Articles written by Bill Lombardi


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  • Thanks for listening

    Bill Lombardi, Seeley Lake|Oct 5, 2023

    I want to thank the Missoula County Commissioners and their staff for coming to Seeley Lake on Sept. 18 to talk about the future of this town and our “vision for the community.” The Seeley Lake Community Hall was packed, and County Commissioners heard from almost 100 residents that they care about the future of this place and valley and want to keep it clean, safe and community oriented. Commissioners and staff sat at tables to hear the concerns and dreams of residents for this place, and, at least, at my table, the most recurring theme was...

  • A letter on higher property taxes

    Bill Lombardi, Seeley Lake|Jul 20, 2023

    Las Vegas card sharks, Mississippi Riverboat gamblers, and Churchill Downs handicappers are pleased that Governor Gianforte and Montana’s Republican legislators pulled a fast one on Montana homeowners in the 2023 session. Earlier this year, they permanently raised state residential property taxes by 43 percent – $81 million a year, and $162 million over the two-year state budget cycle. Then they pocketed our money. (Just look at your residential property appraisal notice – your home’s value and taxes are soaring as your spirits are sinking...

  • Max Lostukoff to present new novel, 'Ruthie Fear' at AAI's Open Book Club

    Jan and Bill Lombardi|Apr 27, 2023

    From the beginning, Maxim Loskutoff's debut novel, Ruthie Fear, rings with foreboding. The protagonist, Ruthie, lives in a ramshackle trailer with her father, Rutherford, in Montana's Bitterroot Valley under the watchful eye of Trapper Peak, which is "hooked like a finger beckoning her above the treeline" and looks down on her like the missing mother she pines for. Cast adrift from the shuttered local lumber mill, Rutherford scrounges for odd construction jobs. He survives by hunting and...

  • Demand more transparency - Fight for Montana

    Bill Lombardi, Seeley Lake, Montana|Sep 29, 2022

    In autumn, that mournful season that stifles the lighthearted sounds of summer, larch turn golden and, against the Douglas fir and Ponderosa pine, light up the Seeley-Swan Valley like a votive-filled cathedral in Rome. It’s something to behold as you stand in awe of the magic wand of nature, whose invisible hand has crafted an infrastructure that rapacious people want to market to a public hungry for natural experiences touted by Hollywood. At Holland Lake, we’re seeing a docudrama (like TV’s Yellowstone) play out with the U.S. Forest Servi...

  • Thanks for lending a helping hand

    Jan and Bill Lombardi, Seeley Lake, Montana|Jan 13, 2022

    We were looking forward to welcoming 2022 with the last grouse hunt of the season. Instead, we got stuck in the snow and found the heartbeat of Seeley Lake. Here’s to a Happy New Year ahead, thanks to the kind family of snowmobilers that helped us get the car back on the road. Thank you, Seeley Lakers!...

  • Politicians, by nature, are oddsmakers, calculators, bettors, bookies

    Bill Lombardi, Helena and Seeley Lake, Montana|Jan 21, 2021
    1

    They bet on winning and losing all the time. Sen. Steve Daines bet on President Trump. But following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Daines changed his wager. That day a pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol, erected a gallows, killed a Capitol policeman, and searched like terrorists for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence. They tried to stop Congress from doing its constitutional duty to certify the presidential election. Hidden with senators from the marauders in a Capitol basement “secure room”, Daines mad...