Week of October 17, 2024
Week of October 17, 2024
A head-on collision on Oct. 6 left two people dead and two injured at 9:20 p.m. on Highway 83 in Seeley Lake. According to a release from Montana Highway Patrol, a vehicle driving south on Highway 83 failed to make a curve to the left near Double Arrow Road. It traveled in the ditch for 340 feet and got back into the southbound lane before it crossed onto the wrong side of the road and collided head-on with another vehicle traveling north. Per the release, drugs and speed were suspected as conditions of the crash. All passengers were wearing...
The Missoula County Commissioners approved spending a portion of funds from a 2018 bond to preserve 158 acres in the Swan Valley for conservation. The funds made available in 2018 were part of a voter-approved open space bond measure. This bond provided $15 million that was to be used to enhance open space for purposes including access, agriculture, fish and wildlife habitat, rivers, streams and scenic views, per the ballot language. One way those purposes can be realized is through the...
Since its founding in 1993, Clearwater Montana Properties has emphasized community-building as a key component of its company culture. Through its Charitable Giving Program, the company's agents give back a portion of all real estate proceeds to the communities in which they were earned. To date, the program has produced over $1,248,284 in charitable donations to causes throughout Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, Washington and Wyoming. "Each year Clearwater and our agents give a portion of each...
Steve Lamar has only lived in these parts for 48 years. I asked him if he was a rich out-of-stater who doesn't understand our Montana values. He assured me he isn't running for political office. Perhaps you have heard of the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park, the Lamar River or Lamar Mountain. An ancestor of Steve's was head of the Interior Department under Grover Cleveland. An army friend of Mr. Lamar was sent to the Yellowstone area to survey it and was given the responsibility of...
After the announced closures of Pyramid Mountain Lumber and Roseburg Forest Products this spring, the state of Montana was awarded a national emergency grant to assist those laid off. That funding can go beyond directly helping employees and is available for any business in Seeley Lake that might be able to link a loss of revenue or a closure to the wind down of Pyramid. On Friday, Pyramid announced the end of its final stage of operations, with the final load of lumber shipped last week. About...
Come and join us at the Seeley Lake Senior Center on Oct. 26 for a super breakfast before hunting. Every year on opening day many folks that are experienced deer hunters and those going out for the first time head for the Seeley Lake area. The many back roads in our forests provide access to lots of terrific deer hunting. Each year proves to be good as some dandy bucks are harvested here. If you arrive in Seeley or live here you may already know about the Hunters Breakfast served at the Senior...
The 22nd annual Tour of the Arts on Oct. 12-13, put on by Alpine Artisans, gave local people and visitors a chance to visit working studios, galleries and museums from Condon to Lincoln. Sixteen local artisans in the Seeley-Swan and Blackfoot Valleys had their crafts on display and often showed their production processes to attendees. Martha Swanson, from Ovando, demonstrated the steps of bowl making during the tour. The Swansons had several finished bowls on display despite losing one of their...
Two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Montanans will vote on whether to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. Constitutional Initiative 128, advanced by a group called Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights, would create a new section of the Montanan Constitution establishing “a right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion.” The initiative would allow the government to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except in cases when the mother’s...
Whoever said "dyeing is easy" has never tried it. Twenty women took on the challenge to learn the process at the Nature of Art Workshops sponsored by Alpine Artisans on Saturday, Sept. 20-21 in Seeley Lake. The workshop convened for the second year to offer experimentation with new techniques in eco-printing as taught by Crystal McCallie, University of Montana textile art instructor. In the end, they turned the paper and fabric they had dyed into a lovely handmade book. Following the dying...
Many Americans express concern about how the political system is or is not working, but Montana voters will get a chance to change up the way elections are run in a way supporters hope will benefit more moderate candidates. The changes are included in two separate constitutional amendments, CI-126 and CI-127, on this fall’s ballot. CI-126 would amend the Montana Constitution to change the voting process to a “top four” primary election. This means that all candidates regardless of political party would appear on the primary ballot and...
Thirty five years ago... Thursday Oct. 12, 1989 Timber harvest down in ‘88 The total volume of timber harvested in Montana decreased in 1988 by 12.8% from the previous year. Timber from all lands of all ownerships declined from 1,376,466,000 board feet in 1987 to 1,199,798,000 board feet in 1988. Timber harvest records for 1989 are not yet available. In 1988, 50.7% (609,507,000 board feet) of the total Montana timber harvest volume was from private lands. Montana’s 10 national forests provided 40.5% (486,033,000 board feet). The remaining...
Sunday was one of those crisp, clear, Indian Summer days I had been longing for since the smoke cleared. Like a lot of people I feel robbed of summer. Now its counterpart, and always my favorite time of year, is here. Our neighbors recently invited us to pick MacIntosh apples from their trees. Jan picked the apples and will make a pie. The leaves on our trees turned color and just as soon started blowing off. For just a little while longer, everything is glorious and alive before the onset of...
So many topics, but my heart grieves for events locally. As happens in every community, we have had some sad events in our community. A couple of Saturdays ago, a guy was driving erratically, passing in no passing zones and shooting randomly. Leading to a police encounter and ending with him taking his own life. Then the next day, two gals and another couple were involved in a collision just south of our town. There were fatalities and others went to hospital. Of course, it is life in a small town, so the gossip is flying, the rumors are...
It’s the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office, grocery prices have climbed 21.5%, rent has increased by 22.5% and electric bills have skyrocketed by 30.7%. Those are national averages, and in Montana, we’re feeling it a lot more. Electing Kamala Harris and other radical left Democrats to fix the economy they tanked sounds a lot like doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome. With that in mind, I encourage Montanans to ask...
Jon Tester tries to project the image of a local Montanan fighting against the bureaucrats in Washington D.C. It is interesting that during Tester’s last election cycle, he did not carry the county in which he lives. Seemingly, those are the people that know him best. At this time, the Democrats hold a razor thin majority in the Senate. Out-of-state donors have contributed tens of millions to Tester’s re-election. Tester’s vote has been key to enabling the Biden-Harris administration to pass woke legislation and policies relating to...
We are writing to endorse Connie Keogh for House District 92. She brings years of personal and professional experience to this race including leadership skills, teaching experience and the “can do” attitude honed from years of hard work on the south-central Montana ranch where she grew up. Keogh has been our representative in HD 91 the past three legislative sessions. Due to redistricting, she is now running to represent HD 92. We were extremely pleased with Keogh’s representation when she served HD 91. We found her to be an extremely...
The first company to mass-produce the TV dinner was the Swanson company that sold 10 million trays in 1954, its first year of production. Following the lean casseroles of the 1930s of the great depression and the wartime meatloaves of the 1940s, American families welcomed progress and prosperity with frozen meals, canned foods and cereals. With the advent of the television, the family substituted the round-the-table family dinner with TV trays. We may blame our expanding waistlines, poor metabolic health and addiction to the screen on the...
The Seeley-Swan Lady Blackhawks beat the Saint Regis Tigers, 3-0, in an intense game. After losing the games last week, the Blackhawks had a lot to prove. Hoping to take home victories this weekend, the girls walked onto the court confident that they'd walk over winners. Starting the first set on Oct. 10, the Tigers were leading, but with quick reflexes and smart play, the Blackhawks made a comeback. Kilty Hanson, a junior, got an ace, leading Seeley-Swan to win the first set, 25-23. The second...
Andre Kodiak Sainsbury, age 24, died on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in a car accident near Wisdom, Montana. Andre was born in Belarus on May 29, 2000. His original name was Andrei Viktorovich Azarov and his parents were deprived of parental rights when he was two. He spent time in a hospital being treated for rickets, then lived in an orphanage for six months. He was adopted by Lynn Sainsbury in September 2003. They lived in Potomac for two years where he learned the important skills of tricycle...
Neva Joanne Porte sailed peacefully from her Helena home into eternity on July 20, 2024. Born in Dillon, Montana in 1931 to Adena and Claude Hardy, Neva spent her early years in Glendive and Miles City. Growing up during the Depression, she learned how to create fun out of pure imagination. She also developed a lifelong passion for reading. She would often walk home from the Miles City library reading all the way, resulting in numerous skinned knees. Her family moved to Helena when Neva was 12....
