Hello, Columbia Falls

Tom Hess / Hungry Horse News

"How much time have you spent in Montana," asked Tom Kurdy, my new friend and publisher of the Hungry Horse News, during my interview for editorship of this newspaper last month.

"When you drive east to west across the state, you've spent a lot of time in Montana," I replied, trying to be a comedian.

Having just arrived here from under the shadow of Pikes Peak, on whose summit Kathryn Lee Bates received divine inspiration for the words to "America the Beautiful," I can tell you there are a few things I already know and appreciate about the history, beauty and drama of my new home:

Montana was the home state of Chet Huntley (born 1911 in the Northern Pacific Railway living quarters in Cardwell) — an NBC newscaster whose decency and professionalism I greatly admired as a boy watching The Huntley-Brinkley Report on an old black-and-white Zenith.

Next year, Glacier National Park will celebrate it's 100th anniversary — a milestone the Hungry Horse News will commemorate with photography and reporting that would make the paper's founder, Mel Ruder, proud. (If you haven't already, consider buying a copy of Pictures, a Park and a Pulitzer, a photographic history of the Hungry Horse News, published in 2000 by Faircountry Press and available for $24.95 at our offices.)

And I know from the paper's previous editor, Joe Sova, that many of you have stories to tell. I want to hear them. I hope you will stop by the Hungry Horse News cabin at Nucleus Ave. and 9th Street so we can chat. Or call me at 892-2152. And look for me at City Council meetings, Chamber of Commerce events, seasonal traditions such as Farmer's Market, Wildcats football games, some of this area's distinctive establishments — such as Montana Coffee Traders next door — and on my regular walks around the community.

There's so much more I want to learn about Columbia Falls. I'll need your help to do it. I plan to sink deep roots here, perhaps even learn to hunt and fly fish, and put out a keepsake newspaper that is too valuable for mere fish wrap.

Tom Hess is the managing editor of the Hungry Horse News.