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SWAN VALLEY – "It's a matter of respect," said 20-year retired Navy veteran Edward Klassen as he carefully folded a faded, worn American flag. Klassen and his wife Heidi, also a 20-year retired veteran with the Navy, joined fellow members of the Swan Valley American Legion Post 63 on Flag Day, June 14, to dispose of more than 30 flags. Post member Dale Aldrich started the Flag Day tradition in the Swan Valley "many, many years ago," said Post Member Ray Opp. "Sometimes he was even down here b...
SEELEY LAKE- Big Larch Campground, which has been closed for overnight use this season, could be open by mid-July, according to the Forest Service. At the Seeley Lake Community Council meeting on Monday, June 11, Seeley Lake District Ranger Rachel Feigley stated the campground needed to be cleared of hazardous trees, which are mostly fir trees, before the area is safe for overnight camping outside of the two large group campsites. "With the snow load this year, and now we're getting root rot...
SEELEY LAKE - Over the weekend, the Recreational Aviation Foundation hosted a fly-in event at the Seeley Lake Airport to show its support for small, backcountry airstrips in rural communities. Attendees included local pilots from Seeley Lake and other towns in Montana as well as pilots from Canada and as far away as Atlanta, Ga. Many attended the Airplane Owners and Pilots Association Fly-in which was held in Missoula in the days before. "Instead of everyone flying in and only seeing Missoula,...
POTOMAC - The Blackfoot Rendezvous made more than $2,500 from the day-long event. It will help fund the Potomac School Explorers Program. Supporters were pleased to see such a great turnout of hardy folk in the rain. Parent Tom Brown said, "I would like to personally say thank you to everyone that was able to come and enjoy the day. You made our first Blackfoot Rendezvous a huge success."...
Senator Steve Daines of Montana, I am sad to say, just announced that he introduced a constitutional amendment in the U.S. Senate to outlaw burning the flag. Here is my message to Senator Daines regarding this misguided effort: “You don’t truly understand our bill of rights, do you Senator? You are too willing to compromise our rights (and your rights), so you truly do not deserve them and certainly do not deserve our respect for your flagrant inability to appreciate our rights. I stand for the pledge of allegiance and for our national ant...
Dear people of the great state of Montana – The past February, my third-grade students wrote letters to small town newspapers around our country. The letters asked people in each state to send items of interest that the students might include in their final State Fair project. My students were thrilled as packages started arriving from all over the country! They received books, newspapers, postcards, maps and many unique items from wonderful and generous people of the United States of A...
Children are the most precious gift; to the parents, to the future of a nation and the future of humankind. Without children there is no future. Yes, parents are responsible for their children and in bringing them up for the future of the nation and humankind. But a civilized society does not use children as a means to admonish, correct or punish the parents for acts which the parents may have knowingly or unknowingly committed. There are supposedly cases where people are crossing the border with children who are not their own and may not even...
We'll just call him M.C. I don't remember where I met him but his story was quite fascinating. He sez he was living in a eucalyptus tree down California way. Working just enough jobs to keep him in weed and some chow now and then. Let'n the world go by. Anyway, one day as he was smok'n his dope, he heard a chain saw nearby. So climbing down from his castle he found a man cutt'n a dead tree. Upon asking how much he got to cut that tree, the man said 350 dollars. Well, thought M.C., I could do thi...
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Community Council moved on June 11 to award the responsibility of trail maintenance and improvements to Seeley Lake Regional Outdoor Center for Kinetic Sports (ROCKS) and disband the council’s trail committee. Council member Lee Boman was asked to see if any local organizations had an interest in taking over the work of the trails committee. Boman said that of the three organizations with whom he communicated, all expressed support for the project but only ROCKS expressed interest in taking a leadership role. ...
SEELEY LAKE- Seeley Lake's annual Kids' Fishing Tournament is passing into new hands this year as Bobby Maddox takes over as the event's organizer from Gary Ikerd who began the event in 2002. Maddox and his wife moved to Seeley Lake two years ago after he retired from the military. Last year he volunteered at the tournament. He decided he was willing to take on the work to continue putting on the tournament after Ikerd began to lose his eyesight. "[Ikerd] approached me last year and asked me if...
SEELEY LAKE - Public comment is now being accepted on the Rice Ridge Fire Salvage Environmental Assessment (EA). A meeting June 27 will be held to share findings of the recently completed analysis. “Public response, along with the analysis of effects, will inform my decision on how to proceed forward with the project,” said Sara Mayben, acting Forest Supervisor for the Lolo National Forest. The Forest Service is requesting an Emergency Situation Determination (ESD) pursuant to 36 CFR 218.21 to facilitate timely implementation of the project. If...
At Missoula Electric Cooperative (MEC), we often tout the many benefits of purchasing all of our power from Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). However, it is the members of MEC who truly benefit from this relationship and its access to what is arguably the greatest collection of energy generating resources in the world – the Federal Columbia River Hydropower system. The Federal Columbia River Hydropower system is a collection of dams controlling and harnessing the power of the Columbia River Basin which begins at its headwaters in British C...
I thought I'd write an info-piece about what happened in 2017 and what's happening in 2018 regarding the invasive mussels in Tiber and Canyon Ferry (maybe!) and what we're doing locally to Protect Our Waters. But before I get into all that, I'd just like to throw out this caution to everyone, especially visitors who are not very familiar with our area. While the water levels are receding in our lakes and streams, they are still higher than normal, and many are very dangerous. Many streams are...
SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Fire Board approved $50,000 for the purchase of a used Type 6 Wildland Fire Engine at a special meeting June 13. Fire Chief Dave Lane took the Department’s Type 6 engine 716 out of service earlier this spring after noticing it had several fractures in the frame. One of the fractures was at the rear shackle. “That is a huge safety issue,” said Lane. He said the frame would need to be replaced, making it not cost effective to fix. Vice Chair Gary Lewis said that the frame can be welded but then it will not meet th...
MISSOULA - Seeley Lake artist Juan de Santa Anna has a month-long gallery show at Interim Healthcare in Missoula. The show opened at June's First Friday event and is based on the experiences of de Santa Anna and his wife Randi as they cared for her mother Mary who had dementia. Interim Healthcare provides in-home care for seniors, respite care, dementia and hospice care, which influenced Juan's choices about what to display when the business first asked him to do a show. "One of the directors...
OVANDO - Ovandoans were treated to a free concert Friday, June 15 in honor of their community and the hospitality they show to bikers along the Great Divide long-distance biking route. Ben Weaver, a traveling musician and poet who is also riding the Great Divide trail and providing free concerts at various locations along the way, headlined the event. The concert was set up by Missoula non-profit Adventure Cycling as a way to highlight all the community has done for riders of the Great Divide....
POTOMAC - Resignations, the contract with the Potomac Greenough Community Center (PGCC) and Explorers funding were the main topics of discussion at the Potomac School Board meeting June 11. With five resignations at the end of this school year, Potomac School administration is filling staff positions. Custodian Randy Ruff, Explorers Coordinator and Supervisor Crissina Quinn and teachers Raynee Pace, Starla Dugger and Kristy Pohlman resigned. Pace accepted a teaching position near Bozeman and Pohlman and Quinn accepted teaching positions in Seel...
SEELEY LAKE – Owner of The Lodges on Seeley Lake Kerry and Brian Bertsch always dreamed of having a main lodge. Now after owning the resort for 22 years, their dream is a reality. They have assembled their perfect team of employees and look forward to using the new lodge to enhance the experience for their guests lodging at the resort. The colorful history of The Lodges on Seeley Lake is closing in on a century of time. The McLeod family of Missoula built the majority of its cabins in the e...
SEELEY LAKE - Shirley Irene Mackie, 86, of Seeley Lake, MT, passed away on Tuesday, June 12 of natural causes. She passed at her home with her children and grandchildren at her bedside. She was surrounded by love. She was born May 2, 1932 in Missoula, Mont. to Theo B. and Clare Stevens. As a young girl she lived on a small farm and helped her father care for their animals. She had a genuine love for all animals, especially her horse "Buddy." She attended schools in Frenchtown, Mont. and Renton,...
It has recently become very easy to jump on the bandwagon of lament, crying, “The world is so divided!” While the lament may be true, getting stuck in lament is not helpful. As a follow-up to my last contribution to this column, “A Different Conversation,” today I’d like to go beyond lamenting. To begin, let’s name a big problem we tend to participate in: dehumanization. We dehumanize one another so often, we don’t even realize we’re doing it. When we so easily use words like “hate” to describe our feelings for someone, we have already made t...
BILLINGS - The Seeley Swan Pathfinder won 12 awards in the 2018 Better Newspaper Awards Division 1 at the 133rd Annual Convention of the Montana Newspaper Association. Lincoln's Blackfoot Valley Dispatch also came home with six awards. The Oregon Newspaper Association judged this year's contest. The Pathfinder staff received several writing awards this year. Topping the list was Micah Drew's feature entitled "Ovando World Renowned" which took first place for Best Feature Story about Ovando's...
Some Seeley District Roads Remain Closed Due to Flooding SEELEY LAKE - Roads on the Seeley Lake Ranger District are still experiencing impacts from flooding. Several roads continue to have closure orders in place. The following roads remain closed: • Upper Beaver Finley Road #9974 near Boles meadow due to standing water on the road. • Morrell Mountain Road #4365 due to culvert washout. • Grouse Creek Road #4342 due to culvert washout. • Rice Ridge Road #720 between Camp Creek road #685 and Richmond Ridge road #667 due to washout. • Camp Road...
GOP Senate candidate Matt Rosendale is not the person he claims to be and is not particularly well informed or interested in protecting Montanans. He is not right for Montana. He has never been a rancher, despite using the title. In 2002 he bought a ranch, but Montana’s Revenue Department reports that neither he, his wife, nor his ranch has registered ownership of any cattle since January 2003. He also admitted, in a 2017 radio interview, that he leases out the entire ranch, and although one lessee runs cows there, that does not make him a r...
In a state like Montana where hard work is valued and our word is our bond, you would think that Matt Rosendale would make an effort to follow through on his commitment to attend the first debate of the election. Instead, Rosendale decided to take a vacation to DC to schmooze with lobbyists and donors, and then backed out of the debate. Maybe someone could get away with that in Maryland—but Rosendale’s behavior won’t cut it for Montanans. As soon as Rosendale became the Republican nominee for this Senate race, Jon Tester invited Rosen...
