A Year of our Lives
Plans to redevelop the MDC campus are still in limbo. The Cowboy Hall of Fame didn’t happen. But lots did. A look back at the moments, good and otherwise, that shaped 2019 in Jefferson County.
JANUARY 2: Local officials inspected the Montana Developmental Center pool during a tour of the campus. As of year-end, state agencies were close to a Memorandum of Understanding that could lead to a transfer of the mostly closed facility to the county.
JANUARY 16: The Montana House of Representatives revamped its lawmaking process.
FEBRUARY 20: Freshman representative Greg DeVries (R-Jefferson City) sponsored lightning-rod legislation to eliminate mandatory school attendance and halt abortions by enshrining personhood rights beginning at conception in the Montana Constitution. Neither passed.
FEBRUARY 20: Sadie Vainio and Alexis Popejoy performed at the annual JHS winter jazz concert.
JANUARY 16: Boulder “Circuit Breakers” Kale Strozewski and Quinne Shultz prepared their entries for the First Lego League robotics competition in Bozeman.
MARCH 13: Montana Internet employees John Lancaster and Ryder Jackson dug a path for fiber optic cable in Boulder. The project, supported in part by the Boulder Development Fund, was mostly complete by year-end.
MARCH 13: It snowed. A lot. And then more, deep into March.
MARCH 27: Jefferson High teachers and staff participated in Teen Mental Health First Aid training, a national pilot for which JHS was one of eight schools selected.
MARCH 27: Josh and Erica Morris, background, and Andrea Dolezal and Ryan Parsons did their part for the annual fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters at Phil and Tim’s Bar and Bowl. About $7,000 was raised at the two-day, 1980s-themed event.
APRIL 10: Montana City Trails and Trust held its annual Mustang Gallop, a 5K and one-mile fun run, at Montana City School.
APRIL 24: Hadley Becker, left, Natalie Schmidt and Roxy Lewis rushed to hunt Easter eggs at Jefferson County Courthouse.
MAY 1: Barrick Gold Corporation announced that it would cease new development at Whitehall’s Golden Sunlight Mine.
MAY 15: Abby Rosenbaum as Dorothy in the JHS production of The Wizard of Oz.
MAY 22: Dakota Zufelt directed “The Shape of the Grave,” a one-act play that won outstanding drama at the Montana State Thespian Festival — and Outstanding Student Director for Zufelt. The JHS troupe performed the play at the International Thespian Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska.
MAY 29: Avery Stiles jumped 22’3” in the long jump, good for the state title.
JUNE 12: Meredith Rieder, Clint Rieder and Michaela Morris performed at the Clancy Days festival.
JULY 10 Sandy Gehring showed her colors at Boulder’s Independence Day festivities.
JULY 31: A red-tailed hawk perched on an irrigation system pivot along Quaintance Lane at dusk.
AUGUST 7: Jefferson City resident Melissa Kwasny was named one of Montana’s two poets laureate, with Helena’s M.L. Smoker.
AUGUST 21: Mykayla Whitaker and Cody Blume bounced and slipped down an inflatable slide during the Basin Days celebration.
AUGUST 28: Kimber Rintamaki, 2, showed determination for the kids rodeo, a highlight of the 36th annual Jefferson County Fair & Rodeo.
SEPTEMBER 25: Coach Ryan Fetherston praised Jackson Williams for his touchdown-saving tackle. Boulder Elementary and the Clancy School merged their football programs.
OCTOBER 2: Winston Royal pondered his next move at a Montana City chess tournament.
OCTOBER 16: Caitlin Shimakonis and Kim Larsen prepared for Boulder’s inaugural “Big Rock Fright Nights” which — like Whitehall’s new “Screams Come True” event, attracted hundreds of ghoulish visitors.
NOVEMBER 9: Clancy residents gathered before the Jefferson County Commission to discuss the Old Red Schoolhouse lease, still unresolved.
DECEMBER 11: A boy waved at lighted toy soldiers at Veterans Park in Boulder.
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