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SEELEY LAKE - We would like to commend the people involved on the COVID vaccination shots that were given at the high school on Feb. 8 in Seeley Lake. Everyone involved did a wonderful job organizing, putting together and initiating the process. We thought it went flawlessly. They had people ready to assist us through the complete process. They stood outside in subzero weather most of the day to administer the shots to people that were notified through phone and text message of the date and time to be there. Once again, the people in Seeley...
In 1883 Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt attended a fancy-dress ball that outshone any ball New York had seen, wearing her electric light dress. Railroad tycoons like Cornelius Vanderbilt hosted such opulent affairs with profits from their monopoly corporations. The starvation wages they paid their workers led to the Great Uprising of 1877 and the Pullman Strike of 1894. In the late 1800s, when collective bargaining arose, 10% of the U.S. population owned more than 70% of the nation’s assets. This structural inequality contributed to the upheaval t...
HELENA- This was “tax reform week” at the Montana Legislature. Many of Governor Gianforte’s Montana Comeback tax proposals had committee hearings this week with tremendous support. The House Taxation Committee heard two of these bills and the Senate Taxation Committee took up another three. House Bill 303 is the Business Investment Grows Jobs or BIG Jobs Act. This bill’s main economic benefit is to increase the business equipment tax exemption from $100,000 to $200,000. It will allow small businesses to expand their operations and hire more wo...
Since winning the Legislature in 2011, Republicans have introduced multiple pieces of legislation undermining Montana’s great hunting and fishing. Fortunately, successive Democratic governors vetoed them. The veto pen now belongs to Greg Gianforte. The 2021 Legislature is considering a bevy of legislation changing Montana’s hunting and fishing. Montanans who voted for these legislators and who love to hunt and fish, should contact legislators and let them know you do not support these bills. Senate Bill 143 sets aside big game licenses for non-...
SEELEY LAKE - If you believe that the whole sewer project was handled poorly and that there are other ways to improve waste water treatment, this is a way to get rid of the sewer by VOTING NO on the upcoming Seeley Lake Sewer Bonds Election, on Feb. 23. Voting against the sewer does not mean you support pollution. There are alternatives to sewers that are state authorized. Colleen Krause, Homeowner...
As you know, the Seeley Lake Sewer District Board sent a memo to voters and property owners in the Sewer District about the upcoming Bond Election. The Board would like to take this opportunity to clarify the facts. Supplemental materials can be found at www.seeleysewer.org. Our purpose is “to maintain and provide a healthful environment for present and future generations and to supervise wastewater treatment within the District.” The data shows the nitrate levels in groundwater within the District are trending upward. This concerns MT DEQ and...
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...
