By June Norvila
A piece of Bentley's business history left town last month.
In the fall of 1960, Bentley Farm Supply held their grand opening under the ownership of Niel Rietema who had identified the need for a farm outlet store in the Bentley area.
The farm supply outlet quickly became popular and was a great boon to farmers in the area who no longer had to travel as far for supplies.
It was a Shur Gain dealership and eventually grew to handle everything from nails, nuts and bolts and automotive and machinery supplies to salt blocks and mineral for farm animals, some animal tack, and even some work clothes, tools and shovels, and almost anything a farmer might need.
The 40 foot by 80 foot building had been added to the business in the late 1970's when more storage for animal feed, etc was needed.
The building was sold, recently removed and relocated west of Rimbey to be used as a shop, in part because the proposed realignment of Highway 12 intended to skirt the south side of Bentley, would go through the area where the building was situated instead of travelling directly through the center of town as it currently does.
A new roomier updated shop/store front had opened in April of 1981.
Rietema sold his farm supply business in 1988 and now is semi-retired. The building had remained in use by GLDC Gas Co-op Ltd. until they relocated to Rimbey late last fall.
Bentley school modifications for next term
There was good attendance again at the final 2008/09 Bentley School Parent Advisory Council (PAC) meeting on June 16.
A special treat was appetizers/hors d'oeuvres to sample made up by the CTS Food Sciences students.
The new logo Panther PRIDE (Partnership, Respect, Integrity, Dedication and Excellence) will be instituted next term.
Six swimming lessons per class next January and February will be a part of the curriculum for K through Grade 6 with the $40 fee added in.
There will be fine arts programming offered due to the hiring of a half-time teacher. Missoula Theatre will be back.
School principal Lane Moore acknowledged a drug problem in the school extending down into elementary grades and stated the school needs help from the parents and community to get and keep the problem under control. Educational information sessions including Suicide Education and Drug Awareness and others will be offered early in the next term to both students and for parents.
The school food program is being re-evaluated with a look at incorporating the school's CTS foods program.
The taking of team and individual and grad pictures is also being re-evaluated.
Next year school classes will start earlier in the day (8:35 a.m.). Bus pick-up times will not change. It will result in classes being done 15 minutes earlier (3:15 p.m. dismissal).
Classes commence Monday, August 31.
The first meeting of the 2009/10 Bentley school Parent Advisory Council (PAC) will be on September 15 at 7:00 p.m. in the high school video conferencing room.