Sorted by date Results 736 - 760 of 1188
SEELEY LAKE - Recently a petition has been circulating in Seeley Lake calling for the Forest Service to “remove and replace the current Ranger of the Seeley Lake Ranger District”. The petition also suggests there is “sufficient belief” and “consensus” in the community calling into question the Ranger’s competence, self interest and contribution to the vitality and resilience of the community. In my view this petition is an absurdity and an unfortunate example of poorly informed discussion in our community. I do not believe it represents a...
SEELEY LAKE - Hello everyone, I’m Lee Bridges and I’m running to represent House District 92 in Helena. Thanks to those of you who voted for me in the June primary. Please join me Tuesday, Sept. 4 from 6 – 8 p.m., at the home of Addrien Marx and Jim McLean for a Meet Your Candidate open house and fund raiser: 380 Morrell Creek Drive, Seeley Lake. Between now and the November election I will be working to learn more from you about how we can all build a better Montana. I want to earn your vote. I’ve heard from many of you as I knock on doors a...
SEELEY LAKE - Being the local expert in all things related to water, in Don Larson’s mind there are two truths: A) The existing septic systems, at least on his properties, are functioning properly, and probably the cleanest on the planet. No need for sewer. B) The water bills in Seeley Lake are “exorbitant”. I am surprised that he hasn’t solved both these problems by connecting pipe “A” to pipe “B”....
Elected officials have a moral duty to protect the health and lives of citizens they represent and to be good stewards of resources. According to the EPA, wildfire smoke has microscopic particles that penetrate deep into your lungs and cause aggravated chronic heart and lung diseases and is linked to premature death. Tree and vegetation removal correlates to less wildfire and smoke. It seems reasonable for elected officials to pursue policies and legislation that protect citizen’s health and exercise good stewardship. Politicians on both sides...
Exciting Times My name is Marie Andersen. Missoula County voters elected me to be their Judge in 2014. I write to address my political opponent’s recently published attack on me, as well as the article concerning the report on the Missoula County Justice Court. It’s an exciting time in our court. For the first time, there will be one manager for both Justice Courts (my court and Judge Holloway’s court). It’s in the best interest of both courts, staff and public to have a single administrative manager working cooperatively and collabo...
SWAN VALLEY – We would like to thank all the Condon community for all the great food and nice cards and the QRU response to my accident. This is such a caring community and very much appreciated. Thanks again, Neil and Dixie Meyer...
It happens all too often, some elected or appointed official doing something corrupt or unethical. Some let lobbyists pay their rent, others outfit their public offices with luxury items costing tens of thousands of dollars. In every case it’s a waste of taxpayer funds, a breach of the public trust. I have known Jon Tester since his time as a Montana State Senator, and Jon has always led by example when it comes to ethics and honor in government. Jon is the guy who still works his family farm, he is rooted in Montana and brings a hard w...
Letter to the Community of Seeley Lake - I have worked with the Seeley Lake Sewer District Board for almost 18 years. The hard work of these dedicated volunteers has resulted in almost $16 M in grants and loans to fund this first phase of the project. The funders for the project are concerned that the project seems stalled. A majority of the property owners in the Seeley Lake Sewer District did not protest the proposed levy of special assessments for the district last November, giving the board the authority to go forward with the designed...
Dear Mr. Boltz and Sewer Board Members: The Missoula City-County Board of Health strongly and wholeheartedly supports the Seeley Lake public sewer project and urges the Seeley Lake Sewer District Board to take the actions needed to keep the project moving forward. The concentration of homes and businesses using septic systems in the Seeley Lake area, combined with the area’s geology and groundwater movement, have led to elevated nitrate levels in the groundwater. In some places in the Seeley Lake community, nitrate concentrations in g...
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Senator Jon Tester for remaining accessible to his constituents. Only about a million people live in Montana, but we’re an enormous state. In fact, from the border of Idaho to the border of North Dakota, it’s a 12 hour drive across Montana. This hasn’t stopped Jon from doing everything he can to travel across the state to meet with the Montanans he represents. If you haven’t met Jon yourself, you almost certainly know someone who has, whether they asked Jon questions at a town hall, talked with hi...
SEELEY LAKE - It is so nice to live in a small community where people are honest. Ten days ago my son brought me grocery shopping in his pickup. I’m quite short legged and quite elderly so he always carries a step stool for me to step in and out of his pickup. Somehow we left the little stool behind and we forgot about it. This weekend he stopped in at Cory’s Valley Market and there on the ice machine was my little stool. Ten days later, my little stool is sitting there waiting for me. I appreciate that the people of Seeley Lake are so nic...
A recent Missoulian article [July 15, 2018] about Whitefish Lake and a subdivision on its shore has information that seems relevant to Seeley’s sewer controversy. It was proposed that the Lion Mountain subdivision with 120 lots on the lake’s west shore be connected to the Whitefish city sewer system. The estimated cost, based on decades of data for that system, was about $150/month/lot to connect to the already existing, up-and-running sewer system. In addition, by accepting city services, those lot owners would eventually be annexed into the c...
MISSOULA – Shame on Missoula County Commissioners for allowing the last open space proposal to be placed on the ballot. Where is the representation for those people living outside of the city? Some of us have been around long enough and are smart enough to know that for years the city of Missoula has run the county. We also know that between the poor on welfare and employees on government welfare run the city. Therefore, these want-to-be representatives [want-to-be are those people who usually have never accomplished anything on their own so t...
SEELEY LAKE - The misguided effort by Community Council member Lee Boman to secure an endorsement of the Seeley Lake Sewer proposal is reckless and irresponsible....for several reasons....here are few:: • Mr. Boman is a relative newcomer to the valley and does not even live in the Sewer District....so he will not have to face the roughly $40,000 per household to “sewer” Seeley Lake . Further, it is apparent he does not understand the wastewater issues we face in the Seeley-Swan Watershed • The Community Council...as new members Bruce Friede...
SEELEY LAKE - A month has passed without the Seeley Lake Sewer Board (and District) having a legal president. Montana Code Annotated 7-13-2271 (a portion of state law regulating sewer districts) states under “Organization of board of directors”: 1. A new board of directors shall hold its first meeting on the sixth Monday after the election of directors. It shall choose one of its members president and shall provide for the time and place of holding its meetings and the manner in which its special meetings may be called. 2. The board shall estab...
SEELEY LAKE - I attended the meeting of the Seeley Lake Sewer District last week and I learned a few things. 1. The water quality in Seeley Lake is excellent; among the best in Montana. The lake is not being polluted by individual septic systems in the community. In fact the groundwater in the surrounding area does not enter the lake. Neither does it mix with other surface water. So, the whole argument that we have to have a sewer system because we are polluting the lake is a scam. 2. The problem pointed out by the Health Department is high nit...
What does the U.S. Forest Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corp of Engineers all have in common? They are all involved in job protection regardless of the cost to the U.S. taxpayer. We all know about the Forest Service and their “We fight fires, we don’t put them out” policy. They certainly don’t manage the forest properly by thinning trees and underbrush to avoid the costly fires. The EPA and Army Corp of Engineers seems to have the same policy of always responding after the fact. The EPA doesn’t seem to care abou...
Patriotism, flag burning, anthem kneeling – emotional topics throughout history. Ironically, our country was founded by patriots who burned flags. And they endeavored to establish a new kind of country that protected cherished values like freedom of speech in an age when that was not protected so well by any other nation-state. As George Washington stated, “If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” Flag burning, like kneeling during the anthem, is a symbolic act of political resis...
I have been given written permission and even encouraged by Mr. Marshall to stand up for my rights and freedom of speech, so I will again. I am thankful that honoring the flag and anthem have been American traditions handed down for generations. I am thankful for all the men and women who have fought for, suffered grievous wounds of body and soul and many died for the United States of America. They suffered for me. I am unworthy, but oh, so thankful. How painful it must be for those heroes to see the flag burning and the kneeling for the...
SEELEY LAKE - I’m writing about the Big Larch Campground. I was called out to the boat ramp two years ago and the Forest Service people asked my advice on how to fix the boat ramp at the dock. I said it would probably cost about $2,000 to fix it per my advice. I called to see if it was fixed before the Kids’ Fishing Tournament and was told they had to study it. It went from $2,000 to $40,000 and it’s still not fixed. If you look at it today it’s tore up more than it ever was before. I also found out they couldn’t find any loggers to do the wo...
I want to respond to Mike Marshall’s letter in last week’s Pathfinder. Mike disagreed with some people’s dissatisfaction with other people’s method of protesting. I think Mike is very wrong. There are acceptable ways of protesting and there SHOULD be unacceptable ways. Nations have even attempted to make rules of fighting wars. In that light there should be rules of protesting. When a person burns our flag, or stomps our flag into the ground, to me that means he/she hates everything about this country and there is nothing good, redeema...
I want to reciprocate the feelings of gratitude to Lee Bridges for running a primary campaign that focused on the issues rather than personal animosities. Playing to divisive rhetoric for short-term political points hurts all of us in the long-term. As Bridges noted in a recent Letter to the Editor, this was an ideal that she and I both agreed to before we ever started campaigning. I want to thank her for being true to her words. What Montana needs now more than ever is civility and the ability to build bridges towards common ground. Lee...
I am always disappointed to see someone who thinks expressing our freedom of speech is un-American. I’ll have to disagree. You may not like what someone has to express or the way they express it, but just like you, they have every right to express it. In fact, telling someone to go find another country if you don’t like what’s going on is the most selfish and unpatriotic thing you can say to someone. We need more people to stand up and be counted, even if we don’t like the way they express themselves. If our country is doing something we see...
I am writing in response to Mr. Mike Marshall’s letter to the editor in the Pathfinder Thursday, June 21, 2018. We who are citizens of the United States of America do have wonderful freedoms, thanks to our founding fathers, and the men and women who fought for, and the many who gave their lives for our freedoms. Some left their limbs on the battlefields and some came home with broken hearts and troubled minds so you and I can enjoy our freedom. People do have the right to burn the flag and kneel for the anthem. I have rights too. I have the r...
Senator Steve Daines of Montana, I am sad to say, just announced that he introduced a constitutional amendment in the U.S. Senate to outlaw burning the flag. Here is my message to Senator Daines regarding this misguided effort: “You don’t truly understand our bill of rights, do you Senator? You are too willing to compromise our rights (and your rights), so you truly do not deserve them and certainly do not deserve our respect for your flagrant inability to appreciate our rights. I stand for the pledge of allegiance and for our national ant...
