1

This boom in the Bakken area will certainly con-tinue for a number of years as KTVQ recently reported that the amount of oil present in the area was under estimated. The question is whether or not oil production in our area will cause these types of drastic changes. A well north of Sumatra is producing quite a bit of oil. Seismograph crews are working all over the ar-ea; one company has open an additional office in Roundup, making them closer to the “action.” No one has a crystal ball to predict how all of this will change Melstone; however, one predic-tion can be made with certainty: Melstone will probably not be the same in even five years. A source of good, plentiful water and income gen-erated from oil production have the potential of causing drastic changes for our community.

FFA Coyote Derby Submitted by Cali Ruth

Imagine spending the night under the stars, walking through the cool snow, crunching under your feet. A cool breeze blows as the night wears on: your eyes are awake, alert. Then the sun begins to rise, showing colors of red, pink, and purple. The bright rays shine through the clouds, bringing warmth to

your skin. This beauty carries with you for two days. The rush comes when you help fellow ranchers: When you look down the scope and see something in the cross hairs. All this can occur for you if you sign up for the Melstone FFA Coy-ote Derby. The Derby will be January 25-27th, 2013! There will be at least $2,500 in prize mon-ey to be divided among the top places! The cost will be $125 for a two man team and $200 for a three man team. Registration will begin at 4 p.m. on January 25; rules meeting will be held at 6:00 p.m. at which point hunters will be released to start hunting. Late registrations will be ac-cepted. Saturday check-in can be done by calling the Melstone Bar and Café between 6-8 p.m. If you shoot any coyotes after registering your team, you must check in in person at the cafe to have the coyotes counted towards your final tal-ly; however, if you haven’t shot any coyotes, you can call to check-in. The contest will begin at 6 p.m. that night and carry on until 6 p.m. on the 27th when all dogs will be counted (no exceptions). The end location will be at the Melstone Bar & Café with a complementary chili supper. This is a deeply cherished event by many fel-low hunters! For more infor-mation, you can contact Bran-don Braaten at (406) 358-2352!

VOL. 3 December 2012

Melstone Monthly Staff Connie Hjelvik – Advisor Corey Taylor – Editor Kaylee Adams Tonyce Cooke Jenny Hofer Michele Kluge Nicole Rohrer Cali Ruth

Inside This Issue

Page 2 John Deer Ag Expo Congrats, Sydni Page 3 Senior/Staff Survey Page 4 Honor Roll JH Girls’ BBall Page 5 JH Boys’ BBall Recipe Page 6 Movie Review Congrats, Jack MAPS Rewards Page 7 Halloween Parade Page 8 Christmas Program Page 9 Election Results Rodeo Cookie Plates Page 10 Semester Tests

Page 11

Drama Play

Page 12

Calendar

Oil and Water DO Mix! By Kaylee Adams & Connie Hjelvik

Are big changes in store for our little town? Are we going to become a big-

ger town with the oil production and the NEW water through the Central

Montana Regional Water Authority? All this talk about the new water is true. The city council has sent out a survey which is due by December 31st. If we show that we want it, it will go forward: a pipe line with good quality water. The water here is not that good. Our water is considered marginal quality. This new water will cost 75-85 dol-lars for an unlimited amount. It will be for gardens, home use, and drinking—both hu-mans and livestock, but not irrigation. The area that we are going to be getting the water from if we do is up around Judith Gap. If we go for it, we will get the water in about ten years because of all the construction neces-sary to complete the pipeline. Oil and water do mix! Another factor that may change Melstone dramatically is oil ex-ploration and production. We have all heard how the Bakken has affected eastern Mon-tana and western North Dakota. According to the Billings Gazette 1.5 billion dollars is being spent drilling each month in the Bakken fields, with one well costing approxi-mately 7 million. The boom has been made possible by hydraulic fracturing, called “fracking.” This is generating $1.2 billion per year of revenue in Montana. However, not all the changes are easy to adapt to: The town of Sidney doubled in population in approximate-ly a year, leading to all sorts of infrastructure problems. Bakken production has even affected people with ties to Melstone. Sidney Adams (’93) and Luke Proulx (son of Laurie[Lar] Proulx [‘77]) are employed in the Bakken, working two weeks at a time followed by two weeks off. Eric Hjelvik (’07) is working on a project to improve the way crude is unloaded from railroad cars that are hauling from the Bakken to refineries along the coast of Wash-ington in Bellingham, Anacortes, and Fern-dale. The most lucrative venture relating to the Bakken production by former Melstone grad-uates is one started by Sivert (’85) and Rich-ard (’86) Mysse. They have built a prototype of a truck which is capable of heating water for five frac trucks at the same time. Accord-ing to their promotional material, this truck is the “most cost effective, fastest, and green-est water heater in the market today.” The truck cost about $2 million, and the Mysse brothers hope to have five more trucks by next summer.

2

Sydni Seder traveled

To Indianapolis for the Nation-al FFA convention and placed

9th in the nation for Job Inter-view. She only missed the top

eight by eight points!

We are very proud of you, Sydni!

Nationals in Indianapolis Submitted by Laura Hansen

This year at the 2012 National FFA Convention, held in Indianapolis (IN), our FFA chapter and state had the honor of being represented by Sydni Seder in the job interview CDE as well as 45 other students representing their respect-ing states. At this event there were 54,000 members and guests in attendance. This is the largest youth gathering in the U.S., and it is a great honor to represent your state and to compete at Nationals. Since it is the largest FFA gather-ing, it is the most expensive. This being said, it costs over a million dollars to put on, and it has many big sponsors in-cluding CSX, a freight rail transportation corporation. CSX is a gold level sponsor of the National FFA Organization, which means that they donate between $500,000 to $999,999. Once again, this is a great honor for any student who attends, especially Sydni, who took 9th in the job inter-view contest. The whole Melstone FFA chapter would like to congratulate Sydni as well as thank her for representing our chapter and state at Nationals.

John Deere Ag Expo Submitted by Laura Hansen

On November the 15th-17th the John Deere Ag Expo, for-merly known as MSU Ag Days, was held in Billings with over 1,000 members in attendance including not only schools from Montana, but also from North Dakota, and Wyoming. The 15th was a very busy day with many teams competing. Both the Junior and Senior Livestock teams started their day before 7:30. From 7:30 to about 1:00, these kids judged livestock and then hurried back to the Holiday Inn to com-pete in Sales or Mechanics. This same morning we had a team compete in the state floriculture contest. Also we had three members compete in Horse Judging. Just like the livestock kids, these members had to hurry back to partici-pate in Sales or Mechanics. We had a student in both junior and senior Mechanics be-ing tested over machinery parts, electrical system, small engines, GPS, and construction. In Sales and Service we had two teams, a junior and a sen-ior. These two contests lasted from 1:00 to about 5:00. Meanwhile, the extemporaneous speech contest was taking place in which we had two members compete, one as a sen-ior and the other as a junior. After all the contests were done for the day, our chapter attended the John Deere Ag Expo Dinner. Then everyone headed back to their hotel rooms to get some sleep for the next day, which for some started before 7:30 a.m. again. On the second day, both the junior Meats team and the senior Meats teams were started by 7:30 a.m. at the Billings Career Center. This contest lasted for about 3 hours. At the same time, we had two teams compete in the Ag Communications contest at the Holiday Inn. After the Meats contest was finished, the kids headed back to the Holiday Inn to compete in Parli Pro, Marketing Plan, and Food Science. In both Parli Pro and Marketing Plan we had one team compete. After these two contests came to an end, there was still Food Science to go. In this contest we had two teams enter. This is the first year that Montana FFA has had Food Science as a competition, and our FFA advisor, Mr. Bran-don Braaten, had the honor of running this new contest The next day all the members attended the awards cere-mony in which our chapter received high placings. All the awards and the placings of the teams are as follows:

All these members are excited for upcoming district con-tests, and they, as well as Mr. Braaten, are eager to see improvement. FFA members and community members: upcoming events for the FFA are the Coyote Derby, the Slave Auction, and the Mechanics Contest. This year the Mechanics Contest will be February 4th. Unlike last year, there will only be three contests: Sales and Service, Mechanics, and Live-stock. This being the case, any member who is not compet-ing is asked to help. The Mechanics and the Sales part of the contest will be held at the Melstone School, and the Livestock part of the contest will be held out at the Jenna-way Ranch. To all the members who are competing in this event, good luck. For you other members, get ready for upcoming District FFA events by practicing as much as you can.

Food Science (Cali Ruth, Tonyce Cooke, Teegan McGrail, Brayden Wacker)

1st in state Food Science (Tonyce Cooke)

5th individually Ag Communications (Cali Ruth, Sam Collins, Bray-

den Wacker) 3rd at contest

Ag Communications (Cali Ruth) 2nd individually

Ag Communications (Sam Collins) 5th individually

Ag Marketing Plan (Brayden Wacker, Teegan McGrail, Aspen Checketts)

3rd at contest Floriculture (Sam Collins, Teegan McGrail, Tonyce

Cooke, Ellie Hansen) Perfect score on team problem

Jr. Sales (Michelle Kluge, Mark Papp, Aspen Checketts, Rebecca Turley)

6th at contest Sr. Sales (Cali Ruth, Jordan Kirby, Ellie Hansen,

Laura Hansen) 6th at contest

Parli. Pro (Jordan Kirby, Cali Ruth, Nick Ladwig, Jack Jennaway, Ellie Hansen, Laura Hansen)

2nd in the room Extempt. (Jack Jennaway)

2nd individually

3

Student/Staff Survey By Tonyce Cooke

These questions are answered by Nick Ladwig and Mr. Keller. Nick’s answers will be indicated with an “N” and Mr. Keller’s with a “K”.

Have you ever been caught sneaking out?

N: I have never been caught!

K: No, I got caught sneaking in.

Name one thing you hate to run out of.

N: Money

K: Toilet paper

What’s your most annoying habit?

N: Wiping crumbs on the floor

K: Waking myself up at night by laughing

Do you prefer coffee or tea?

N:Coffee with creamer

K: I don’t drink either.

Do you chew your pens or pencils?

N: Pens

K: No

Is it okay for guys to wear pink?

N: Depends on the guy

K: No

Where would you bury treasure if you could?

N: Under my house

K: In a bank vault

Can you change the oil in a car?

N: Yes

K: Who can’t?

Have you ever gotten a speeding ticket?

N: Yes

K: I usually got one a year from 1973-1979.

Who was your first concert?

N: Three Days Grace, My Darkest Days

K: The Doobie Brothers, Earth, Wind, and Fire, Golden Ear-ring and New Riders of the Purple Sage

Have you ever taken dance lessons?

N: Just gymnastics when I was little

K: Yes, square dancing

Do you enjoy watching college or professional sports more?

N: College

K: College Hockey

Do you close your eyes on a roller coaster?

N: I don’t get on them

K: No, how else can you see when you fall off the track?

Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie?

N: Angelina Jolie

K: What?

Would you rather be the president or be a super hero?

N: President, I think a high school kid could do better than the guy in office now

K: Can I be a dictator?

How much money would someone have to pay you to shave your head?

N: $500

K: There is not enough money in the world.

Can you sing/say the alphabet backwards?

N: No

K: I can’t even sing/say it forwards

Have you ever pushed all the buttons on an elevator just to annoy someone?

N: Yes

K: I don’t know really; I guess I usually push all the but-tons when I get off anyways

Would you rather live on the beach or in the mountains?

N: Beach

K: Both, where the mountains meet the sea

What is your favorite Thanksgiving food?

N: Mashed potatoes

K: Turkey

Have you ever looked up how to do something on Youtube?

N: Yes, I learned how to pick a lock.

K: Sure

4

First Quarter Honor Roll

Seniors Cali Ruth 3.95 Jordan Kirby 3.62 Shelby Newman 3.57 Sammy Collins 3.56 Kyle Wilson 3.30

Juniors

Brayden Wacker 3.96 Mark Papp 3.67 Michelle Kluge 3.50 Tonyce Cooke 3.33

Sophomores

Ellie Hansen 3.93 Laura Hansen 3.91 Chelsie Hays 3.38

Freshman

Aspen Checketts 3.67

8th Grade BreElle Wacker 3.86 Dusty Reynolds 3.74

7th Grade

Gillian Severe 3.96 Alliya Champlin 3.93 Shayla Hough 3.87 Garrett Severe 3.80 Joe Griswold 3.76 Gracey Adams 3.56 Tavin Tabbert 3.47 Will Ecord 3.36

6th Grade

Megan Brewer 4.00 Thomas DeJaegher 3.96 Brody Grebe 3.96 Abby Hansen 3.71 Brittany Franzel 3.59 Harry Griswold 3.46 Holden Roskelley 3.46

5th Grade

Ty Meredith 3.37 Davon Meredith 3.25

Junior High Girls Go Undefeated By Jenny Hofer

The girls glanced around for their competitors as they strolled into the Forsyth gym on November 6th. After preparing for this day in tiring practices, they grew more excited with each minute. Dressing in their uniforms in the locker rooms, they anxiously waited for Coach Wacker to hurry in the door, go over plays, and encourage them to do their best. When the big hand hit the thirty on the clock, the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders marched on the court since this game was for the Junior Junior High team. The older girls headed out to the bleachers to cheer their teammates on. Little did they know that this was the beginning of an outstand-ing season which they have now ended undefeated. The Junior Junior High girls only lost one game. The Junior High season is summarized in the box scores:

Team End Score

Melstone (JJH) 38 Rosebud 5 Melstone (JH) 33

Rosebud 13 Melstone (JH) 29 Hysham 4 Melstone (JH) 50 Plevna 6 Melstone (JH) 22 Jordan 14 Melstone (JJH) 52 Rosebud 5 Melstone (JH) 32 Rosebud 12 Melstone (JH) 15 Rosebud 20 Melstone (JH) 45 Hysham 15 Melstone (JJH) 9 Forsyth 20 Melstone (JH) 27 Hysham 9 Melstone (JH) 37 Custer 14 Mesltone (JH) 8 Forsyth 5 Melstone (JH) 34 Custer 12 Melstone (JH) 30 Jordan 6 Melstone (JH) 15 OT 7

Jordan 15 OT 1

5

BLUE CHEESE BACON DIP

This would be a great treat while opening presents Christmas Eve. Ingredients 7 bacon slices, chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened 1/3 cup half-and-half 4 ounces crumbled blue cheese 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives 3 tablespoons chopped walnuts, toasted Grape clusters Flatbread or assorted crackers PREPARATION Cook chopped bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat 10 minutes or until crisp. Drain bacon, and set aside. Add minced garlic to skillet and sauté 1 minute. Beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mix-er until smooth. Add half-and-half, beating until com-bined. Stir in bacon, garlic, blue cheese, and chives. Spoon mixture evenly into 4 (1-cup) individual baking dishes. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Sprinkle evenly with chopped walnuts, and serve with grape clusters and flatbread or assorted crackers.

The Melstone Monthly will be featured on the

school website. melstone.schoolwires.com

Hitting the Last Basket By Jenny Hofer

Swish! That’s the last sound that’s heard as the JH boys’ basketball team wraps up their outstanding season. Pop-corn, a grill covered in juicy burgers, and bleachers full of excited fans made every game a blast for the young team. In addition, they enjoyed the fine leadership of Jason Grebe, and they loved the intensity of each game. On November 6th, the boys waited excitedly at the For-syth gym for the JH girls to wrap up their game, so they could take over the court. By the time their season was over, they had fourteen wins and only one loss! Here are the scores for their winning season:

Team End Score Melstone (JJH) 38 Rosebud 2 Melstone (JH) 33 Rosebud 24 Melstone (JH) 37 Hysham 11 Melstone (JH) 49 Plevna 7 Melstone (JJH) 43 Jordan 25 Melstone (JJH) 29 Rosebud 11 Melstone (JH) 28 Rosebud 27 Melstone (JH) 20 Rosebud 15 Melstone (JH) 38 Hysham 18 Melstone (JJH) 24 Forsyth 8 Melstone (JH) 32 Hysham 17 Mesltone (JH) 37 Forsyth 6 Melstone (JH) 20 Hysham 16 Melstone (JH) 35 Jordan 28 Melstone (JH) 25 Jordan 37

6

To order your Melstone area phone sheets, contact

Mrs. Wacker.

$2.00 Each or

$5.00 for 3 Sheets

Laminated To Last!

MAPS Rewards Submitted by Kathy Eike

The following students in grades 7-11 earned a coffee drink for meeting their Growth Projection in at least one of the five Fall MAPS Tests: Gracey, Kaylee, Aspen, Sammie, Tonyce, Austin, Dwight, Will, Joe, Ellie, Laura, Chelsie, Jenny, Travis, Jack, Jordan, Shelby, Riley, Nicole, Cali, Corey, Garrett, Gillean, Dakoda, Rebecca, Ty, Brayden, BreElle, and Kyle. The new students in grades 7-11 who earned a coffee drink for being at or above the Norm

Scores in at least one of the five Fall Maps Tests were Alliya, Shayla, Breanainn, Michele, Fancy, Dusty, Jace, Annabel, Nick, and Teegan. The staff at Melstone School is very proud of the students for making improvements in Math, Reading, Lan-guage Usage, Science or Concepts & Processes. This was an MBI Project.

Learning Links sponsored Alberta Bair Theater

December 14th

“How I Became a Pirate”

K-12 and Community may attend long as tickets are available

Contact Jody Haaland Performance 12:30

Melstone Bible Church Children’s Christmas Program

Sunday, Dec. 16th at 4:00 p.m.

Candlelight Christmas Eve Service Monday, Dec. 24th

at 4:00 p.m. Everyone Welcome !

Wreck-It Ralph By Corey Taylor

In the animated movie the Arcade-game character, Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reil-ly) is tired of constantly being the “bad guy” and losing to his “good guy” oppo-nent, Fix-It Felix (Jack McBrayer). Final-ly, after years of seeing all the glory given to Felix, Ralph decides to take matters into his own hands. He sets off on a game-hopping trip to prove that he has what it takes to be a hero and not a “bad guy.” While on his quest, Ralph accidentally

unleashes a deadly enemy that threatens the entire ar-cade. Some cast members in this movie are John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, and Alan Tudyk. The approximate runtime for this movie is 1 hour and 40 minutes. This movie is rated PG and is a great movie for families with younger kids.

Congratulations Jack Jennaway

Winner of the “Montana Farm Bureau Youth Speech Contest” (sponsored by Montana Farm Bureau)

Jack won $400.

7

8

MHS

Christmas

Program

“Elfis Is Coming

to Town”

Featuring

JH & HS Band

Elementary Band

& Recorders

December 13, 2012

7:00 p.m.

FFA will be

serving a chicken

noodle & chili dinner

5:00 p.m. -- 6:30 p.m.

Kick Starting for Nationals Submitted by Laura Hansen

November 5, 2012 was the BPA Fall Car-nival. We hope everyone who came had fun, and we would like to thank you all for coming. We would also like to thank the following people: Becky Checketts, Tempi Ruth, and Dianne Collins for

making all the wonderful food; Becky Jennaway for running the BINGO booth; April and John Hamrell for running the Jail with the help of Austin DeJaegher; and Sherrie Mack, Cheryl Goffena, Pam Zaharko, and Lura Pitman for buying booths for the trade show. Also a big thanks to Bonnie Hansen who helped set up and tear down the carnival. BPA members will be selling Butterbraids and Little Caesar piz-za kits until January 4th, so be on the lookout for the any BPA member. We would like to also thank anyone who bought or re-newed magazines this year through BPA. New magazines will be arriving in up to 12 weeks. Thanks again for all the support. Regionals are coming up on December 18-19 and will be held at the College of Technology in Billings. BPA members have started practicing for all their events. Remember that the top ten in indi-vidual contests and the top five in judged events will advance to State. Good luck to everyone.

Yummy Yummy, Cookies Coming

Girls Scouts are selling cookies !

Selling in January & Delivering in March

Contact Any Girl Scout Member

(Koye, Emily, Teigan, Draya, Sage,

Chelsea, Megan, Brittany)

Troop leaders: Becky and Tiffany

Highway 12 Road Construction By Nicole Rohrer

Doesn’t everyone just love the big orange signs that say “BE PREPARED TO STOP” or “ROAD CONSTRUSTION AHEAD”? Or what about those big orange cones and flags? In the near future, the highway between Melstone and Forsyth is going to undergo some road construction. Be-tween mile markers 207 and 217, there is going to be re-surfacing and rebuilding of the road. Resurfacing is when the entire pavement is completely removed and replaced with new pave-ment. Rebuilding the road is similar: New shoulders for the highway are constructed, new pavement is laid, and the lines are repainted. Basically resurfacing is part of rebuilding of the road. This project is going to be taking place in 2013.

9

Draya Wacker 2012 YRA PEE WEE

All Around Cowgirl

Barrel Racing Champion

Poles Champion

Shay Wacker 2012 High School Rodeo

Team Roping Heeler Champion

Cookie Plates Annual Student Council

Cookie Plates

December 21st

Each student K-12, bring a dozen cookies on the morning of

Dec. 21st.

Election Results 2012 By Michele Kluge

As a follow up for the last month’s article, we thought it would be interesting to know the results from various elections across the state and country. The following ta-bles compare different election results:

10

SEMESTER TEST SCHEDULE

JANUARY 9TH & 10TH

Wednesday, January 9th 8:00-8:30 Study Time Period 2 Classroom 8:33-9:45 Semester Test Period 1 9:48-10:15 Study Time Period 3 Classroom 10:18-11:30 Semester Test Period 2

Lunch 11:30-12:05

12:08-12:38 Study Time Period 4 Classroom 12:41-1:50 Semester Test Period 3 1:53-2:23 Study Time Period 5 Classroom 2:26-3:33 Semester Test Period 4

Thursday, January 10th

8:00-9:10 Semester Test Period 5 9:13-10:26 Semester Test Period 6 10:29-11:39 Semester Test Period 7

Lunch 11:39-12:20

12:23-1:23 Period 1-Regular Class 1:26-2:36 Period 2-Regular Class 2:39-3:33 Period 3-Regular Class

The Girls Are Back By Nicole Rohrer

When you and some friends are talking about Melstone, what is the first thing that pops into your head? It’s probably the 2006 Boys’ Basketball State Champs, and maybe not just “boys” that you think of, but maybe the sport: basketball. The Melstone Girls’ Varsity basketball team has a new coach. Her name is Becky Schiffer, and her assistant coach is Lacey Meredith. This year the girls are getting new jerseys. The girls are very excited to represent Melstone in the new jerseys for the 2012-2013 season. The girls that are going out for basketball this year include the lone senior--Nicole Rohrer, and one Junior--Michele Kluge, Sophomores-- Jenny Hofer, Ellie Hansen, Laura Hansen, and Annabel Lee, Freshman--Kaylee Adams and Aspen Checketts, and one eighth grader, BreElle Wacker. The Girls’ first game will be December 7th in Harlowton against Hobson. Their se-cond game will also be in Harlowton on the 8th against Stanford. Coach Becky is predicting that the girls are going to have ten wins and eight losses.

Back In Action By Tonyce Cooke

The 5th place class C state basketball team was back into action on November 19, 2012. Jason Grebe is back as head coach with Jim Wilson as assistant. Managing the team this year are Sam Collins, Brody Grebe, and Bryce Grebe. We asked Jason Grebe to talk about the team this year, and he said, “I am very excited for the Harlowton Tournament, and have high hopes for a re-appearance at state.” This year’s team consists of three seniors: Nick Ladwig, Jordan Kirby, and Kyle Wilson. Austin DeJaegher, Da-koda Singh, Mark Papp, and Brayden Wacker are this year’s juniors. The upcoming freshmen consist of Ty Vohs and Travis Hofer. Our All-State senior, Kyle, said, “I feel that this season should be successful. Even though we lost many seniors, we gained a couple new players. I know all of us have been working hard since last basketball season, and we are hoping for the best!” Mark Papp, our foreign-exchange student from Hungary, said, “I am really enjoying Melstone basketball.” We are happy to have you, Mark! The Broncs will kick off their season at Harlowton with the customary Tip-off Tournament.

11

You Can’t Get There From Here by Pat

Cook

And Action

Drama Queens

Drama, Baby, Drama