Sorted by date Results 578 - 602 of 1183
Meatless Mondays for your school lunch program? Meat grown in a petri dish from a foreign lab? These are questions we need to ask Governor Bullock. By his executive order, Montana is now obligated to advance the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. In order to meet the Paris objectives everything having a carbon footprint is on the table, including our beef industry. At present, U.S. meat consumption is about 222 pounds per person per year. Nationally the goal is to reduce this to 35 pounds per person. In short, Bullock wants to cut Montana...
Montanans received 9.4 million robocalls in June 2019. The majority coming from Target, Citibank, Capital One and debt collectors. A recent bill reigning in robocalls (HR 3375) passed US House and now heads to US Senate. The bill builds on legislation that passed the Senate with our MT Senators’ support. The new bill takes additional steps to curb abusive robocalling. It adopts important new consumer protections that requires FCC to close loopholes to ensure that automated calls and texts cannot be made without the consumer’s consent. The bil...
SEELEY LAKE - I love the parade and the excitement it creates in our town. I want to thank all those who helped organize it. I only ask one thing, that politics not be allowed in the parade. We have politics shoved down our throats daily and do not feel that we need it on the Fourth of July. Thank you....
SEELEY LAKE - The Sewer Board circus continues. Last week it approved a resolution for public review which would require EVERY property in the sewer district to hook up. Remember, if you have two lots under your home you will pay two debt service obligations. So, whatever the monthly charge comes out to be....double it if you have two lots under your home. Current cost estimates are already nearly THREE TIMES the statewide average for sewer service and will undoubtedly go higher as the construction estimates come in. Also the Board signed a...
They told us if we got educated then we would see success in our lifetime. Yet, more than 44 million Americans have student debts that combine to total $1.5 TRILLION. Having to borrow money for school is stressful enough; abusive debt collection practices don’t help. And now the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking to increase harassment of graduates over their debts. The CFPB wants to allow debt collectors to email and text consumers without consent, while also calling up to 7 times per week per debt. This will disproportionately a...
What is the US Climate Alliance? It is a domestic group formed specifically to undermine President Trump’s excellent decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Now, by executive order, part-time Governor Steve Bullock has undermined all of Montana by aligning Montana with the US Climate Alliance. This is so wrong. To begin, Montana is the Treasure State, not the “Fly Fishing State”. Sure, Montana is a great state for recreation, but to quote Senator Al Olszewski, “Montana’s wealth comes from the ground.” Our natural resources and our...
I take offense at last weeks letter to the editor titled “Clinic essential service.” If I am reading this correctly, this individual does not believe that clinic staff should be able to take a lunch break and he was personally inconvenienced by the fact that the clinic is closed around lunch. I know for a fact that many times staff work through their lunch for emergencies, appointments that run over time and prepare for a busy afternoon of appointments (scheduled and unscheduled). I also am aware of the fact that several of the staff work long...
SEELEY LAKE - We tried calling the Seeley Swan Medical Center during noon hour and got their answering machine instead. We were grateful that my wife’s condition was not an emergency although dealing with chronic pain is difficult. The Seeley Swan Clinic Staff did return the call after the lunch hour. During the week, we drove by the clinic and were astonished because there were no cars outside the clinic. The clinic was closed for lunch. I know there are budget constraints in operating a clinic in rural Montana, but I consider our clinic to b...
SEELEY LAKE - After the June 20 Sewer Board meeting, it was clear that there are innumerable loose ends and many unanswered questions to be addressed before any user agreement reaches the property owners in Phase 1. At one point, I made the comment that we would need many more property owner participants in the district to be able to pay for the proposed sewer system. Costs have always been too high and continue to increase. They are high enough to price many people right out of their homes. That idea seems to go right over the heads of most...
SEELEY LAKE - The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled property owners can go directly to Federal Court if they believe local government regulations....such as the onerous health department septic regulations here in Seeley Lake..... have deprived landowners of the right to use their property. The Missoula County Health Department has regularly for years deprived us of the right to use our properties up here with its constantly-changing regulations without public hearing or input. Just two years ago it created a Special Management Area up here which...
SEELEY LAKE – As I was reading about the Newspaper Association Contest in the June 13 issue, the judges said the story about the elusive Bigfoot won for “originality and imagination.” Sounds like they thought it was a made up story. That story was true. In fact all my stories are true. I hate fiction! But I do change some of the names to protect the innocent....
SEELEY LAKE - In what world does a board director ask the district manager for specific information relating to a topic the manager discussed with the public at a recent meeting and be denied access to that information? That occurred last week in the bizarre world of the Seeley Lake Sewer District. On June 10th I emailed district manager Jean Curtiss requesting the cost estimates for Phases 3 and 4 which became part of the public discussion at the special board meeting on June 6. Ms. Curtiss responded saying that she would not release the data...
SEELEY LAKE - Citizens for Sensible Wastewater Solutions mailed letters to sub-district one residents urging them to attend the Thursday evening Sewer District Board meeting. The location of the 5:15 p.m. meeting has been changed from the Seeley Lake Elementary to the Community Hall. Please note the change and plan to attend....
On June 7, Senator Jon Tester reintroduced the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act. As members of the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project, we sincerely thank our senior senator for his leadership and for continuing to champion this bipartisan bill that 73 percent of Montanans support. The reason for the bill’s popularity is simple: It offers something for just about every Montanan. • It opens up new snowmobiling opportunities by creating the 2,000-acre Otatsy Recreation Management Area near Ovando. • It preserves prized mountain bike...
SEELEY LAKE - Are we, Seeley Lake, in need of a centralized waste system we clearly can’t afford with so many questions still unanswered? If septic systems are affecting our ground water, thus the lake, is it all systems in all areas or just defective systems in need of replacement? Are all waste disposal systems around Seeley Lake functioning properly? Should properties on the lake have holding tanks that are periodically pumped out? Are the 500+ lots in the sewer district really the cause of the problems, or should the entire area north a...
We all know the saying, “A fed bear is a dead bear…” This is one that Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks Game Warden Bill Koppen knows all too well. Being a retired local law enforcement officer myself from New Jersey, I know all too well the frustration Game Warden Koppen feels on a daily basis, “Why won’t people listen.” A week or two back I spent time with Bill, vexation was at his highest I’ve seen in some time. He takes his job very serious as well he should - wild animals being fed with scrap human food, in a number of areas. Garbage is le...
SEELEY LAKE - I wrote a letter a couple of years ago urging the “Sewer Board” to change its name to the “Seeley Lake Water Improvement Board” because that is what it should be addressing. Since that time, the Sewer Board continues to push forward on the sewer, as if this is going to solve all the problems in the lake. From the meeting I attended on Thursday, it sounds like it will cost $40+ million to build the system, which will ultimately serve some 500 homes and businesses. The number $83,000 per lot was tossed around. In addition, the annua...
SEELEY LAKE - Eighty thousand dollars per lot – that is roughly what Sewer District residents will pay for the proposed sewer. If your home happens to sit on two lots you will may be obligated for $160,000 of the roughly $40 million, 40-year bond debt obligation. That works out to more than $100 per month per lot (after subsidies) for sewer service in one of the lowest income communities in the county. Subdistrict (Phase) 1 residents who will get a revised user agreement in the mail must just say NO. DO NOT SIGN THE AGREEMENT. If you do, you o...
SEELEY LAKE - The “information” packet mailed to you by the sewer board was not particularly vetted. While the cover letter did have the term “Draft User Agreement” in it a number of times, the text did not make it clear that you should not sign the draft and send it back. They also failed to put the word “DRAFT” in large letters diagonally across the draft. This is just a draft and you SHOULD NOT sign it and send it back in. BEFORE any final User’s Agreement can go out to you, the Phase 1 people, you have a RIGHT to have input in the formation...
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Sewer Board has drawn up a draft “user agreement” for we sewer district residents. That’s the agreement between the board and we “customers” which must be in place before we receive sewer service. It is complicated, technical and full of legal jargon. We must understand it completely before we sign up. The board has called a meeting for 5:15 p.m., Thursday, June 6 at the Seeley Lake Elementary School. Sewer District residents should consider this important meeting a “must attend” event. We can ask questions and...
SEELEY LAKE - Steve and I want to commend our new Ranger Quinn Carver for the opportunity to work alongside the Forest Service this last Wednesday. Allowing for firewood gathering prior to the community clean-up day, helped with reducing the amount of material that had to be moved and stacked for the opening of the campground. Thank you for your vision. On another note, we were disappointed with the amount of help that came from the business community. I am sure that there was a breakdown in communication and am sure that this will be remedied...
SEELEY LAKE - Another senseless bear killing…why?? After being shot in the face by a shotgun and blinded, the bear was unable to see and stumbled around while someone laughed. The game warden was able to capture the bear and put it down to end its suffering. How very inhumane this was. How cruel. What was the reason for shooting this bear? Was it in your garbage, in your chicken house, attacking you or are you just another person who just likes to kill or hurt a bear? The ignorance and killing of bears must STOP! In my 27 years of living h...
SEELEY LAKE - After a winter of wrangling and struggling, the Seeley Lake Sewer Board seems no closer to an equitable funding formula for its sewer proposal than ever. The costs, in fact, seem to be going up and Missoula County officials have reneged on a pledge of more than a half-million dollars in engineering services for the construction of Phase l. That alone has resulted in an estimated cost increase of nearly three quarters of a million dollars. Sewer district residents have a constitutional right to know what the project will cost them...
SEELEY LAKE – Those of us living in Seeley Lake are very fortunate to have the services of the men and women who provide help in emergencies. Numerous times over the past several months I have had to call on them to assist with my husband’s many falls. Twice they arranged ambulance transport to the hospital due to his injuries. I always found the responders to be quite competent, friendly and efficient and they always have arrived within 15 minutes of my call. I don’t know what I would have done without their help and I can’t thank them en...
It can feel like a cosmic event when the government actually does something right. So I was excited to hear that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was rolling out a new rule to protect consumers from payday loans. Then, when I heard that those rules were being taken away before they even got out the door, I was furious. This represents everything people hate about Washington. The CFPB used to look out for the little guy, but now they are putting the profits of a sleazy industry with deep pockets above the needs of working people. Payday...
