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SEELEY LAKE – At their June 16 meeting, the Seeley Lake Fire District Board of Trustees approved pay increases for Fire Chief Dave Lane and District Administrator Lynn Richards. Captain Michael Richards also shared details about the Fire Foundation Pancake breakfast that is scheduled on the Fourth of July in compliance with the Missoula City-County Health Department regulations. Lane proposed a seven percent raise for Lynn Richards. This is twice the increase recommended by Missoula County and would be nearly a $2,500 increase for the year. R...
SEELEY LAKE – COVID-19 has infected not only our bodies but also our language. Three interesting new words arising from the pandemic are doomsurfing (and its companion doomscrolling) and infodemic. Whether or not Kevin Roose originated the phrase doomsurfing, he certainly offers a vivid definition of it in his New York Times April 20, 2020 article: “I’ve been doing a lot of this kind of doomsurfing recently — falling into deep, morbid rabbit holes filled with coronavirus content, agitating myself to the point of physical discomfort, erasing any...
Last week's Graying Pains story explored the challenges of family farm succession as Montana's agricultural demographic ages, and a program designed to connect up-and-coming farmers in western Montana. This week's installment explores the same issue - and a community college proposal to address it - near the state's eastern border. * * * * * GLENDIVE - Not everyone who is interested in agriculture grows up on a farm, and without the skills and experience, finding your way into a family farm...
SEELEY LAKE - Erika Wilson knew in the back of her mind there was no way Mission Bible Fellowship's Vacation Bible School summer camp would be able to happen this year. Instead, she opted to create a smaller, more personal camp in her own backyard. "Kids have a hard enough time keeping their hands to themselves, period," Wilson said. "I felt we have to do something different." Normally the church holds a vacation bible school in its normal building, which brings about 100 campers and...
SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Elementary School board discussed hiring and hired some of the proposed summer and kitchen staff positions at their June 15 meeting. They also approved several contracts and agreed to add preschool/transitional kindergarten funding and recreation equipment to the agenda for the July meeting after they were brought up during public comment. At the start of the meeting, Chair Kyle Marx addressed the nine letters submitted to the board regarding the recent teacher reassignments to different grades. A special board m...
SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Sewer District Board held a meeting June 15 where it seated its newly elected Board members, elected new officers, selected the market value approach to spreading assessments to pay for the administrative budget and set a new time for regular meetings. The Board also discussed hiring a new attorney for its regular business. Directors Tom Morris and Jason Gilpin who were elected in May were seated at the meeting. They were not sworn in during the meeting because Morris and Gilpin had already completed their Oath o...
SEELEY LAKE - Runners stretched, filled up their water bottles, and did practice laps to prepare for three different length versions of the Bad Bob race, put on by the Mountain Trail Series June 20. The 10, 25, and 50K launched from the Seeley Creek trailhead and sent trail runners from Morrell Creek over the top of Rice Ridge. "Today has gone by and everything seems smoother than normal," said race organizer Chris Stout. "The route is a little different but to be honest the race is pretty much...
Weekly COVID-19 update As of June 22, there are 734 cases of COVID-19 in Montana. There are 163 active cases, 89 hospitalizations with 13 active, 550 recoveries and 21 deaths in Montana due to COVID-19 complications. Missoula County has had 49 cases and one reported death. For the most up-to-date and accurate information and best ways of protecting yourself and others, please refer to the Missoula County-City Health Department website http://missoula.co/cvirus or call 406-258-INFO (4636) Monday – Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Other resources inc...
SEELEY LAKE - Fishermen and women braved the weekend weather to finish out the annual Mr. Pike tournament June 13 and 14. Though less than 10 teams fished the event, it was still a celebration. "It is just about us friends coming out and having fun while trying to beat each other," said organizer DJ Harris. "Just another fishing trip." Harris, who with teammate LeeRoy Walz, finished first in the tournament with a total of 37.8 pounds including the largest fish of the tournament weighing 8.6...
SEELEY LAKE – When the Seeley Lake Area Chamber of Commerce canceled the community Fourth of July parade and fireworks due to COVID-19 restrictions, owners of the Tamaracks Resort Jeff and Jessica Kimmel decided to throw a celebration. “We knew the rules that the Chamber would have to follow in order to provide safe social distancing per the governor’s directive and that it was impossible for them to comply,” wrote Kimmels in an email. “In trying to bring people together and offer solutions to the problem, we did the research to see what woul...
The 68-year-old old poultry farmer pointed out the hen houses he built decades ago, providing details of each wooden tenement's residents. Hugh Spencer built the hen houses and accompanying grain bins, which look like high-density housing for chickens, shortly after he and his wife Viki purchased the land in 1981. Spencer's 48-week-old hens are kept in the northernmost house. The pullets (or young hens) are kept in the center house. The veteran, 90-week-old hens huddle together in the southernmo...
POTOMAC - Signs and banners decorated the highway in front of Cullys and along Potomac Road in celebration of the Potomac School graduating classes of 2020. Both the kindergarten and eighth grade graduations had to comply with Missoula County Public Health Department rules regarding social distancing and disinfection. The events were by invitation only and were held outside. On Thursday evening, June 11, nine Potomac School kindergartners graduated. The ceremony was held in the athletic field...
SEELEY LAKE - Seeley-Swan High School is upgrading its pipes over the summer after discovering a high concentration of lead back in 2017. The project, made possible by a $400,000 grant, will replace all the domestic water piping entering the high school. “It is huge first off from a safety standpoint,” said SSHS Principal Kellen Palmer. “Everyone who enters our building, whether that’s students, staff, or community guests, will have peace of mind knowing everyone can go drink out of the drinking fountain and not have to worry.” The new pipes...
With the unexpected arrival of a pandemic, thousands of Montanans are out of work. For many, it could be the first time navigating the government’s policy on unemployment or business support funding. The Pathfinder looked to answer questions raised by changes in state and federal unemployment benefits, as well as members of the community. The following questions and answers were researched through the Montana Department of Labor and Industry and The Missoula Job Office. Questions appear in bold followed by the answer. History of how unemploymen... Full story
The Blackfoot Board of Trustees was pleased to award a total of $31,500 in academic scholarships to 46 outstanding students residing within the company’s Montana and Idaho rural service territories. The scholarship recognizes students who have demonstrated academic success, as well as a commitment to bettering their community. Blackfoot’s scholarship fund is intended to support pursuits in higher education. Congratulations to our all of our recipients! Local scholarship recipients from District 1 (Condon, Seeley Lake) and District 3 (Avon, Ell...
SEELEY LAKE - DJ Benton, of Seeley Lake, rode towards Mount Morrel on his 47th birthday May 10 with a goal to match his miles traveled to years lived. While he watched the trees and mountains pass him by on his ride, he discovered a herd of elk. "It was fantastic. They weren't sure what to make of me," Benton said. "[Biking] makes me humble because you slow down. Me being a rookie cyclist, I am not fast anyway." The nurse practitioner recently got into cycling to stay in shape during the...
SEELEY LAKE - Korinne Treser and Ashly Berentsen each received $1,000 college scholarships this June from Grizzly Claw Trading. The scholarships are funded through the sales of used books donated by the community, friends and Grizzly Claw Owners Dee and Susan Baker. This year marked the "going over" of the $9,000 mark since the fund was started. The goal was to pass the $10,000 mark this year but the COVID-19 shutdown made that impossible. Treser will be attending Montana Tech this fall. She...
POTOMAC – Potomac Principal John Rouse set up a classroom with six feet between desks, hung signs as reminders about handwashing and hand sanitizer use and had a package of masks available to use for the June 8 school board meeting. This was an effort to visually show the board what returning to school in the fall could look like as they launched into the Montana School Boards Association (MSBA) 1900 Series Knowledge-Based Decision-Making Template. In other business, the board approved signing the annual lease with the Potomac Greenough C...
April 29, 2020... It was so hot out today, my body felt like it was burning because I haven't experienced heat like that since summer. Oh how I miss summer. I miss those long nights sitting around a campfire eating those gooey, but delicious s'mores. Having family and friends come over, barbecuing steaks for dinner. I told myself that those times will come again... once all this blows over. Today, my mom and I went to get our favorite drinks at our local coffee shop - Chai tea with oats milk... Full story
Don Larson has spent the last 22 winters fishing and cruising off the Central America coastline. Due to the coronavirus, both Larson and his partner Rosie Strope ended up staying out on the open waters a lot longer than expected. "This year we got down and got our boat ready to go, got out there and they closed all the borders," Larson said. "We were marooned for three months!" According to the news company Reuters, many Central and South American countries opted to close their borders as early...
SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley-Swan Hospital District received updates from Partnership Health Center’s new chief medical officer and discussed the community artwork on display at their June 9 meeting via conference call. As of April 1, Dr. James Quirk was hired as PHC’s new Chief Medical Officer. He has done site visits as well as has seen patients in Seeley Lake since starting at the Medical Officer. He said that the staff at the Medical Center has been doing an excellent job and has helped lead the way for PHC with their thoughtfulness on how t...
SEELEY LAKE - When program director of the Montana Mrs. America pageants Cindy Archer canceled the statewide competition due to the coronavirus, she remembered talking with Jessica Kimmel about a new outdoor venue at the Tamaracks Resort. Months later, Miss Montana for America and the Mrs. Montana 2020 competed and were crowned in Seeley Lake June 13. "So we are so lucky and blessed to be in Montana," Archer said. "The event place was spread out in open air and the cabins provided a place to...
SEELEY LAKE - Terry Antonich spent his youth on Lake Inez, and hoped one day he would be able to find a career in Seeley. So when Dick Lewis decided to retire from Rent-All, Antonich took over. "Having always wanted to own my own business and putting myself in a financial position to take advantage of a business opportunity, I jumped on the opportunity to purchase an established business in Seeley Lake," said Antonich. Antonic graduated from the University of Montana in 2000 with a degree in...
MISSOULA - The Missoula County Public School District released guidelines about students returning to class for the fall semester. Notably, the District is putting Seeley-Swan High School in a different category from the other schools. “Seeley-Swan High School, Willard Alternative Learning High School Program and Jefferson Early Learning Center have smaller student populations and will be able to host more students in a face-to-face instructional setting,” the MCPS press release said. As MCPS prepares for students to be back in class in Aug... Full story
Montana State students named to spring semester 2020 honor rolls BOZEMAN — Montana State University has announced its undergraduate honor rolls for spring semester 2020. There are two MSU honor roll lists, the President’s List and the Dean’s List. To be eligible for the lists, students must have earned at least 12 college-level credits. This honor roll list was current as of June 11 and includes all registration corrections or grade changes processed to that date. The 2,439 students with a perfect 4.0 grade point average for the semester were...
