Page 8 - Flathead Beacon // 1.8.13

8 | JANUARY 1, 2014 NEWS FLATHEADBEACON.COM

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POLL

FLATHEADBEACON.COM

Should the NSA be Allowed
to Collect Americans’ Phone

Records to Combat Terrorism?

34% YES 65% NO

TOTAL VOTES: 170

Are You Looking
Forward to 2014?

Loretta Lick wipes tears from her eyes as she is greeted by her daughter, Janet Coombs, and grandson, Ryan Rinebold, at the Glacier Park
International Airport on Dec. 23. Lick hadn’t seen Rinebold for more than 10 years before the reunion.
GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Beacon contest winner Janet Coombs welcomes mother to the Flathead for Christmas
83% YES 17% NO
TOTAL VOTES: 90
By MOLLY PRIDDY of the Beacon
They hadn’t seen each other in 13 years, top of Big Mountain, decorated the family
Janet said, and she wasn’t sure when she’d tree, and knitted with a granddaughter.
Many people view the holidays as a
get the chance to see her mom again.
By the time Loretta was back at the air-
time to get together with family, to update With that in mind, Janet applied to port to head home on Dec. 27, Janet said
Are You Traveling one another on our journeys through life the Flathead Beacon’s Home for the Holi- the week had lown by.
for Christmas?
and enjoy the latest evolution of family dy- days contest, in which the Beacon ofers to “She had the best time; we all had a
namics.
ly home a family member for Christmas. great time,” Janet said. “It was not enough
But for some, such gatherings can be The contest was co-sponsored by Flathead time.”

impossible, due to life circumstance, i- Travel and supported by 26 area business- It was an emotional trip, Janet said, be-
nances, or any other combination of rea- es.
cause you never know where life will take
sons. For Janet Coombs of Whiteish, be- Janet’s story was selected as the win- you next, or when you’ll see your far-lung
ing a single mom of three kids meant she ner, and Loretta arrived at Glacier Park loved ones again. The family watched a
didn’t have the money to ly her family International Airport on Dec. 23, just af- projected slide show of when Janet was a
to see her mother, Loretta Lick, in Long ter Janet and her three kids had gotten a baby, and gave Loretta a large canvas pho-
Beach, Calif.
Christmas tree.
to of Janet and the kids to take back with
18% YES 82% NO
Nor did Loretta have the money or the “I’m 46, so I was 6 years old the last her.
TOTAL VOTES: 119
time to get up to Whiteish; at 70, Loretta time (my mom) saw snow,” Janet said.
“It was excellent,” Janet said. “It was
is an active foster mother for children with While Loretta was in town, each of the most wonderful experience for every-
disabilities, and leaving on a vacation was Janet’s kids – ages 18, 25, and 27 – got to one; we were so happy.”
ONLINE POLL RESULTS ARE NOT SCIENTIFIC
not inancially feasible.
spend a day with grandma. She went to the
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