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SEATTLE, WASH. - "I had never, at any point in my medical training, sat in a room where at the same time you tell a patient they have a diagnosis, you also tell them they will definitively die from that diagnosis." This was Dr. Nicholas Vitanza's memory of meeting his first patient with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), an inoperable brain tumor found in children. As a pediatric neuro-oncologist at Seattle's Children's Hospital, he has since delivered the same message to many more...
SEELEY LAKE - Being a phone man has been in Randy Teague's blood his entire life. After working for Blackfoot for more than 40 years, Teague said he has seen the birth of the Internet, services advance from analog to digital to fiber optic and growth from a rural telephone provider to a regional technology leader. His job has always been more than just a paycheck to him. It has been an opportunity to serve and help his customers who not only rely on the service provided but are also part owners...
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Community Council hosted two candidate forums, April 9 and 11, at the Seeley Lake Community Hall. Candidates for national, state, county and local races answered questions from moderator and Council Press Contact Klaus von Stutterheim and the audience. All candidates that will appear on the May 8 Special District Mail-in ballot and June 5 primary were invited. Ballots for the May 8 election were mailed April 18. For the next four weeks, the Pathfinder will feature...
Seeley Lake Rural Fire District (Non-partisan: 2, 3-year terms): Incumbents Connie Clark and Gary Lewis and candidates Mark Kues, Shawn Ellinghouse and Alyssa McLean are running for two, three-year positions. Clark was not in attendance at the forum but was represented by surrogate Bonnie Connell. Connell did not respond to questions for Clark but did give her opening and closing statements. Mark Kues has lived in Seeley Lake since 2011 with his wife. He has 30+ years of experience in...
Seeley Lake Sewer District (Non-partisan: 3, 4-year terms): Incumbents Mark Butcher, Mike Lindemer and Robert (Bob) Skiles along with candidates Juli Cole, Beth Hutchinson and Troy Spence are running for three positions on the board. Spence was not in attendance at the forum. Mark Butcher said he didn't think about politics when he was originally asked to serve on the Sewer Board. He has been a sewer plant operator for about 30 years and in that time he has seen a lot of companies build a lot...
Love is, Love, Faith, Happiness, Friends, Family, And freedom. For Love is like money, not everyone has it....
SEELEY LAKE - Last week Seeley Lake hosted two candidate forums at our Community Hall. The Seeley Lake Community Council offered a great service for the community and they did it very professionally. One of Klaus von Stutterheim’s super powers is acting as MC for these events. It’s a lot of work to orchestrate such an event, with much contact back and forth between here and the candidates to coordinate. Then there is the setup and breakdown of the hall for the events. I understand that all but four of the candidates accepted the invitation to...
Current Seeley Lake Sewer Board: Males - 100%, Females - 0%, Business Owners - 100%, Wage Earners - 0%, Fixed Income/Retired - 0%, High Value Property Ownership - 100%, Apparent Need for Sewer - 100%, Relevant Training/Background - 40% Flexibility in Problem-solving - 0-20% Sewer Board with Three New Members: Males - 60%, Females - 40%, Business Owners - 40%, Wage Earners - 40%, Fixed Income/Retired - 20%, High Value Property Ownership - 40%, Apparent Need for Sewer - 50-50%, Relevant Training/Background - 50%, Flexibility in Problem-solving -...
SEELEY LAKE - First, thank you to all our VOLUNTEERS for their time in training and responding to the needs of the community! I am honored to support the incumbents for Fire District Board of Trustees. I have known both Gary Lewis and Connie Clark since the early 90’s, and have the highest regard for them. These individuals are outstanding incumbents dedicated to the community. They have indisputable reputation, solid character, honesty and integrity. They both have combined over 60 years serving this fire district. Additionally, Mr. Lewis h...
I am running for Missoula County Commissioner because my experience and common sense leadership are needed now more than ever. I have a passion for Missoula County. I was born in Missoula and raised on a farm in the Swan. I graduated from Seeley-Swan High School. When I say I am going ‘up home’ - I am coming to this valley. When I drop down the hill to Salmon Lake, I am home. Seeley Lake is unique as it is unincorporated and yet has a sewer board, water board, fire board, cemetery board, hospital district and a volunteer fire department. I wor...
MISSOULA - We are writing to support Josh Slotnick’s bid for County Commissioner. Thirty-five years ago, we were transplants to Montana. We came initially for the reasons many do: easy access to unadulterated wilderness and the beauty of incredible landscapes. Over time, however, we’ve come to value other less immediately obvious things: the exceptional ingenuity and entrepreneurship of people who want to choose their own way of living rather than follow the mainstream; the care for community and concern about thoughtful development. Josh embod...
SEELEY LAKE - We chose to move to Seeley Lake for the beauty of the mountains, the lakes and streams, the critters, the snow…The small town. Back then, the sewer, “to be or not to be,” was a topic of discussion – and it still is 16 years later and already had been for 10. No one can accuse the sewer board of acting too quickly! I paid attention from a distance reading newspaper articles and attending public meetings. What I have paid close attention to are our lakes and streams. With the decline of the timber industry, Seeley Lake has relied...
SEELEY LAKE - Dr. Stephen Covey, author of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," accurately stated about the profession of law enforcement, "Service, justice and fundamental fairness - these are the foundational principles in which every police action must be grounded." I attended a recent forum in Seeley with my two opponents. When I arrived, signs posted on the outside of the Community Hall building greeted us. I later learned that similar signs had also been posted near the main...
My re-election campaign for Sheriff is committed to fair and ethical campaigns and behaviors. We are firmly opposed to the type of behavior Mr. Wafstet has indicated in his emails, by any supporter of any candidate running for any political office. I’m not aware of any candidate from any political party that has the ability to control those who attend political events and for whatever reason decide to participate in this type of conduct. Therefore, it would be unfair to insinuate or try to link any candidate or somehow the operation of the S...
In my role as Executive Director of BREDD, a regional economic development organization, I had the privilege of working alongside of Commissioner Jean Curtiss for 10 years on economic development issues facing Missoula County. During this time, Jean led us through a transition in our economic base, which required listening, out of the box thinking, collaboration, and vision. A county commissioner’s job requires leadership and a broad spectrum of knowledge ranging from community healthcare concerns to economic development and so much in b...
MISSOULA - I design projects to restore degraded ecosystems and often catch myself asking, “What were they thinking?” Short-sighted needs for economic growth blinded previous generations to the long-term consequences their actions would have on the land and resources we rely on, causing boom and bust economies throughout Montana. In designing restoration projects, my goal is to set the right conditions for ecosystems to thrive on their own. With a similar mindset, Josh Slotnick has been sowing the seeds for the long-term sustainability of Mis...
China has been funding Confucius Institutes (CI) language programs under the communist regime's Ministry of Education since 2004, in which it forms partnerships with American universities. There are currently 103 branches on campuses across the U.S. The question that needs to be addressed is does the communist regime just want to promote Chinese culture or is there something more unethical about its intentions? In an in-depth report just issued by the National Association of Scholars (NAS) www.nas.org/projects/confucius_institutes it reported...
Time has long been a mystery. What is it? How does it influence us? Why does it exist? One of the most important questions is: How does it change? As we get older, we all experience time passing more quickly. This is just one of the common experiences that we all share. It isn't unusual to hear someone say: "It was just Friday. Wasn't it? How can it be Friday again?" People are surprised at how quickly the months pass or even the years, but this is not what you hear from children. Their...
SEELEY LAKE – "The groomer is out," was Bruce Friede's response this winter when people from Double Arrow Ranch said they saw flashing lights in the darkness on the hillside across the valley. Friede, the Seeley Lake Driftriders' groomer chair, said it was a great season, with a lot of snow and happy visitors. While the grooming season has ended, the snowmobile club is already making plans for next year. One of the goals for the Driftriders' board this year was to get Seeley Lake back into "...
MISSOULA - My name is Josh Clark. I am a Democratic candidate running for Missoula County Sheriff and Coroner. On Monday, April 9th, I participated in a candidate forum at the Seeley Lake Community Center. While waiting for the forum to start, I learned that someone had hung derogatory signs against me and Travis Wafstet, another Sheriff candidate on the exterior of the building. We are both running against Sheriff McDermott. I went outside and took the signs down, knowing the organizer of the...
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley-Swan Mountain Bells is a local handbell choir. They have had several pieces of equipment walk away since we resumed practices in late January. First was a six-foot folding Costco type table. They didn't think much of it, expecting it would find its way back to our storeroom at Seeley Lake Elementary. A few weeks later a custom made pad for the table also disappeared. A thorough search came up empty. Most recently, one of our bells went missing. A handbell has a cast...
SWAN VALLEY - The Flathead National Forest is planning to conduct spring prescribed fire projects, when weather, fuel conditions and air quality become favorable. Smoke will be visible from various places in the Flathead Valley depending on the location of the burn units and weather conditions. Each project follows a Prescribed Fire Burn Plan. The prescribed fire projects are located and designed to be controlled to reduce the potential for adverse effects, or to escape as a wildland fire. These projects will be in compliance with Montana air...
This article is going to be lengthy but I believe important and necessary. There has been an exceptional amount of confusion and misinformation concerning happenings within the Seeley Lake Fire Department over the previous months as well as accusations of lack of transparency along with allegations of wrongdoing by both the District Board of Trustees and me, the current Chief. It is difficult to counter allegations when one side is fettered by legal requirements of privacy. The conversation becomes very one sided and unfortunately, as you may h...
MISSOULA - The Seeley-Swan Blackhawks came up against competition from all classes of schools including several Class AA schools last week. They started the week in Corvallis April 10 and then headed to the Missoula County Public Schools Invitational April 14 where more than 1,000 athletes competed. The Boys earned enough points for fifth at Corvallis propelled by their relay teams that took second in both the 4x100 and 4x400. The Boys' 4x400 time of 3:38.14 is currently the fastest in Class C a...
From the Introduction to 100 Classic Hikes MONTANA, by Douglas Lorain: "If you mention Montana to an avid hiker living almost anywhere else in the United States, the reaction is usually a big smile, a wistful sigh, long stories about a much-treasured vacation to this glorious state, and a comment like, "Now that's God's country." Those of us fortunate enough to live here completely understand this reaction because we can personally attest that it's all absolutely true. The state is glorious,...
