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SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake resident Adrian Vanderwielen said he is proud to wear a shirt or cap bearing the name or insignia of the United States Air Force. He said he feels even prouder when some stranger comes up to him and thanks him for his service. There weren't many thanks being offered when he returned from Vietnam. Despite his experiences in that war, Vanderwielen is grateful for the training and advantages his military service gave him. Vanderwielen was born in Germany in the midst of W...
SEELEY LAKE - Next Monday’s Seeley Lake Community Council meeting promises to be a lively event, dealing with perhaps the most controversial issue that has arisen here in recent years: the proposed sewer project. Many questions have been asked about the sewer project including what the proposed sewer will accomplish, how it will be financed and its final cost to the consumer, the district covered and why other locations were not included, the technology and methodology to implement it and whether a sewer system is needed at all. The aim of M...
SEELEY LAKE – The Kids Corner at the Seeley Lake Senior Bazaar is back again this year with more activities and bigger prizes than ever before. There will be 32 vendors, several of whom are new, set up in the Seeley Lake Elementary gym Nov. 12 from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. for the bazaar with the Kids Corner in the back. Children of all ages are encouraged to participate in the high speed dare devil championship race event at Pampers Raceway Park. Speed and ability with the electric jeep and the off...
SEELEY LAKE - I have tried to start this letter at least a dozen times and every time my words don’t seem adequate. I have come to realize that there is truly no way to express how thankful Randy and I are for all the kindness and support that we were blessed to receive in the days and months after Mark’s passing. We are humbled by the outpouring of love and caring from all our friends and our community. You saved us from the brink of despair. From that first day when we were surrounded by friends, you have all wrapped us in your love and it ha...
SEELEY LAKE - As a more than 30 year Seeley Lake resident, there are community characteristics I hold in high regard: our wilderness proximity, our rural-ness, our balance, evidences by our care for environment while also focusing on industry. Mostly though, I hold in high regard the heart of our community that strives to look after all its members. Because we’re a small community, looking after members, means that people volunteer, many times devoting countless hours after an already full workday. It’s been my experience most volunteers don...
SEELEY LAKE - Upon reading the letter concerning Air Ambulance Rates [printed in the Oct. 20 issue of the Pathfinder], I decide to write a letter that is positive regarding Life Flight. Our experience is totally different from the sad cases that appear in the article. We had to use Life Flight three times and never received a bill. You may ask why? We read the letters sent out to the general public inviting them to join a membership. The membership ranges in price. It is very affordable. Three years ago it was $50, last year it was $50 and...
SEELEY LAKE - The intentions of the Seeley Lake Sewer Board have been clear from its beginnings by the name it adopted, rather than calling itself the Seeley Lake Water Improvement Board. Now it continues to use our tax dollars to further its goal of imposing a sewer system in Seeley Lake despite the fact that there will be a vote next month whether or not to build such a system here. I was one of those people who thought that septic systems were just a temporary solution until a “real” system could be put in. I was shocked to learn that mor...
Will the proposed sewer system clean up or change water quality in the Clearwater drainage? Probably not very much. Here are five reasons why. First, even though test wells show elevated nitrate levels in the core downtown area, the data is questionable. Engineers recommended a series of test wells to accurately determine groundwater quality. They were never drilled and only three test wells were regularly monitored. One of those sits near a laundromat and busy bar/restaurant business with four septics under its property and another is near a...
SEELEY LAKE - Makerspace is a time for Seeley Lake Elementary (SLE) kids to unleash their creativity. Makerspace is an activity before school, 7-7:55 a.m. This is an activity in the 21st Century Program. Computer lab teacher Mrs. Holmes is the one who runs Makerspace. In Makerspace kids make a lot of cool things that take a lot of time. Their names are Bethany Hoag, Chase Haines and Kyle Contreras. Kyle made a Paracord Bracelet. Kyle said, "I am making this bracelet just for fun." Bethany...
SEELEY LAKE - Veterans Day, why do we celebrate it on Nov. 11 at 11 a.m.? Veterans Day pays tribute to all American veterans—living or dead—but especially gives thanks to living veterans who served their country honorably during war or peacetime. Veterans Day originated as “Armistice Day” Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I. “The Great War”, as World War I was known, officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed June 28, 1919. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when a temporary cessation o...
MISSOULA – Christmas tree permits are now available at a cost of $5 each at most Lolo National Forest offices. Permits may also be purchased at Bronc’s Grocery in Frenchtown, the Clinton Market and the Bureau of Land Management Missoula Field Office, located at 3255 Fort Missoula Road. The Lolo National Forest Supervisor’s Office and Missoula Ranger District, located at 24 Fort Missoula Rd., will extend hours for permit sales to include three Saturdays, Nov. 26, Dec. 3 and Dec. 10, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Superior Ranger District will begin...
I recently attended the 2016 Watershed Symposium in Billings. The theme of the program was Improving Conservation through Partnership. In many cases, partnerships were between local non-profit watershed groups like the Clearwater Resource Council and agencies: FWP, USFS, DNRC, DEQ, USFWS – and even more alphabet soup. The Clearwater Resource Council partners with many of these agencies that enable us to work here in the Seeley-Swan valley. To get right to the point of this article, our most v...
SEELEY LAKE - For more than 15 years, the Seeley Lake Community Council has been working to improve the “Connecting the Community” trail network. The goal was to provide multi-use routes within the business and residential areas and connect to the surrounding public lands. The bylaws of the council contain the phrase “benefiting the community,” to give them the direction to seek grants to begin improving the network. Their basic strategy was to start on Boy Scout Road at Highway 83 and work clockwise around the lake. They received three g...
Now that hunting season is in full swing many hunters have bagged their game. With meat hanging in sheds, garages or coolers some hunters choose to process their meat at home. After properly field dressing the wild game, some hunters use horses, mules, pack boards or game carts to pack out the animal. Sometimes hunters even bone out their meat in order to make a lighter pack and leave the bones in the field. Wild game can be cut and treated differently than beef. Sometimes the tenderloins and...
SEELEY LAKE - Pete Fromm makes another appearance at Alpine Artisan’s Open Book Club Saturday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. at the Grizzly Claw Trading Company. He will be presenting his new book, “The Names of the Stars: A Life in the Wilds.” This is a memoir and exploration of the seemingly small decisions that shaped his life and his love for adventure in the wilderness. This event is open to the public at no charge and all are welcome. When Fromm was 20 years old, he took a job babysitting salmon eggs, spending seven months living in a tent in the S...
HELENA - In west-central Montana, deer and elk harvest reported through the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) hunter check stations near Anaconda, Darby and Bonner so far this season is in line with this time in 2014 and down 13 percent from last year, due largely to unseasonably warm weather and only traces of snow. As the check stations closed at the end of the second week of the general big game hunting season, elk harvest across the three check stations totaled 143 animals, down 34 percent from last year at this time, due to the sharp...
SWAN VALLEY - Edits made with the input of local loggers to the 2.0 Economic Opportunity Element were accepted at the Swan Valley Regional Planning Committee (SVRPC) meeting Nov. 2. SVRPC member Diann Ericson enlisted the help of local loggers to add their expertise to the section entitled 2.2 Potential of Past and Current Economic Activity. The loggers’ edits changed the focus of the paragraph from the industry declining due to pests, disease, climate change and the continuing mechanization to providing economic opportunity through r...
The city was surrounded...besieged by an army in order of magnitudes bigger than its own paltry defense. Below the city walls, the top general of Sennacharib’s conquering Assyrian army shouted at...and taunted...the king’s three emissaries above. This was the last city standing in all the country. Heretofore this king had been everything one would hope for. He was a humble yet strong man with an innate faith in God and His morality and righteousness. The people and kings before him had chosen a different path and upon his ascendance to the thr...
Staying with the theme of changes, I want to introduce some changes that are influenced by the inner Self. Recall, that in previous articles the Self was described as the center of the unconscious (hidden psychology). The Self is the psychological element that influences all parts of a person’s psychology and that assists a person find authentic meaning and direction in life. Changes that originate from the Self can be accepted or rejected. If the changes are rejected, a person’s personal development is blocked. The meaning of a person’s life...
SEELEY LAKE – Winter is on its way and the Seeley Lake Regional Outdoor Center for Kinetic Sports (SL ROCKS) is prepared for its arrival. Monday Oct. 10 volunteers began assembling the yurt at the Seeley Creek Nordic Trail System. They finished Tuesday with the help of Kelsi Luhnow's third grade class from Seeley Lake Elementary (SLE). After donning high-visibility vests, the SLE students hiked from school to the trailhead. Luhnow said as they walked they talked about western larch needles t...
SEELEY LAKE – Dave and Ronda Trottier took ownership of the Montana Pines Motel and what used to be the Base Camp Bar this past summer. They renamed the property "The Backyard" and are looking forward to making this a family-friendly destination for all forms of recreationists. Dave was born in Great Falls, Mont. and raised in Stevensville, Mont. He worked as a second-generation mover. Ronda grew up in Kalispell, Mont. Her grandfather built the Red Lion Thunderbird in Missoula and her father v...
SWAN VALLEY – On Nov. 20 Alpine Artisans’ 2 Valleys Stage is bringing five of the University of Montana’s (UM) most talented horn players to Swan Valley School. They will be performing a community concert Sunday at 3 p.m. and working with students in the local schools on Monday and Tuesday. Called the UM Celebration Brass Quintet, the group is funded by scholarships donated by Keith and Wendy Kuhn as a memorial to their son Philip David Kuhn who died in 2012 at age 29. Assistant Professor of Horn and Music Theory Zachary Cooper is facul...
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley-Swan Lady Blackhawks season came to an end at the Western C Divisional Tournament in Butte, Mont. Nov. 4. The Ladies handed Drummond a loss in the opening round but fell to Lone Peak and were eliminated by district foe, Valley Christian. "We set ourselves on a good path going into divisionals and bracketing was in our favor to make a better run than we did," said Lady Blackhawks Head Coach Tammy Lewis. "At the end of it all though, I am proud of the girls and the season...
SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Elementary Eagles tipped off the boys basketball season at home against Drummond, Nov. 3. According to Head Coach Brett Haines, their goals have not changed from last year: Teamwork, work the offense, run the plays correctly, look for each other and play smart. The team has three eighth-graders and three seventh-graders on the A team and 13 sixth-graders and three fifth-graders on the B team. Haines said he was happy to pick up seventh-grader Walker McDonald who i...
Give a Thanksgiving Dinner this November SEELEY LAKE – Moose River Bar and Grill will be offering a full Thanksgiving dinner buffet with all the fixing this Thanksgiving, Nov. 24 starting at 12 p.m. Moose River plans on working with the Seeley-Swan Community Food Bank and area churches to help identify those who will receive gift certificates for the dinner. Moose River is accepting donations to increase the number of meals available to the community. Donations for dinners can be made for someone the donor specifies or someone identified by t...
