The Whitehall Ledger - Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana

MARCH 25, 1998 Jefferson County, with a July 1997 estimated population of 9,878, was the second fastest growing county in Montana, according to statistics released by the U.S. Bureau Of Census. The figures, which cover a span from 1990 to 1997, show...

MARCH 18, 1998 The new 500,000-gallon tank, built in the summer of 1997 as part of the Whitehall water improvement project, has had a series of leakage problems since it was filled. Representatives from the Town of Whitehall, water project engineers...

March 11, 1998 The criminal assault charges against James Piazzola stemming from a January 3, 1998 incident at the Mint Bar in Whitehall have been dismissed. State District Judge Frank Davis ruled on March 5 that felony assault charges against...

FEBRUARY 25, 1998 Sheldon Ross, an eighth grader at the Whitehall Middle School, won the regional Mathcounts competition, held in Butte on February 17th. Ross, son of Terry and Kathy Ross, is the first Whitehall student to win the regional contest....

FEBRUARY 18, 1997 Plagued by low gold prices and expansion permit uncertainty, Golden Sunlight Mine (GSM) instituted a series of steps designed to reduce costs throughout the mine’s operation. GSM was directed by its parent company in Vancouver,...

FEBRUARY 11, 1997 During the February 9th council meeting, a division between the Whitehall Town Council and Whitehall Mayor Dale Davis produced a standoff on the appointment of a town attorney. The council and mayor were unable to agree on a town...

FEBRUARY 4, 1997 In a letter to Jefferson County Attorney Valerie Wilson, Town Attorney Jack Morris asserted the felony assault charges against Whitehall resident James Piazzola should not have been dropped and should be refiled by the Jefferson...

JANUARY 28, 1998 Whitehall school student academic test scores were higher than the Montana average and substantially higher than the national average. Test scores released from the Montana Office of Public Instruction showed Whitehall students consi...

December 24, 1997 It was a remarkable year for Whitehall sculptors Bruce and Kathy Contway. Bruce, one-quarter Sioux, was recently named the Indian Arts and Crafts Association (IACA) Artist of the Year, and Kathy was awarded the chuckwagon race...

December 10, 1997 John Jardine, 75, one of Whitehall’s most cherished and prominent residents, died in a plane crash on Sunday, December 7th, when the airplane he was in collided in mid-air with another private airplane about 10 miles north of...

December 3, 1997 The Golden Sunlight Mine (GSM) expansion permit environmental impact statement was under attack, and GSM intended to fight back. An attorney for the National Wildlife Federation had written a letter to the Department of...

November 26, 1997 The Town of Whitehall was one of the fastest growing areas in Montana, according to statistics released by the Montana Department of Commerce. The incorporated Town of Whitehall grew 24.3% from April 1990 to July 1996, a change in...

November 19, 1997 Two bags containing over $8,000 in alleged drug money confiscated during a drug raid near Whitehall were stolen from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s office sometime between October 23 and October 25. During a raid on a mobile home...

November 12, 1997 The water improvement project dominated the Nov. 10 Whitehall Town Council meeting and most phases of the nearly completed project was discussed. Members of the audience and council members Dale Davis, Bill Baycroft, and Chuck Buus...

November 5, 1997 Dale Davis won two of three wards and was elected mayor of Whitehall on November 4th in an election that saw a 72 percent voter turnout and a mixed message from voters. Davis clearly won the mayoral race, beating second-place...

October 22, 1997 The Supreme Court oral argument briefings on the Whitehall water improvement project were delayed due to the Montana Attorney General’s request for a 10-day delay. The delay was apparently not caused by other - or higher priority -...

October 15, 1997 The Jefferson County Commissioners took a tentative first step toward creating a local development corporation (LCD) with a vote to “approve, encourage and support” research into creation of an LDC. Jefferson County Economic...

October 8, 1997 Borden’s Hotel, a Whitehall landmark on the corner of Legion Avenue and Main Street since 1913, was sold. The property - an unused hotel upstairs, restaurant, and bar downstairs - had been on the market for three years. On Monday,...

October 1, 1997 For the first time in nearly two decades, a chartered 10-car tourist train operating under a company named Northern Parks Limited brought 44 people to Whitehall for an overnight stay on Friday, September 26. The train, powered by MRL...

September 24, 1997 A federal grand jury issued federal indictments against the four individuals apprehended during the August 6th drug raid south of Whitehall. Jason Schwartz and his wife Theresa Jo Schwartz, Mitch Bakken, and Eric Decker, were all c...

September 17, 1997 Stacey Ness, the 11-year-old sixth-grade daughter of Tom and Sanya Ness of Whitehall, died Saturday, September 13 after a farm accident south of Whitehall. Ness was riding in a hay swather on the Bill Gillespie ranch when the...

September 10, 1997 The Whitehall Town Council rejected the possibility of a mail-in ballot during the November 1997 town elections, heard from some concerned town residents about private property damage during the construction of the new drinking...

September 3, 1997 Work continued on installation and readying the new telecommunications equipment needed to eliminate long-distance charges on calls between customers in Butte, Anaconda, Opportunity, Warm Springs, and Whitehall. As of the middle of...

August 27, 1997 Nearly 70 fiberglass street signs were stored in the workshop of Jim and Kathie Moerbe’s Rader Creek home. The signs were purchased by the county to identify the confusing and changing Rader Creek roads, and are part of national, st...

August 20, 1997 Two new school administrators, five new teachers, one new teacher aide, a new proposed tardy policy, and about two dozen new computers were among the changes awaiting students when schools opened. The Whitehall Board of Trustees...