Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 151
The Governess disapproves of the Maid and Bulter's flirtations and she hates Drosselmeyer. She throws her hands up in dismay at Drosselmeyer's arrival and doesn't like his antics during the party. What she does get on board with, though, is the Nutcracker March. After watching the children dance it, she decides the whole crew should try it out. She stands front and center, the Christmas tree displayed behind her, and leads the cast of Garden City Ballet's 40th Nutcracker in the steps. For three...
The Seeley Lake community is grappling with the effectiveness and longevity of its medical center, the only spot with primary and dental care in about a 50-mile radius. Partnership Health Center, the nonprofit organization that provides services to the Seeley-Swan Medical Center, experienced financial hardship during the covid-19 pandemic and Montana’s Medicaid redetermination process, both across its six locations in Missoula County and specifically at the Seeley clinic, according to hospital representatives. These financial stressors — and...
Candidate filing for special district elections, including school board and community councils, opened on Dec. 12. Particularly in unincorporated towns like Seeley Lake and Condon, being a part of various boards is a way community members can get involved in local issues and in some cases — in community councils particularly — can be the mouthpiece for the community to the Missoula County Board of Commissioners. In the Seeley-Swan area, there are two open positions on community boards: one with the Swan Valley Fire service area and one on the...
On Dec. 7 downtown Seeley Lake was bustling with community members gathered for the Second Annual Seeley Lake Tree Lighting presented by the Lions Club. This year's Christmas tree included 1,000 lights that were paid for by the Lions Club and strung by Missoula Electric Cooperative. The theme of this year's lighting was Logger Santa. Logger Santa and Mrs. Claus were in attendance and posed for pictures after the tree was lit. The tree wasn't the only decoration on display. The fence in front of...
Standing under western larches, pine trees and Douglas-firs, the first group of University of Montana seniors began their pitch. To finish off the semester, these students - including six groups of about six - ran through their project description: how many trees were in their assigned area, their ideas for removal and retention of different tree species and their plan of action under a December blue sky just north of Placid Lake. "Our objectives for the stand are to build resilience to fire thr...
Through different forms of Christmas greenery making, Seeley Lake community members rang in the holiday season with evergreen boughs. On Dec. 1, Lu Perez, a Seeley Lake community member, gathered 14 women for what she's deciding is the first annual Christmas wreath making party. She got the idea after making a wreath herself, which she donated to an auction for Sparrow's Vine, a parenting resource center in Seeley Lake. People loved it, she said, and it gave her the idea of hosting a gathering w...
Our incredible newspaper designer, Jenny Wherley, had her last day with the Pathfinder this week. Jenny has worked in community news in Montana for over 20 years, formerly for the Kavanagh family, who owned a variety of local newspapers across the state before they retired from the business. Some of the papers Jenny worked for until recently, including a few that Ponderosa Publishing/Mullen Newspapers — the Pathfinder’s publishers — own were once Kavanagh family papers as well, like the Cut Bank Pioneer Press. The care and atten...
The Seeley Swan Medical Center will undergo schedule changes in the new year beginning Jan. 1. Two medical doctors, Dr. Jesse Charles and Dr. Jackie Ordemann, who were available for in-person appointments in Seeley Lake prior to the change, will now be available for telehealth or in-person appointments at Missoula’s Partnership Health Center location. Partnership Health contracts with the Seeley-Swan Hospital District to offer services at the Seeley location. Dr. Ordemann will remain available onsite in Seeley for OB care once a month. Other i...
At the beginning of October, a situation took place on Seeley Lake Fire District property where a volunteer was carrying a gun and it made someone feel uneasy. According to Fire Chief Dave Lane, the person felt intimidated that fire district volunteers could carry on district property. The fire district doesn’t have a policy in place that restricts firearms on district property. Some districts develop policies that do in their particular locations. Doing so and posting signage of the policy is not a violation of any federal laws, like the S...
The Seeley Lake Sewer District Board spent a good portion of its November meeting etching out priorities for a potential wastewater treatment system’s location and technology. While a preliminary engineering report is still in the works, the district’s engineering consultant, Water & Environmental Technologies, or WET, walked the board through engineering matrices meant to help weigh different elements of project considerations. Typical engineering matrices use locations, scores, rankings and weights, and the combination of all results in a f...
The Seeley Lake Elementary School Board voted on Nov. 18 to eliminate the Friday STEAM, or Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, program effective Dec. 1. The program, which is designed to add extra optional science and math instruction part of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant program, had seen low attendance since the elementary school switched to a four-day school week this year. One concern of families as the school transitioned to four days was a reduction in childcare, lunch and educational advancement...
One thing was clear from the results of a survey sent out to Seeley Lake residents from the Seeley-Swan Hospital District — not everyone is totally clear on what’s offered at the local medical center. Even from a fairly basic level, the perception that it is a hospital and provides urgent care services was fairly widespread, which is not the case. “The Seeley-Swan Hospital District is not a hospital. We are a mission-driven board that oversees the facility and partners with Partnership Health Center, who provides primary care and other healt...
Trying to make use of remaining federal money, the Missoula County Public Works Department is submitting for three more grants to address various deteriorating bridges in the county. After an unsuccessful submission for a Bridge Investment Program grant, or BIP grant, in March, which would have funded the replacement of Boy Scout Road (Seeley Lake), Glacier Creek (Condon) and Sunset Hill Road (Greenough) Bridges, Shane Stack, public works department director, said the department is planning on resubmitting for the grant next year and using...
The Seeley Lake Water District Board voted to approve a rate increase to users’ monthly water fees. This increase is needed to balance the nonprofit water district’s budget after Pyramid Mountain Lumber, the district’s largest user, shuts down and stops using water. Vincent Chappell, Seeley Lake Water District manager, said when the mill does finally shut down the district will lose about $55,000 each year. “Unfortunately we have to find a way to make up that deficit and the only way to do that is to raise rates to other customers,” Chappell...
Standing in a circle under an afternoon autumn blue sky, big fluffy clouds blocking the view here and there, the students of Swan Valley Elementary School were told to be a tree. More specifically, a model of a tree. Taylor Tewksbury, education program coordinator with Swan Valley Connections, explained that models are examples and scientists use them to understand something without, in a tree's case, needing to chop it down. Students made concentric circles of their classmates and were...
Despite playing some hard-fought games, the Lady Blackhawks will not be traveling to state tournaments this week. The team placed fifth overall in divisionals last week, winning against Valley Christian and losing against Drummond and Philipsburg. "I couldn't be more proud of them as individuals and especially the team they became and finished the season as," Lady Blackhawk Coach Janelle Greenwood said. Greenwood said each volleyball player had moments where they were outstanding. All the girls...
To commemorate the end of an era, the Pathfinder went back through the archives to find mentions of Pyramid Mountain Lumber all the way back to 1983 when the paper was published as The Valley Times. There aren't instances from each year since, mainly because we'd run out of space, and also because one gets the general gist from the compiled remarks. A main refrain after the announced closure of Pyramid Mountain Lumber on March 14 of this year was that it was the glue that held Seeley Lake...
Maybe you opened your paper today thinking, I’m pretty sure the Pathfinder’s missing something. Don’t we have a new president? Statehouse representative? You’re probably right. Since our papers are printed on Mondays, it made for a very quiet Nov. 7 paper regarding election details. We sent the paper off to press before Election Day even began. I intend to publish a story online focusing on the statehouse races pertinent to the Seeley-Swan and Blackfoot Valleys on Wednesday or Thursday this week. But in the meantime, there are plenty of othe...
The Flathead National Forest has received an application from Eric Jacobsen and Thomas Knowles for a special use permit to operate Holland Lake Lodge with no proposed expansion. Private equity investors Jacobsen and Knowles held a meeting announcing their interest in purchasing the historic lodge in the Swan Valley in September and the Forest Service received notice of a purchase agreement between the two and the current holders of the lodge’s special use permit — longtime owner Christian Wohlfiel and POWDR, owner of ski resorts across the cou...
The Blackhawks first home playoff game in 30 years didn't end the way the football team hoped. After ending the first quarter in the lead, the Choteau Bulldogs took the game away, final score 41-28. Blackhawk Coach Jacob Haley said to his team that now he'll never consider a bulldog as a prospective pet. Haley said he felt like the playoff game was up for the taking and that the Blackhawks only had themselves to beat. But a few too many turnovers, dropped touchdowns and off plays didn't produce...
Seeley-Swan High School business instructor Michele Holmes was presented the Innovation in Education award by the Montana Chamber of Commerce on Oct. 30 during the Chamber's Titans of Business award ceremony. This fall, Holmes was selected as an Empowered Teacher of the Year, acknowledging her comprehensive use of the Empowered curriculum, which allows business instructors to use hands-on, real-world activities to teach business concepts like costs of goods sold or project pitching. Through...
Republicans claimed political control across all the top state races this general election cycle in Montana, including the open U.S. Senate seat, both U.S. House seats, Governor, Public Service Commission, Attorney General, Superintendent of Public Instruction, State Auditor and Secretary of State. More specifically, Ryan Zinke took the western U.S. House District and Troy Downing the eastern. Greg Gianforte was reelected governor. Brad Molnar, Jeff Welborn and Jennifer Fielder were elected to the state Public Service Commission. Austin...
Audrey Stevenson groaned as the volleyball she served hit the net instead of sailing over like it was supposed to. Assistant Coach Shawn Evans told her to keep her arm up, and she walked around the court to get back in line and try again. At a practice in October, many Lady Blackhawks brought up how much serving technique improves when players get on the high school team. And Stevenson, along with fellow eighth grader Kieu Snow, has an extra year to practice. Both young women are playing up...
Inside the Seeley-Swan High School cafeteria, close to 30 people gathered and raised their hands for various ice breaker questions before a meeting began. How many people in the room have lived in Seeley Lake for more than 20 years? Maybe a third of the hands went up. How many people were born and raised in Seeley? No hands. How many are retired? Business owners? Have kids in the school system? Who is worried about the future of Seeley Lake? Every hand in the room went up. "Great, that's why...
The seventh/eighth grade wing at Seeley Lake Elementary School is set to be demolished. Continued concern about mold in the walls due to moisture getting under the foundation of the building led to school board approval for the demolition during its October meeting. Mold was first found in the walls over the summer and was abated, or removed, Board Chair Doc Welter said, which allowed the wing to be used this school year. But since moisture continues to be a problem under the foundation, even with equipment in place to keep it at bay, Welter...
