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SEELEY LAKE – Representatives from Great West Engineering (GW) gave the Seeley Lake Sewer District Board a new timeline for having the project ready to bid at their Jan. 17 board meeting. The new schedule pushes the ready-to-bid date from early this winter to late summer. At the meeting, GW blamed the delay in their work on former District Manager Greg Robertson and Director Beth Hutchinson however, there are also several tasks required of the District that have not been completed. Some of the tasks the District must complete before going to b...
SEELEY LAKE - During the government partial shutdown, the Seeley Lake Ranger District was vandalized. Vandal(s) used white spray paint to deface the front of the Ranger District Office and the Stop sign on Highway 83. The incident was reported on Monday, Jan. 14. Federal Officer Tyler Robinson said it didn't appear that anything else was damaged. Law enforcement is continuing to work through the investigation. Once the furlough ends and District employees return to work, the District will...
SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Driftriders snowmobile club hosted a sold out banquet Saturday night that many called "the best Snow Ball ever." The weekend wrapped up with the 49-mile annual Fun Run on Sunday. The bumper fundraising weekend will help pay off the second groomer and support the grooming operation for area trails. While tickets to the Snow Ball Banquet are typically available at the door, this year it was sold out by Friday night. Attendees enjoyed a prime rib dinner served by l...
SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake Fire Department and Seeley-Swan Search and Rescue responded to a call early Saturday afternoon about a 58-year-old woman who was injured riding the trail to the Lake Elsina Warming Hut. After volunteers transported her part of the way out in the rescue toboggan behind a snowmobile, Lifeflight was able to land and flew her to Missoula where she was treated for head and chest injuries. According to Missoula County Sheriff's Office Sergeant Robert Parcell, the woman f...
SEELEY LAKE - One of the best things about skiing in Seeley and being involved with the Nordic Club and the kids’ program is the people I get to meet. Those who are skiing have fun, are grateful for the Club keeping the trails in good shape and the parents and kids are appreciative of the time we spend helping their kids develop good skiing skills. Unfortunately, we occasionally run in to people who think they are “special.” A couple weeks ago, I encountered four showshoers who had three dogs with them at the trailhead. I told them in a diploma...
The article on the Loesch family was very inspiring. I cannot imagine working and baking like Jean Loesch did with six little kids running around and then having to have a breakfast, lunch and dinner for nine people everyday plus doing the baking she did. All I can say is Jean you are a super woman! Thanks to everyone else who donated his or her time and money to help The Watson Children’s Shelter. Cory’s Valley Market helps many other organizations, so please shop locally. It helps many. How great all the little Loesch children emptied the...
HELENA - Things have started to pick up this week in the Legislature as committees have started taking executive action on the bills they have been hearing in committee and the Appropriations Subcommittees are in full swing. There are around 450 bills now moving their way through the legislature, dealing with everything from public defender fees and medical marijuana reform to the amount of plastic straws a business should be allowed to hand out. Most of these bills that move through the various committees will end up dying in committee, but...
SEELEY LAKE – Early Saturday morning Jan. 19, a pickup ran into the side of a home at the end of C Street off of Boy Scout Road. Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Nick Navarro said the incident is still under investigation. As of Monday, no citations had been issued. No injuries were reported from the accident. According to Navarro, the driver said the incident occurred around 1 a.m. Saturday. It was reported just before 8 a.m. that same morning. The driver attempted to make a right hand turn i...
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Community Council hosted a forum to discuss the building code program in Missoula County Jan. 14 in hopes of learning about the county inspection program and identifying places it could be made better. The panelists included former Missoula County Commissioner Jean Curtiss, Jamie Erbacher with Missoula County Community & Planning Services (CAPS), Shannon Therriault with Missoula County Environmental Health, Missoula County Public Works Building Official Steve Hutchings, realtor Scott Kennedy, local builder Mark...
I didn't write this as an expert on land management and wildlife issues, or as a representative of any organization. I did write it as someone with strong concerns about where society as it relates to those issues is headed, and as an area resident who would like to meet others for informal discussions about the issues presented. As I was growing up I always thought it to be pockets of humans surrounded by wild.Now I sadly see it's pockets of wild surrounded by humans. In the 1960's when I major...
SEELEY LAKE & SWAN VALLEY – The art supplies Giving Tree started by local artist Kris Gullikson raised $1,246 to purchase art supplies at Seeley Lake Elementary and Swan Valley Elementary Schools. Gullikson thought the event was so successful, she hopes to make it an annual opportunity to support the schools. For the month of December, the community had the opportunity to donate towards a wish list of supplies that Gullikson compiled from SLE teachers. Instead of organizing the purchases e...
POTOMAC - Dinkelman, a 16-year-old gelding quarter horse, got lost around Thanksgiving during hunting season on the north side of Potomac. Local snowmobiler and hunter Jeff Hahn found him on Jan. 11 after more than six weeks in the woods. Lifelong Potomac resident Chad Thurston owns Dinkelman. He has hunted the Potomac area for 15 years, using his horses for riding and packing. Thurston has used Dinkelman for the last three years. When Thurston hunts, he sometimes has horses at his camp. That...
SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake Fire Chief Dave Lane informed the Seeley Lake Fire District Board about new membership incentives including identification cards and gym memberships at their Jan. 15 meeting. He also updated board members on his involvement with proposed legislation that would make Montana a part of the federal Heart and Lung Bill and the progress the Department has taken towards fulfilling their requirements should the legislation pass during the 2019 session. Lane reported to the board that they currently have 22 active members. T...
HELENA – The Montana State Historical Society invited all museums in the state to come to the Capital Rotunda Jan. 16 to meet and greet with legislators and their staff. The Seeley Lake Historical Society was among 20 other organizations that participated The purpose of the event was to showcase the range of museums and other historical organizations in the state and how they contribute to the Montana tourist experience and in turn the economy. The Seeley Lake Historical Society was the only g...
Taxes, Rainy Day Fund On Tap for Budget Talks While budget projections appear more secure than they were in the 2017 legislative session, long-standing rifts, particularly concerning taxes, still make the state’s two-year budget a hot topic this session. Unlike the previous session, the Legislative Fiscal Division and the Governor’s Office have fairly close revenue estimates -- about $10 billion over two years. Gov. Steve Bullock called a special session two years ago when a historic fire season and inaccurate revenue projections led to dee...
In addition to a long history of magazines, Reader’s Digest is well known for publishing condensed versions of popular books. Instead of having to read a book in its entirety, a busy person could read a Reader’s Digest shortened version of a book. You could still enjoy the best parts of a book, while skipping a bulk of the book that was determined to be boring or not important. In 1982, Reader’s Digest published a condensed version of what is still a bestselling book, the Bible. The proje...
MISSOULA – County commissioners voted to not extend the interlocal agreement between Missoula County and the Seeley Lake Sewer District at their Jan. 17 administrative meeting. The agreement expired last November and the District had requested an extension in December. The interlocal agreement has provided county resources to the District since 2011 including a District Manager, a $110,000 loan, storage space and an office among other things. Only the terms of the loan will continue as laid out in the agreement. In a letter to the District, t...
SEELEY LAKE - Members of the community gathered in the Filling Station parking lot Friday, Jan. 18 for the 22nd annual Christmas tree bonfire. Thanks to the fresh snow, the snow mountain proved to be great entertainment for the children while the adults enjoyed hanging out by the fire under the nearly full moon....
SEELEY LAKE - On Jan. 17, students from Seeley-Swan High School Creative Writing Class performed a public reading of their literary works at the Grizzly Claw Trading Co. Ten students, in all grades, participated in the event. SSHS Creative Writing Teacher Lori Messenger organized the event. Messenger has been teaching the Creative Writing class for five years. She has held public readings for the class at the end of the first semester every year in different locations including Missoula. This wa...
SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Elementary School board approved setting up a tuition fund at their Jan. 15 meeting. They also accepted junior high teacher Duane Schlabach’s resignation effective Feb. 22 after he accepted a position with the Office of Public Instruction (OPI) as their Chief Data Analyst. SLE Superintendent Chris Stout explained the tuition fund allows a school to pay another school, with the facilities or staffing, to educate the student if they require instruction beyond which OPI and the state law considers within the sco...
SEELEY LAKE – The eight annual Skiesta race was in question due to lack of snow until Monday, Jan. 14. However, with more than six inches of new snow to work with, the trails were in great shape for the race Saturday, Jan. 19. The race drew more than 60 skiers from the local area as well as teams from Whitefish, Mont. and Sandpoint, Idaho. Many families participated with ages ranging from four-years-old to 60. Racers reported having a great time enjoying the beautiful trails, fast snow and good...
MISSOULA - The Seeley-Swan Blackhawks and Lady Blackhawks decimated the Valley Christian Eagles on the Eagles home court Jan. 19. The Blackhawks finished strong after a slow start racking up 27 points in the final frame nearly doubling their score. The final score was 60-24. Four Boys scored into the double digits with Chance Johnson scoring 17, Cordell Turner 13, Dakota Wood 12 and Owen Mercado 11. The remaining points were scored by Hunter Shelmerdine with 4 and Walker McDonald with 3. Wood...
Movie Night at the Fire Hall, Jan. 26 SEELEY LAKE – Everyone is welcome to come to the Seeley Lake Fire Station Saturday, Jan. 26 for a big adventure with small feet. This month’s showing on the big screen is “Small Foot” following a spaghetti dinner starting at 5:30 p.m. In the movie “Small Foot,” Migo is a friendly Yeti whose world gets turned upside down when he discovers something that he didn’t know existed -- a human. He soon faces banishment from his snowy home when the rest of the villagers refuse to believe his fantastic tale. Hoping t...
