are this time of year. Other tree submissions were decorated by the Malta Senior Citizens, the museum and historical society, Tulips and Treasures, Hi-Line H’Attitudes, Family Matters, Margaret Leader and Clarice Lundman, Avante, Quilting by the Border and Whitewater Lutheran Church, Hands All Around Quilt Club, Gary Knudsen Appraisal and Barbara Schlocker.
A total of 10 items will be featured in this year’s bucket raffle including audio books by local author B. J. Daniels, and wonderful placement entitled “Table A’ Glow” donated by Lu Besel and a glass snowman centerpiece created by Independence Bank called “The Outside Looking In” which features a winter scene on the lower section, a Nativity scene in the middle, and snowman hat on the top.
“Once again, we have some very original items on display for this year’s Christmas Social,” Taylor said.
Reader Comments(0)