70 YEARS AGO • SEPTEMBER 6, 1950

COURTHOUSE TO BE DEDICATED

Dedication ceremonies for the new Sanders County Courthouse will be held Saturday. A door prize, free football game between Thompson Falls and Hot Springs high schools, a big free dance, a parade with prizes for floats and costumes, as well as the dedication ceremony, will constitute the days program. Concessions such as bingo, chuck-o-luck, roulette, popcorn and others will help carry out the festive theme. The speaker, Reverend B.V. Edworthy from Plains, will talk about the early days in the county. Contests for people of all ages will make this memorable day worthwhile for all to participate in and enjoy.

Races will include 50 yard dashes for boys in different age groups. There will be races for girls up to 15 years of age. Other races will include a boys' sack race, a three-legged race and a pie eating contest. An event of special interest to women and carpenters looking for helpers will be the nail driving contest for women. For the loggers there will be a wood sawing contest. Those who like to see fire departments in action will want to get a ring side seat for the water fight. Be sure to have raincoats handy. There will be a tug-of-war between the various towns. Music fans will be interested in the old time fiddlers contest. Last but not least will be a prize to the oldest Sanders County resident who comes to the celebration. It is planned that prizes given away for the various contests and events will total several hundred dollars.

40 YEARS AGO • SEPTEMBER 11, 1980

CITY OUTLAWS ANIMALS, FOWL AFTER MARCH 1

Come March 1, it will be unlawful to keep any farm animals or chickens within the city limits of Thompson Falls under a new ordinance adopted by the City Council Monday night following a lengthy discussion. Excluded from the ordinance are dogs, cats and other household pets. Banned will be horses, cows, sheep, goats, rabbits, pigs and other animals not kept in homes.

The ordinance passage followed a lengthy discussion among councilmen and also with Mrs. Donna Quitt, wife of Alderman Kenny Quitt. She made an emotional plea to the council to amend the proposed ordinance to provide that chickens presently maintained within the city limits be permitted to remain for the rest of their lives.

She told the council, “I don’t think it is fair to ban chickens.” Mrs. Quitt said before she got her chickens, she asked her neighbors and that they had all agreed they did not oppose her. She said a board fence had been erected around her chicken pen and they “don’t hurt anyone."

I have put money into them. They were legal when I obtained them and I have a right to keep them.”

She asked why the council didn’t merely rule out roosters since they were the main culprits.

The need for the ordinance arose when neighbors began complaining about a pig and chickens maintained by Duane Anderson on property owned by Mrs. Mayme Tillman. Police magistrate advised the council that Mrs. Tillman has until Oct. 1 to get rid of the chickens under an agreement with his court.

Mayor David Haase commented that most of the people he had talked to thought “we’re two years late with this ordinance.”

Most of the council members stated that they had received numerous phone calls complaining of the chickens. City Attorney Skip Baxter said he was tired of receiving calls at 10 and 11 p.m. asking what the city was “going to do about the pig and the chickens.”

The ordinance will not affect the present nuisance and dog leash ordinances.

MUSEUM

OPENING SET

The grand opening of the new Sanders County Museum in the old county jail will be Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 20-21, Eleanor Dickinson, president of the Sanders County Historical Society, informed members at a luncheon Thursday noon.

A wine and cheese tasting party is scheduled Saturday in the jail. Tickets will be sold in advance. Mrs. Dickinson said the wine and cheese party is designed as a fundraising event.

Sunday afternoon’s open house will be free to the public.

She also announced that an anonymous donor has offered to pay up to $100 for refinishing of the hardwood floors in the main floor.

City green thumb workers have been cleaning up and redecorating the interior for the past several weeks to prepare the jail for its museum opening.

Mrs. Dickinson said it is not anticipated that the second floor cells will be utilized this year. The cell areas are being offered to other communities in the county for exhibits. She said most communities have accepted the invitations.