30 Years Ago

Thursday, March 16, 1989

Broadus FFA Chapter hosts district convention

The Broadus FFA Chapter hosted the last part of the Eastern District FFA Convention at the local high school on March 6 and 7. Participating teams were from, along with Broadus, Baker, Ekalaka, Miles City and Plevna.

The competition began on Monday at 1 p.m. with a hands-on Ag Mechanics Test, with Neilon Millar of Broadus emerging as the high scoring individual. The Miles City team took first place in the event and the Broadus team, behind members Millar, Andy Cathey and Brent Rogge, placed third.

In that portion of the convention, participants rotated between ten stations, which included welding, sweat soldering, building rafters, small engine repair, tool identification, tool conditioning, electrical wiring, spot checking trouble areas on a baler, and looking up information out of an owner’s manual along with a written test.

While the mechanics Contest was in process, other FFA members took written tests and interviewed in the Sweetheart and Greenhand competitions. Katrina Rusley of Baker was selected as the Eastern District sweetheart, while Ryan Jones of Miles City garnered the honors as the top Greenhand. T.J. Cunningham of Broadus placed fourth in the Greenhand competition.

Following the contests, the teams regrouped to compete in a Farm and Ranch Management written test. The Miles City team took first, with Broadus placing fourth. Along with Millar and Cunningham, Broadus team members included Curt Philip and Tori Franklin. Philip went on to place fifth in the individual standings.

Rounding out the day, that evening, was formal banquet held at the Broadus VFW Hall. The Ladies Auxiliary served a roast beef dinner while the Broadus FFA officers conducted the business portion of the meeting.

The two top Prepared Public Speakers in the District presented their speeches as part of the evening’s program. Nichole Lindstrom of Miles City gave a speech entitled “Word Makeover,” dealing with the problems and control of leafy spurge. Second place winner Dean Jardee of Ekalaka spoke on using ultrasound in sheep production.

The last item on the agenda for the evening was a talent competition. The ninety-seven people attending the banquet were entertained by a variety of vocal soloists, duets, piano music, a Scottish dance, and a comedy routine. Selected among the top three acts, respectively, were Lee Snell of Miles City, with a solo “Maybe Your Baby’s Got the Blues,” Dean Jardee of Ekalaka with an original song and piano accompaniment, “I’m Falling in Love with Someone,” and third place, Ranae Miller of Miles City with a solo rendition of “Grandpa.”

Tuesday morning the contests again got underway, with Agronomy Tests. Participants had to analyze and identify seeds, identify plant mounts, and take a written test. Baker took first place and Broadus again placed fourth. Local team members on the Agronomy team included Franklin, Rogge, Millar and Philip. Philip was recognized as tenth high individual.

Following Agronomy, Baker, Miles City and Ekalaka faced off in the Parliamentary Procedure Contest. Participants took a written test, and the teams conducted meeting to exercise Robert’s Rules of Order. The Miles City team emerged in first place with Shawn Wang from Baker coming out on top as high individual.

The Soils and Range Contest was hosted by the Broadus Chapter last fall, while weather permitted teams to go outside. Baker took first place in the event and Broadus finished fourth.

The District Livestock Judging Contest had also been held in the fall, at Baker. The host team placed first, with Broadus placing fourth.

Over-all in Convention competition, Baker placed first in the Sweepstakes. Miles City, Ekalaka, Broadus and Plevna followed respectively.

Ullrich claims 1989 county spelling title

Broadus eighth grader Jennifer Ullrich is the new spelling champion of Powder River County. Miss Ullrich spelled hibernate and then bloodshed correctly in the 12th round of the annual Spelling Bee, held here Friday, to take the honors.

Second place went to Michelle Perkins, a fifth grade student at Broadus. Despite her youth, Michelle outlasted 41 other fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth graders, representatives of all five county elementary schools until the final round of the contest. Janine Klapmeier, Broadus sixth grader, placed third.

Miss Ullrich will now go on to compete at the State Spelling Bee, set to get underway in Missoula on April 1. Michelle will serve as an alternate.

Other winners in the contest were: Josh Thaden, Broadus, fourth; Tavy Turnbough (last year’s winner), Broadus, fifth; Mandy Traub, Broadus, sixth; Bob Landa, Broadus, seventh; Kristie Coulter, Broadus, eighth; Tedi Jo Elgin, Biddle, ninth, and Lexie Clements, Biddle, tenth.

Capra wins Toastmaster spring contest

Broadus Roadrunners Toastmasters’ Administrative Vice President Lawrence Capra took first place honors in the local club’s spring speech contest on March 7.

Capra’s speech, entitled, “I found my heritage in a coffee can,” was a delightful anecdotal history of his grandparent’s roots in Italy and France. The records survived to the present day, stored in an old coffee can with the lid tightly shut. Capra found it after crawling on his hands and knees into an old log building on the original homestead place.

Winning first place will enable Capra to compete in the southeastern Montana area Toastmaster contest in Sidney on April 1.

Nancy Espy won the table-topics impromptu speaking contest. She will be unable to attend the area contest in Sidney. Local postmaster Sam Kings who came in runner-up in this impromptu speaking will compete at the Sidney Spring contest.