Big Timber Pioneer | Thursday, September 24, 2020
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THE BIG TIMBER WWW.BIGTIMBERPIONEER.NET $1 PTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBERioneer 24, 2020 | VOL. 131 NO. 51 Mask mandate back Raw Deal Fundraiser open through Sept. 30 as county reaches 4 By Ryan Peerboom ing to plan, Cremer-Seitz said. tion Pioneer Editor The SGCF raises funds to match • Sweet Grass active cases the donations made to each non- A r t s A l l i - The Raw Deal Community profit organization that is includ- ance By Ryan Peerboom Fundraiser is in full swing as the ed in the fundraiser. The dona- • Sweet Grass Pioneer Editor deadline for donations, Sept. 30, tion matching allows donors Cancer Alli- approached. money to go further in helping ance up The state’s mask mandate is back in effect The Fundraiser, which helps the organizations. • Sweet Grass Com- at the in Sweet Grass County as of Wednesday local non-profit organizations, is This year, the following 17 munity Foundation S G C F ’ s morning. currently in its 11th year accord- organizations are participating in • Sweet Grass County office or After dropping below four active cases ing to Corry Cremer-Seitz, the the fundraiser: Ambulance at many last week, the mask mandate was temporari- executive director of the Sweet • ASPEN • SGC Chamber of Com- participat- ly lifted. Grass Community Foundation • Big Timber After School merce ing organiza- Now, the county added three new cases (SGCF). Club • Sweet Grass County Part- tions. this week to bring the total back up to four, The SGCF organizes the fund- • Crazy Mountain Dog Park ners In Education The current according to Sweet Grass County Public raiser, which is usually conclud- • Crazy Mountain Wrestling • SGC Search and Rescue donations are Health Nurse Jenn Chappell. The new cases ed with the Raw Deal Run. How- Club • Sweet Grass Technical matching the include a male and female in their 60s and ever, this year the run was can- • Crazy Peak Cattle Women Institute pace of other another female in her 70s. All three new celed due to uncertainty sur- • Friends of Dornix Park Donations can be made at the years, Cremer- cases are exhibiting symptoms, Chappell rounding protocols in response to • Friends of the Library SGCF’s website, located at sweet- S e i t z s a i d , said. the COVID-19 pandemic. • Hospitality House Senior grasscommunityfoundation.org. although she admits they weren’t The Fundraiser, which began Center Donor brochures with more sure what to expect at the begin- CASE UPDATE/see page 2 on Sept. 1, has still gone accord- • Sweet Grass Animal Coali- information can also be picked ning of the fundraiser. Controlling community cats Sweet Grass Animal Coalition holds clinics to spay and neuter strays and manage population By Ryan Peerboom and how they can develop Pioneer Editor diseases and other complica- tions due to inbreeding if The Sweet Grass Animal they aren’t controlled. Coalition is actively aiming Johnson has also worked to to control the population of educate those that have been cats around Sweet Grass known to feed community County. cats, and how they can do so On Saturday, the Coalition more responsibly. hosted a clinic to spay, neu- When they aren’t managed, ter and vaccinate cats in the cats can have 3-4 litters a area. In total, the Coalition year, Johnson said. With each took care of 68 cats during litter producing up to four or the clinic. It’s the third time five cats, which then have lit- the Coalition has hosted a ters of their own, the number clinic. of stray cats can grow expo- Coalition Founder Laura nentially in a short time Johnson said she began the frame, Johnson said. In a operation in January after seven year period, one helping with spay/neuter female cat and her offspring clinics in Livingston. can be responsible for thou- Johnson said she noticed a sands of cats. cat issue in the community a Cats are rounded up from while ago and has since both in and out of the county worked with Norene Brown for the clinics, but about 90 from Animal Control to help percent of the cats were manage the cat population. from Sweet Grass County. Brown said there has been The Coalition will also an issue with stray cats since accept pet cats at their clin- she began working here four ics for those that might have years ago. She added that the trouble paying to spay or problem extends beyond the neuter their cats otherwise. city limits to other areas in “Even if it’s not in your the county. budget right now, we still Part of the Coalition’s want to take care of your focus is to educate people on cats,” Johnson said. how rapidly cat populations Cats that aren’t pets are Photo courtesy of Laura Johnson can increase. Johnson said they have warned ranchers Sweet Grass Animal Coalition volunteers Eryka Crawford, left, and Maddie Johnson, center, work with a vet technicians to help CAT CLINICS/see page 2 in the county about barn cats vaccinate cats during the Coalitions clinic on saturday. HELP WANTED Local businesses having trouble finding employees to fill open positions By Ryan Peerboom “Ideally, I’d like to have has been more difficult than Pioneer Editor one more full-time checker in the past. and two part-time,” Stephens “It’s definitely been more When someone walks into a said. of a challenge than I’ve ever store in Big Timber, there’s a In all, Stephens said they seen,” she said. good chance they will see a have about 80 hours a week Stephens attributed some help wanted sign hanging in they would like to fill. of the lack of applications to one of the windows. Additionally, the applicants the current unemployment Currently, employers are they do get aren’t always up benefits that are being having trouble finding to their standards. offered due to the current employees to fill open posi- “Quality applicants are few COVID-19 pandemic, but she tions around Big Timber. and far between,” Stephens also feels that there are some Some of the largest stores said. people that are worried about and employers in town are Big T IGA benefits from interacting with the public battling with a lack of overall high school and college stu- due to the virus. She also said applicants. dents during the summer, but she feels that some people Big T IGA Manager Amy now that they’ve gone back don’t want to be forced to Stephens said the grocery to school, the workforce has wear a mask or face covering store has been “making it slimmed down considerably. while they are at work. through” while they’ve been Typically, Big T IGA The Fort is another store Pioneer photo by Chelsa Nickell searching for new workers, replenishes their staff during A “now hiring” sign sits in the front window at The Grand Hotel on the corner of McLeod street but that doesn’t mean they the slower winter months, HELP WANTED/see page 2 and Second Avenue in Big Timber. aren’t looking for more help. but Stephens said this year WEEKLY HIGH HERDERS WIN HUNTING ACCESS 78° F RUN THROUGH IT SGCHS cross country battles Herder football team notches Montana residents able to get WEEKLY LOW through new obstacles this comeback win at Jefferson for guided elk hunt trips in Par- year but keeps running 7 first of the season 6 adise Valley 3 44° F Weather 9 Page 2 | Big Timber Pioneer www.bigtimberpioneer.net | Thursday, September 24, 2020 CAT CLINICS/continues from Page 1 Photos courtesy of Laura Johnson Cats recover from their operations during the clinic on Friday. typically returned to the area in which they came from because they thrive in their original, familiar home, John- son said. In addition to the vet that performs the operations, vol- unteers help care for the cats since they have to be kept in a warm environment for a day after they are spayed or neutered. Johnson said that in the future, once they have a bet- ter grasp on the cat popula- tion, they will offer clinics to help with dogs as well. “We just haven’t been able to get to that point because there is such an urgent need for cats,” Johnson said. Until then, Johnson aims to hold quarterly clinics throughout the year. Cats wait in their crates at the clinic on Saturday. HELP WANTED/continues from Page 1 that has faced similar hiring employees like this year. employees. This year, Dern issues. According to owner Cowell also noted that there said that number will be clos- Jeff Cowell, the unemploy- hasn’t been as many younger er to 80 or 90, showing that ment benefits have been a applicants as they’ve had in more employees have come factor in addition to the the past. and gone that in previous virus. Cowell said that poten- Additionally, the lack of years. tial employees might be available or affordable hous- Dern said he had at least “afraid of mingling” with ing in Big Timber was cited three positions to fill. In customers as the job by Cowell as a contributing response to the shortage of requires. factor for interested appli- staff, Dern said The Grand Cowell said they are cur- cants that aren’t able to find has had to “scale down what rently running skeleton a suitable place to live. we can do on a given night.” crews and have been forced Chris Dern, owner of The This includes offering fewer to shorten their operating Grand Hotel, has been forced tables at the restaurant to hours by one hour at the end to make adjustments due to keep the number of guests to of each day in order to not having open positions.