Sorted by date Results 176 - 197 of 197
Let's talk vaccinations, shall we? I have been hesitant to tackle this subject as there are many with strong opinions. So before you roll your eyes and quit reading, let me assure you that I have no intention to preach hellfire and damnation to anyone who is hesitant to have their children (or themselves) vaccinated. Are you defensive when the topic is brought up? Perhaps feeling that there is an agenda that takes precedent over any of your concerns-you must vaccinate! This should never be the c...
The chosen theme for this year's National Newspaper Week, Oct 2-8, is "Power of the Press." That power, it seems to me, is a very relative thing. Everybody understands the power of, say, The New York Times or The Washington Post, but probably less recognized and appreciated is the power of the Deer Creek Pilot and the thousands of other small, community newspapers just like it all across the land. In survey after survey, it is these little community-minded newspapers that are continuing to thriv...
I got the mail today. A couple of bills. A greeting card. Some catalogs. A newspaper. One package that my wife grabbed right away. (Wonder what that was?) Lately, it occurs to me how completely I take for granted that I will get the mail tomorrow. I’ve had my share of gripes about the mail. As president of the National Newspaper Association, I have fielded our community newspaper members’ postal concerns all year. The mail is slower than it used to be. The U.S. Postal Service slowed it down by a day, at least, because of financial pro...
Loren Rose is the Chief Operating Officer for Pyramid Mountain Lumber, Inc. in Seeley Lake. Todd Myers is the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Cloud Peak Energy. 2016 is proving to be one of the more challenging years to natural resource industries in Montana. Whether you talk about challenges facing our timber companies, how the situation in Colstrip and coal country will affect families and state coffers or how mining, quarrying and cement production will continue to be an important contributor to our economy, our...
It all started at a kitchen table in the Blackfoot Valley. Back around 1970. Local folks like us, including our good friend and neighbor Bill Potter. Worried about increasing recreational pressure on the river, our property and the lands surrounding ours. We knew what we wanted to do but we weren't sure how to do it. We knew we wanted to engage the public. They had a stake in the river and the land that surrounded it. So we got together...some landowners, river users, hunters, agency folks...to...
One of the best things about living in Seeley Lake is the abundance of outside activities available. My favorite outdoor activities are hiking and kayaking. While we are outside getting active, our bodies are busy making Vitamin D. According to the National Institutes of Health, 40 percent of the US population is Vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D is known as the "sunshine vitamin" because your body creates Vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. Exposure needs to be at least 10 minutes three to four...
Dental health is a seeming small aspect of our lives but one of the most important areas to which we should give our attention. As an open portal to the rest of our bodies, great care should be given to our gum tissues, tongue and teeth in order to prevent diseases throughout our entire self. Many may not know the importance of proper oral hygiene but it is vital to our longevity and quality of life. You may not know that good oral hygiene has a tremendous effect on your overall health but it...
We've all been tired at one time or another-it's seems to be one of those unfortunate side effects of life. Most often we can look to our busy schedules or our lack of exercise to find something to blame. At times, however, there may not be anything easy to blame and this is what brings many a patient into the clinic. So what causes fatigue? The answer is generally not that simple, as there are seemingly thousands of things that can cause fatigue. What follows is a list of the top ten that I've...
After K C York, Ravalli Early Head Start (REHS) employee and former Executive Director of Footloose Montana had numerous charges of violations of Montana’s political campaign practices dismissed by Jonathan Motl, former attorney for Footloose Montana and current Montana Commissioner of Political Practices (COPP); a charge of violating the federal Hatch Act was levied against Ms. York, due to the fact that REHS is a federally funded program. In the original charges on the State level Ms. York, then REHS employee and named as Deputy T...
SEELEY LAKE - Two years ago, “Outside Magazine” named Seeley Lake Elementary the best place to work in the entire country. Having one of the largest outdoor recreation publications pay us this honor was a testament to the amazing colleagues, supportive parents and professional development that make working at our school such a joy. It was also a testament to the breathtaking natural world right outside our school’s double doors. Over the past several years, we’ve incorporated that world into our curriculum. We take our students canoein...
New rules related to overtime pay being proposed by the US Department of Labor (DOL) are cause for concern in Montana’s nonprofit community. The changes will cause significant increases in payroll costs and inevitably leading to a reduction of services to nonprofit clients and patrons. Under current DOL rules, employers, including nonprofit organizations, may designate employees who are in administrative and professional roles as salaried, “exempting” them from hourly wages and mandatory overtime. To qualify, those employees must make at least...
Submitted by Brian Sweeney, Communications Director with the Western Environmental Law Center, Taos, N.M. MISSOULA – On April 4 the federal district court for Montana rejected a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to deny protections for wolverines in the contiguous U.S. The court ruled the Service improperly ignored science and violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA). A broad coalition of conservation organizations challenged the Service's refusal to protect imperiled w...
SEELEY LAKE - Snowmobiles and Seeley Lake go hand in hand during the winter months. Our community sees an average of 125 inches of snow per year…making it a perfect destination for folks looking to unload their sled for a few days and venture into the backcountry. One of our biggest tourism drivers in the winter – which any seasoned Montanan knows lasts longer than our summers – is snowmobiling. Ten years ago, several diverse interest groups came together to strategize and plan for the long-term future of our public lands, in a method that...
The wood products industry has a rich heritage in Montana. Our forests have sustained Montana families for decades. Pyramid Mountain Lumber’s sawmill operation has provided employment for many in Seeley Lake and wages paid have provided countless opportunities to mill and woods workers and has sent many a Montana child to college. Montana’s timber industry remains an important economic engine in parts of Montana. The wood products industry works hand in hand with state and federal agencies and other stakeholders to keep our forests healthy and...
Despite Montana’s strong public information laws, news organizations in many Montana counties have long fought for the public’s right to access the photographs taken of accused criminals when they are booked into jail. Thanks to a recent district court ruling, that fight has been largely settled. Not surprisingly, public access triumphed. News media across Montana will soon be able to publish booking photos along with relevant crime stories. Booking photos – or “mugshots” in news industry parlance - are important public information. For one,...
SEELEY LAKE - Seeley Lake is an amazing and beautiful place, surrounded by millions of acres of forests and wilderness. These forests are natural habitat for our incredible diversity of wildlife and provide migration corridors for many of these species. These forests naturally burn, but in many places are also thick with trees, underbrush and ladder fuels that present a real danger of wildfire. As the summer temperatures increase and our snowpack melts, the possibility of wildfire becomes a concern that each of us faces annually. Last summer...
It's time to file our tax returns. Last year I discovered www.IRS.gov/freefile. It provides free online tax preparation and e-filing for people earning $62,000 or less a year. The IRS partners with 13 leading tax software companies to provide free access to the most innovative and secure tax software. Free state return options are also available. Using Free File, most taxpayers simply have to check a box to report health care coverage for the entire year so adjustments can be made to tax...
WASHINGTON D.C. - I want to send wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all Montanans- especially to our men and women in uniform, serving our country far from home and in harm's way. As we gather together during this time of year, I hope that you will join me in thanking the brave servicemen and women who are giving so much to defend our freedoms. For their service, and the sacrifices made by our military families, we are especially grateful. In Montana, winter's here, with...
One out of every 10 Montanans is a veteran, which makes Montana home to more veterans per capita than almost any other state in the nation. It is one of my greatest honors to serve Montana’s veterans in Congress. Every one of these men and women have an incredible story to tell from their service – stories that are also part of our nation’s history and our heritage. That’s why the Veterans History Project is so important. My team in Montana is helping to spread awareness of the American Folklife Center’s Veterans History Project across th...
It was a scene straight from a Leanin' Tree Christmas card. The five-by-five bull elk was moving uphill on a well-traveled path through lodgepole pine while snowflakes as large as dollars and wetter than kisses pasted his sides. He was so close it seemed I could reach out and tickle his ribs with my gun barrel. I had a cow tag so the bull was not mine to take, plus I was guiding a trophy hunter from Florida for whitetail, not elk. The bull moved on never knowing I was there but years later I...
It has been just over seven months since I came to Seeley Lake to serve as the Forest Service District Ranger for the Seeley Lake Ranger District. I wanted to share my expectations, experiences and lessons learned thus far with you. With recent retirements and transfers, there have been many changes within the Forest Service and the local district office personnel. Several district employees remain part of our permanent staff and we have added two new members to our team. We are almost fully...
Though the smoke has cleared from Montana’s skies, we’re far from extinguishing another major problem facing our forests: the crisis of how we pay for fighting forest fires while continuing to fund essential Forest Service programs that sustain Montana’s outdoor way of life and our outdoor economy. Instead of focusing his energy on a common-sense solution to this Montana crisis, Senator Steve Daines is playing political games in Washington, D.C. by supporting the Resilient Federal Forest Act (HR 2647) as the cure-all to our nation’s wildfir...
