Sorted by date Results 302 - 326 of 1183
I have been involved with preliminary planning, design and cost estimates for a sewer project for Seeley Lake since 1984. The current project, which began about 10 years ago, was agreed to provide a sewer treatment system for no more than $100 per connection per month. The current project design is estimated to cost $35 million to provide sewer service to approximately 515 customers. This results in the project construction cost to be estimated at $68,000 per connection. This sewer system is too expensive for our district. The board has been...
I was looking forward to reading an actual objective legislative update in the February 4 issue of the Seeley Swan Pathfinder, but deeply disappointed in the partisan campaign piece submitted by Representative Mike Hopkins. We were left with the impression the piece should have been a paid political ad rather than a simple update on what the Montana State Legislature is working on and has accomplished so far this session. I keep thinking that our elected representatives and senators represent all of us rather than one political party....
Our state and way of life we have enjoyed for decades is in danger of being lost. With a new governor and new legislature in session, it’s vital Montana citizens are aware of the harmful actions occurring in Helena: politicizing our courts, diminishing Montanan’s rights, remaking state government and consolidating power in the Governor’s office. Although no problem exists with the current process, the Governor and some Republican legislators are politicizing and remaking our courts. SB140 (Sen. Keith Regier) allows the Governor to handp...
After reading Roxie Sterling’s latest installment I am left in absolute awe of her access to “facts” not available to the average citizen whose sources of information are limited to such suspect tabloids as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times or, God forbid, that liberal rag the Missoulian. Perhaps she should have a regular column in which she enlightens the rest of us poor benighted souls with the truth of what is really happening in America. Maybe then we would learn the little-known facts of the moon-landing hoax, the dark forces that...
In the spirit of Nancy Pelosi, Mr. Lombardi gave us a full-page report in his Letter to the Editor in the Pathfinder’s Jan. 21 issue. If he thinks Daines and Trump were bad, wait till Chuck Shummer, A.O.C., Bernie and Biden’s cabinet appointments get done raid’n the treasury and our freedoms. Give’em a year, if it takes that long. Please come back and give us another full-page report. Across the page Mike Hopkins gave us the kind of Legislative update we expect. Thanks Mike....
Last week there was a letter in this newspaper called “Where is the unity.” The first paragraph said those who “went into the Capitol unlawfully” should be prosecuted… I agree. But that is where my agreement with this letter ends. Unity could come from people looking at pertinent data for a particular question and having a meaningful debate. This article is full of misrepresentations of situations and inflammatory rhetoric. The person writing this article repeats false narratives, (i.e. lies). It’s not the first time the author has done this....
SEELEY LAKE - I am writing in response to Curt Friede’s letter last week. Curt has given false information regarding the Seeley Lake Sewer Project. I contacted the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) last year and asked if Seeley Lake was on a watch list for sewer contaminates and the answer was NO. I asked if Seeley Lake had higher then the state law for contaminates in the water and the answer was NO. I asked if the DEQ would enforce a sewer if the project was voted down and the answer was NO. I have an email to verify this. So yes, I...
SEELEY LAKE - Curt Friede’s letter to the editor about the sewer proposal last week suggests we “get the facts.” Here are a few: Fact: Mr. Friede of one of the parties suing the sewer district board to force them to build the sewer. Fact: There is NO SIGNIFICANT groundwater nitrate degradation, in the groundwater OR the lake, that we know of definitively. The engineers recommended water quality testing in all four sewer “sub-districts” but test wells were drilled in only two. Of those two, only one was tested regularly and it consisten...
Governor Gianforte wants to lift the mask mandate upon two conditions. First, when most vulnerable people of Montana are confirmed vaccinated. Second, when the Montana legislature provides Senate Bill 65 as an enabling act to protect businesses from COVID-19 frivolous lawsuits. Sounds great, right? However, there are no frivolous lawsuits. The people, churches and businesses of Montana are defending their liberty to commerce and their right to conscience. They resist the attempt to be criminalized, in court, by the local health departments and...
I’ve lost three hunting spots on corporate timberlands in the last two years. I’ve always appreciated the privilege of hunting those lands but knew they could be sold. One sale blocked a road to Forest Service where I’ve hunted for over 30 years. The hunt for new spots is hindered by a rash of new “No Trespassing” signs. Public lands, owned by you and me, are our ace-in-the-hole for recreating. Proposed bills on Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ Habitat Montana program would ban fee title purchases, put conservation easements under final State Land...
SEELEY LAKE – I was very upset by the article about the Seeley Lake Ambulance being attacked in last week’s paper. I’ve taken the ambulance twice and they saved my life both times. The first time, I had a diabetic attack. I don’t live far from the fire station and they were at my home practically before I hung up the phone. They got my blood sugar straightened out, were helpful and kind and knew exactly what to do. One of the volunteers even volunteered to pick up my diabetic supplies in Missoula on his own time. A month and a half ago I had p...
Walt Hill’s comments on our Seeley Lake sewer mess would be laughable except for the fact he is a respected community leader. His ignorance of the facts of the case are scary and dangerous. Here are some facts: • Sewer District residents have a right to KNOW all the truths about the sewer project...the reasons, the costs, the impact. The Sewer District Board has NEVER completely provided those facts to residents. • Sewer District residents have a right to PARTICIPATE in the discussion of this very important discussion. Past Boards have pooh,...
It’s important for residents of Seeley to know the facts to make an appropriate decision for the upcoming sewer bond. There’s a lot of conflicting conversation from a group of residents who have taken it upon themselves to state their opinion as fact. This has caused misinformation to circulate. When presented with a dilemma, the way to push through is choosing between multiple unfavorable situations. That’s exactly what we face with the sewer system. The Sewer District’s goals are identifying financial opportunity for affordability, address...
SEELEY LAKE - As you may know, I am OPPOSED to the General Obligation Bond for the Seeley Lake Sewer project that we will be voting on in February. Phase I voters will be voting on a Revenue Bond and the General Obligation Bond and both have to pass to get funded. If the Bond were to pass there will be funding available for the sewer and collection system for Phase I. Phase I people will find the following components charged to them every year: the debt for the General Obligation Bond, the debt for the Revenue Bond, Operation and Maintenance...
Wake up America! Each person that went into our Capitol unlawfully needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and jailed. I can only imagine the fear of our elected politicians that had to hide as they feared for their lives. Five people died. As always Democrats and some Republicans jumped to conclusions and blamed President Trump. After an investigation they did a time line and guess what? President Trump was still giving his speech when the mob entered the capital. At the end of his speech, Trump said, go peacefully and...
As reported in the Jan. 21 issue of the Pathfinder, Walt Hill provided “information” to the hospital district directors that involved an assortment of truths, half-truths, distortions and outright false information. It was painful for me as a fellow sewer district director to read what he put forth to supposedly educate another board’s leaders how to cast their district’s vote on the up-coming bond election. I hope that each of the district’s qualified electors will be able to vote in the best way for him- or herself based on an understan...
“According to the Seeley Weather Alert Network for the Swan (SWANS), the normal winter weather patterns for the Seeley/Swan area have failed to practice ‘social distancing, mask wearing and hand sanitizing’ per DPHHS, CDC and COVID-19 protocols. Actually, how do you sanitize a snow cloud???? As a result, based on preliminary laboratory test results, the normal Seeley-Swan snowflakes have been tested as COVID-19 positive. As a result, most of those normal, crazy, fun, fluffy snow crystals that fall out of the sky on a VERY regular basis, have...
Do you hunt with out of state family and friends? Do you hunt private lands without an outfitter or guide? Have you been applying for a Missouri River Breaks or Elkhorns bull tag for every single year? If so, you better pay attention. SB 143, sponsored by Sen. Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, would turn the vast majority of non-resident big game licenses offered in Montana to “outfitter sponsored” tags favoring hunters with money who use outfitters. It would also create landowner licenses, and require that one quarter of special permits for cov...
They bet on winning and losing all the time. Sen. Steve Daines bet on President Trump. But following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Daines changed his wager. That day a pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol, erected a gallows, killed a Capitol policeman, and searched like terrorists for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence. They tried to stop Congress from doing its constitutional duty to certify the presidential election. Hidden with senators from the marauders in a Capitol basement “secure room”, Daines mad...
Well, the Montana Legislature is in session, and some of the bills put forward are pretty strange. It is easy to go to leg.mt.gov and let your opinion be known. Go to HOME and choose Send a Web Message to Legislator/Committee...then just follow instructions. Here is one of mine. I am going to post them in case anyone wants to use them as a skeleton for another letter. You can also leave comments at https://legiscan.com I am opposed to HB121, which would require elected officials to approve local health board and officer actions. This bill...
Senator Steve Daines and Representative Matt Rosendale need to be held accountable for their blatant and un-democratic support for the insurrection at our nation’s capital this week. Please speak out. Please contact them via phone, email or letter. Steve Daines, shame on you. Own up to the lies you have encouraged and the consequences you have helped to foment. The election was not rigged, the process was valid, the people voted and now it is time for you to get to work. Apologize to Montanans, and to Americans for your complicity and blind s...
The events of the past week in Washington DC, where rioters invaded the Capitol yelling “Hang Pence” are inexcusable. The elected officials that supported these events included elected officials from Montana. If we let them remain in Congress, we tell every veteran and every family of every veteran, that Democracy does not matter. Do we really want to do that? Montanans need to stand together. Officials, elected here, need to know that we value democracy, their oath to protect democracy matters, and we expect them to do the right thing and res...
To quote board publications, “The Seeley Lake Missoula Country Sewer District Board of Directors adopted Resolution #11192020, calling for a bond election on Feb. 23, 2021, by mail ballot asking the qualified electors in the District to approve a General Obligation Bond to finance a portion of the costs of the treatment plant and associated infrastructure and a Revenue Bond to finance a portion of the cost of the Phase 1 collection system. These bonds will replace the Assessment Bond methodology authorized through the Notice and Protest p...
Most Montanans have suffered losses from the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve shipped cattle at low prices, our fairgrounds have taken hits of hundreds of thousands of dollars and restaurants have closed. Our hospitals continue to incur significant financial losses to care for patients while overextending health care workers. Most of us will not be able to make up the setbacks we’ve experienced in the last year. In contrast, the largest monopoly corporations in Montana want to benefit from the pandemic. NorthWestern Ene...
SEELEY LAKE - Another lawsuit in the mix may be the last thing the village of Seeley needs to make sense of what is already a train wreck of a process to decide on the sewer. If, after decades of public discussion, we’re still fighting about it, that alone seems a good reason to put this project on the shelf…or come up with a plan than has solid community support. This one doesn’t have it....
