Char-Koosta News

10/18/2025

Black Hills Powwow draws thousands for weekend of culture and unity

10/18/2025

Three weeks are all that is left in the 2025 Fall Mack Days Fishing Event.

10/18/2025

A recent increase in deer deaths have been reported on the Flathead Reservation from the Hot Springs and multiple Mission Valley areas.

10/18/2025

This is the third in a series of columns on taxes. We have relied on two web-based documents for the information in these columns:

10/18/2025

After years of legislative debate, Oct. 13 marks the first time the state has officially observed the day as a legal holiday.

10/18/2025

From Seattle to Baltimore, many Americans were celebrating Monday as Indigenous Peoples Day, determined to see it as a triumph of perseverance over centuries marked by trauma.

10/18/2025

A judge Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from requiring recipients of federal teen pregnancy prevention grants to comply with Trump’s orders aimed at curtailing “radical indoctrination” and “gender ideology.”

10/18/2025

A Navajo tribe-owned company bid $186,000 to lease 167 million tons of coal on federal lands in southeastern Montana on Monday in the biggest U.S. coal sale in more than

10/18/2025

The final results are in after a recount. Read the note from the Election Committee Chairwoman.

Absentee ballots and contested ballots will be counted and added to the totals during the certification process

10/17/2025

Betty Lou Martin

Betty left this earth after a long illness on Wednesday October 15, 2025 with her devoted husband of 67 years Roy Martin by her side. Our hearts are broken and we will forever feel her loss. Betty was born in St Ignatius Montana on September 8, 1940 to Alie Ovila (Olie) Marceau and Norma Silverthorne Marceau Decker Couture. She was a proud enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. She was preceded in death by her parents Norma Silverthorne Marceau Decker Couture, Alie Ovila (Olie) Marceau, sisters Norma Anderson, Barbara Lensman, brothers Ricky Couture, Gerald Marceau and grandson Christopher Martin.

Betty attended elementary school at the Ursulines Catholic Boarding School in St Ignatius and then graduated from St Ignatius High School in 1957. She attended Business School briefly in Missoula. Betty worked as a secretary for CSKT at the old agency in Dixon and later in the CSKT Tribal Social Services. She met and married Roy Martin where his career in the Air Force took them to many different duty stations. After Roy retired, they returned to St Ignatius where she became a successful small business woman. She owned and operated Thimble Magic first in St Ignatius and finally in Ronan. She was an accomplished seamstress and enjoyed quilting and making dance regalia. She made hundreds of dance outfits and ceremonial regalia for people throughout the United States and Canada. She was always proud to see her work on the Pow Wow trail. If she gifted you one of her quilts you knew you were truly special. Betty loved BINGO and casinos. When she was younger, she was always looking for an opportunity to be in the mountains. She loved hunting, camping, picking huckleberries, fishing and gathering firewood.

Betty is survived by her husband Roy Martin of St Ignatius, daughters Sandra Boham of Albuquerque New Mexico, Audra (Paul) of Hillsboro OR, sons Richard Martin of St Ignatius and Ken Martin of Fort Worth, TX, brothers Larry Marceau (Pat) Meade KS, John Marceau Three Forks MT, Mike Decker (Dorothy) Ronan MT, Dan Decker Hot Springs MT, sisters Donna Carpenter (Norm) Aurora CO, Judy Decker St Ignatius MT, Jeannie Nowotny of Polson MT, Margie Irvine (Bob) of Missoula MT a granddaughter Nihtawneemiw Boham (Spokane) and grandson Elijah Schaefer (Hillsboro), many nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Cremation has taken place and a Memorial will be planned at a later date.

10/16/2025

Last September, the Ronan Native American Club was invited to do a presentation for Montana Office of Public Instruction (OPI) for American Heritage day. It went so well that other schools requested the group to do presentations.

The club ended up putting together a large group presentation on different dance styles and created hands-on stations for small groups. The Ronan students designed the stations based on their interests and shared their knowledge and experience with the other schools. The stations ranged from traditional games to smudging.

During one of the performances, a student commented on how neat it would be to be able to go to the Black Hills Powwow. Club advisor Gwen Couture said, “I told them if they earned the money, I would take them.”

The group decided to put all money they earned from presentations toward going to Rapid City, SD. Most of the money came from doing aforementioned large group presentations. They also held raffles, Indian Taco Sales, 50/50, pop shoots, etc. Splitting the money they earned between sponsoring the successful Ronan School District powwow and the trip, nine students were able to attend the Black Hills Powwow held Oct. 10-12.

During the trip, the youth mentioned traveling to California for a powwow. Their advisor encouraged the club kids to think big and that nothing is off limits as long as they are willing to put in the time and effort.

Two of those nine students shared their experience at Black Hills Powwow. Nevaeh Perez and Natalie Adams are seniors this year and have been traveling with their families to many celebrations this year. Natalie is now competing in the women’s fancy category. Black Hills Powwow was the first big powwow she competed in the junior women’s fancy competition.

“I thought it was really cool to dance with all the dancers I look up to. My favorite part was, not only being able to dance with them, but being able to compete in the Saturday Night Live grand entry with them.”

Nevaeh shared that, “It’s been a rough year for my family and I, but having some of us go dance in Black Hills definitely sent good medicine our way.”

The energy at Black Hills was something she never experienced before. “The atmosphere was electric. Good jammers all weekend and good dancing. I thought it was cool that a lot of people from our reservation were there,” said Nevaeh. “The “Who Runs These Hills” showcase was probably my favorite part. All the categories were really fun to watch, but my favorite was probably Men’s Woodland. Their routine gave me straight chills. Overall it was a really cool and fun experience with my siblings and some of my best friends.”

Looking ahead, the club is doing their annual wood raffle. They went with CSKT Division of Fire to cut a load of wood. The drawing for the wood will be held Nov 3rd.

10/15/2025

The Two Eagle River School Communication class stopped by the Char-Koosta office to learn about newspaper operations, reporter duties, and history of the newspaper. Students compiled a list of questions about journalism, digital news, when the newspaper started, and more.