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The Seeley Swan High School girls basketball team handedly defeated Superior 51-31 on Dec. 15, but lost to Thompson Falls to split its opening home games of the 2023-2024 season. The team is looking for new experience, head coach David Cahoon said. "We're super young and so a lot of these girls haven't played high school basketball yet," Cahoon said. "[The goal was] just to get some miles on our legs, and see that the stuff that we have been working on actually works." The team went back and...
The Seeley Swan High School boys basketball team split its opening season games against two larger opponents last week, beating Superior High School on Dec. 15, and losing to Thompson Falls on Dec. 16. Both opposing schools are listed as Class B high schools, which is one division above Seeley Swan for size. That didn't matter to the Blackhawks against Superior, as the team led for most of the game and only allowed one point in the fourth quarter. Head Coach Mike Haines said the team had a slow...
Koozies, earrings, candles and more will take center stage in Seeley-Swan High School this Saturday, Dec. 16 as the high school business class opens up a market to sell their handmade products. The business class, led by teacher Michele Holmes, has been spending the semester researching and creating products that the students could grow into their own businesses, and in turn make some money from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Dec. 16. One of the biggest values Holmes looked at is passion. She said she...
Seeley Lake and much of western Montana have seen a decent amount of moisture, but temperatures have stayed well above average to limit snowpack and delay some winter activities. Winter road closures in the Seeley Lake Ranger District have been pushed back a week, the Lolo National Forest announced on Dec. 5. The transition to winterized roads will start on Dec. 11 and is expected to be finished by Dec. 15 - one week later than planned. "Winter has arrived on the Seeley Lake Ranger District,"...
Amid plenty of activity this weekend, the Seeley Lake Stocking party is hoping to give back to the community by providing free toys and time with Santa at the Seeley Lake Foundation building on Dec. 17. Seeley Lake stockings, now in its fifth year, was started to be a place for families to bring their children for good fun and a toy. Sheila Czifro, one of the founders, noticed there were plenty of events in Seeley during the winter, but not enough for children, especially those in need. “We don’t want to carry anything home at the end of thi...
At the start of practice on Dec. 7, head coach Mike Haines shouted four things at his players. Each one responded in unison. "I am thankful for the opportunity to compete. I am aggressive and relentless. I have no fear of losing or making mistakes. I never give up," the team shouts before warming up. That formula is key to Haines's team success this year, as the Blackhawks hope to make a run at district and divisional playoffs with a large team. Haines said he is looking forward to establishing...
The Seeley-Swan Lady Blackhawks basketball team hopes to continue its area dominance and win its sixth district title in a row, it just has to do it with the youngest team ever to sport the black and yellow. The Lady Blackhawks are returning a roster featuring five juniors, six sophomores and four freshmen. The team sports no seniors, but co-head coach David Cahoon said the team will get to focus on the fundamentals more. "It's been really fun, we get to go back to some fundamentals and we have...
Gov. Greg Gianforte joked he would cut down the Capitol Christmas Tree himself with a chainsaw, but a feller buncher beat him to the punch and slashed a massive Douglas fir on Lubrecht Experimental Forest last Monday, Nov. 27. Gianforte and his wife Susan met with state conservation officials and local loggers to cut down the tree on state trust lands within Lubrecht. Gianforte said active forest management seen in Greenough will better the state's forests while keeping the timber economy...
A new communications tower could come to the center of Condon in the future, but little has been shared on what purpose the tower has, when it could be built or what cell services will be carried on it. The Pathfinder originally published the public notice of a new cell tower on Nov. 30. It is unclear why the notice was published. The tower would be owned by Harmoni Towers, one of the largest tower companies in America. Since the land is unzoned, there is no requirement from the state of...
The Swan Valley Community Council approved its members for a planning committee that could solidify some regulations and zoning for the Condon area at its Nov. 21 meeting. The Community Council is working to update the area’s community plan for the first time since 1996, and this time it could include more powerful rules like zoning limits for the first time ever. Council member Grace Siloti asked the board to approve the list of nine people and a three person advisory committee. The planning members will be Luke Lamar, Johnny Simons, C...
More than a dozen residents stood by the confluence of Holland Creek and the Swan River to hear from Forest Service officials and their plan to log and restore roughly 6,000 acres of land from Rumble Creek to Owl Creek. The field trip was part of the plan's public meeting, which featured experts in fire, forest health and wildlife. The Forest Service argued that the area needs alteration after previous managers suppressed fire for one hundred years, leaving thick stands at risk for wildfire and...
The Seeley Lake Rural Fire District Board caught up on expenses and other happenings at the department, but some actions were hindered because of accounting errors discovered during its Nov. 21 meeting. The board also heard from a citizen concerned with patient care. The fire board did not meet in October, so the meeting was to approve expenses for the last two months. The board approved the September expenses, which reached over $70,000. That money paid for a new type one fire truck and new extraction tools. The October expenses, closer to a...
The bridge spanning the Blackfoot River on Sunset Hill Road will be getting repaved, meaning the pass will be closed for a few days at the end of November. Missoula County said in a press release that the bridge will be closed from 8 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 29 to 4 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 30. The closure will last for as long as the construction is needed. There will not be any overnight openings of the site. The public works division of Missoula County will be replacing the driving surface for those two days. County engineers recommend looking for...
Griffen Smith of the Pathfinder Several bridges in Seeley Lake, Greenough and Condon are in need of major repairs or replacements, but work on the bridges likely won't start until 2027 because of a lack of funding. That means the Boy Scout bridge, which was shuttered by the Montana Department of Transportation for structural concerns on Nov. 15, will likely sit idle until Missoula County secures state or federal dollars to replace it. Missoula County Public Work Director Shane Stack told the...
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte met with loggers and state forest officials to cut down the Capitol Christmas Tree on state trust lands in Greenough on Nov. 27. The tree was located inside of a state timber sale, and loggers noticed the size and proportion early on. The tree will be taken to Helena where it will be lit in a formal ceremony next week. Check the Pathfinder next week for a full interview with Gov. Gianforte...
Seeley Lake Elementary School will keep its technology, outdoor education, tutoring and other extracurricular activities after the school announced it received another five-year, competitive federal grant. The school won the Nita M. Lowery 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant, valued at $150,000 annually. Bridget Laird, a high school English teacher and former SLE teacher, wrote the application for the grant, which she also received for eight years beginning in 2015. While funding from the first grant ran out at the end of 2022, SLE was...
Scott Porter carries a tub of onions into the Seeley Lake Food Pantry on Nov. 16. Enough food to feed 60 families flowed into the Clearwater Valley from the Northwest Montana Veterans Stand Down and Food Pantry. The pantry has worked out of the Evergreen area in the Flathead Valley for the last 25 years. The group recently decided to outreach to the Seeley Lake area after it received an excess of food this fall. "We plan to keep working with the food bank in Seeley Lake and building that...
The Seeley Swan Hospital District Board discussed adding a new vaccine freezer, agreed to keep a safety deposit box at the bank and addressed other wear and tear at the Medical Center during its Nov. 14 meeting. While the board is still investigating whether a new A/C unit is necessary for the medical center, board member Martin DeHaven said the water damage in the ceiling from early this year was fixed. A second project focused on spiders found in the building. Any concerns of bugs or mold in the area have been put to rest, he said. There are...
The Montana Grizzlies never looked back last Saturday, Nov. 18, beating Montana State University in a 37-7 romp that gave the Griz its first Big Sky Conference Title in 14 years. Montana started the game on fire with two rushing touchdowns in the first quarter by freshman running back Eli Gillman and senior quarterback Clifton McDowell. The Cats were hampered by the noise of Washington-Grizzly Stadium. A record-breaking 27,178 people watched the game in person. Hundreds more tailgated right...
Dozens of residents circled the Seeley Lake Veterans Memorial on Nov. 11 to honor and remember all who had served. Now 105 since the first celebration of Armistice Day, leaders from the veterans community reminded those that freedom is not free, even today. "Many of (our veterans) didn't ask to leave their homes to fight on a distant battlefield. Many didn't even volunteer," Veterans and Families of Seeley Lake leader Barbara Knopp said. "They didn't go to war because they loved fighting, they...
Missoula County announced Nov. 15 that the Boy Scout Road bridge will be closed indefinitely because of structural concerns. The Montana Department of Transportation had already limited traffic on the bridge to three tons in August after a complaint by a nearby resident. After state-contracted engineers looked at the bridge in September, the state made the final decision that the bridge is not safe for traffic. The announcement came more than two weeks after the original timeline for the...
A Seeley Lake man will be behind bars for the next eight and a half years after he pleaded guilty in July to receiving child pornography. Charles Lief Isaacson, 62, was first arrested by Missoula County after he allegedly thought he was messaging a 14-year-old girl on social media. He planned to have sex with the fake minor in 2022, charging documents said. Isaacson still has two charges against him for sexual abuse of children active in Missoula District Court. U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich...
The future of the bridge on Boy Scout Road should be known sometime next week as the Montana Department of Transportation wraps up the analysis of its structural study. The results of the study, which was originally estimated to be published by Nov. 1, should decide whether to keep the bridge in operation, limit weight on the bridge or shut it down altogether. The bridge was built in 1937. The Pathfinder previously reported that the bridge has been a known concern by MDT and Missoula County for the last several years. “This bridge has been o...
After a Missoula District Court Judge blocked the state and a construction company from operating a gravel pit near Elbow Lake, lawyers for the two groups appealed the decision to the Montana Supreme Court, which accepted the appeal at the beginning of November. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality and LHC construction are hoping to reverse an earlier decision made by Missoula District Court Judge John Larson, which halted a 17-acre gravel pit and asphalt plant just south of Salmon Lake. Larson first granted a temporary restraining...
A Seeley Lake man was sentenced to five years in the Montana State Prison on Nov. 3 after he pleaded guilty to killing a Potomac woman while high on methamphetamine in a car crash last December. Kerry Glen Drew, 69, pleaded guilty to four felonies and one misdemeanor earlier this year as a part of a plea deal. He was driving westbound on Highway 200 on the night of Dec. 21 when he hit a group of cars parked on the side of the road near mile marker 18. The group of cars were attempting to pull a car out of a snowbank. Drew, who was intoxicated...
