“Speechless” is how former basketball coach Jerry Chiabotti described himself when the gymnasium at Bigfork High School was officially named the Jerry Chiabotti Gymnasium last Saturday during the annual alumni basketball games.

But he found more words to express his feelings: “Overwhelmed, humbled, touched, honored, fortunate and thankful,” he added.

The Trust Board will be meeting on April 11, 2006 at the Cooperative Office in Bigfork to review grant requests and make awards.

  Continued...

The Edge of the Wilderness Empty Bowls Project is a major fund raiser for the North Itasca Food Shelf. Empty Bowls is a national movement to fill food shelves throughout the country.

Declining school enrollment is a problem for school districts, and it is particularly acute in an area where more and more property is being converted to vacation, retirement and second home use.

How to balance the benefits of the smaller remote school with declining dollars for the school district as a whole as enrollment numbers go down?

Sixty-five feet in 1.5 seconds.

Last month seventh grader Zach Madsen did that with his CO2 race car, and won the class championship at Bigfork School.

A new $10 million hospital wing of Bigfork Valley opened on Feb. 18 with over 500 people coming to the ribbon cutting and dedication and touring the new facility.

The new wing includes a Surgery Center with two state of the art operating rooms, a new inpatient area with 20 licensed beds and a new Emergency Department with expanded trauma and treatment rooms.

The ribbon cutting ceremony included a dedication of the new building project to Lillian Kreuger Carr, hospital and nursing home administrator from 1958 to 1995. During her tenure the hospital expanded from 8 to 20 beds and was relocated. Senior apartment living and long term care were also added to the facilities’ services.

The afternoon included self guided tours of the new facility. Those visiting the operating rooms were treated to an explanation of equipment by Dr. Dan Baker, orthopedic surgeon, and Dr. Michael Baich, general surgeon. Nursing staff was on hand in each area to explain the services and technology. For pictures of the Opening, see the hospital web site; www.bigforkvalley.org.

The new facility was cleaned and the move completed the following week.

North Itasca Cooperative Enterprises (N.I.C.E. ) is still one of the best deals around town!

We offer great service at a very competitive price. We are still at 7.9 cents a minute if you are calling outside of the state and 8.9 cents a minute if you are calling within the state.

There is no monthly fee and there are no hidden costs. Therefore, if you don’t make any calls in a month you will not receive a bill.