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About Fallon County Times (Baker, Mont.) 1916-current | View This Issue
Fallon County Times (Baker, Mont.), 29 April 2016, located at <http://montananewspapers.org/lccn/sn84036037/2016-04-29/ed-1/seq-1/>, image provided by MONTANA NEWSPAPERS, Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana.
ISSUE 18 Gir fctimes@midrivers.com 406-778-3344 BAKER, MONTANA 59313 Queen Jessica Stockett. daughter of Karen Stockett and the late Lee Stockett, and king Jake EdgeII, son of John and Krissy Edge11. Submitted Photo A night of elegance $1.00 FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2016 Plevna's 2(116 prom was held April 23. The theme was \The Roaring Twenties\. The Grand March consisted of seven couples: Marissa Henning and Dylan Sander, Jessica Paul and Jake Edge11, Nicole Allerdings and Joel Raisler, Jessica Stockett and Chris Skogas, Taylor Rieger and Jade Fix. Laylah Dulin and Colter Peterson, and Courtney Indorand Cole Edge11. Jake EdgeII was crowned king and Jessica Stockett was crowned queen. - Providing the music throughout the night were the Ills, Boisterous Boys, cousins Eric Lovec and Toby Tooke who are originally from Ekalaka. Following the prom, students enjoyed pizza and a few rounds of bowling at the Baker Bowling Center. Mid -Rivers discontinues cable television systems Approximately 14 Baker residents, including the City's Director of Public Works and CEO of Fallon Medical Complex, attended an open meeting hosted by Mid -Rivers Telephone Co- operative the evening of April 21 at the Senior Citizens Center. Mid -Rivers, who has provided cable TV serv- ices to Baker residents since 2002, announced at the meeting that it will be turning off several small cable television systems - including the Baker system -later this fall. All current cable television subscribers will receive official no- tice of the turn down date in the near future. The company will continue providing tele- phone, cellular and Internet services in the area. The Cooperative's External Relations Man- ager, Erin Lutts, presented information on the history of the Baker cable TV system and the difficulties associated with operating small cable systems. Changes the industry has seen over the last decade are forcing many small cable TV providers to shut down cable sys- tems, and focus on delivering Internet. Over 850 small -to -mid -size U.S. cable operators, in- cluding companies with as many as 455,000 customers, are experiencing rapidly increasing programming costs and net losses of video subscribers. Mid -Rivers has about 11,000 cable TV sub- scribers throughout Montana. and only about 540 of those are in Baker. Cable TV customers have been \cutting the cord\ since around 2012 when Internet -delivered video through sources like Netflix became widely available, and the rate of cable TV service disconnects has continued to climb since that time. Even satellite TV providers Rt t -Rish and DitecTV are losing traditional subscribers and have begun offering \over the top\ video bundles, delivered completely over the Internet. \About 50 percent of Baker customers still have our cable TV service today, so half the people here are already getting their TV serv- ices somewhere else. The service they do have and need from us is Internet, and we need to focus on delivering Internet services that will meet the community's long-term needs,\ said Lutts. \There area lot of other options for TV. You now have the option of creating your own TV lineup using free local antenna channels and online video sources like Netflix, Hub, Amazon, Roku, and many others. Mid -Rivers also addressed comments the company had heard from some customers prior to the meeting, such as 'I thought we were a cooperative.' \The cooperative was formed to provide tele- phone service, not cable TV, and our Cooper- ative mission is to provide essential services.\ Inns stated. \Telephone is still an essential service, and now Internet is essential also. We have to make sure we can deliver those essen- tial services for our members in town and out in the rural areas.\ Information was shared about the ballooning costs of TV programming, with TV content providers like Viacom (owner of channels like TV Land and CMT) demanding 200 percent rate increases for the same programming, and local networks who charge the company to de- liver their channels that can be picked up free with an antenna. \We are sending millions of your dollars to these programmers and losing millions doing it. We want to put that money in the ground in eastern Montana instead,\ stated Lutts. Lutts also discussed changes in the coopera- tive's Federal support for providing services in rural areas. \Telephone is a supported service through the Federal Universal Service Fund (USF), and as of March 31 of this year, Inter- net is also a supported service. Cable TV is not a supported service. The Federal Communica- tions Commission (FCC) is telling us to build SEE MID -RIVERS, PAGE 6 Otto's Shoppe open for business in Lawler's building By Angel Wyrwas The grand opening of Otto's Shoppe April 23 was a testa- ment to the community's desire to see another store open on Main Street. Owners Sheldon and Jessica Benedict were sur- prised to find people at their door before the lights were turned on. \People were here at ten to nine and I hadn't even turned the lights on yet,\ said Jessica. \Then when they came in there was pretty much a line from the coffee counter to the door until 1:30 p.m. We were really hustling again from 2:00 p.m. to close. I had no idea we would be that busy!\ Sheldon and Jessica both grew up in Baker and graduated from Baker High School, \We've been married for three years,\ explained Sheldon, \but we've been together for eight.\ Now the high school sweethearts have a 16 month old son, Jason. Sheldon used to do inventory for Runnings and now is a City plans two weeks for Clean -Up Days By Angel Wyrwas It's that time of year when everyone is spring cleaning and the City of Baker wants to make that even easier for its residents. Baker Clean -Up Days will span two weeks starting April 30- May IS. Large dumpsters will be avail- able at the City Shop located north of the railroad tracks at 13 Fourth Street Northwest. \We really want to encourage residents to use this time to clean up their lots and their alleys,\ said City Council Chairperson Joclee Pratt. \Unfortunately the alleys are full of debris that should not be there. People are trimming trees and wind storms have created a lot of fallen branches. This is the best time to get rid of them.\ The dumpsters will be available for old appliances, tree branches, furniture. etc. For residents who are unable to take their refuse to the dumpster location, city trucks will be running daily for the two weeks to pick up off the curb. \Residents may place their discarded items on their curb and our trucks will pick them up,\ said Pratt. \Please re- member: do not put it in the alleys, the pick-up is curbside only. This is also a great opportunity to help our neigh- bors,\ said Pratt. \If everyone does their part Baker will surely benefit from it!\ lull time operator for Denbury. Jessica's parents owned a couple businesses while she was growing up that she worked for including the Baker Club and Hanging W Meats. She even worked at the previous coffee shop located in the Lawler building. When the couple found out the store was for sale they began to talk about a future in retail. \After my brother Stan passed away this last year, it's been hard,\ explained Jessica. \I had always wanted to do something like this but wasn't sure this was the right time.\ Sheldon continued, \I encour- aged her. We talked about the fact that if she missed this chance it might not come back around again and I didn't want her to have regrets.\ With a 'now's our chance' attitude, the Benedicts purchased the store March 19 with some of the previous inventory. \When we had to come up with a name for our store, people said be creative,\ explained Jessica. \I don't think of myself as creative, so I chose Otto's Shoppe.\ Otto is their son's middle name given to him in remembrance of Sheldon's great-grandfather. \He came to America from Denmark and I loved his name,\ said Sheldon. Customers will still be able to enjoy the same Dakota's Best SEE OTTO'S SHOPPE, PAGE 3 Sheldon, Jessica and Jason Benedict Photo by Angel Wyrwas 10 ************************p Election 2016 Your Candidates ... Their Words The Fallon County Times will be adding a new twist to the local election coverage. The only contested race taking place in the Primary Election will be for a scat on the board of county commissioners. Candidates running are Kevin Dukart, Dave Havens, Randy Hoenke and Roy Rost. Instead of covering the candidates in a single in-depth story, candidates will be asked to an swer a series of identical questions, one question at a time between now and election day. The questions may be related to the issues facing the people of Fallon County or intended to help voters get to know the candidates and their views a little better. The candidates' answers will be limited to 200 words and printed exactly as they are submitted, unedited. The public is welcome to submit questions via email: fctimes@midrivers.com; mail: PO Box 679; or bring them to the Fallon County Times Office located at 115 S. Main St. Watch for the first in this series May 6. **************************** Visit Our Website at www.FallonCountyExtra.com
