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 Freshmen at Capital and Helena High went back to school on Monday, and sophomores, juniors and seniors returned on Tuesday. This photo was taken at HHS on Tuesday afternoon between classes just after the buzzer had sounded. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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The Helena City Commission voted Monday night to raise city water rates and solid waste disposal rates by 5 percent this fall and wastewater rates by 4 percent. The city’s Public Works Department had recommended increases somewhat higher than that, but the commissioners agreed to keep them a bit lower because of the economy.
People living in mobile homes will see a decrease in their city street-maintenance charges this fall. Because the city estimates that mobile homes have a somewhat lower impact on street maintenance than single-family homes, the commissioners voted to recognize that by adjusting such rates downward.
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Three generations enjoying ice cream downtown. From left, they are: Jacquie Hixson, Sara Dorrington (5), William Dorrington (3), and their mom, Lisa Dorrington. The Dorringtons just moved back home to Helena after eight years in Louisiana. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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Before reading “Snowbound,” the latest historical novel from Livingston writer Richard S. Wheeler, I had thought of John Charles Frémont as an intrepid Western explorer who became an indifferent Civil War general. Turns out he wasn’t such a great explorer either.
Or at least he had serious flaws. As Wheeler depicts “The Pathfinder,” Frémont was brave, resolute, tough and widely admired by his men. But he also was remote, uncaring and prone to massive blunders.
In an afterword, Wheeler writes that “my novel is based on educated guesses instead of well-anchored facts. Suffice it to say that another novelist could portray these events in quite a different light and be just as grounded by primary source material as I believe I am.”
The events to which the author refers are those of Frémont’s fourth expedition, a failed attempt to find a railroad route from St. Louis to San Francisco over the Rocky Mountains along the 38th parallel. Not only was Frémont warned that the route was too steep for a train, he also was warned against his plan to attempt the journey in mid-winter when snow was up to 20 feet deep in the high country.
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When this whole school board sex education thing came up, I had no interest in writing about it. Most of the time, I'm content to sit back and let other people scream until hoarse or vent their spleens on useless “moral” issues, particularly when (in this case) a pervasive culture of sex and sexuality overrides any parent attempting to control their child. But, when the arguing reaches a fever pitch, I get curious.
So I started paying attention. I read the 62-page Helena Public Schools Health Enhancement K-12 Critical Competencies Draft, not just the Human Sexuality section (which makes up like five pages). I went to the school board meeting last week. I saw flocks of misguided zealots picketing with Bible verses to justify setting educational standards. Half the time, I walked around just looking at people, fascinated by how many moralists I forgot existed. Particularly telling was the exaggerated moaning, groaning, and other signs of disrespect given to the openly gay speakers.
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Caleb Sowell, Jordan Epstein and Carter Reeder from Kingsland Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, helped garden, weed and transplant trees at Margaret Stuart Home in Helena this week. They were part of a 40-person volunteer crew here from the church. (Photos courtesy of Rocky Mountain Development Council)
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Trout Creek Canyon on the Helena National Forest is the destination July 23 for a moonlight hike sponsored by the Montana Discovery Foundation. Call 495-3711 for more information about this family-friendly outing and other area hikes being held in July. (Photo by Debbie Anderson)
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Mine reclamation specialists with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality recently teamed up with staff members from the City of Helena Parks and Recreation Department to close off two adits near a popular local hiking trail.
On Wednesday, June 23, the team sealed off the openings, or adits, with expandable foam that hardens like concrete.
The adits are located across the street from the DeFord Trailhead near Davis Gulch Road in Helena’s south hills. The openings are about three feet in diameter. One adit is 60 yards in length; the other is 20 yards long. Sixty cubic feet of expandable foam was applied to seal off the adits.
“DEQ did this as a public service for the city and the people who live nearby and recreate on the city’s open space lands. The city asked us to help, and we did so gladly to protect public health and safety,” said DEQ Abandoned Mine Program Reclamation Specialist Steve Opp.
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One of the rock stacks up on Mount Ascension. These small towers of rock get built up, tumbled down, and rebuilt again by hikers, making for constantly varied art forms depending on who’s on the trail and whether they’re a stacker or a tumbler. (Photo by John "JR" Zavalney)
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The Helena Flag Day ceremony at Centennial Park on Monday afternoon took place under brilliant blue skies. The event featured a riderless horse, veterans of various wars, lots of families, a free barbecue and raising of the huge flag at the park. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Seniors from Capital High and Helena High graduated this past Saturday during ceremonies held at Carroll College’s Nelson Stadium. Greg Mortenson of Bozeman, author of “Three Cups of Tea,” spoke to both graduating groups on Saturday. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Mayn Cemetery just south of White Sulphur Springs featured a huge display of American flags this past Memorial Day weekend. The weather wasn’t the best for tending graves and remembering loved ones, but several people were there anyway. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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In the controversial realm of right-to-die issues, Oregon has functioned as a sociopolitical laboratory in which actual data have collided with overblown projections of what might happen after voters approved the Death With Dignity Act via initiative in 1994.
That’s according to Ann Jackson, former CEO of the Oregon Hospice Association and former hospice caregiver who is now an end-of-life consultant. She spoke Monday to a large crowd at the Lewis and Clark Library about Oregon’s experience and what Montana may anticipate now that the state Supreme Court has mostly backed Judge Dorothy McCarter’s ruling permitting aid-in-dying under the Montana Constitution.
The ball is now in the Montana Legislature’s court, and we can expect lawmakers to take up various bills in January clarifying, setting up rules and regulations, and possibly even negating McCarter’s decision.
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(Students in Erin Maxwell's PEAK After-School Program have visited Yellowstone Park and other places to get a sense of environmental issues and potential solutions. Some students came up with a theory about the pine beetle problem.)
Pine beetles have been around for a long time, but they have only been a problem for the past couple of years. Take a look at our forests this year and compare it to our forests five years ago. Instead of forest-green pines, hundreds of these trees are now a dull brownish-red. Out of the 900,000 acres of national forest in Montana, more than 60 percent of the trees have died.
The pine beetles have taken over, and someone needs to find an effective way to fix the problem. It seems that the only solution is to cut down many trees. People have tried many ways to try to fix it, but many are ineffective. Some people have tried burning, chemical spray, chemical pouches, and clear-cutting. Some of these are somewhat effective but are not economically feasible.
We've looked at the pine beetles' living conditions and what they need to survive, and we have formed a hypothesis to kill them. We need to find an effective yet reasonable way to rid the forests of the pine beetles.
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Hawthorne School fourth-graders released trout fry in Spring Meadow Lake on Friday afternoon. They got the eggs in January and watched the trout hatch and grow in aquariums in their classrooms. Program sponsors are Trout Unlimited and FWP. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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The 86th annual Vigilante Parade jammed downtown Helena on Friday afternoon. Dozens of creative floats featured, among others, miners, loggers, bakery workers, teachers and fashionistas of days gone by. The weather even cooperated (sort of). (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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Montana Guard gets second mobilization order
Approximately 500 Montana Army National Guard soldiers may be sent to the Middle East later this year due to a second mobilization order received Monday.
Brigadier General John Walsh received the order for the Guard’s 1-163rd Cavalry Regiment, headquartered in Belgrade, and Company E -145th Forward Support Company, headquartered in Helena.
“This is the second time that the Montana Army National Guard’s 163rd CAV Regiment has deployed since 2004 with the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team,” Walsh said. “I’m confident Lt. Col. Don Emerson and the strong leadership team of the battalion will again accomplish its mission successfully and safely.”
The 163rd Cavalry Regiment has units and armories scattered across the state, including Belgrade, Billings, Lewistown, Butte, Missoula, Great Falls, Kalispell and Helena.
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Montana Operation Lifesaver brought a special Amtrak train to town Tuesday to highlight grade-crossing collision safety and railroad property trespass issues. Sponsored by MOL, Amtrak, Montana Rail Link and BNSF, the train was to leave Helena on Wednesday. (Photos by Joe Egan)
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Herbs have been used for thousands of years for seasoning, medicine, fragrance, and sorcery. Tarragon, rosemary, and thyme are among the most ancient of seasonings, yet there are few culinary achievements that can top good poultry roasted with these three herbs.
Most herbs can be grown successfully with a minimum of effort. Several are drought-tolerant, some are perennials, and many are resistant to insects and diseases. They are versatile plants, providing flavors for seasoning food and fragrances for room- freshening potpourri. And with their enticing scents, diverse textures, attractive shapes, and countless shades of green and gray, herbs are often used to make a landscape that appeals to the senses of touch and smell, as well as sight.
The classic use for herbs in the landscape is the formal garden. Many intricate designs have been drawn and planted using the beauty of herb plants to enhance the pattern of the garden. Diamonds, compasses, and knots are among the most popular designs. The knot garden is especially intriguing; herbs with various textures and colors are planted carefully and trimmed neatly to create the appearance of ropes looping over and under each other. The effect is striking, especially when viewed from an upper-story window. Theme gardens are also popular. There are Biblical gardens, scent gardens, tea gardens, witch's gardens, kitchen gardens, and apothecary gardens, to name a few.
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After six months of living with the Montana Clean Indoor Air Act, state public health officials are calling full implementation of the smokefree law a public health success story.
“We know from extensive studies conducted in the U.S. and other countries that because of Montana’s smokefree law, Montana residents will be experiencing fewer heart attacks,” says Anna Whiting Sorrell, director of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. “And down the road, fewer Montanans will develop lung cancer and coronary heart disease and other costly diseases will decline.”
The 2005 Montana Legislature passed the Clean Indoor Air Act but allowed bars and casinos a four-year exception. Those exceptions expired Oct. 1, 2009, and full implementation of the law began.
Linda Lee, section supervisor for the Montana Tobacco Use Prevention Program (MTUPP), said compliance with the act among Montana bars and other businesses has been successful.
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About 60 percent of trees on the Helena National Forest’s 585,557 acres are infested with mountain pine beetles, according to agency estimates. As a result, the HNF is proposing to cut down infected trees near some local campgrounds. (Photo by Thom Champion)
In response to the mountain pine beetle epidemic, the Helena National Forest (HNF) has released an environmental assessment that proposes to fell and/or remove hazardous trees in and around designated forest roadways and developed recreation and administrative sites for public safety reasons.
According to the latest data, a total of 585,557 acres – approximately 60 percent – of the HNF is infested by the mountain pine beetle. Research shows that, depending on the species, infested trees can begin to fall after three years and this creates significant threats to public and firefighter safety in highly used sites.
To reduce that threat, the Forest-wide Hazardous Tree and Fuels Reduction Environmental Assessment (EA) proposes that approximately 491 (disconnected) miles of roads, 12 administrative sites and six campgrounds will be treated across the forest.
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Five members of Northern Rockies Rising Tide from Missoula opposed to leasing state-owned coal were arrested by Helena police officers for interrupting a March 18 State Land Board meeting. The board voted 3-2 to lease the coal for 15 cents per ton.
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Tea partiers showed up at the Lewis and Clark Fairgrounds on Saturday to “greet” Democrats arriving for their annual Mansfield/Metcalf dinner. They also plan to “greet” Republicans this coming Saturday at their annual Lincoln/Reagan dinner at the Red Lion. (Photo by Ian McEwen)
Political goings-on here in Big Sky Country and around the nation are stacking up to the point where it's getting tough to keep up.
Let's start here in Helena where the St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday featured two of the five announced candidates for the new district court judge position.
Walking the parade route and distributing campaign literature Saturday were Helena attorneys Dennis Loveless and Carlo Canty. Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton was also on hand. No doubt many more office-seekers are planning to show up with their supporters at Wednesday's big parade in Butte.
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Claiming that Montana’s 1912 initiative-passed ban on corporate campaign spending violates First-Amendment rights, lawyers for a Denver-based organization and a Bozeman small business filed a lawsuit Monday in Helena District Court to get rid of the law.
Western Tradition Partnership (WTP), a Denver-based natural resources development group, and Champion Painting, a Bozeman small business owned by Ken Champion, state that because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, Montana’s spending prohibition is unconstitutional.
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Tea Partiers from around Montana gathered at the Capitol on Wednesday for the first-ever “Cut the Budget Tea Party.” The event, scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., coincided with the Legislative Finance Committee's training day for legislators.
Tea Party speakers will include “Cut the Budget” organizer Tom Burnett of Bozeman, Carl Graham from the Montana Policy Institute, Henry Kriegel, director of the Bozeman Tea Party, and others. Legislators scheduled to address the group during their lunch break are Rep. Scott Sales, R-Bozeman, Sen. Dan McGee, R-Laurel, and Sen. Joe Balyeat, R-Bozeman.
Tea Party organizers plan to raffle off pork cuts and demonstrate cuts on a log with chainsaws and a crosscut saw. The group says these cuts will show what portion of the budget needs to be cut to return to pre-Schweitzer levels of spending, adding that participants are urged to bring their own cutting implements for show.
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A coalition of Montana consumer groups is backing a voter initiative to cap interest rates for payday and title loans at 36 percent.
Announcing their plans at a press conference Tuesday at the Great Northern Hotel, representatives of senior, low-income, women’s and religious groups said that in these tough economic times, interest rates of 400 percent or more amounted to a “debt trap” for the most vulnerable.
Bob Bartholomew, executive director for AARP Montana in Helena, said that people who borrow $300 from a payday lender can end up paying $800 once fees and time extensions are added on.
“This drives people into bankruptcy,” he said.
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Sled dogs do their thing on Sunday at the start of the 25th annual Race to the Sky near Lincoln. (Photo by Rudy Whitney)
The winner of the 350-mile race was Rick Larson of Sand Coulee, who crossed the finish line near Lincoln at 1:03 p.m. Tuesday with his team of 12 dogs.
Second-, third-, and fourth-place finishers were still uncertain at press time, although Jarle Halsnes of Steamboat Springs, Colo., looked like he might take second with his 10-dog team. Closely following him was Laura Daugereau of Port Gamble, Wash., and Chris Adkins of Sand Coulee.
The final day of the race progressed slowly Tuesday as temperatures reached 42 degrees near Seeley Lake. Mushers prefer the cooler running temperatures in the evening, which are easier on their dogs.
The awards ceremony is open to the public and will take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 17, at the Lincoln Community Hall in Lincoln. For further details, call (406) 881-DOGS or visit www.racetothesky.org.
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Dan Predmore flies down a hill up Davis Gulch this past Saturday. He was up there taking part in a chili feed and family sledding party while there’s still enough snow on the ground. (Photo by Thomas Champion)
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This mallard was recently caught in action taking off from the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds pond. Since Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on Tuesday (yet again), we will allegedly have another six weeks of winter. Go figure. (Photo by Wendy Grove)
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Average retail gasoline prices in Montana have risen more than three cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.723 per gallon as of Tuesday. This compares with the national average, which has fallen 2.9 cents per gallon in the past week to $2.714 per gallon, according to the gasoline price Web site at MontanaGasPrices.com.
In Helena, the lowest regular gas price as of Tuesday was $2.64 per gallon at all local retail outlets listed on that site.
Including the rise in gas prices in Montana during the past week, prices are now $1.21 per gallon higher than the same day one year ago and 17.6 cents per gallon higher than a month ago. The national average has increased 10.4 cents per gallon during the past month and stands at 87.7 cents per gallon higher than a year ago.
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Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton, who was appointed to the position by the county commissioners in September 2008 after Cheryl Liedle retired, has announced his candidacy as a Democrat for the position this November.
Dutton and his wife, Luci, and a crowd of supporters appeared at his announcement in the City-County Building on Wednesday, Jan. 13. The crowd included Helena Police Chief Troy McGee, Lewis and Clark County Undersheriff Dave Rau, Cascade County Sheriff David Castle, and Jerry Dullum of East Helena whose son, Darrel, has been the subject of an extensive search since he disappeared after leaving a bar on Dec. 5, 2009.
Dutton emphasized the team of people he’s put together in the sheriff’s office and said that they provide good services to county residents. “These are people of honor who respect each individual regardless of who they are,” he said of his staff.
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Winner of this past weekend’s Flathead Sled Dog Days was Kate St. Onge of Millville, Utah, while second-place finisher was John Barron of Boulder. The 33 mushers competed for a $4,500 purse, and trail conditions were reportedly perfect for the 40-mile race.
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The St. Helena Cathedral was looking pretty wintery Tuesday morning as snow continued to fall around the capital city. More is forecast for the next few days, along with a major mercury plunge on Wednesday before a slow warming trend by the weekend. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Helena’s recent snowfall has tapered off over the past couple of days, and the temperature has climbed out of Frigidville. The latest forecast is for highs in the low- to mid-30s over the next week or so with occasional snow. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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The annual display of Christmas trees from all 56 Montana counties is up on the second floor of the Capitol Building. The one on the cover is the Lewis and Clark Country tree, decorated with ornaments made by school kids. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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In the second round NAIA playoffs Nov. 28, the Carroll College Saints football team beat MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) by 34-13 for a 11-0 record so far this season. They next play the Lindenwood (Mo.) Lions this Saturday. (Photo by Jeff Van Tine)
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Wind power, the new neighbor on the energy block, presents Montana landowners with the opportunity – or potential disaster – of a lifetime, says Bozeman-based energy attorney Hertha Lund.
Montanans in particular seem in better shape to weather the pitfalls of previous black-gold rushes in petroleum and coal, she notes. However, in the fledgling Big Sky Country wind business, it’s unlikely there will be any rush or quick-hit boom at all.
She explained that wind companies get paid per unit of energy minus so-called “wheeling charges” for transmitting the electricity from Montana to light up Las Vegas and Southern California.
“It all goes through NorthWestern Energy Corp., and there’s not enough transmission capacity” for any big boost in production, Lund says.
The wind lease is a new legality completely foreign to mineral rights, oil and gas leases, or other centuries-old court documents.
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Why do some veterans return from war able to move beyond the horrors they experienced while others suffer ongoing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)? The answer may lie in differences in how their brains process anxiety and anticipation.
A team of psychiatrists at the University of Wisconsin and the William S. Middleton Veterans Hospital in Madison has launched a large clinical study aimed at finding better treatments for veterans returning from Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
3We became aware of how many veterans are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with serious PTSD and were interested in finding out the best ways to help,11 says Dr. Jack Nitschke, a psychiatry professor in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. His collaborators are Drs. Eileen Ahearn and Tracey Smith, both UW clinical psychiatry faculty who practice at the Veterans Hospital.
PTSD is a debilitating condition that often follows a terrifying physical or emotional event, causing the person who survived the event to have persistent, frightening thoughts and memories, or flashbacks, of the ordeal. Persons with PTSD often feel chronically, emotionally numb; the disorder is associated with higher rates of alcohol and drug abuse and suicide.
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A vehicle familiar to many Montanans sat outside the Capitol Building under a clear night sky. Glossy fire-engine-red paint coated its exterior, which stretched back for 25 feet. One of Glacier National Park¹s historic ³Jammer² buses was there to chauffeur visitors anxious to witness the grand opening of the Montana Historical Society¹s new exhibit, ³Land of Many Stories: The People and History of Glacier National Park², on Thursday night, Nov. 5.
³Hello, Glacier National Park,² echoed the voice of MHS Director Richard Sims, who commenced opening remarks in the Rotunda. The exhibit, which will be up at the MHS until Feb. 26, 2011, commemorates the 100-year anniversary of Glacier National Park in 2010. It depicts how people have enjoyed the area from pre-European contact until today.
³It¹s the first, best idea in a long time uniting the forces of Glacier National Park and the Montana Historical Society,² said Sims of the exhibit. ³It illustrates though much has changed over the years, a great deal remains the same for today¹s visitors.²
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While New York-based Bresnan Communications has been busy dumping assets in Montana, they’ve been plotting behind the scenes with Gov. Schweitzer to build a completely unnecessary, taxpayer-funded communications network that threatens jobs and investment in rural Montana.
Gov. Schweitzer recently sent a letter to the federal government supporting an application by Bresnan for $70 million of federal broadband stimulus funding. Bresnan’s application is the only application in Montana that received the governor’s support for “full funding” and his “highest priority”.
The governor’s letter says, unbeknownst to anyone else, that he has been working with Bresnan since 2005 – shortly after taking office – to develop a plan to link Montana’s Tribal reservations with a fiber-optic network. Trouble is, there already is a fiber optic network linking Montana’s reservations and points between. In fact, there are several fiber networks serving rural communities throughout the state. So why would taxpayers want to waste their hard-earned dollars on building a completely unnecessary network?
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PETS AT WORK
by Lacey Middlestead
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
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French novelist Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette once said, “Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.” Whether they have fur, feathers, or scales, people’s pets are a source of company and abiding friendship. For three Helena business owners, their pets not only provide these things at home, but on a daily basis at work.
Debi and Tom Matte, owners of Batteries Plus, bring their Australian Shepherd, Mopar, with them to work every day. To some people, this practice would seem strange, but to Debi Matte, nothing could be more natural.
“I’ve worked with dogs and horses all my life. That was absolutely necessary to me,” she said in explaining why she brings Mopar along. A professional dog groomer for 22 years, Matte said she has a deep-rooted love for dogs.
The couple previously lived in Tucson, but moved up to Helena to open Batteries Plus last April as their retirement plan. So while Debi Matte’s occupation changed, her need to be surrounded by furry four-legged companions never wavered. For her, dogs will always be more than pets.
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This tepee on the Montana Historical Society grounds was set up for recent Night at the Museum and Archeology Day events, but Outreach/Program Interpretation Manager Kirby Lambert said they might keep it there “because we like the way it looks”. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Students from the Project for Alternative Learning took some special field trips this fall for a class called “Montana Wonders”. After visiting the Lewis & Clark Caverns and Virginia City, among others, they wrote about their experiences. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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The fire department responded to a small gas leak at O’Toole’s Bar on Tuesday morning on Last Chance Gulch. A police spokesman said that NorthWestern Energy had been contacted and that the city’s work was done by about 9:18 a.m. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Nearly 300 people, including this Blackfeet crew, worked for days to contain the MacDonald Pass fire, which began this past Friday and was in mop-up mode on Tuesday. Residents are still being asked to avoid West Highway 12 if possible. (Photo by Jeff Van Tine)
Helena National Forest officials announced Tuesday morning that they expected the 170-acre MacDonald Pass fire, which began Friday, Sept. 25, about eight miles southwest of Helena, to be fully contained later the same day. They said the fire had burned in 80-90 percent mountain pine beetle-killed lodgepole.
Nearly 300 people were working to put out the fire using 14 engines, five helicopters, three water tenders, five bulldozers and miscellaneous other equipment. The cause of the fire is considered suspicious and is under investigation.
Because of progress toward containment and less active fire behavior on Tuesday, a public meeting that had been tentatively scheduled for Tuesday night was canceled.
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The 10th anniversary of Montana’s sister-state relationship with China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region was celebrated Tuesday morning with a ceremonial tree-planting on the Capitol grounds. Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger wielded one of the shovels. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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More foreign renewable energy investment in Montana will be forthcoming after Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s recent trip to Germany and Spain, at least when the 215-mile, 230-kilovolt transmission line from Lethbridge, Alberta, to near Great Falls is completed.
Schweitzer and Chief Business Development Evan Barrett met with companies in Germany and Spain this past week to build more business and economic activity in Montana, especially in the renewable energy sector of the economy.
“It was a great opportunity to build and grow energy business in Montana and create more high-paying jobs for workers in our state,” Schweitzer said. “The trip brought new opportunities and investments to our state, including cementing a deal with NaturEner to bring an additional $800 million investment to Montana.”
When transmission capacity is available on the soon-to-be-completed Montana Alberta Tie Line (MATL), Grupo NaturEner SA of Spain has plans to begin construction on yet another $800-million project here, projected to create more than 300 construction jobs and add more than $3 million to the local annual tax base.
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A calmness spreads across Yosemite National Park. It's an hour before the sun will begin to peek over the famed 3,000-foot monolith El Capitan and warm the wings of butterflies. Nocturnal animals such as mountain lion, coyote, bobcat, and fox have begun to burrow in for the long day. Bears make their own hours.
Behind the scenes, a special group of people is also preparing to greet the day. It takes a host of people working together to ensure that Yosemite remains in good shape for the host of native plants and animals that call it home.
Approximately 10,000 volunteers signed up to work in the park during 2008, says Heather Boothe, Yosemite's volunteer program manager for the National Park Service. Their donated hours – 155,500 – equaled the efforts of 75 full-time employees working year-round. That's especially important in a time of reduced budgets.
"Volunteers are the future of the park system," she says. "They become stewards who share their experiences with others in their community."
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Gov. Brian Schweitzer received a Certificate of Brucellosis Class Free Status for the state on Tuesday morning from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Montana lost its brucellosis-free status last year after the disease was detected in two separate herds near Yellowstone National Park, but the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced in July that the class-free status would be restored.
“We are happy we have a clean bill of health,” Schweitzer said. “We look forward to working with the federal government on more sensible brucellosis rules.”
The state’s status regarding brucellosis is critical to the livestock industry because it dictates whether and how far cattle can be transported for sale. Concerns remain about the presence of brucellosis in wild bison and elk herds in Yellowstone and surrounding areas, although there are no documented cases of transmission between bison and domesticated cattle.
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Montana will start selling wolf hunting licenses on Monday, Aug. 31, the same day as U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy has set an injunction hearing in Missoula at the request of 13 wildlife advocate groups.
The state’s first wolf-hunting season is scheduled to start Sept. 15, but it’s unclear whether it will actually come to pass given the pending lawsuit. Licenses will cost $19 for Montana residents and $350 for non-residents.
The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks claims gray wolves in the northern Rockies have sufficiently recovered and has intervened in the lawsuit not only opposing the preliminary injunction request but also against keeping the wolves on the endangered species list.
"Montana's approach to recovery has always been open, balanced, and based on science," said FWP Director Joe Maurier. "Montanans have lived with wolves since the mid-1980s, about 10 years before wolves were released in Yellowstone National Park. We've all worked long and hard to reach the day when Montana would fully bring wolves into the state's wildlife management programs."
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Hundreds of protesters showed up in Belgrade this past Friday where President Obama held a town-hall meeting on health-care reform. This particular photo shows the folks who like their health care coverage just as it is, thank you very much.
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The Helena City Commission has okayed a plan to log about 500 acres of pine beetle-killed trees on Mount Helena. The vote was unanimous during Monday night’s meeting. The current cost estimate is $825,000 and possibly more depending on the weather and other variables.
The city plans to chip or burn the cut timber and give firewood to low-income residents, although it’s not clear what will be done with the rest. Some replanting is envisioned where possible and desirable.
Harvest of the orange-red Ponderosa pine is set to begin this fall, with two 100-acre chunks on the east and north sides of the city park scheduled to be logged. Another 300 acres in the South Hills area would be next.
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This little fellow was all ready for his debut as a rodeo clown on Friday night at the Stampede and Fair. The fair wrapped up Sunday after six jam-packed days of events, music, carnival rides, exhibits and, of course, those brave folks who compete in the rodeo. (Photo by Jeff Van Tine)
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The black-and-white photographs in "Jam Session: America's Jazz Ambassadors Embrace the World" don't come with a manual, but they should.
The 70-odd images about to go on display at the Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans will tour the country before going abroad like the musicians who spiffed up America's image during the cold war.
Three months after Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of a Montgomery, Ala., bus and roughly at the same time that black Americans were facing censure and arrest as a matter of law and whim, the U.S. Department of State entrusted jazz musicians with representing America to the world.
Today, jazz is considered high art. In 1956, however, when Dizzy Gillespie became the first to tour under the Jazz Ambassadors program, jazz musicians were distinctively lowbrow; they had the same chance of winning presidential honors as a rap group does today. Jazz, after all, was Negro music, burped, fed and nurtured in all-Negro communities.
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Helenans (and lots of others) got a major dose of authentic Delta blues last week when Mississippi-born Magic Slim & the Teardrops played at Alive@Five here and again over the weekend to enthusiastic crowds at the National Folk Festival in Butte. (Photo by Ian McEwen)
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A mosque in the central square of Esfahan, the capital of Iran’s Safavid Empire (1617 A.D.). Helenan Will Boland traveled to Iran during the last two weeks of April, took hundreds of photos and wrote down his impressions. See page 10 for his account. (Photos courtesy of Will Boland)
We traveled to Iran with the American peace group “Neighbors East and West”, and we were arriving late. The taxi ride into Tehran at night was bleak. The Imam Khomeini Airport sits 30 miles outside of the city, and, after dark, the freeway felt forbidding. Strange and colored lights poked randomly into the sky. Farsi-scripted signs swirled along the way.
It did not help that our driver was an Iranian refugee of sorts, just returned from his new home in Australia to try and help more of his family members to leave Iran. He seemed tense. The previous night, he and his Japanese girlfriend were sneaking a quick kiss in their parked car when a knock came upon the window. A policeman wanted to remind them that such an act was not considered appropriate in revolutionary Iran. His girlfriend was frightened and upset, and though they were left with only a warning, she wanted to exit the country as soon as possible. For us Americans arriving in Iran, it was not an auspicious beginning, and it only compounded our general nervousness, but, as events would unfold, that small revelation of the Iranian police state was only one part of a much larger and more complicated picture.
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Lewis & Clark Library Director Judy Hart announced Tuesday that the library has received a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to host The Big Read Under The Big Sky. The focus this fall will be on Tim O’Brien’s award-winning story about the Vietnam war, “The Things They Carried”. This is the third such grant the library has received for the Big Read program.
“We are thrilled to announce that Tim O’Brien will visit Helena and serve as our keynote speaker for this year’s event,” Hart said. “This truly is a community partnership, and without the support of our public officials, Senator Baucus, Senator Tester, Congressman Rehberg, Governor Schweitzer, Lewis & Clark County Commissioners Mike Murray, Derek Brown, and Andy Hunthausen, City of Helena Commissioners Paul Cartwright, Robin Shropshire, Alan Peura, and Matt Elsaesser, Mayor James Smith, and the dedicated organizing committee, patrons, and staff, this celebration bringing residents of Lewis and Clark County together to generate enthusiasm over the joyful experience of reading and discussing a good book would not be possible,” she said.
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It must finally be summer since the 10th annual Mount Helena Music Festival is this weekend at Women’s Park. See www.downtownhelena.com for the lineup and ticket information or call 447-1535. Even the weather forecast looks good.
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The Last Chance Splash Water Park and Pool opened to the general public Tuesday afternoon at Memorial Park. A grand opening of the nearly $3-million facility is set for 5:45 p.m. on June 24 just before Alive@Five that day at Memorial Park. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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A couple hundred advocates of single-payer health-care reform turned out for a noon rally and petition drive Friday at the Great Northern Town Center. After a series of rousing speeches and chants, they walked around the corner to Sen. Max Baucus’s office to deliver signed petitions supporting their preferred vision of reform while a uniformed police officer stood by.
Single-payer advocates want to see Congress adopt a public system of health care for everyone, essentially a “Medicare-for-all” program that includes people regardless of age, health condition or employment. Baucus has indicated he won’t support a government-funded system because it can’t pass Congress.
“This just makes the most sense,” said Jonathan Matthews, a Carroll College professor who led the rally. “Let’s hope we can persuade (Baucus) to listen to us and listen to all Americans and reform health care the way we need it to be.”
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Notorious Ike Gravelle (Nate Wyatt, in coffin), with Mark Viergutz as NP Railroad detective William McFetridge, told their stories Saturday during the 1st annual History Fair on the Walking Mall, which was full of 19-Century displays and people in period dress. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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The Helena Street Rodders held their annual parade Saturday morning through downtown Helena, showing off prized vehicles dating from about the 1920s on. There were sedans, roadsters, Model Ts, convertibles, fancy kit cars and some rare Mustangs. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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A team of eight Walmart employees spent a sunny Tuesday painting the deck, mowing the lawn, and trimming shrubs at Gwen Francis’s home near the fairgrounds during the annual Spirit of Service Day. They were one of many SOS teams taking part this year. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Helena’s annual Vigilante Parade took place in windy weather under grey skies on Friday afternoon, but the audience and participants had a good time. The cover shot is of a Montana Power Company float. See page 10 for more photos from the parade. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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The annual Trash for Trees event on April 25 collected almost 100,000 pounds of recyclable materials, including plastic, glass, aluminum, tin, cardboard and paper to support expanded recycling and planting trees projects across Helena.
(Photo provided by S.A.V.E. Foundation)
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There weren’t many dry eyes in the house when Humphrey Bogart said farewell to Ingrid Bergman in “Casablanca”. But there were likely quite a few in the Montana House on Tuesday, the last day of this mixed-bag session. See page 13 for a wrapup.
Lawmakers reflect on mixed session results
As the 61st legislature ended, many lawmakers insist some of the most important work done these past 90 days had little to do with budgets and more to do with social or environmental changes.
For some, success meant passing measures that advanced their ideological agendas in natural resources or health care. For others, it meant personal development and making connections across the aisle.
For House GOP leaders, measures to develop natural resources and strengthen individual freedoms topped their list of successes.
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On a 3-to-2 vote Monday night, city commissioners okayed lower fees this season for users of the Last Chance Splash Water Park and Pool now under construction at Memorial Park. Some members of the public found the initially proposed fees too expensive and supported the decrease.
As passed Monday night, the fee structure will be $4 for users taller than four feet and $3 for users shorter than that. (The initially proposed fees were $6 and $5, respectively.) Senior citizens will be charged $2.
Passes for 1, 30 or 50 visits will also be available and carry a 25-percent discount for residents and 10-percent discount for non-residents.
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Booze Bills
by Will Melton, Community News Service
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
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It takes grain, water and patience to make whiskey. Making a profit at it – legally, that is – seems to require a tax break as well.
At least that’s the motive behind legislation this session to boost development of a homegrown Montana distilling industry. So far, that industry consists of one licensed distiller looking for help in competing with the biggest names in the business.
With hard liquor ranking among the most heavily taxed products in America, it’s easy to see how a little leeway from the “revenooers” can go a long way.
“For small producers, there are not many ways to level the playing field,” says Brian Schultz, owner of Bozeman’s RoughStock Distillery. Big distilleries have advantages in name recognition, distribution networks, raw ingredients and equipment costs, he adds.
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Stream access
by Molly Priddy, Community News Service
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
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The Montana House of Representatives gave final approval this past week to a bill that would allow anglers, floaters and hikers to gain access to the state's rivers and streams via public bridges on public roads.
House Bill 190, sponsored by Rep. Kendall Van Dyk, D-Billings, allows recreational access to waterways at bridges while also allowing landowners to connect fences to bridges and abutments to contain their livestock.
Landowners would have to modify those fences to allow access. Such work would be administered and paid for by the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
The measure initially passed the House in January and was recently amended in the Senate. Those amendments included allowing landowners to use wood-rail fences on their property and changing the number of access points along a stream from four to one. The House accepted the Senate’s amendments on a 96-3 vote.
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The House last week approved a plan to spend millions in federal stimulus dollars, despite attempts from Republican legislators to change or reject the bill. The final vote was 64-35.
Debate on House Bill 645, which appropriates the state’s $870-million share of federal stimulus money, lasted more than two-and-a-half hours on March 26, most of which was spent debating the merits of particular uses for the funds.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jon Sesso, D-Butte, said the bill was imperfect, but as close as Montana would get to achieving immediate financial relief.
The bill includes millions for the construction of roads, bridges and buildings, as well as money for education and health services. Some would also go for city and county public works projects.
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State Rep. Penny Morgan says the trouble began when she saw all the new faces in her appropriations subcommittee.
"I'm the only one on the Health and Human Services Subcommittee who came back from two sessions ago," Morgan said.
The four-term Republican from Billings said she was frustrated by the pace of the subcommittee during budgeting sessions.
"The new people don't know enough procedurally to make movement at all," Morgan said. "They're afraid to buck the system. The lobbyists totally hound these people."
Morgan attributes the influx of "rookies" on her subcommittee to Montana's strict term limits.
Term limits are constitutional caps on the length of time elected officials can stay in office. State representatives are elected every two years and cannot serve more than eight years in a 16-year period. Senators have the same term limits but are elected every four years.
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As the state’s economy stumbles, some lawmakers fear a new threat to Montana’s businesses and workers: illegal immigrants. Nobody really knows how many undocumented immigrants live and work in Montana, but everyone agrees the number is tiny, perhaps less than half of 1 percent of the population.
Regardless, several immigration bills have quietly passed the Senate, where sponsors fear an imminent explosion of illegal workers and want laws to punish those who hire or protect them. Opponents fear racial discrimination and profiling.
Sen. Jim Shockley, R-Victor, and a sponsor of several immigration bills, said his focus is on those who hire illegal workers. “It’s all about ‘illegal,’” he said.
Illegal immigrants themselves are not the “bad people,” he said, but they do get exploited by employers who pay below minimum wages and dodge paying for overtime, benefits and workers’ compensation.
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The Ancient Order of Hibernians will wave the green, orange and white Irish flag this weekend for St. Patrick’s Day. See the calendar (page 8) for the schedule of events. (This 2005 photo was taken at the unveiling of the refurbished Meagher statue at the Capitol.)
The Helena Ancient Order of Hibernians are sponsoring St. Patrick’s Day events starting on Saturday, March 14, and ending Tuesday, March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day). The annual St. Patrick’s Day parade will kick off at noon Saturday in downtown Helena. Call 933-5759 or 431-0013 for entry information.
The parade will be followed at 2 pm with the 1st annual Irish Soda Bread Contest, scheduled to be held Bert & Ernie’s. Call 933-5759, visit Bert & Ernie’s, or see www.Hibernian.org for rules and entry information. Judging starts at 2 pm, and the winners will be announced at 3 pm.
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This old VW van was photographed last week in the Sixth Ward, where a neighborhood meeting is taking place this Thursday, followed by a city-wide Neighborhood Fair the same evening. For details, see the middle of the calendar on pages 8-9. (Photo by Tom Kilmer)
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Expanding the state’s medical marijuana law was discussed late last week at the Capitol, where some cannabis plants were on display in the rotunda. Senate Bill 326 passed the Senate by six votes on Tuesday and has gone to the House for consideration. (Photos by Thom Champion)
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More than 2,000 students from across Montana gathered at Helena High School late Monday morning and marched to the Capitol Building to present petitions with 55,000 signatures asking lawmakers to financially support the Montana Meth Project. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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The TMC, Inc., gravel pit near Belgrade includes some cells that are filled with water, as shown in this April 2008 photo. The company routinely dredges these lakes for additional gravel ore. Efforts are underway in this session to change the state permitting process. (Photo by Michael Tucker)
Carol Lee-Roarke is obsessed with gravel, but not because she likes the stuff. When she first moved to her “own personal nirvana” in Gallatin County in 2000, her property was 40 acres away from a 13-acre gravel pit. She says the state Department of Environmental Quality told her the pit would be reclaimed in six months.
Today, due to what Lee-Roarke calls “permit creep”, the pit has extended its life to 2020 and has grown closer her front door, creating dust that bothers her asthma and noise that breaks her solitude. Neighbors, she adds, were allowed little say in the process.
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Remains of the demolished St. Helena School, which used to be on Warren Street next to the Cathedral, lie in a field east of Resurrection Cemetery. Perhaps the blocks of stone will find a new life somewhere else. (Photo by Tom Kilmer)
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Montanans fighting the influence of the tobacco industry gathered in the Capitol rotunda Tuesday afternoon for the 2009 reACT Against Corporate Tobacco. Top photo is a map of anti-tobacco activity in the state; bottom photo are legislators having lunch. (Photos by Thom Champion)
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(The challenges facing President Barack Obama, and the expectations of the American – and worldwide – public, are unprecedented in our time. Will he be able to fix the nation’s problems or are we being unrealistic? Only time will tell.)
By the time this column hits the streets, Barack Obama will have been sworn in as our 44th president and, according to reports ahead of events, will have called on Americans to recognize the severity of the country's problems and, by putting personal responsibility first, help him begin to solve them.
Obama seemed to be emulating pre-inaugural events from back in 1861 this past Saturday as he and his family rode a special 10-car train 140 miles from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. Abraham Lincoln, who had also been a U.S. senator from Illinois, took a similar train ride before his inauguration. (Matt Kuntz of Helena was one of 40-some private citizens invited to ride along on Saturday.)
"We should never forget that we are the heirs of those early patriots, ordinary men and women who refused to give up when it all seemed so improbable – and who somehow believed that they had the power to make the world anew," Obama reportedly told a crowd in Baltimore estimated at 35,000. "That is the spirit that we must reclaim today."
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Mr. Chairman...
by Molly Priddy, Community News Service
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
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Bill seeks trapper training
The Ticknor brothers enjoy trapping together near Helena during Christmas time. What they don’t need, they say, is a law that would require them to pass a class to do it.
“It’s just more restrictions on trapping that make it easier to outlaw it,” 19-year-old Greg Ticknor told legislators last week. “I think that trapper education is great, but I don’t think it needs to be mandatory.”
Ticknor and two younger brothers showed up at the statehouse as the only opponents of House Bill 62, sponsored by Rep. Robin Hamilton, D-Missoula. The bill would make a trapping education program mandatory for trappers older than 12. The bill follows complaints in Missoula and elsewhere of pets being caught in traps set near hiking trails and residential areas.
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NOW IN SESSION
by Molly Priddy, Community News Service
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
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(The opening gavel fell Monday on the 61st regular session of the Montana Legislature, starting with the swearing-in of the governor and other statewide elected officials. Now we buckle our seatbelts for the next 90 days and hope for the best.)
The 61st session of the Montana Legislature opened Monday with pomp and promises of responsible budgeting and bipartisanship from Democrats and Republicans.
“There will be good ideas on the other side of the aisle, too,” said Sen. Robert Story, the Park City Republican elected to preside over the GOP-controlled Senate. “I think it’s important to work together. I think some of the best legislation we’ve done is cooperative.”
Senate Minority Leader Carol Williams, D-Missoula, told her Republican counterparts that Democrats are ready to work with them.
“We want to be on board your ship,” she said. “When we disagree, we will do it respectfully.”
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Duke Hudson of the local Elks Club handed out dictionaries Tuesday to all third-graders at Jefferson Elementary School. This is the group’s local service project this year, and Hudson and his colleagues will distribute 950 of the dictionaries to local third-graders. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Has Judge Dorothy McCarter made a correct legal decision or simply opened a Pandora’s box of problems with her ruling supporting physician-assisted suicide? The jury, as they say, is still out, but the discussion goes on here and across the country.
Citing the Montana Constitution’s guaranteed right to privacy, District Court Judge Dorothy McCarter this past Friday sided with a terminally ill Billings man, four Montana physicians and a non-profit group in determining there is a right to a “dignified death” for mentally competent individuals who are facing the end of life and suffering intolerable pain.
Her jurisdiction is limited to Lewis and Clark and Broadwater counties, although the decision could become statewide policy should the Montana Supreme Court uphold it or the Montana Legislature adopt it into law. State Rep.-elect Dick Barrett, D-Missoula, said he plans to sponsor such a proposal in the upcoming legislative session.
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Helena was hit early Tuesday morning with a reminder that it really is almost winter, and people were out shoveling that reminder off sidewalks. Rumor had it the snow would be tapering off, but the forecast is for much colder temperatures the rest of this week. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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The Carroll College Saints (13-0) ran over the Dickinson State Blue Hawks by 35-18 on Saturday afternoon in the first round of the NAIA quarterfinal playoffs. The next game is this Saturday against Northwestern Oklahoma State. (Photo by Jeff Van Tine)
(Editor's note: Northwestern Oklahoma State forfeited this Saturday's quarterfinal NAIA game with Carroll College and therefore the Saints receive a bye to the semifinals.)
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Charging the U.S. Forest Service with shirking its obligations under federal regulations for habitat maintenance and soils protection, four conservation groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Missoula over approval of the National Guard biathlon training facility near MacDonald Pass.
The groups are the Helena Hunters and Anglers Association, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, American Wildlands, and Native Ecosystems Council. Their attorney is Sarah K. McMillan of the Western Environmental Law Center.
Jim Posewitz of Helena, a board member of the Hunters and Anglers Association, said that the Forest Service had “left us no other option but to enter into litigation to protect critical wildlife habitat, values, and movement corridors on the Continental Divide”.
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Veterans from various branches of the armed services celebrated Veterans Day on Tuesday with their annual parade in East Helena. Other local Veterans Day activities were held at the VFW and at Memorial Park. (Photo by Rob Frye)
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Last-minute voters who still needed to register crowded hallways at the City-County Building on Tuesday morning. Voters kept polling places in Helena busy on election day, which was a holiday for state, city and county (but not federal) employees. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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The pumpkin patch at the First Presbyterian Church at 11th and Ewing still had some left on Tuesday morning. Proceeds from the annual pumpkin sale go for K-5 youth programs at the church, said pumpkin patch salesperson Sandie Riff. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Campaigns signs have shown up all over town the past few weeks in advance of the general election on Tuesday, November 4. People on well-traveled routes are popular targets for sign placement, although they can also be popular targets for sign vandals. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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A crowd of voters and their dogs assembled on the downtown Walking Mall on Tuesday morning and planned to do some early voting for their candidate(s) of choice. Rock, a bulldog owned by Angie Wong, stated his preference with a high-five. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Wednesday is International Walk to School Day, so lace up those sneakers and hoof it with the kids. Helena, East Helena and Montana City schools are participating, with some hosting breakfast when kids, parents, grandparents, teachers and others arrive at school.
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“Geniuses like them couldn’t keep their banks from failing with everyone in cahoots and the power all on their side.” —Earl Thompson, “A Garden of Sand”
I think that understanding what is happening in America’s financial meltdown is beyond the grasp of ordinary Americans. Frankly, I think it’s beyond the grasp of those people regarded as experts in such stuff; it is unprecedented in the amount of money involved and the complex schemes that have apparently made the few rich and the many poorer.
But one aspect of the crisis that I think everybody understands is that greed had a heck of a lot to do with it. It’s not surprising. Greed has always been with us, but the interesting thing about today’s version is that greed is promoted in advertisements as a virtue, as a need – we can have it all, and we can have it all on credit because there are lots of companies out there that are happy to loan us money at obscene interest rates so we can get it. Essentially they have taught all America to believe that wanting it all is okay by redefining greed as need. We don’t “want” it all, we “need” it all.
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Supporters of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign held a rally Tuesday at noon in Women’s Park to draw attention to their candidate’s pro-choice position and contrasted it to what they said were restrictive abortion policies of the GOP candidates. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Perched at the podium during a Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts gathering, Erin Toll wears a poker face, a smart black pencil skirt and sassy Jimmy Choos. Among the jeans-and-hiking-boot-clad crowd attending, this wry New York transplant seems an unlikely hero. As recently as last fall, Toll, director of the Colorado Division of Real Estate, had no idea what a conservation easement was. But now, she says, protecting the integrity of land conservation is her number-one priority – and she’s cracking down on crooked deals with a vengeance.
Toll's new enthusiasm for conservation easements, which offer landowners tax breaks in exchange for accepting limits on their right to develop, couldn't come at a better time for Colorado's land trusts. The state has seen some of the fastest-paced land conservation in the country, driven by a boom in both land trusts – the nonprofit organizations that hold easements – and in government open-space programs. Coloradans have protected nearly 1.8 million acres with conservation easements, much of it fueled by innovative tools, including a lottery-funded land protection program and a transferable state income tax credit.
Unfortunately, though, tax benefits sometimes breed abuses. And questionable conservation deals are drawing intense scrutiny – including Toll's investigation into inflated real estate appraisals in Colorado and an ongoing Internal Revenue Service audit of hundreds of tax returns nationwide claiming federal tax breaks for donated easements. While state investigation and reform is moving swiftly, the federal audits have dragged on, frustrating landowners and creating confusion about easement appraisals.
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It’s back to the trenches for area kids, as well as for the Queen City News staff, which has been on a summer break for the past two weeks. Now it’s time for them (and us) to get back to work, so be sure to watch out for children when you’re out driving. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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The Queen City News just took a summer break and didn't publish on Aug. 27 or Sept. 3. We're back in the office on Thursday, Sept. 4, and our next issue will be out Wednesday, Sept. 10. See you then!
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The Bear Gulch fire near Townsend had burned about 600 acres in heavy timber by Monday night and was expected to continue making a run due to the dry, windy weather forecast for the next few days. See page 2 for more. (Photo by James Green of the Townsend Star)
A fast-growing wildfire in the Deep Creek area near Townsend spread to more than 600 acres Monday night in dry, windy conditions that were expected to continue over the next few days. A higher-level U.S. Forest Service incident management team with 60 or more people was scheduled to take command of the fire on Tuesday.
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Top Lewis and Clark County recipients of USDA agriculture subsidies from 1995-2006 are listed on a Web site maintained by the Environmental Working Group. The payment information was compiled under a Freedom of Information Act request (see page 16). (Graphics by Thom Champion)
A self-made California millionaire and a Hutterite colony have been the county’s top recipients of federal farm subsidies, according to information compiled by the Environmental Working Group.
Using the Freedom of Information Act to acquire U.S. Department of Agriculture payment records, the EWG has tabulated individual and business farm subsidies since 1995.
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A trio of mallard ducks has been visiting Jim Heffernan’s home in Helena for the past couple of weeks. When he comes out in the early morning to water the lawn, they get in on the action and enjoy a cool shower at the same time. (Photo by Jim Heffernan)
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Intrepid carnival-goers lined up for a ride on the Zipper at the annual Stampede and Fair held this past week at the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds. There were critters, 4-H and other displays, games, musicians, rodeo performances and sunburns. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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A gang calling themselves the “Diva Bandits” held up the tour train Tuesday morning on 6th and Last Chance Gulch and made off with valuables. Rumor has it that more holdups will take place at that site at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday and Friday of this week. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Members of the Miles City Caledonian Pipe Band, along with some of the local Shining Thistle Pipe Band members, entertained the crowd at the Farmers Market on Fuller Street in downtown Helena on a sunny Saturday morning. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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If you notice a sea of green in downtown Helena during the next week and a half, it's the Grandstreet Theatre summer school kids enjoying classes, performing, and, in this particular case, lunch in Constitution Park. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Why do we live in Montana? So we can get outside when the weather finally gets nice and enjoy the gorgeous scenery, the fishing, the boating, the camping and other outside fun. Get outside while the getting is good.
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Elderhostel volunteers from all over the U.S. were working Tuesday morning at Reeder's Alley chinking bricks, replacing stairs and decks, and planting flowers donated by Chadwick's Nursery. The group is here for a week on a educational tour. (Photos by Thom Champion)
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District Judge Thomas Honzel has ruled that PPL Montana owes the state rent for using the riverbeds beneath their hydroelectric dams. The decision could mean more than $40 million in back rent payments.
Although agreements on the same issue were reached between the state and two other utilities (Avista and PacifiCorp), PPL continued to object to the payments. The utility argued that its dam operations are covered by federal licensing requirements and not by the state.
Honzel, who agreed with the state?s rent determination formula based on PPL Montana?s profits, said the Pennsylvania-based utility must also negotiate a lease with the state on future riverbed use.
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The election-year farm bill that overcame President Bush’s veto throws a few small bones to a few grassroots causes but mainly ensures that the big dogs will continue to run agriculture – courtesy of the U.S. Treasury.
Two long-contested, but small, grassroots issues did make it out in the final farm bill: the U.S. Department of Agriculture will require country-of-origin labeling on beef and other meats, and state-inspected meat plants (which must meet federal standards) have been restored their right to sell those products through interstate commerce.
Those are about the only changes that could be called improvements or reforms.
Huge federal subsidies to a few of the biggest producers of wheat, rice, corn and cotton are barely tweaked. In a year of record prices for most field crops – wheat is so high globally that Afghani poppy growers are plowing their poppy fields and switching to wheat – Congress continued its direct payments to farmers.
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Montana is under siege. And, no, I don’t mean by a bunch of politicians and their surrogates swarming all over the state pleading for votes. I mean Montana’s forests, both public and private, are being hit extremely hard by beetle infestations. There are different types of beetles such as mountain pine and Douglas fir, as well as bark beetles, and we have been hit by all of them.
The epidemic is larger than us, however, and encompasses more than 20 million acres in Canada and millions more in the western United States. A recent report stated that, in Colorado and southern Wyoming, almost all of the lodgepole pine will be dead in three or four years. Campgrounds are being closed by the Forest Service because of the danger to campers from dead trees. Who would want to camp in an area loaded with burned or bug-killed trees anyway?
It only takes a drive anywhere in Montana to see the devastation that is being wreaked upon our forests by dead and dying red trees. The beetles, along with ever-increasing catastrophic wildfires, are destroying one of the most treasured assets of this state – our forests. For any number of reasons, it is truly a shame this is happening, not the least of which is damage to wildlife habitat, watersheds, and the very air we breathe.
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Those who just got back from outer space can be excused, but there’s no way the rest of you can ignore that it’s election season in Montana. Just look at all the lawn signs and billboards out there (not to mention the newspaper ads!). Don’t forget to vote on Tuesday. (Cover graphics by Thom Champion)
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The past year has been so weird. For political observers, it has been both the best and worst of all possible worlds. I, for one, have broken from reality mainly due to the irresistible siren song emanating from the cable news channels.
On any given evening, I fully intend to sample the various dramas, comedies, and, even educational options, offered by basic cable television. Unfortunately, my well-intentioned channel-surfing gets stymied when I attempt to surf across the news spectrum. I get beached every time.
There is something about an amorphous mass of talking heads, some with torsos, engaged in hyper-animated political banter. You get sucked in like one of those fancy Dyson bagless vacuum cleaners. Several hours later, still no loss of suction. Only the need for sleep can break the spell.
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The 2008 Downtown Helena Spring Art Walk is Friday, May 16, from 6-10 p.m. Free trolley ride will be available with stops at the Great Northern Town Center, Wells Fargo, Walking Mall/Women's Mural, Lewis & Clark Library and B&B Market.
Great Northern Town Center
ExplorationWorks Museum, 995 Carousel Way
Louise Ogemahgeshig Fisher, Anishinabe artist and cultural consultant from York will be displaying her work. She reveals the struggle for survival and triumph of a great people whose spiritual and creative achievements remain alive today.
Neill Avenue
Federal Reserve Bank, 100 Neill Ave.
The bank will be hosting freelance photographer Grant Hanson. Also come in to view and bid on “piggy bank” artwork by our partner school, Hawthorne Elementary.
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Taxpayer groups, editorial writers and fiscal conservatives rail against them. Incumbent politicians wave them like trophies. The Montana economy seems to live by them.
Earmarked, or so-called “pork-barrel”, projects added $86.7 million to the Montana economy in the 2008 budget, according to an annual report from the non-partisan Citizens Against Government Waste.
That’s $90.67 per resident, almost three times the national average and placing Montana ninth in per-capita receipts of earmarked federal dollars. Top states in pork-barrel receipts tend to be rural, sparsely populated and of some military significance. Alaska leads the way with $555 per resident. Hawaii’s receipts were $220 per resident, and North Dakota was close behind with $208 apiece.
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Responding to recent news that the Student Assistance Foundation (SAF) is laying off 23 staff members, U.S. Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester are calling for SAF and the Montana Higher Education Student Assistance Corporation (MHESAC) to disclose their financial records and to take steps to ensure that students in Montana continue to receive loans efficiently and effectively.
In a letter dated April 25, 2008, the senators wrote to the chairman of both group’s board of directors asking for more information to make sure Montana kids continue to have access to higher education through federal grants and loans.
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The Montana Department of Transportation is notifying the public and seeking comments on a proposal to construct a bicycle/pedestrian crossing underneath I-15 at Broadway and Colonial Drive. The intent of the project is to provide safe pedestrian access across the interstate just south of the Capitol Interchange.
The proposed project extends from the intersection of Broadway and Colonial and continues across I-15 until it ends at the gravel roadway south of the MDT building. The gravel roadway connects to 18th Street, which intersects U.S. Highway 12 near Wal-Mart. The crossing will allow the connection of the Broadway sidewalk system with the East Helena Pedestrian Trail, providing safe pedestrian access from southeast Helena to numerous businesses along Prospect Avenue.
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Helena is celebrating Earth Day this year with a variety of fun and educational offerings. These include a Neighborhood Conservation Club Kick-Off on Tuesday, April 22, 7 pm, at ExplorationWorks Museum in the Great Northern Town Center.
Participants will learn how to work with neighbors to conserve energy, water and the environment we all depend on. There will also be an electric car demo and a raffle of a gray water recycling system.
Montana Fiberarts is hosting a Recycled Fibers Celebration Tuesday from 6-9 pm at 433 N. Last Chance Gulch (in Crazy Woman Beads). This will be an art show and silent auction of recycled fiber pieces, refreshments of locally produced foods provided by friends and volunteers, and demos of recycled fiber techniques.
Don’t forget the Growing Friends of Helena, S.A.V.E. Foundation, and City of Helena semi-annual recycling day known as “Trash for Trees”. It’s Saturday, April 26, 9 am - 4 pm, at the Northgate Plaza parking lot. See www.savemobile.org or call 431-0815 for more info.
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If global warming or Helena’s rising summer temperatures frustrate you because you don’t know how you can help, I have a simple suggestion. It’s spring, go plant a tree. Before you write me off as a naïve tree-hugger, let me explain how an aggressive tree-planting effort, by us citizens, can benefit our community.
If you plant a tree in the right place, it will provide your household and the community with a number of important environmental, economic, and aesthetic benefits.
•Deciduous trees, planted on the south, southeast, and especially southwest of your home, provide shade for your windows and keep your home cooler in hot weather. Home-shading is the most important benefit of tree planting because shading is an alternative to refrigerated air-conditioning, which is Public Enemy No. 1 in our fight against global warming. Every air-conditioner owner needs it running full tilt at the same time during the summer heat. Residential and commercial air conditioning constitutes about 60 percent of our rising summer electrical peak load, which is pushing our electricity costs ever higher. Every air conditioner we install or use brings us a few kilowatts closer to our next new coal-fired power plant.
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A hike is just what the doctor ordered this time of year if you’re prepared for it. Top photo is the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness up Hunters Gulch; bottom is Fields Gulch showing effects from the Meriwether fire; middle is the pasque flower. (Photos by Stanley Simpson and Drake Barton)
Three miles up Big Log Gulch, I was relieved and surprised to see the wilderness boundary sign had survived. A celebration was in order. The pack hit the ground with a soft thud. I saluted the wooden board extending a welcome to the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. Sitting on a rock thoughtfully placed against a ponderosa pine, I snacked on trail mix.
The flames of last summer’s Meriwether fire may have consumed more than 42,000 acres, charred millions of board feet of timber, and threatened lives and property and the short-term health of an ecosystem, but, by god, this sentry of the wild borders of the Gates of the Rocky Mountains was unscathed. That warranted a stick of beef jerky, too.
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The gray wolf population in the Northern Rocky Mountains is thriving and no longer requires the protection of the Endangered Species Act, Deputy Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett announced this past week. As a result, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has removed the species from the federal list of threatened and endangered species and affected states will assume legal management authority of the wolves in the northern Rockies this coming Friday.
“The wolf population in the Northern Rockies has far exceeded its recovery goal and continues to expand its size and range. States, tribes, conservation groups, federal agencies and citizens of both regions can be proud of their roles in this remarkable conservation success story,” Scarlett said, noting that there are currently more than 1,500 wolves and at least 100 breeding pairs in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.
Believing the federal decision to be premature, 11 conservation groups served notice on the USFWS in late February that, in their view, the agency has violated the Endangered Species Act and that they intend to challenge the decision in federal court.
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Road trip
by Rick & Susie Graetz
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
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As you look over Harlowton from your perch near the place where Andrew Garcia might have caught his first view of what he called paradise, consider that you are catching a big sweep of Montana and a bit of geography where time and space intermingle well. The Musselshell Country witnessed it all, including the passing of the bison and the free-roaming Indians who followed them. Read Garcia’s book, “Tough Trip Through Paradise”, and you will understand why this part of Montana’s past is rich, vibrant and extensive.
Look a bit to the northwest to the Musselshell River’s birthplace. Launched by springs and creeks on the eastern fringe of the northern Rocky Mountains, its north and south forks pour out of the Crazy, Castle and Little Belt mountains (all within your range of vision), cutting their way through the last ridges and hills of Montana’s mountainous province before joining and forming the Musselshell River.
Not far from your vantage point, bonding of the tributaries takes place in a mixture of wetlands and pasture that spreads onto a prairie landscape heading toward the sunrise and the beginnings of Montana east of the mountains. From this simple start, the Musselshell will twist and turn for 364 miles through the heart of Montana, a landscape short on human presence and long on gentle beauty.
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More homeowners are focusing on health by planting their own vegetable gardens this year, rejecting the rising cost of food and fuel and pesticide-laden produce most often found in supermarkets.
Just about every environmental group in the United States, Canada and in Europe warns that store-bought produce is loaded with petro-chemical pesticides that build up in the human body. These chemicals are being blamed for many illnesses, from autism in children to cancer at all ages. Consider the following:
•Potatoes, lettuce and cucumbers have the highest concentration of pesticides, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s annual crop report.
•A major study by the New York State Department of Health directly links pesticides to diabetes, now one of the most prevalent chronic diseases in the United States.
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A gunman opened fire in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University on Feb. 14, killing five students and injuring 16 (one of whom died later) before killing himself. The man was armed with a shotgun and two handguns.
The Northern Illinois University shooting falls less than a year after 32 people were killed and at least 15 injured before a gunman killed himself during a shooting spree on the campus of Virginia Tech.
“It was the deadliest shooting rampage in American history,” wrote The New York Times of the Virginia Tech shooting. “And (it) came nearly eight years to the day after 13 people died at Columbine High School in Colorado at the hands of two disaffected students who then killed themselves.”
A week before the Northern Illinois shooting, a nursing student shot two students in the classroom of a Louisiana technical college before shooting herself.
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Every gallon we buy at the pump affects our environmental, economic, and national security. A significant percentage of our transportation fuel is shipped across oceans and supports unsavory regimes. All of it emits climate-harming carbon into the atmosphere.
Our choice at the pump is neither simple nor consequence-free. Reducing these consequences starts with driving less, choosing fuel-efficient cars and trucks, and selecting the right alternative fuels. When we select alternative fuels, it is vital that we see a full accounting of their environmental merit. This can best be done through Low Carbon Fuel (LCF) Accounting as recommended by the Montana Climate Change Advisory Committee. LCF Accounting includes all "energy inputs and carbon outputs from production to consumption" in transportation fuel. In other words, policies regarding alternative fuels should promote increased efficiency and decreased carbon intensity.
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Winners of the 2nd annual B&B Market Snow Sculpture Contest on Sunday were, counter-clockwise from top, “King Kong” by Tim Bernhard, “Chief Head” by Charlie Carson, and “Mermaid” by Hippie Rob. B&B owners are John Leaf and Jamie Hamilton. (Photos by Thom Champion)
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Deep winter in Polebridge on the North Fork of the Flathead River. A forecast for the rest of Montana’s winter, plus a new book out on the history of Montana skiing, are in Rick & Susie Graetz’s “This is Montana” column on page 17 of this issue. (Photo by Rick & Susie Graetz)
With January now in the record books, we can look back on a time that finally brought the favorable La Niña weather pattern to Montana. It was relatively warm at the beginning of the month, but once the winter weather descended on the mountains, the snowpack and moisture content of the snow increased dramatically. By the end of the month, many of the state’s snow courses were showing that the water content of the snow ranged from near normal to well above.
Mullan Pass, up in the northwest on the Idaho line, was showing 188 percent of normal moisture, while towns such as Glasgow on the prairie registered 128 percent and Great Falls 124 percent. Great Falls also recorded its wettest and snowiest January since 1993.
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This year’s Race to the Sky has a diverse field of entries. There are 20 mushers to date from eight states and Canada. Four mushers have withdrawn from the race, but several more are expected to enter before the deadline.
Returning champions Mark Stamm from Riverside, Wash., and John Barron of Helmville will be vying for first place. Others returning to run the Race to the Sky are Tom Thurston of Oak Creek, Colo., Barrie Turner of Pinedale, Wyo., Jon Bunderson of Soda Springs, Idaho, Steve Madsen of Couger, Wash., Nancy and Roger Johnson of Devils Lake, N.D., Aaron Asay of Eagle Mountain, Utah, Michael Carmichael of Avon, Utah, Lachlan Clarke of Buena Vista, Colo., Butch Austin of Fruita, Colo., Ed Jenkins of Saskachewan, Canada, and Pete Northcutt of Joliet.
New to the Race to the Sky and competing as rookies are Nancy Yoshida of Thompson, N.D., Kurt Reich of Divide, Colo., Sean Hard of Olney, Bino Fowler of Bend, Ore., Jarle Halsnes of Steamboat Springs, Colo., and Celeste Davis of Deer Lodge.
The Race to the Sky schedule is similar to last year's race. Events begin Friday, February 8, with the Vet Check at the Costco parking lot in Helena from noon to 3 p.m., followed by a Business Card Social and Meet the Mushers at the Park Plaza Hotel.
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City of Helena officials put Stage IV water restrictions into effect on Tuesday morning because of low and declining water levels at storage reservoirs across town. These restrictions, which were lifted Thursday morning, meant that no outdoor use of city water is allowed, and only indoor use of water for drinking or sanitation is permitted.
Meanwhile, maintenance crews were making emergency repairs Tuesday to leaks on two mains that carry water into the city from the Tenmile treatment plant west of town. Primary water mains on the west side were shut down in order to make the necessary repairs, official said, and disruptions of service were possible from Laurel Avenue west to the Broadwater Athletic Club. The repairs were completed by Thursday morning, officials said.
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Mountains are reflected in the parabolic mirrors at the Nevada Solar One thermal solar plant in Boulder City, Nev. The 400-acre facility generates 64 megawatts of power. Wind and solar projects depend on whether Congress renews tax credits expiring this year. (Photo by Andy Nelson)
With a big new solar power plant in the Nevada desert and thousands of wind turbines sprouting nationwide, U.S. renewable energy seems poised for a boom as long as federal tax credits don't suddenly evaporate.
After years of start-and-stop growth, wind and solar power industries soared in 2007, thanks to three consecutive years of tax credits that provided a critical lift for both sectors.
But whether the fledgling industries can fly without tax credits, due to expire at the end of this year, is a question being debated on Capitol Hill this week.
As demand grows for a stimulus package for the faltering U.S. economy, green-energy advocates argue that wind and solar ? both left out of the new energy law passed last month ? should be part of the package.
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Mary Lee Larison was out shoveling snow Tuesday morning outside her art gallery in downtown Helena. We only got a little bit on Tuesday and a even littler bit on Monday night, so some people around here are wondering where the snow is this winter. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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He’s making a list and checking it twice, so be sure he spells your name correctly! (And hope you don’t get “virtual coal”, which is available on the Internet.) Happy holidays from your independent and locally owned Queen City News, and we’ll see you next year. (Photo by Rob Frye)
(Please note that we aren't publishing Dec. 26 or Jan. 2, but we'll be in our new office at 311 N. Jackson St. on Jan. 2 preparing our next issue, which will be out Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008.
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Naughty or nice? Only Santa knows for sure, and you usually can’t tell which it’s been all year until it’s time to open your gifts. Meanwhile, visit page 7 for some Holiday Gift Guide ideas from local merchants for those who made the list.
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When Matt Gouras of the Associated Press wrote an article earlier this fall entitled, “State Library Soon to End Walk-In Service”, alarm bells sounded. They sounded particularly loudly in the governor’s office, which was blindsided by the news, with Brian Schweitzer saying that his “blood pressure went up” upon hearing that the library would close its doors to public traffic on Jan. 1.
For library officials, the weeks since that first article appeared on Oct. 13 have been spent clarifying their position and trying to get back on the right public-relations foot. Montana State Librarian Darlene Staffeldt wrote an op-ed that appeared Oct. 17 in the Great Falls Tribune stating that the library “will remain open to the public” while staff puts the “Digital Library Transition Plan” in place.
The issue that confronts the library is how best to move forward in an increasingly electronic age. This particular library’s mission is different from its regular public counterparts. The State Library serves as a depository for all Montana state publications, as well as the federal publications it chooses to receive, and it hosts an array of programs such as the Talking Book Library for physically handicapped or visually impaired citizens.
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The Carroll Fighting Saints (13-0) won a nailbiter on Nov. 24 over Morningside College 27-16. They now head to the NAIA semi-finals with a home game at noon Saturday against the No. 5 St. Francis Cougars, the team they were up against in the 2004 and 2005 playoffs. (Photo by Jeff Van Tine)
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Winter
Friday, November 23, 2007
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What global warming? Helenans might be asking that after the first winter snowfall hit the Capital City this week. We’re in for more colder weather later this week, too, with partly cloudy skies and “high” temperatures forecast to rise only to about the mid-30s. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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The Lewis & Clark County Elections Department has posted the unofficial results of the Nov. 6 city election showing that city voters elected Matt Elsaesser and reelected Paul Cartwright to the Helena City Commission, chose Bob Wood as the new city judge, approved the parks bond, want U.S. troops home from Iraq and don’t agree that unlimited funds should be spent on the military to fight the “war on terror”.
The turnout for the general mail-ballot election was 62.03 percent, with 8,655 total ballots cast out of 13,954 total registered voters distributed among 26 city precincts.
In the city commission race, Elsaesser took the top number of votes out of a four-man field, drawing 4,430 votes (29.92 percent). Paul Cartwright was next, with 4,155 votes (28.06 percent), followed by Bob Throssell with 3,236 (21.86 percent) and Jack Stults with 2,886 (19.49 percent).
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The annual Fall Art Walk in downtown Helena is 6-10 p.m. this Friday, Nov. 9. Venues will feature all kinds of artwork from painting to sculpture to beading to photography, and some include live performances. (“Butterfly Dancer” painting by Christopher Rowland)
Gateway Block
Windermere Real Estate
910 Last Chance Gulch, Ste. B
A native Montanan, Carol Novotne has been a fine artist for more than 30 years. Her post-impressionistic art has a strong, recognizable style with thick, rich, creamy brush strokes. She is a fine artist focusing on plein air painting, and her paintings are created and inspired from the vast beauty of nature.
Great Northern Town Center
Great Northern Carousel Ice Cream Parlor
989 Carousel Way
An artist that is always up for an artistic challenge is 18-year-old Tiffany Knopf. Tiffany has been drawing since she was 4 years old, especially cars and animals. She will be showing a variety of pencil drawings for the Art Walk.
ExplorationWorks
995 Carousel Way
Native American art, including acrylic paintings and masks, by local artists Louise Ogemahgeshig-Fisher, Karyn Follis Cheatham and Robert Burcurt will be on display, as well as drumming, flute music and singing by the Magpie Singers.
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BOO!
Thursday, November 01, 2007
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Look around town lately and you’ll see plenty of residents getting into the Halloween spirit. There are ghosts, goblins, ghouls, witches and who-knows-what decorating homes. There are also haunted houses to visit, so enjoy and have a safe time doing it.
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The Ahorn fire this summer cut a wide swath through part of the Bob Marshall Wilderness, although new grass and trees are already sprouting up, according to the intrepid Helena photographer/backpacker Jeff Van Tine. (Photo by Jeff Van Tine)
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Seventh-graders from the Montana City School practiced using fire extinguishers with Captain Pete Brustkern and members of the Montana City Volunteer Fire Department during Fire Prevention Week activities on October 11 and 12. (Photo courtesy of Larry Alheim)
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A storm hits a dry wall on the Rocky Mountain Front west of Augusta. The jury is still out on whether Montana will see a mild or rough winter this year, but that doesn't stop the National Weather Service from making some predictions. See page 15 for details. (Photo by Rick & Susie Graetz)
At one time, a winter forecast of a building La Niña (as opposed to the dreaded El Niño) brought smiles to Montanans. After all, we pride ourselves on withstanding long, cold winters with ample snow for skiing and snowshoeing. A La Niña means winter weather even colder than our normal cold. Remember, we hold the lower 48 states record for cold with a reading of 70 degrees below zero, and many Montana mountain locations exceed 300 inches, and even 400 inches, of snow in a "normal year."
Our friend Dave Bernhardt of the National Weather Service in Great Falls tells us that this winter of 2007-2008 has an outlook for La Niña to build sometime in November. So should we be happy? Perhaps, but with caution. The current thought now is that this pattern may only affect precipitation in the mountains and maybe not that much. Actually, Dave said the situation is EC (a weather symbol for Equal Chances). Is it then 50-50? Nope, it is the 33 and one-third rule--33-1/3 percent chance that precipitation and cold will be above normal, 33-1/3 percent chance that it will be neutral and therefore "normal," or 33-1/3 percent chance that it will be warmer and drier than average. Sounds like a CYA (cover your ass) prediction to us. Fun stuff, but that's the thinking, and you can't blame the Weather Service.
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The 9th annual Last Chance Community Pow Wow took over the Civic Center from Friday through Sunday of this past weekend, featuring dozens of dancers from across Montana and the northwest. The theme was “Honor the Children”.
Sunday’s grand entry at the Last Chance Community Pow Wow drew dancers of all ages from around the state and region, while hundreds of people watched the colorful procession at the Civic Center. (Photos by Cathy Siegner)
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Workers lower the refurbished George Washington statue off the truck and into the courthouse foyer.
Sculptor Richard Ellis restored the marble statue, which had suffered damage after standing outside the courthouse since the late 1880s.
The refurbished George Washington marble statue was unveiled Monday afternoon in the courthouse foyer. (Photos by Justin Miller and Thom Champion)
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The so-called “Country Club fire” on Sunday afternoon charred an estimated 40 acres on Helena’s west side, including a quarter of Spring Meadow Lake State Park (middle photo). It also destroyed two vacant houses, three garages and five outbuildings. (Photos by Cathy Siegner)
The southwest portion of Spring Meadow Lake State Park will be closed until further notice after Sunday’s fire burned approximately one-quarter of the park’s grounds. In addition, two vacant houses, three garages and five outbuildings were destroyed.
Two Fish, Wildlife & Parks wardens, Kevin Cook and Dave Loewen, reported a fast-moving grass fire on Sept. 16 at about 2 p.m. The 40-acre fire burned within the park and the Montana Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and on adjacent private lands.
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Mike Mehn with his restored 1952 MT (motorized tricycle) John Deere tractor. Mehn drove the tractor to his job at the Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks on Tuesday morning and parked it in the parking lot. Its nickname is “Poppin’ Johnny” or “Johnny Popper”. (Photo by Thom Champion)
Mike Mehn on the restored 1952 MT John Deere he purchased from an employee’s mother-in-law in Lincoln. This 2-cylinder, 19-horsepower tractor took him four months and about $2,000 to get back to a nearly new condition. It required a rebuild on the carburetor, new tires, an after-factory complete sticker package, and a paint job by Mark Abegglen of Townsend.
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Montana’s 150 legislators convene Wednesday morning at the Capitol to consider several proposals from Gov. Brian Schweitzer for handling emergency situations such as the ongoing wildfires which have already cost the state about $84.3 million this season. (Illustration by Thom Champion)
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Kids involved in summer programs at ExplorationWorks in the Great Northern Town Center talked about their projects involving flight, cooking and robots on Thursday, Aug. 23. The museum’s current plan is to open in November. (Photos by Rob Frye)
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Gov. Brian Schweitzer received artwork Monday from Megumi Matsunaga and Kumamoto Gov. Yoshiko Shiotani. The governor earlier planted three Japanese Lilacs on the Capitol lawn (below left). Gakuen and Shokei university singers in the Rotunda (below right). (Photos by Rob Frye and Marissa Kozel)
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This past weekend saw a hot (literally) and heavy Stampede & Fair slate of activities, with the annual rodeo and demolition derby, plus the kiddie and Stampede parades, carnival, booths, critters, award entries, food, dancing and rides. (Photo by Jeff Van Tine)
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A Habitat for Humanity Global Village Crew is in town helping to construct the Prickly Pear Condominiums on Billings and Oregon streets. Nine volunteers from around the country are here until Saturday focusing on the need for affordable housing. (Photos by Thom Champion)
Habitat for Humanity’s Global Village Crew worked in the Monday afternoon heat building the Prickly Pear Condominiums on Billings and Oregon streets. They are Maryellen Kenny, Ross Meyer, Bernie Stefanski, Ron Chez, Cary Chambers, David Tibbets, and crew leader Betsy Steel, and hail from Maine, California, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Connecticut and New Hampshire. The crew will be in Helena until Saturday, July 28.
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RODEO
Thursday, July 19, 2007
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The East Helena Rodeo this past weekend drew hundreds of fans and resulted in some pretty fast times for participants. Check next week’s QCN for the results. (Photo by Ian McEwen)
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The 8th annual Mount Helena Music Festival kicks off Friday night at Women’s Park in downtown Helena and continues through Saturday. The full schedule is on page 11 of the Two Weeks entertainment calendar. (Cover by Thom Champion)
The 8th Annual Mount Helena Music Festival will start on Friday, July 13, and feature a diverse bunch of bands at Women’s Park over the two-day event.
Kicking of the festival Friday at 6 pm will be Tom Catmull & The Clerics from Missoula with acoustic rock originals and covers. At 7:30 pm is Tony Furtado, a master banjo player as well as a stellar slide guitarist. Continuing the festivities is Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband at 9 pm with a blend of bluegrass, rock, rap and other styles.
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The QCN staff wishes everyone a happy, and safe, Fourth of July holiday. Remember to take care with fireworks and that alcohol consumption and outdoor recreation are a potent mix. See you back here next week, most likely sunburned and relaxed.
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Illustrating how much they want to buy NorthWestern Energy, Australian-based Babcock & Brown Infrastructure upped the ante on Monday with a proposal that would give a $20 million credit to ratepayers, invest more in the company and limit its debt load, keep the headquarters in Butte, and promise not to sell the utility for 10 years.
The Public Service Commission unanimously rejected BBI’s initial proposal to buy NWE, citing the plan’s lack of advantages to Montana ratepayers. The Australian firm appeared stunned by that decision and speculation was it would appeal and perhaps turn to the courts for a more favorable outcome.
PSC Chairman Greg Jergeson said the commission would likely take action on the proposal (and its order on the earlier one) at the next meeting on July 10. In the meantime, interested parties have 10 days to comment on BBI’s new plan.
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County Commission Chairman Mike Murray spoke at Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony for the exhibition hall at the Lewis & Clark County fairgrounds. Work is starting on the new building although legal wrangling continues over the horseracing track’s fate. (Photo by Rob Frye)
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As the weather heats up, the chances of wildfire greatly increase. Smokey Bear warns everyone who recreates outdoors to be careful of fire this summer by obeying regulations and making sure all campfires and matches are dead out. (Illustration by Thom Champion)
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A “Dirt Divas” mountain-bike skills clinic will be held Saturday at Women’s Park in downtown Helena, along with a rough-cut screening at Carroll College that evening of a related film. Events are sponsored by Great Divide Cyclery. See pages 10-11 (calendar events) for more. (Photo provided)
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Thom Champion’s Swedish descendants are mainly buried in Great Falls where the family gathered Sunday to plant flowers and pay their respects. Many Montanans were doing the same thing across the state this past weekend and on Memorial Day. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Sometimes, when we’re up against a tight deadline, we aren’t as creative with the QCN cover as perhaps other times. This week was one of those times; hence, the weather-related photo. We promise to do better next week or die trying (so to speak).
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The annual Vigilante Parade wound through downtown Helena on Friday afternoon. The weather was cooperative, the audience appreciative, and the high-school kids seemed to have more fun than usual. This is the oldest such parade in the country. (Photos by Cathy Siegner)
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Mary Riitano portrays Fannie Spencer, a “soiled dove” who was buried at age 36 in the Benton Avenue Cemetery. Riitano was one of 12 local actors portraying some of the cemetery’s “residents” on Sunday afternoon in a unique fundraising event. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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Students in Sarah Alling-Huber’s poetry class at P.A.L. (the Project for Alternative Learning) shared some of their work with the Queen City News.
The poets on the cover are China Wendell (top), Courtney Smith (lower left), and Jason Rushford (lower right). Others in the class are ShayLee Perry, Rachel Riitano, Jay Watson and Rowdy Wysocki.
Here are some of their poems:
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The 60th Montana Legislature is scheduled to adjourn on Friday, but it’s anybody’s guess whether they will have to stay and complete their work. The governor has also mentioned a special session, so stayed tuned for the next chapter of the political chronicles. (Cover illustration by Thom Champion)
Great Falls Democrat Joe Tropila shocked the Senate on a sleepy Saturday morning when he made a motion to end Montana’s 60th legislative session – five days early.
Tropila said his move was a reaction against the ongoing stalemate in which the Republican-led House is refusing to take action on the four bills comprising the state budget until Gov. Brian Schweitzer signs off on tax cuts. Schweitzer has said he won’t okay any tax cut until he has the budget on his desk to assess in its entirety.
Heading into the final week of one of the most partisan sessions in recent history, Tropila said the House was taking the weekend and much of Monday off and getting paid for it, while Gov. Brian Schweitzer was in California calling for a special session without pay.
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More than 125 Helenans gathered Saturday afternoon at Fire Tower Park to rally about climate change. It was a warm, blustery day, and the first thing one of the organizers, Becca Leaphart, said was a comment on the weather.
“We are here to protest this warm weather,” she said, jokingly. Leaphart, also a page supervisor at the legislature, organized the event with Ben Brouwer and Doug Crabtree.
Everyone gathered on the little hill by the fire tower as banners calling for an end to excessive carbon emissions flapped in the breeze. The event officially started at 3 p.m., but participants were invited to gather an hour earlier to make posters and banners.
As Leaphart started the rally, she gave background information on the organization that sponsored the event. Step It Up is a national group that planned nearly 1,400 rallies on April 14 in order to draw the attention of political leaders to this issue. Along with other, similar gatherings across America, Leaphart announced that 13 men on death row in Texas were going on a hunger strike in solidarity with the Step It Up rallies.
The event’s goal is an 80-percent reduction of carbon emissions by the year 2050. Step It Up also called for individual action, so 10 local speakers gave their perspective on the situation with the tower and Mt. Helena as a backdrop.
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Rudy checks out one of the many colorful eggs he snagged Sunday afternoon on the Capitol lawn during the Eagles’ annual Easter Egg Hunt. Hundreds of kids showed up to try their luck at finding one of the special eggs containing money. (Photos by J. Champion Whitney)
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Crocuses, along with tulips and daffodils, are beginning to poke their heads up around the Queen City. Does this mean spring is finally here? Stay tuned for more evidence. Meanwhile, check out Helena’s Growing on page 7 for tips on hedges and lawns.
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No, Anna Nicole Smith wasn’t abducted (as far as we know). According to news reports, she died of an accidental drug overdose. We were just observing April Fool’s Day (which is this coming Sunday) by invoking a little journalistic license. (Twisted graphic tweaking by Thom "Art Boy" Champion)
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For Erik Carlson, there is no such thing as an average day.
Armed with a college degree in social work and a Glock .40-caliber handgun, the 28-year-old Butte probation and parole officer heads to work rarely knowing what problems he'll face as he checks on some of the 85 people under his care.
On his best days, some will seem to be kicking their meth habits, while others are managing to hold down jobs. On his worst days, he sees the pain on the faces of children removed from their homes because their parents are hopelessly addicted to drugs.
The public, Carlson said, knows little about the balance of social work and law enforcement his job entails.
"They have no idea what we do," he said.
Amid the legislature's current budget brawl, hiring more officers like Carlson and fulfilling other requests made by the state's Department of Corrections often takes a backseat to high-profile issues such as education and tax cuts. That's despite a recent national study predicting Montana will have the highest prison-population growth rate in the nation.
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A record 10 American Indians hold office in Montana’s legislature this year, and one of their top goals is protecting efforts to teach Montana students about the history and culture of the state’s first people.
Among other things, the Montana American Indian Legislative Caucus wants the state to adequately fund the Indian Education for All program, an effort mandated by the state’s 1972 Constitution that went largely unfunded until 2005.
Finding that funding was a major victory for the program’s supporters last session, but House Republicans this session hope to scale back future spending. The idea met immediate resistance from Indian lawmakers.
“If you start something, why don’t you complete it rather than just dropping the ball?” asked Rep. Veronica Small-Eastman, D-Lodge Grass.
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As we wind down our elevation discussion, here are a couple of interesting comparisons. We will look at two western Montana valleys–the Bitterroot and the Flathead.
When viewing the Bitterroot and taking into account the towering and rugged peaks of the same name that flank the valley’s west side, one would assume that substantial alpine glaciers carved out many, if not all, of their elongated U-shaped canyons and descended to the valley floor to add more ice to an already flowing valley glacier that was born up in the area of Lost Trail Pass.
According to Dave Alt, former University of Montana geology professor and co-author of many of the “Roadside Geology” books, this wasn’t so. The Bitterroot bottomlands were ice-free. Alt also said that alpine glaciers didn’t reach beyond their canyons until south of Hamilton. This is borne out by the absence of terminal moraines–the piles of debris dropped off at the terminus of a glacier–at the mouth of each gorge. What deposited material existed within the perimeter of the sheer narrow walls was washed away over time by cascading water rushing out of the canyons.
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State budget: Round 2
by Dan Testa, Community News Service, UM School of Journalism
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
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It was on Valentine’s Day that the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee voted to send Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s proposed budget into limbo. Shortly after word got out, Schweitzer rushed upstairs to the House chamber to protest.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Capitol’s legislative wing, Senate Minority Leader Corey Stapleton, R-Billings, sat at his desk, calmly drinking black coffee from a glass beer mug.
An aide popped in to ask Stapleton if he wanted to hear what Schweitzer had to say.
“Nah,” Stapleton replied. “It doesn’t matter.”
Later that day, House Republican leaders confirmed their aim to break with decades of tradition and divide the session’s main budget bill into six or seven separate bills–the better to whittle away at what they consider overspending.
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Ten years have passed since Montana deregulated its energy market, but Public Service Commissioner Doug Mood still has a copy of a brochure the Montana Power Co. passed out touting the benefits of that move.
Mood, a Republican from Seeley Lake, was in the legislature in 1997. He voted for deregulation based on many of the brochure’s promises.
“Not one of them came true,” Mood says. “The economic model that brought us deregulation simply didn’t work.”
The repercussions of that 1997 decision are still being felt by both customers dealing with high power bills and lawmakers trying to bring stability to the situation.
Yet two major bills are now making their way through the House and Senate to allow NorthWestern Energy to again own energy generation facilities–essentially re-regulating Montana’s major utility.
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The official start of the 21st annual Race to the Sky kicks off Saturday in Rimini. Other events are set in Deer and Lodge and Lincoln. For the entire schedule, see the calendar on pages 8-9, and think snow. (Graphics by Thom "Art Boy" Champion)
Pre-race events for the 21st annual Race to the Sky start in Helena on Friday, February 9, with additional activities scheduled this weekend and next week in Helena, Deer Lodge and Lincoln. Twenty teams entered the 350-mile sled-dog race, which will start at Camp Rimini on Saturday, February 10, and finish up on Thursday, February 15, with an awards ceremony and dinner at the Lincoln Community Center.
Friday, February 9 (Helena)
10 am-noon School visits by mushers and teams
Noon-3 pm Vet check and sponsor photos, Costco parking lot
5-6 pm Business card social/silent auction, Wingate Inn
6-7 pm Ride auction, meet the mushers, Wingate Inn
7-8 pm Live auction of goods and services, Wingate Inn
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The gazebo at the Archie Bray Foundation west of Helena on a recent winter day. The Bray is having a special meeting next Thursday, Feb. 8, from 6-7 p.m., for those interested in volunteering there. For more information, see the item under "Events". (Photo by Emily Free Wilson)
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When his grandfather died in 2005, Shawn White Wolf needed cash to drive to Great Falls and be with family. The Helena man didn’t have anyone to borrow money from and his credit was shaky, so he went to a title-loan agency.
“They ran through the disclosures and all that stuff really fast,” he said. “It took just a few minutes and they gave me a check.”
More than a year later, White Wolf, 34, has paid off only half of the $800 he borrowed and $2,000 in interest. He pays $240 per month–$40 toward the principal and $200 to interest.
“It’s pretty ugly,” he said. “It takes away from being able to recreationally do things with your family.”
So when lawmakers tabled a bill last week to regulate the interest title and payday lenders can charge, his spirits sank.
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(This past year saw plenty of CD releases of Montana music, much of it recorded right here in the state. See page 13 for a 2006 roundup of area musical offerings by Scott Prinzing, music columnist and reviewer for the Billings Outpost.)
This has been a fruitful year for Montana music. I have listened to more than 60 CDs released this year by Montana artists. Most of them were recorded in Montana; several at Helena studios such as Cottage Studio, Gathering Wave Studio, and Soul Tree Recording. A growing number of them were recorded at home.
Like last year’s roundup, I have only listed CDs that I have held in my hands and heard. I know there are others that were released, but I can’t track them all down. It’s hard enough keeping up with the ones that are sent to me.
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We wish everyone a wonderful and safe New Year. The QCN will not publish next week or the week after, but we’ll be back on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007. Until then, take some time to get outside and enjoy everything Montana has to offer.
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Since this issue is the last one before Christmas, the QCN staff would like to wish our readers and advertisers a very happy holiday season and a wonderful and prosperous new year. We will publish next week (on December 27), but not again until Jan. 17, 2007. (Original illustration by T.H. Nast)
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Snow ghosts in the Whitefish Range mirror the cold, but weather records in recent years show warmer temperatures than in the past. For more on this past summer’s records and predictions for this winter, see Rick & Susie Graetz’s column on page 17. (Photo by Rick & Susie Graetz)
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This was the scene Sunday afternoon up the Little Blackfoot River Road out of Elliston by Kading Campground. The purpose? To stalk the not-so-elusive Christmas tree, this year a couple of nice green firs for the home and office. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Lewis & Clark County kids decorated this Christmas tree at the Capitol Building, where, for the second year, all 56 Montana counties are represented by a decorated tree. Hours for viewing are M-F from 6-6, Saturday from 8-6 and Sunday from 11-5. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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The Carroll College Saints football team scored a 20-to-7 victory over the MSU-Northern Lights from Havre this past Saturday and will host the team from St. Xavier University in Illinois this coming Saturday at noon in Nelson Stadium. (Photo by Jeff Van Tine)
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Ah, Thanksgiving! The smell of turkeys roasting and pies baking and the delight of family and friends gathering together to feast and give thanks.
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First Lady Betty Babcock, head of the Capitol Restoration Foundation, presented the 2006 Capitol Christmas Tree Ornament on Tuesday morning accompanied by Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger (left) and Gov. Brian Schweitzer. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Veteran’s Memorial project manager SFC Leroy Henderson, U.S. Army ret., and CPO Willis Woolett, U.S. Navy ret., were busy Tuesday preparing for the rededication ceremony on Saturday, November 11, at 3 pm, for the County Veterans Memorial in Memorial Park. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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VOTE!
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
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The general election is Tuesday, November 7, when voters will decide on the U.S. Senate, House and a slew of legislative races, along with some ballot initiatives. Montana set a record with absentee ballots this election, with one in six voters requesting one. (Old cartoon modified slightly by Thom Champion)
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On Tuesday, about 40 Montana kids (ages 16-18) helped fulfill their community service requirement through the Montana Youth ChalleNGe by sprucing up Reeder’s Alley. They raked leaves, cleaned roofs and painted picnic tables for four hours. (Photos by Thom Champion)
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Students at PAL (Project for Alternative Learning) recently practiced the Tanka format and free verse in Sarah Huber’s poetry class. The students are: Britt Fillippini, Stefani McGraw, Phoenix Richards, Ashlee Steed, Jamie Watson and Justin Wittenberg.
‘The Secret of a Poem’
by Ashley Steed
What a creative
Thought
Lots of
Writing and description
Inspirational sounds
And voice
Stanzas that rhyme
What a beautiful
Vision of art.
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The Yellowstone River, the longest undammed river in the U.S., flows serenely through meadows and tumbles and cascades through canyons in Yellowstone Park before arriving at Gardiner. Read about this magnificant water body on page 14. (Photo by Rick & Susie Graetz)
Part 6
Upon first viewing Yellowstone Lake, one is impressed not only by its size but also by the backdrop surrounding it. Sharp peaks of the Absaroka Range stand at attention along the entire east shore. To the south, Mount Sheridan, at 10,308 feet, looms like a lofty island, and the more subdued highlands of the Central Plateau slope off to the west.
Despite the drama of its mystery, variable and unpredictable weather conditions and omnipresent grandeur, the lake provides the Yellowstone River with a spot to rest and gain the strength it will need on its quest to connect the mountains to the prairie.
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The battle for the U.S. Senate race is tightening with just five weeks to go before the general election on November 7. The latest poll shows Jon Tester pulling ahead of Conrad Burns, but five weeks is a long time in politics and who knows what could happen. See page 5 for more. (Graphics by Thom "Artboy" Champion)
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The annual Last Chance Community Pow Wow spread its colorful wings this past weekend at the Helena Civic Center. Grand Entry on Sunday afternoon honored children and warriors and featured a lively display of traditional regalia worn by young and old. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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The inevitable has arrived. Summer is leaving and fall officially starts on Friday, although an early taste came with last week’s cold front. This lovely autumn watercolor was painted by Helena artist and teacher Barbara Keith, whom we thank for its use.
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Helena firefighters put up a big flag on their fire engine Monday in commemoration of the 5th anniversary of 9/11. About 343 of their colleagues died at the World Trade Center in New York City on that fateful day. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Air quality and visibility have been seriously limited in Helena the past few days, mostly because of fires in Idaho and the huge one near Big Timber known as the Derby Mountain fire (see fire perimeter on map). It is now the highest-priority fire in the nation as far as advocating resources. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Improvements going on at the 400 block of Last Chance Gulch were halted recently when a height difference was discovered between the sidewalk and the new curb being put in. City officials will analyze the problem and suggest fixes this week. (Photo by Thom Champion)
The differing degree of slope between existing city sidewalks and new ones being installed along the 400 block of Last Chance Gulch are causing headaches for city engineers.
Excavation work there recently revealed that the slope is 4-5 degrees different between old sidewalks with storage vaults beneath them and the new curb that workers are putting in.
City officials are concerned that unless the problem is fixed, there will be drainage problems when bad weather arrives. The nearly $250,000 project is under budget now but will cost more depending on what fix is chosen, officials said.
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Bengal volleyball player Ann Bugni tries to block the ball during a recent game. Fellow Bengal player Sarah Conn is on the other side of the net. The team looks pretty good this year with talented returning players and may go to state if the stars line up. (Photo by Sandra Kelly)
With two middle blockers more than 6 feet tall and six returning seniors, Helena High volleyball coach Sheila Williams has every reason to be optimistic–optimistic, but not cocky. After all, the 2006 Bengals have been playing for a scant 10 days. Yet she’s optimistic just the same.
“This group has done a lot of work in the off-season,” Williams said. “There were quite a few who played spring ball, club ball, and they’ve been working in the weight room.”
The Bengals also have a strong group of JV players who practice with the varsity players every day.
“Every day at practice, it’s a battle,” William said. “And that’s what you want. Our goal is to push each other in practice.”
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The Board of Trustees of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church has decided to demolish the historic brick Shober House on Lawrence Street just to the south of the former church building.
According to a letter dated Aug. 13, 2006, from board chairman Dennis Cates, tearing down the Shober House had not been seriously discussed before because it was assumed the cost would be too high.
But with a demolition contractor currently tearing down the former church building at 505 Logan, the letter states that costs will be less if the Shober House goes while the equipment is on hand.
“Another factor in the decision for the demolition of Shober is the state of disrepair in which the building exists,” Cates wrote. “While we don’t have any formal estimates for bringing the inside of Shober to standard codes and for rehab of the exterior, we do know that it would be a tremendous cost that we cannot fund.”
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Everyone and their dog (literally) showed up Tuesday at the Capitol for a pro-Initiative 151 rally. I-151 would raise the state’s minimum wage from $5.15/hour to $6.15. Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards was to speak, but his plane didn’t arrive in time. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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This year’s Last Chance Stampede and Fair featured the usual critters, kids, rides, games and goodies out at the Lewis & Clark Fairgrounds last week. Bunnies, goats, cows and pigs got plenty of attention, as did the amusement rides on the midway. (Photos by Thom Champion and Neal Whitney)
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A display of soldiers’ boots and civilian shoes on the Capitol lawn last week were there to represent the thousands of deaths in the Iraq war. On Saturday night, the annual Symphony Under the Stars entertained a hugh crowd at Carroll College. (Photos by Thom Champion and Patty Rambo)
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The Polyjesters, a quirky Canadian “folk chunk” band, played to an appreciative crowd Monday evening on the Capitol Building steps. The Myrna Loy Center sponsored the free show as part of its “Mondays at the Myrna” summer concert series. (Photos by Thom Champion)
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Nelson Edquest and Ron Alles, 8th graders at C.R. Anderson, check out the meth-related art outside the Great Northern Carousel. “Kids don’t mess with chalk,” Alles said of a school project, adding that “chalk” is a street name for meth. Edquest said the ceramic tiles are “really cool.” (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Construction of the Jackson Street parking garage, sidewalk improvements on the 300 block, a bulb-out on 6th and Last Chance Gulch, the Park Avenue patio and more work on the west side are snarling traffic and fraying some tempers this summer. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Glacier National Park offers some of the most gorgeous scenery on the continent, and the most beautiful scenes include the park’s many mountains. This one is Mount Reynolds, a 9,157-foot peak that towers above Logan Pass. (Photo by Rick & Susie Graetz)
Snowplows have just recently cut through the deep snows in Logan Pass and the Going-to-the-Sun Highway, opening this spectacular route until sometime in September or early October when winter snows will again seal it for another long rest. With this in mind, we bring back a piece, with changes, that we wrote about four years ago.
Of all of Montana’s mountain ranges, the peaks of Glacier National Park are undeniably the most beautiful. The area serves as a living textbook of the forces of glaciation and erosion. Glaciers of ice ages past did their finest work here.
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The Pride Parade in downtown Helena on Saturday morning drew this Great Falls couple who made their viewpoint plain, plus people in drag and multi-colored outfits and lots of folks who think Montana society should be a lot more egalitarian. (Photos by Cathy Siegner)
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The City-County Building is getting a patch job on the roof this week. Workers in the building were told it could be a little noisy and dusty while the work, involving additional insulation and roofing materials, is done over their heads. (Photos by Thom Champion)
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Graduating seniors from Helena and Capital High Schools got their diplomas Saturday at a packed Carroll PE Center. HHS graduated 347 seniors, while CHS had 303 graduates. After the family photos and congratulations, they headed off to the senior all-night party at the Civic Center.
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How’s this for a civic assignment? You have one year to get a solid, well-researched recommendation to the Helena City Commission on what to do about the burgeoning urban deer population. And you need to juggle statistics, anecdotal and verified encounters and serious public concern into what you suggest.
That’s on the plate of nine members appointed last year to the city’s Urban Wildlife Task Force. They have until March 2007 to make their recommendation to the commission but may need more time than that given the complexities of the problem.
To get a handle on public opinion, the group is applying for a $10,000 Fish, Wildlife & Parks Department grant to cover a professional survey of city residents on the deer population issue. They will also hold public forums on the matter and may even have a public vote about what to do.
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A couple from California with two other local development projects in the works are buying the Downtown Professional Center building at 314 N. Last Chance Gulch and plan to put in a fish house restaurant with patio dining and a martini bar on the main floor and condos on the upper floors.
Norbert and Corinne Waldenmayer’s Helena Development, LLC, submitted plans to the city for discussion at the pre-application meeting on Monday.
The restaurant and martini bar would be located where Rosa’s Cantina used to be. Waldenmayer said that since he and his wife do not operate restaurants themselves, they would be leasing the space out to others who do.
“We do not have that restaurant fully defined yet,” he said. “We have some people looking at it, but I can’t disclose who those people are this point in time. We have in mind a fish house restaurant.”
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The northwest corner of the 10-acre Benton Avenue Cemetery seems strangely vacant. But it isn't. Hundreds of Helena's deceased pioneers are buried there, including paupers, businessmen, politicians, infants and mothers from the Florence Crittenton Home and desperados.
Although there are no markers to record their passing, it can be assumed the hundreds of graves in that section represent the same cross-section of early Helena society as the other areas of the cemetery.
The cemetery was established in 1870 by Lewis and Clark County. In 1878, the county commission contracted with Gus Seniert to remove 198 bodies from the old county cemetery and reinter them at the Benton Avenue Cemetery. The old cemetery was abandoned to allow new schools, homes and businesses to be built in the area due to Helena's gold mining boom.
Seniert was directed to move the bodies, furnish new caskets if necessary, "and replace all monuments, railings, head and foot boards and all other marks of whatever kind that will enable the friends of the deceased to identify his or her tomb."
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Florian Schulz, a native of Germany, has been photographing Montana’s wild places for many years. He will share his multi-media presentation at the Wilderness Walks Kick-Off Event on Wednesday, 6:30-8:30 pm, in the Helena Middle School auditorium. (Photos provided by the Montana Wilderness Association)
The Montana Wilderness Association’s 44th Annual Wilderness Walks Kick-off Event will be Thursday, May 11 (not Wednesday, May 10, as the print version stated), from 6:30-8:30 pm in the HMS Auditorium.
Photographer Florian Schulz, originally of Southern Germany, will share a multi-media presentation that stimulates awareness of the threat to the last intact wilderness corridors in North America.
He is more recently known for “Yellowstone to Yukon, Freedom to Roam,” copies of which will be available for sale and signing following the presentation.
Copies of the MWA’s 2006 “Summer Wilderness Walks” booklet will be available. The event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by Great Harvest Bread Company, The Base Camp and Montana Book Company.
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Yom Hashoa, or Holocaust Memorial Day, was celebrated April 25 in the Capitol Rotunda with a display of posters illustrating the history and a service commemorating a half-dozen people who rescued Jews and resisted the Nazis. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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The Earth Day celebration on Saturday at Memorial Park featured music, food, plastics recycling, information on wind and solar power, kids, dogs, and plenty of sunshine. Mayor Jim Smith was also giving rides in his bright yellow Main Street Pedicab. (Photos by Cathy Siegner)
This past Saturday, the nation’s 36th Earth Day was celebrated in Helena’s Memorial Park. In the crowd on this sunny afternoon was one of the event’s initial backers, Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette, who recalled why the late U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson, D-Wisc., founded Earth Day back in 1970.
“It was his inspired idea,” La Follette recalled. “He was having trouble getting senators involved in environmental issues.”
That first Earth Day was a huge success by most accounts, drawing an estimated 20 million people to consider how they might change their behavior to enhance the planet.
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The mad scramble was on Sunday afternoon for 3,000 Easter eggs on the Capitol lawn. Kids brought all sorts of containers to hold their booty, hoping to snag one of two golden eggs containing $25 cash or a numbered egg worth a smaller amount. (Photos by J.C. Whitney & Thom Champion)
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Kayty Kapphan and Beth Schmiesing of CHS with their Applied Design class’s latest stained-glass work. Design is by Jaydee Sullivan; their teacher is Genevieve Anderson. The bamboo window will be on display at the Youth Electrum starting April 21 at the Holter. (Photos by Thom Champion)
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During the past 38 years, my ceramic sculptures and sculptural teapots have explored the complex environmental, political and economic impacts of contemporary human civilization upon the ecological and spiritual condition of our planet, and the quality of life of individual human beings. I present these concerns by visually manipulating and juxtaposing various objects, images and symbols to create narrative sculptural works which stimulate viewers to examine their own feelings about these issues.
My most recent sculpture, "All Nations Have Their Moment of Foolishness," is a wall mural approximately four feet high and five feet wide. It consists of 344 separate, unglazed earthenware tiles, each slightly smaller than three inches square. The tiles are fired in sawdust-filled saggars (refractory clay boxes with lids) to achieve a wide range of gray shades from pure white to jet black, with random mottled variations on the surface of each tile due to anomalies in the firing process.
"All Nations Have Their Moment of Foolishness" depicts a closely cropped face of George W. Bush. This particular image was chosen not to ridicule but to capture some essence of the man–it impressed me for its lack of expression or emotion and the visually prominent dark irises. (I have tried to imagine, in vain, what is occurring behind them.)
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What do bullriding and cheerleading have in common? Both events feature athletes hurled high into the air. Both require intricate moves, in each event there is very little time to make a good impression, and, in both events, one misstep spells disaster.
By my sophomore year in college, I’d had three knee surgeries in four years and my collegiate sports career was over. Then one day in early fall, my roommate noticed an ad in the school paper looking for a school mascot. One dare later, I found myself in an old Bengal outfit running through the gym and basically acting like a fool–something, I’m sad to say, comes pretty naturally. For the next three-and-a-half years, I had the delightful duty of being the Idaho State University Bengal tiger. It was also during that time that I gained a new appreciation for cheerleaders.
These girls, most between 5-foot-nothing and 5’4”, were strong, coordinated and as much, if not more, athletically gifted than many of the kids I’d played traditional sports with throughout my life. They ran, lifted, were tossed into the air and caught by one another with graceful ease. They danced and did stunts and more traditional cheers from August through March, often practicing at 6 a.m. or 9 p.m., depending on gym and work schedules. Up until that time, I’d never been a fan of cheerleading, but it didn’t take long to gain not only an appreciation but a respect for many of these athletes who give cheerleading a whole new meaning.
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UM-Helena students Evan Todd and Wyatt Conard of Denton worked Tuesday morning on framing interior walls at the eXplorationWorks! museum at the Great Northern Town Center. More volunteer community build efforts are scheduled for June. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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Hawkins Companies of Boise, which develops and leases commercial properties, has big plans for a 15-acre parcel on Custer Avenue between Power Townsend and Interstate 15.
In a pre-application meeting Monday with city officials, the company presented plans for four retail spaces on the property, including one for a 45,000-square-foot big-box store and three others ranging from 6-20,000 square feet.
The preliminary site plan shows that Sanders Street would be extended north through the new development up to Custer. Two other pads and some shops are also part of the plan, presumably destined for restaurants and/or other businesses.
Nobody involved would clarify which retailer would occupy the largest site at the proposed development, but rumors around town say that Sportsman’s Warehouse is a likely prospect. Sportsman’s Warehouse is an independent Utah-based company with 50 outlets in the West and Midwest, including one in Missoula.
Hawkins is developing the 24-hour Walgreens drugstore planned for the corner of 11th and Montana avenues. The company has constructed more than 50 such stores across the country, which Walgreens then leases or buys.
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Millie Ruckman has boxes of bodies and legs and heads and wigs and shoes. She needs them. She's a doll doctor, and when her silent patients need a part or two, she's prepared.
Last week, she explained how her hobby turned into a vocation when she spoke at the Montana Historical Society's March Lecture Series. It was obvious Millie is passionate about her work as she lovingly and gently held, turned and touched the dolls on her display table.
Some were standing tall such as a restored, perky Shirley Temple. Others were in dire condition. There was Minerva, circa 1910, a spotty, blackened tin doll with leather arms (now gone) and legs. Her black lace stockings were in shreds. Nearby was a china ballerina with a broken torso.
Millie's doll journey started in 1985 when she took a correspondence course from Lifetime Career Schools to learn how to repair dolls. It started as a hobby, after she retired from her job in an insurance office.
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Citing personal reasons, Helena High School principal Donald Wood-Foucar has asked to be reassigned to another job this fall within School District 1.
“It’s a personal decision that I’ve made,” he said. “I’ve asked for a reassignment and we don’t know what that’s going to be. I want to be able to spend more time with my kids as they’re getting into school.” (He has two children, ages 5 and 7.)
The school district would not release his letter requesting reassignment, although Wood-Foucar sent it out last month to 1,600 parents of HHS students. “His letter includes his personal reasons, and personal reasons exceed the public’s right to know,” said Bill Raser, school district personnel officer.
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Art students at Capital High School made this 700-piece stained-glass school ring, which is in principal Randy Carlson’s office window. They are now working on a stained-glass window of bamboo that has about 240 pieces. Their teacher is Genevieve Anderson. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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The “Thou: Wear Art!” exhibit opened Monday night at the Holter Museum featuring, among other items, these “Kiss Purse,” “Kiss Hat” and “Kiss Shoes” by Karen Davidson. The exhibit runs through February 28 at the museum at 12 E. Lawrence. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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Partially it was the lure of the Arctic North and the sense of adventure and just wanting to see this pristine place before it was defiled for its underground riches. Mostly, it was Ted’s idea, with Tom and I eagerly volunteering to tag along. One thing for certain, ANWR is the most remote and desolate place one can get to in the continental United States.
First stop on our expedition was Fairbanks. We spent a day reviewing supplies, organizing backpacks, ditching redundant items to save weight, planning meals and drinking the last beers we would see for 10 days. Also there was a trip to the fly shop for some big ugly bugs to entice the Arctic char (another general motive for the trip).
The next morning, we departed Fairbanks for Ft. Yukon on a small commercial flight. There we met our bush pilot for the three-hour flight over the Brooks Range to the Arctic Coast. Our pilot, Kirk Sweetsir (Yukon Air Service), a biologist with a lifetime of knowledge of the Arctic, was essential for planning the trip. The simple request to him in arranging the logistics was that we wanted to see it all–the Arctic Ocean, coastal plain, foothills, mountains, rivers and wildlife–with some fishing on the side. The plan that evolved from this had us starting at the mouth of the Turner River on Demarcation Bay near the northernmost border between the U.S. and Canada and ending at Whale Mountain on the Kongagut River, with travel between by foot.
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Helena’s first Asian Arts Festival this past Sunday featured practitioners of akido, judo, karate, qi gong, and others. Gov. Brian Schweitzer presented Master Cao Man Liang from China with one of his signature bolos and received a Chinese scroll in return. (Photos by Dottie Bowman and Cathy Siegner)
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The Capitol rotunda was ringed Monday by women holding colorful pro-choice placards in celebration of the 33rd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision making abortion legal.
Representatives of the National Abortion Rights Action League and Planned Parenthood of Montana thanked U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and other Montana politicians for opposing Samuel Alito’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court and touted programs they said have reduced unintended pregnancies.
Allyson Hagen of NARAL praised the Clinic Safety bill passed last session, which Gov. Schweitzer signed into law. It sets up a buffer zone around clinics and forbids anti-abortion protesters from coming within eight feet of those entering or exiting.
Hagen said pro-choice groups are awaiting an attorney general’s opinion on whether insurance companies that cover prescription drugs must include contraceptives as they do drugs such as Viagra.
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Last year was a fruitful one for Montana music. I listened to more than 40 CDs released in the past year by Montana artists. Most of them were recorded in Montana. A few were by Helena artists, several from northwestern Montana, and several from Missoula, but most came out of the Billings and Bozeman areas.
I have only listed CDs I have held in my hands and heard. There are probably many others that were released, but I can’t track them all down. It’s hard enough keeping up with the ones that are sent to me.
Tracks from about two-thirds of these have been played on my weekly radio show, “Montana Muse.” It’s the one place I know that features Montana’s music either on the radio or on the web. Listen for songs from these and more CDs this month as I feature jazz and singer/songwriters. It airs at 5 p.m. on Sundays on Yellowstone Public Radio (97.1 FM or www.ypradio.org).
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“There’s a connection in human nature between humans and the land. It goes back absolutely to having food and water…that close relation with nature,” Nancy Peterson, director of the Montana Department of Agriculture, said last week during the 26th annual Young Ag Couples Conference.
About 20 young farm and ranch couples from throughout the state gathered at the Colonial Red Lion to learn more about communication skills, government, financial planning and other leadership issues. Among topics covered were water rights, estate planning, migrant and seasonal workers, worker’s comp., obtaining loans, agriculture trade and agro-terrorism.
Dr. Ron Hanson, professor of Ag Economics at the University of Nebraska, led sessions on relationships and communication within agriculture families. Many young ag couples work on farms and ranches belonging to previous generations.
In a session entitled, “You Can Buy the Ranch, But Remember I Still Own It,” Dr. Hanson looked at these questions: “Who makes the decisions?” “Are the children partners or paid a salary for their work?” “Who will own it when the parents are gone?” “Will the children buy or inherit the business or will it be sold to someone outside the family?”
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The Helena Bighorns are on the road this week to Alaska but will be home to play Minnesota on Friday, January 20. They’re in the basement of the league at 9-19-3 but have shown an ability in the past to climb out and into the playoffs. See page 13 for more. (Photo by John Reddy)
The holidays are over, and it’s time for teams to hunker down and get serious.
The Helena Bighorns hit the road this week, facing Wasilla, Ak., on the 6th and 7th, then playing Fairbanks January 8, 13 and 14, before heading back to Wasilla on the 15th. They then travel to Billings on the 16th, finally arriving back home January 20, when they host Minnesota.
After 31 games. Helena remains in the cellar of the West at 9-19-3, but the end of 2005 featured a Bighorns team that looked more like a contender than a cellar-dweller. Helena entered the holiday break winning four of their final three, including a split against the league-leading Bozeman Icedogs (24-1-4). Helena struggled in Bozeman, losing 6-0 on December 16, but they handed the ‘Dogs a rare 6-4 loss on the 17th to wrap up 2005 play. Until that game, the Icedogs hadn’t lost in regulation since a 4-3 loss to the Bighorns on September 30.
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2006
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
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The year 2006 is here as of midnight Saturday night, and although the world faces tough challenges, at least we don’t have the Y2K deal to worry about! See pages 8 and 15 for some of the New Year’s celebrations going on around the Helena area.
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The 80-foot tree in front of the Civic Center is lit up for the annual “Lite-a-Life” fundraiser. Lights are purchased in memory of a loved one and the lit tree was dedicated on December 8. The event raised $54,000 this year to support the Hospice of St. Peter’s. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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A holiday open house at the Capitol Rotunda late Monday afternoon featured Santa, cookies, punch, and tons of kids. One of those was Gov. Brian Schweitzer, whom Santa said was getting “a big pile of coal and a dog bone” (for the First Dog, Jag). (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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This gingerbread house may not be exactly in move-in condition, but it’s bound to be tasty. They’re being constructed all around Montana these days for contests and just for holiday chomping. Recipes can be found at www.allrecipes.com and other sites. (Photo by Scott Woodruff)
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An intrepid biker makes his way down a snowy North Rodney near Broadway on Tuesday morning. The weather forecast for the next week predicts highs in the 20s and lows in the single digits. The chance of snow? Fifty percent. (Photo by Thom Champion)
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No holiday leaves me as conflicted as Thanksgiving.
An autumn celebration of the harvest, Thanksgiving calls our attention to the gratitude we should focus on the people, the earth, the confluence of sun and rain and all the other elements of the universe that conspire to bring life-sustaining and delicious food to the table. Thanksgiving is a long and ornate way of saying grace, which some people say before every meal–a practice I support. When you say grace, or "blessings on the meal," or "rubadubdub, thanks for the grub," that meal becomes a Thanksgiving.
But there's a dark side to the holiday known sardonically by some Americans, especially American Indians, as "Genocide Appreciation Day."
The pilgrims gave thanks, so the story goes, to the Wampanoag Indians for helping them survive their first winter in the New World. The story doesn't usually report that this was part of a necessary Indian ass-kissing phase in the early years of colonization when the fragile ranks of the Pilgrims were vastly outnumbered by their hosts, who could have wiped them off the face of the map without trying.
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There’s been a lot of talk lately about the “deer problem” here in town. This may come as a surprise to those of you who have had your heads stuck in the sand, refusing to face the fact that we are on the verge of nothing less than deer armageddon, a “deer-saster” of biblical proportions. Or at least that’s the way I heard it.
The battle lines have been drawn. The deer-huggers believe that these majestic animals are a natural part of the environment and, since they don’t cause too much trouble, we should let them be. On the flip side, deer detractors find them to be a nuisance at best and, at worst, a menace seeking to destroy our quality of life by trashing our yards and gardens. For this reason, these people deeply distrust the deer.
This is sad and unjustified. The fact is, deer are extremely trustworthy. Deer don’t lie, cheat, steal, or manufacture and distribute methamphetamine. On the other hand, there are a lot of people who do these things every day, and they still have the nerve to show their faces at church on Sunday. What hypocrites!
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Since ancient times, humanity has understood that blood is critical to survival. Greek doctors during the Hellenistic Age (roughly 320 to 120 B.C.) even hypothesized that the heart was central to the circulatory system. Unfortunately, little further work would be done in this area until the Renaissance. At that time (in 1628), the great English physician and anatomist William Harvey determined not only the existence of the circulatory system but how blood moved from the heart to the lungs back to the heart and then throughout the body. In 1665, using Harvey’s model, Dr. Richard Lower would successfully perform the first recorded transfusion of blood between dogs.
Two years later, doctors in France and England would both perform successful transfusions between sheep and humans. Although these were initially successful, animal-to-human transfusions were soon outlawed, as many of the patients developed severe reactions.
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Gandalf the Grey looks suspiciously like Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Also handing out Halloween candy at the governor’s mansion Monday night were Katrina Schweitzer, Bette Bohlinger and Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger and First Lady Nancy Schweitzer. (Photos by Thom Champion)
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Halloween night is the Witches' New Year. This Halloween, real-life Helena witches, known as Wiccans, will be ringing in the new at their gathering place, the Shrine of the Old Path in the Sixth Ward.
Stella Bennett, owner of the TarotStar shop at 1425 Helena Ave., serves as high priestess of the Wiccan shrine, which opened its doors about a month and a half ago. Before the Shrine of the Old Path debuted at 1434 Gallatin, the Wiccans were meeting regularly in the back room of TarotStar, which has been in business since August 2004.
"We outgrew it. It didn't take long," Bennett says.
According to Bennett and various Wiccan websites, Wicca is an earth-based religion centered on natural cycles such as the seasons. It incorporates Native American beliefs and a variety of pagan gods. Several sects of Wicca exist, with Bennett espousing the Correllian tradition. A third-degree Wiccan–the highest level–Bennett earned her colors at the Correllian Nativist Church International, Inc., in Illinois.
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The State of Montana and an army of remediation contractors have cleaned up about 40 percent of Silver Bow Creek, a 21.6-mile stretch of polluted water between Butte and Warm Springs Ponds that is part of the largest Superfund site in the country.
Things have gone so well since 1999 when the state, federal government and tribes reached a $215-million natural resource damage settlement with Atlantic Richfield Co. that those overseeing the cleanup anticipate returning some of the $80 million plus interest designated for the Silver Bow segment back to state coffers.
“To date, we have spent close to $35 million, and we’ve got approximately $93 million left,” said Joel Chavez, Helena-based project officer for the Department of Environmental Quality. “We think we will have a lot of money (left) and will be able to give some back to NRD (the Natural Resource Damage Program).”
Greg Mullen, environmental specialist with the NRD Program in Helena, said the leftover funds could either go back into Silver Bow Creek projects or be spent on restoration work somewhere else in the Upper Clark Fork River Basin.
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This bee made a late-summer visit to a sunflower this past week on Helena’s upper west side. There are about 70-80 species of sunflower out there, and many of the showy plants can be seen around town during these Indian summer days. (Flower photo by Dottie Bowman)
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Glittering displays of colorful beads and jewelry supplies adorned the Civic Center ballroom during the first annual Bead Stampede held Friday through Sunday. Latha Vellanki of Helena checked out the wares from Crazy Woman Beading on Sunday afternoon. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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The Last Chance Community Powwow drew hundreds of participants and attendees to the Civic Center this past weekend. Young and old donned their regalia and performed the grass dance, jingle-dress dance, hoop dance and other traditional Indian dances. (Photos by Cathy Siegner)
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A city contractor is installing a 54-inch resin-coated felt liner inside a nearly 100-year-old brick stormwater drain that runs through the city parking lot parallel to Park Avenue.
The liner, made elsewhere but resin-coated by PEC, Inc., of Helena, has to be kept iced during installation so it won’t harden, said engineer Robert Peccia of PEC. It is then expanded with steam and hardens to line the drain. Peccia said this “trenchless technology” means less street reconstruction.
PEC workers had to jackhammer through Broadway this week to install a manhole and access the old drain, said Bill Horner, city utility maintenance supervisor.
“(The pipe is) so big that you have to dig an insertion hole for it,” Horner explained. “The two storm drains tie together there, and we don’t have any access.”
The drain was built in 1906, he said, and runs all the way down to the Lyndale overpass.
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BENEFIT FOR MOTHERLESS KIDS FOCUSES ON DRUG’S DANGERS
The Lost & Foundation benefit Sunday for the late Amy Rolfe’s three boys brought out more than a dozen bands, face-painting, a silent auction, games, balloons, and displays about the dangers of methamphetamine, which Rolfe’s accused killer reportedly used. (Photos by Cathy Siegner)
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Helenans united Friday afternoon to contribute cases of bottled water to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Hundreds of people showed up at the YMCA to help load tons of water onto a Chinook helicopter for eventual delivery to the disaster area. (Photos by Cathy Siegner)
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Step back into the 19th Century this weekend at the Lewis & Clark County Fairgrounds during the first Montana Wild West Fest. Events (poetry, music, shootouts, horse rides, dances) run Saturday through Monday; the full schedule is on page 10 of this issue. (Photos provided by Voyage Productions, LLC)
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Nearly 600 small white crosses, representing the Montanans killed by drunk driving in the past five years, were installed on the Capitol lawn on Monday to draw attention to this problem, which becomes even more serious over Labor Day weekend. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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To the delight of a theater-loving crowd, Shakespeare in the Parks presented “The Taming of the Shrew” Monday night at Anchor Park. The story of how Petruchio won over the tart-tongued Kate is one of the Bard’s most popular and enduring tales. (Photos by Thom Champion)
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“3 O’Clock in the Morning” by Robert F. Morgan is in the 27th annual Western Rendezvous of Art, which runs from August 18-21. Morgan said he recalled how the “old hometown” looked down 6th Avenue when he was delivering papers in the early morning hours. (More details on the Rendezvous will be in next week's Queen City News.)
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(Clockwise from upper left) 4-H member Nick Hamm cleans his Yorkshire hog before the market sale at the Stampede Fair on Saturday. Hunter Burnham of the Montana City Mavericks says goodbye to her Suffolk lamb, Mickey. The Stampede Parade on Saturday featured, among other attractions, the Queen City Belles in their finery. 4-H member Allie Novotny’s Black Star hen, Pepples, won a ribbon for showmanship, which includes cage cleanliness and wing quality. (Photos by Dottie Bowman and J.C. Whitney)
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The Women’s Mural on the south side of the Livestock Building facing Broadway got a facelift last week when Joe Thielen of Cornerstone Construction caulked and varnished all 3,000 square feet of the mural, primarily painted in 1979 by Delores Dinsmore, Ann Appleby and Marilyn Sternberg and a team of helpers.
They worked five days per week, four hours per day with water-based acrylic latex paint mixed with white and had about 25 people from the Rocky Mountain Development Council’s Employment and Training Program assisting, according to Kathy Macefield of the city’s planning staff. The mural was dedicated in the fall of 1979.
The painting was done on a bumpy stucco surface so those working on the mural had to fill in the holes with plenty of extra paint, Macefield noted. They rented scaffolding and chalked grids on the building in 6-foot-tall increments and worked around the bus shelter and the trees in front of the building.
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This decommissioned Bell AH-1 Cobra Mod-S helicopter gunship, out at Fort Harrison, was introduced in the late 60s and used in Montana for training with the first 1-189th Attack Battalion. Some of those now flying Blackhawk helicopters in Iraq trained on the Cobra Mod-S, according to Lt. Col. Dave McGuire, director of Army aviation for the Montana National Guard.
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The music venue is at Women’s Park in downtown Helena.
Friday July 15, 2005
Friday's Lunch Break Downtown
11:30 John Floridis
Mt. Helena Music Festival
Friday, July 15th
5 pm: Rene Austin
7:30 pm: Reggae Cowboys
9 pm: Ltl' Brian & The Zydeco Travelers
Saturday, July 16th
1:30 pm: Leah Larson Band
3 pm: Ten Mile Tide
4:30 pm: Jared Stewart Blues Band
6 pm: Gospel Hummingbirds
7:30 pm: The Young Dubliners
9 pm: E.C. Scott
Sunday, July 17th
1 pm: James Solberg
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The Montana Wilderness Association is urging people interested in the Rocky Mountain Front to attend a special open house on Wednesday, July 6, from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., at the Carroll College Cube.
The Helena open house, hosted by the Lewis & Clark National Forest’s Rocky Mountain Ranger District, was added at County Commissioner Ed Tinsley’s request after seven other meetings held around the area–in Cut Bank, Heart Butte, Browning, Choteau, Augusta, Great Falls and East Glacier– wrapped up in late June.
Tinsley said he wanted to make sure those county residents interested in the Front who might not have a chance to go to Augusta still had a chance to comment.
The purpose of the open house is for the public to weigh in on five alternatives for the Rocky Mountain Front Travel Plan. The plan process, which has taken two-and-a-half years, will dictate what sort of transportation is allowed on the Front and where for the next 15 years. A decision is expected from Lewis & Clark National Forest Supervisor Spike Thompson next year.
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The 100th birthday party for the Thomas Meagher statue in front of the Capitol will be Tuesday, July 5, at the Capitol Building.
The schedule of events follows: At 2 pm, a panel discussion of Thomas Francis Meagher in the Old Supreme Court Chambers inside the Capitol to be moderated by David Walter of the Montana Historical Society. Panel guests will include Gary Forney, Jon Axline, Lenore Puhek, and Michael Finnegan.
3:30 pm: A procession of honor guards, drill teams, dignitaries, Irish men and women, and the families of deployed members of Montana’s National Guard will march around the Capital to the call of the pipers ending up at the base of the veiled statue in front.
4 pm: The outdoors portion of the party’s program will begin with Ward Shanahan as the emcee and an invocation by Monsg. O’Neill of the St. Helena Cathedral. Introductions of honored guests and proclamations will follow the singing of the national anthems of the United States and Ireland and a flyover by the Montana National Guard. The Tiernan Irish Dancers will move us to the unveiling of the statue by the children and will conclude with a visit by a very special guest.
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Due to declining occupancy, the Grand Lodge of Montana is considering closing its nearly 100-year-old Masonic Home near Helena and instituting an outreach program to keep current and potential residents in their own communities.
Some residents at the private, non-profit home have mobilized against the change, and family members have submitted letters to Masonic officials in an effort to head off a closure decision.
A spokesman at the Masonic Grand Lodge said that “a recommendation to change how we are handling the home” will be before the group at its meeting, which is Friday afternoon in Bozeman.
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The Montana Masonic Home was endowed in 1886 by an Augusta rancher, David Auchard, who told the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge, Cornelius Hedges, that he wanted most of his estate to found a charitable facility for “aged and distressed Master Masons, their widows and orphans.”
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“We dig the holes and put the seeds in. And then we cover that up,” four-year-old Rudy told me. He and his nine-year-old brother, Joe, have been gardening with their father, Neal Whitney of Helena, for the past three years.
I came to talk with them about gardening with their dad and to watch them transplant a patio tomato that needed to be moved and would now live in a pot on the deck.
Gardening with his children makes every day Father’s Day for Whitney. “I gardened with my parents; it was always a family thing with us,” he said. “It’s a great way to be together as a family and, at the same time, Joe and Rudy are learning a lot.”
They all work together to condition the soil, plant the seeds and care for the plants. “Then, when it comes to fruition, they have a sense of the whole process. It’s neat to do the growing thing and the cooking thing,” Whitney said.
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This photo of a birch tree leafing out by the Neighborhood Center doesn’t relate to anything in particular this week; it was just a pretty scene on hand during the Governor’s Cup race awards ceremony Saturday afternoon at Pioneer-Heritage Park. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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The Flathead Valley kids lined up on the Capitol Rotunda steps, nervously giggling while checking out the ornate surroundings. Gov. Brian Schweitzer was lined up with them, along with his Border Collie, Jag, who seemed a bit anxious from all the activity.
With the help of Deb Mitchell, head of the Capitol Building tour guides, the group was rehearsing a scene being filmed by a local production company for the new Around Helena Visitor’s Channel. After three or four takes, the shot was done and the real tour commenced.
The brainchild of Marty Lyon of Lyon Productions, the Visitor’s Channel idea is simple but new to the Queen City: produce programming on local attractions such as the Walking Mall, St. Helena Cathedral, Montana Historical Society Museum, the mansion district and others, and make them available to tourists via Channel 2 in more than 1,000 hotel and motel rooms across Helena.
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Spring has finally sprung in Helena and the color is everywhere. Tulips, daffodils, primroses, iris and pansies are blooming, and the lilacs are about to burst forth. See “Helena’s Growing” for more on the fragrant Syringa vulgaris.
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About 1,500 kids from Helena High School and Capital High School took part in the 81st Annual Vigilante Parade this past Friday afternoon in downtown Helena. There were 179 entries.
The top award-winners were: Sweepstakes Award, “Women in Work Force During WWII,” Kim Carlson, Bri Gorecky, Lindsey Nickel, Eun-Bee Seo, Bri Vandenberg; Most Artistic Award, “Miners Union Day,” Megan Butler, Spencer Chamberlin, Reil Cornelius, Carly Culver, Anna Heinitz, Kelsey Johnson, Dana Romney, Katrina Keipp, Stephen Steffens, Taylor Walsh; Judges’ Choice Award, “The Early IR,” Matt Downhour, Laura Evilsizer, Emma Hill, Lindsay Johnson, Siobhan Kirkpatrick, JoAnna Nelson; Most Humorous Award, “Insects Versus Montana Wheat,” Jordan Bartz, Josh Deininger, Kelly Jones, Cassin Lafountaine, Brenden Magill, Jessica Seibert, Samantha VanDaele. The sophomore classes at both high schools received the H.J. Roberts Cup for the highest level of class participation, with 48.5 percent participating. Freshman were second with 46.9 percent, juniors had 45.5 percent and seniors had 44 percent class participation. The junior classes were awarded the Wahl Cup for the most prize-winning entries. For more photos and all parade results, visit www.hhs.helena.k12.mt.us and www.chs.helena.k12.mt.us/olyb/vigilante/2005/2005.htm.
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Shriners from across the state paraded in downtown Helena Saturday morning and seemed to have as much, if not more, fun than the kids in attendance. There were 4-wheelers, clowns, bagpipes and drums, horses, plus all manner of strange-looking vehicles. (Photos by Jacque Whitney)
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This huge nylon kite, by Peter Lynn of New Zealand, floated high above Ryan Park on Sunday at the 15th annual Kite Festival sponsored by Child Care Partnerships. Kids and their kite-flying parents and friends had a great time and the weather even cooperated. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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The Montana Wilderness Association kicks off its 43rd Wilderness Walks this week with a slide presentation on the Bob Marshall with Rick & Susie Graetz (top right) Thursday from 7-9 pm at Jefferson School. Gear displays, food and door prizes will also be on hand.
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Kids look through garnet gravel at the Helena Mineral Society’s 57th annual Gem & Mineral Show this past weekend at the Civic Center. Rock hounds looked through jewelry, unfaceted gems, stones and minerals from the Treasure State and the world. (Photo by Cathy Siegner)
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Suncor Energy of Canada has been drilling for natural gas since early March just off Flesher Pass on recently logged Stimson Lumber property. Mineral rights are owned by Sieben Ranch Co. Drilling down to 15,000 feet could take five months. (Photo by Jeff Van Tine)
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The Helena Quilters’ Guild will hold its annual spring show at the Civic Center this weekend. Shown on the cover is their raffle quilt, a queen-sized nine-patch with floral appliqué border. The drawing for the raffle quilt is scheduled for Sunday at 3 pm.
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The 75th annual Easter Egg Hunt on the Capitol lawn, sponsored by Eagles Lodge #16, was another big success on Sunday afternoon, despite the wind and lingering snow. The snow just made the colorful eggs easier to spot for kids of all ages.
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A draft plan for the 160-acre Lewis & Clark County fairgrounds featuring a 40,000-square-foot exhibition hall and outdoor arena in the middle of what is now a 1-mile horse track will be on the table at a special Fairgrounds Commission meeting April 11.
Prepared by Stahly Engineering with direction from a Fairgrounds Commission subcommittee, the working draft accommodates plans to save one of the historic west barns.
However, it would not accommodate horse racing and would turn the existing track into a partly paved access road. This notion isn’t sitting well with racing advocates who want to preserve the track, installed in 1870 when the fairgrounds was first built and one of the oldest racetracks in the country.
“No way, José. We can’t get rid of that track,” said Chick Smith, an ex officio member of the Fairgrounds Commission. “There’s a lot of people in Helena who want horse racing. The only people who don’t want horse racing are the ones sitting on the board.”
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Yes, we need the moisture, but the recent snowfall was a little bit startling after temperatures in the high 60s just last week. Given the relatively warm weather lately though, local gardeners are itching to get their fingers in the dirt and start planting.
(See the first installment of "Helena's Growing" on page 9 of this issue. The QCN will have helpful advice from local gardening experts every week from now through June 22.)
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A spectacular blue sky, mild temperatures and plenty of snow greeted competitive snowboarders this past weekend when they gathered at the Great Divide Ski Area for the 2005 Montana Snowboard Championships, a benefit for the Intermountain Children’s Home.
Fifty-seven amateurs and 19 pro snowboarders paid $30 each to determine who could pull the biggest air off a jump, record the fastest time in the bordercross competition or have the best rail ride. Minors needed to complete a parental consent form to compete, and all athletes were required to wear a helmet while jumping, racing the gates or riding the rails.
Nineteen pros competed for cash prizes, while the amateurs raced and jumped seeking to win snowboarding accessories provided by an array of sponsors.
Saturday’s bordercross competition was a real crowd-pleaser. In the bordercross race, three athletes take off simultaneously from a common starting gate, weaving and jumping through a variety of gates, snow mounds and obstacles. When the front-runner eats it, the two boarders behind often wreck trying to avoid the fallen boarder. Then all three scramble upright and continue the race.
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(Part 1 of 6)
The following six-part collection of articles on Northwest Montana is the first of several Montana regional profiles that will appear in this column over the next year. They are meant to better acquaint Montanans with the overall geography and geographic history of our state and hopefully will increase your enjoyment of this amazing place we call home.
What outsiders perceive of Montana—great rivers, vast forests reaching to snow-covered summits, deep blue lakes, wilderness, Indian legends and lumberjacks—may well be represented in the state’s far northwest corner.
In direct contrast to southwestern Montana, the valleys here are deep and confined and flat terrain is scarce. The mountain ranges dominate; they are the Purcell, Cabinet, Salish, Coeur D'Alene and Bitterroot. With its northern tip rising quickly from the Cabinet Gorge, the crest of the Bitterroot Range forms the Montana/Idaho border.
South of Libby, the Cabinet Mountains, extending about 80 miles along a northwest-southeast axis, are the dominant range of this corner of Montana and contain the highest points east of the Cascades of Washington and west of Glacier National Park. As a result, they intercept east-moving storms and, in some years, collect more than 100 inches of precipitation.
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Aikido
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
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Roque Wardell of Mountain Spirit Aikido visited Helena Middle School last Friday for a demonstration. He and students Angie and Sarah Rickard presented basic self-defense techniques for the PE classes. Akido is a Japanese discipline emphasizing self-defense and non-aggression. (Photos by Bob Clarkson)
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Thousands of Montanans from across the state turned out Saturday night for the Governor’s Inaugural Ball held at three venues in the Queen City. Gov. Brian Schweitzer, his wife, Nancy, and their children watched the spectacle at the Civic Center ballroom (top), a patriotically attired Kenneth Wharton from Bozeman partied with his date (middle left), jazz singer (and Montanan) Eden Atwood and her band (middle right) graced the auditorium (where Montanan Phillip Aaberg joined in on piano), and the standing-room-only crowd parted for the opening processional (bottom) led by a Native American chief (middle) and an honor guard. (Photos by Cathy Siegner and Nanette Tettaton)
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If the Friends of Downtown Helena gather valid signatures from 15 percent of the city’s registered voters, Helenans could see a measure on the September 13 (or November 8) ballot prohibiting nonpermitted traffic on the walking mall without a public vote.
Two members of the group’s steering committee submitted proposed ballot language to County Clerk and Recorder Paulette DeHart on Monday afternoon. The petition must first be approved by City Attorney David Neilsen and, three weeks later, the group can begin collecting signatures.
A total of 2,255 verifiable signatures from registered voters within the city limits must be gathered, according to Elections Supervisor Marilyn Bracken.
“This ballot initiative is the only option left to maintain the integrity of downtown Helena,” said Rachel Peura.
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Swimmers from Helena did well at the Saturday invitational at Carroll College. Shown are Lauren Formaz (left) from Helena High and Hilary Turner (center) and Dani Sandrock (right) from Capital High. Turner set a Bruin record in the 200 freestyle, while Formaz and Sandrock had second-place finishes.
The Capital and Helena high school swimming teams hosted nine other schools from around the state at the Bohn Moerer Invitational Saturday at Carroll College.
Bozeman High School won the girl’s meet with 281 points, followed by Flathead (244) and Missoula Hellgate. Capital High School was fourth with 154 points, and Helena High scored 88 points for fifth.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Hilary Turner set a new school record for Capital. In a race that came down to the last stroke, Bozeman's Erin Bell touched first by two one-hundredths (.02) of a second, but Turner's time of 2:02.70 was a new Bruin record.
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About 160 students, faculty and staff from Carroll College recently caused a stir on campus by wearing T-shirts with deliberately insulting words printed on them. The words alluded to racial and sexual slurs and included “dyke,” “wop,” “injun,” “faggot,” “rag head,” “kike,” “nigger,” and others.
On the backs of the shirts was an invitation to anyone offended by the messages to come to a panel discussion about hate language the following night on campus, and quite a few people did just that, according to one of the event’s organizers, Ben Fuglevand.
“We had 80 to 100 students and faculty and community members show up, so that was pretty cool. I was pleased at the good turnout,” said Fuglevand, 19, a freshman from Seattle.
Panel participants were Travis McAdam, interim director of the Montana Human Rights Network; Barb Allen of PRIDE; Frank Kromkowski from Helena Peace Seekers; Kat Northup, a Helena High School student; Rep. Carol Juneau, D-Browning; Candie Cain, Carroll’s dean of enrollment services, and Dan Ladd from Intermountain Children’s Home.
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Our recent cold snap may have been bad, but it’s nothing compared to the bitter cold Montana suffered during the winter of 1886-87, when the state’s ranchers lost an estimated 60 percent of their cattle, or 362,000 head.
In his book, “Montana High, Wide and Handsome,” Montana author Joseph Kinsey Howard depicted the vicious winter storms of 1886-1887 that beat the prairie and its unlucky inhabitants into submission. We continue his narration with the discussion of just how those residents fared.
“Cattle which had been pushed over the Missouri in the fall to the better grass on the northern range drifted back, for there was little shelter on the steppes north of the river. Half dead from cold and hunger, their bodies covered with sores and frozen blood, bewildered and blind in a world of impenetrable white, they blundered into the barbed-wire fences, crumpled against them, and perished. They were trapped in drifts above their bellies and stood erect until their bodies froze. They slid into air holes in the rivers.
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Second fiddle....
by Kristen Inbody, Community News Service, UM School of Journalism
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
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For the first time in many years, the GOP doesn’t dominate the Montana Legislature. Will they make music with their colleagues across the aisle or will we hear sour notes until the session is over in April? Shown (clockwise from top) are Senate President Jon Tester, D-Big Sandy, Senate Minority Leader Bob Keenan, R-Bigfork, House Republican Leader Roy Brown, R-Billings, and House Speaker Gary Matthews, D-Miles City.
by Kristen Inbody
His office small and sparse since he no longer “entertains dignitaries,” Senate Minority Leader (and former Senate President) Bob Keenan flipped through a three-ring notebook of news clippings on his desk in the Capitol last week.
The 2-inch-thick binder is packed with hundreds of articles covering newly inaugurated Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s election campaign, beginning with his declaration of candidacy.
“We’re going to hold the governor accountable for campaign promises and making sure they weren’t just empty promises,” the Bigfork Republican said.
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A standing-room-only crowd was at the City Commission meeting Monday night to comment on the redesign for the Walking Mall. Commissioners ended up tabling the issue until their January 10 meeting so questions about the proposal can be addressed. (Photos by Cathy Siegner and Thom Champion)
Note: The QCN is taking a holiday break and won't be published Dec. 29 or Jan. 5. We'll be back on Jan. 12, 2005.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and thanks for reading and supporting the paper through 2004!
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They're coming!
by Kristen Inbody, Jessica Wambach and Anne E. Pettinger, Community News Service, UM School of Journalism
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
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Look out, Helena! The 59th Montana Legislature is about to descend on the Queen City. Lawmakers from across the state will be burning the midnight oil trying to divvy up the state budget.
Legislative preview: The state budget
by Kristen Inbody
Come January, Montana legislators will face a budgetary phenomenon they haven't seen in years: an overflowing treasury. Unlike their recent predecessors who dodged projected deficits by slashing programs, members of the 59th legislature will convene January 3 with a surplus estimated at $278 million.
Yet deciding what to do with the money may prove anything but easy. One issue alone has the potential to derail what some legislators hoped would be the least stressful session in years.
“Education has to be the 800-pound gorilla in the budget debate,” says outgoing Rep. Gary Forrester, D-Billings, chairman of the interim Legislative Finance Committee.
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