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Support for Bill Burt If you feel everything is going along just fine in the Justice of the Peace field in Missoula County, then you should vote for the status quo in the upcoming election. But, if you feel common-sense, compassion, integrity, and fairness should be applied to a much greater extent than it is now, you should consider voting for Bill Burt for Justice of the Peace in Department #1. He has all the traits and background that would enable him to utilize the current jail diversion program without endangering our communities by...
From Jenny Kauffman Condon Librarion The November Condon Library Book Chat is about “Down from the Mountain, the life and death of a grizzly bear” by Bryce Andrews We meet at the library at 1pm. Nov. 9. This is the description on the back of the book: An “ode to wildness and wilderness” (Outside), Down from the Mountain tells the story of one grizzly in the changing Montana landscape. Millie was cunning and a fiercely protective mother to her cubs. But raising those cubs in the mountains became harder each year as the climate warmed and peo...
Housing project falls short The Trinity Housing project on Mullan next to the Missoula County Detention Center has not lived up to its promises and expectations. This was supposed to be a collaboration between the city, the county and HomeWord. HomeWord brought in Blue Line Developers for their expertise. Missoula County Commissioners agreed to gift almost 5 acres of county taxpayer owned land adjacent to the Missoula County Detention Center to make this project affordable. The land was purchased with taxpayer funded bonds to build the...
(EDITOR'S NOTE: As a service to our readers, The Pathfinder invited candidates running for area offices to submit a picture of themselves and answer the questions below. We encourage all Americans to be as educated as possible about candidates and issues. The comments here are not necessarily those of any Pathfnder employees and were posted in random order.) Election Guide questions: 1) Short bio (age, education, career, family, etc.) 2) Why you are running for this position, or if incumbent,...
SEELEY LAKE – The 2022-23 school year is in full swing with area schools opening their doors last week. Potomac Elementary School has two new teachers and a few open positions. Seeley-Swan High School was able to fill the Science Teacher position at the last minute. The Swan Valley Elementary School had no staff changes. For the past couple of years students have enjoyed the free breakfast and lunch programs funded by the Federal government due to COVID. Those programs have ended with the start of school this year. Seeley-Swan High School Princ...
SSHS hires science teacher for 2022-2023 SEELEY LAKE – An 11th hour email and Seeley-Swan High School has a science teacher for the 2022-23 school year. Debbie Jackson will start her teaching career with SSHS this fall, said Shawn Holmes, principal. “I’m so happy to welcome Debbie Jackson into the SSHS community as our new science teacher,” Holmes said. Jackson contacted Holmes about the open broad field science teaching position last Friday and as of Wednesday she was hired. “Our [Missoula County Public Schools] human resources departmen...
MISSOULA – The discrimination lawsuit against Missoula County Public Schools (MCPS) was dismissed last week. In February 2022, MCPS filed a request for summary judgment to dismiss the suit brought against Seeley-Swan High School (SSHS) and MCPS by Owen Mercado and his mother Deidre Lechowski-Mercado in January 2021. The plaintiffs sought $2.4 million in damages. Dana L. Christensen, United States District Court Judge for the District of Montana Missoula Division, stated in a brief filed Aug. 15 that the disputed facts need not be reviewed s...
SWAN VALLEY - Officials from Missoula County presented information on property taxes, how taxes fund road maintenance and answered questions about the quality of maintenance in the area at the Swan Valley Community Council meeting Aug. 16. The Council also discussed the open Council seat and how it will be filled. New Council member Grace Siloti questioned some of the Council’s recent activity and transparency. Missoula County Treasure Tyler Gernant explained that property taxes are the primary source of funding for local governments in M...
SEELEY LAKE – Science class at Seeley-Swan High School will have a different look this year for students. The year will start without an in-person instructor. Former instructor Gretchen Watkins accepted a position with Big Sky High School in Missoula at the end of the school year. “I don’t blame her one bit, that’s the unfortunate part,” said SSHS Principal Shawn Holmes. The Missoula County Public School District posted the open position in mid-June. “We have had no applicants apply for the position,” Holmes said. “I think it’s more of an...
SEELEY LAKE - This past July, three Seeley-Swan High School (SSHS) students and graduates visited Vietnam as part of a youth exchange to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Vietnam's bilateral relations on environmental issues facing Vietnam and Montana. Sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam, the exchange included 25 students each from Montana and Vietnam. All students from Montana involved in the exchange were enrolled in Missoula County Public Schools. The SSHS students and graduates who atte...
A longtime provider of comprehensive in-school mental health services for hundreds of Montana students closed its operations last month, a development that other providers and professionals attribute to broader forces placing stress on the state’s already fragile mental health infrastructure. Altacare of Montana, a for-profit provider of Comprehensive School and Community Treatment (CSCT) programs owned by Tennessee-based Acadia Healthcare, announced its intent to close its Butte facility and halt its CSCT services in a May 13 letter to the M... Full story
SEELEY LAKE - This year, Sparrow’s Vine Parenting and Pregnancy Resource Center and the Seeley Lake Community Foundation (SLCF) received a $6,000 grant from Zero to Five Montana and the Montana Cooperative Development Center (MCDC) to help assess child-care needs and provide opportunities for people to apply for child-care licensure in the Seeley Lake community. Zero to Five is a statewide organization that helps coordinate local collaboratives to improve child care for children and families across Montana. Seeley Lake is one of 10 c...
SEELEY LAKE - With a turn of their tassels and some parting words from Dr. Seuss, 30 Seeley-Swan High School seniors closed a chapter of their academic careers at the school's graduation ceremony Sunday, June 5. The commencement featured some inspirational speeches, a presentation of roses and a senior slideshow. After SSHS senior Sara Stevenson performed the Star Spangled Banner, senior Chase Haines thanked SSHS faculty and encouraged his peers to keep pursuing their dreams during the 2022...
GREENOUGH - Supervising teacher Toni Hatten bid two graduating eighth-graders a tearful goodbye for the Sunset Schools' annual end of year celebration on Friday, May 27. Graduating students included Jadesa Stevens, Lucas Nygard and kindergarten graduate Cade Carstens. The event featured farewell speeches, student awards, a flower presentation and a drum performance directed by Matthew Nord, music teacher and owner of Tangled Tunes in Missoula. Students sang "Funga Alafia" to kick off the c...
SEELEY LAKE - As of the Election Night Report, May 3, Jon Kimble will continue to serve on the Seeley Lake Fire Board and the Missoula County Public Schools High School levy passed. Results are unofficial until canvas. There was a 36.23% turnout for this election. For the Seeley Lake Fire Board, incumbent Kimble led with 390 votes compared to Alyssa McLean's 327. There were 6 write-in votes cast for a total of 723 votes. The Missoula County Public Schools High School levy passed with a vote of...
SEELEY LAKE - As of the final Election Night Report, May 3, the unofficial election results are in. There was a 36.23% turnout for this election. For the Seeley Lake Fire Board, incumbent Jon Kimble led with 390 votes compared to Alyssa McLean's 327. There were 6 write-in votes cast for a total of 723 votes. The Missoula County Public Schools High School levy passed with a vote of 15,668 for and 13,403 against of the 29,071 votes cast. The results are unofficial until canvas. For full May 3...
MISSOULA – Seeley-Swan High School musicians took their talents to the stage at Sentinel High School April 22 and Big Sky High School April 23 to compete in the annual District Music Festival. The Quartet "Homeward Bound" received the top rating and qualified for the State Music Festival May 7-8. The band and choir each received a ranking of 2, just below the top ranking of 1. "The theme of the day was they all did the best they possibly could have done with where they were in their l...
MISSOULA - The Missoula County Public School Board of Trustees approved an operations levy for the high school district at their March 29 board meeting. The levy will appear on the school election ballot being mailed April 13 and must be returned to the Missoula County Elections Office by May 3. This will be an all-mail election. The high school levy amount of $525,962, which is approximately 2.04 mills, will cost $2.76/year per $100,000 in assessed property value. “Local levies help us support additional students as our community grows while m... Full story
POLSON - Seeley-Swan’s Boys and Girls track teams both took second place at the 50th Annual Dave Tripp Memorial Track Meet in Polson April 8. The Boys earned 83 team points putting them ahead of Drummond with 69 points and Loyola with 63. Class B Jefferson took the top spot with 175. Seeley-Swan’s Girls earned 72 points behind Drummond with 97 and ahead of Superior and Anaconda with 65 and 62 respectively. Seeley-Swan’s Boys burned up the track. Owen Hoag won the 200-meter in 23.02 seconds and won the 400-meter in 51.07, more than five secon...
SEELEY LAKE - The Board of Supervisors for the Missoula Conservation District approved three grants from their winter grant cycle to support local conservation. Among the recipients was Seeley-Swan High School. SSHS received a $500 Operation Mini Grant for students in high school science classes to continue water quality monitoring of Morrell Creek near the high school. SSHS Science Teacher Gretchen Watkins applied for the grant after they lost the funding from the Seeley Lake Sewer District this past fall. The Sewer District originally signed...
MISSOULA - Missoula County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Rob Watson announced Feb. 18, that he is leaving his position with MCPS effective June 30. “It is with mixed emotions that I share this decision with you today,” Dr. Watson told District education leaders Friday morning. “My time with MCPS, including my former time as a principal, has been some of the most rewarding of my 29 years in public education. I will leave with many happy memories and proud to have served with each of you.” While he is resigning his formal role in public educa...
MISSOULA - The Missoula Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) is now accepting project proposals for 2022. The project submission deadline is close of business on May 6, 2022. The RAC is anticipating approximately $40,000 in project funding to award. Funding and administration for the Missoula RAC is provided under the authority of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self–Determination Act. Last year, the Missoula RAC funded seven projects under this authority that included noxious weed treatments, stream restoration, road decommissioning, t...
MONTANA - Nationwide data from the Pew Research Center shows newspapers’ print circulation decreased over 45% in the last decade. With a sample set of Montana daily newspapers showing an average decline of nearly 40% over the past 10 years, publications from around the state have had to alter and expand their business model to maintain their markets. In this article two Montana newspaper publishers will share their experiences with adapting to a new market. According to Sworn Statement of Circulation reports, daily publication, The M...
SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley-Swan High School Entrepreneur Class has launched the Blackhawk BIZ that will feature seven businesses in a Pop-up style Market Dec. 22 during the Blackhawks' home basketball game. This is an effort to provide hands-on, real-life business experience to students by giving them an introduction of what it takes to start a small business. When SSHS Business Teacher Michele Holmes started at SSHS in the fall of 2019, she wanted to diversify the offerings for students. M...
In celebration of 35 years of the Seeley Swan Pathfinder, each week we will run parts of articles that appeared in the issue 35 years ago and 20 years ago. The entire issue will be uploaded to our website seeleylake.com for you to enjoy. We hope you will enjoy the journey with us as we follow our community through the past 35 years as documented by the Pathfinder. 35 years ago: Nov. 26, 1986 issue Library may open to community Seeley Lake residents may have an opportunity to use the high school...
