Sorted by date Results 1 - 24 of 24
HELENA - The Senate Highways and Transportation Committee unanimously passed Senate Bill 260 at their Feb. 21 hearing. If signed into law, the bill would establish the Trenton Johnson Memorial Highway on Highway 83 between mile marker 14, just south of Seeley Lake, north to Lake Inez at mile marker 22, signage will mark the section of Highway 83 and state highway maps must be updated to include the name Trenton Johnson Memorial Highway. “My goal was to honor our amazing firefighters, particularly Trenton Johnson who risked and lost his life a...
POTOMAC - The partnership between the Greenough/Potomac Volunteer Fire Department (GPVFD) and the Potomac Valley 4-H Club was a continued success Feb. 23 at the annual Pancakes and Permits event in Potomac at the Potomac Greenough Community Center. The focus of the community event was for residents to prepare for burning season by obtaining their burn permits and maintaining their fire extinguishers while enjoying a hot breakfast and fellowship with neighbors. The GPVFD and the Montana Departmen...
SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake Elementary seventh and eighth graders are reaching out to help students on the Blackfeet Reservation. Thanks to the students' efforts, SLE junior high science and math teacher Patti Bartlett Gladstone will be bringing 400 pounds of pinto and black beans to Browning to support the growing need due to the 33-day government furlough. Last November the eighth graders brought items to school for a bake sale. The seventh graders followed with another bake sale in December. T...
SEELEY LAKE – With the sun peaking out and temperatures reaching the low 20s, more than 550 runners were eager to get on the course Saturday morning, Feb. 23. Under new management, the annual Snow Joke Half Marathon started with the traditional shotgun blast at 11 a.m. at Seeley Lake Elementary. The runners, hailing from across Montana and 13 other states, were off on the 13.1 mile snow-packed course around Seeley Lake for the 40th year in a row. First place female finisher Nicole Murray, 48 o...
Warning signs are all around us and our wishy washy and spineless ways, are blinding us to the truth. We already have Isis members in America and they keep coming over our borders. Hoda Muthana, other Isis brides and other Americans who turned their back on America and left to fight with Isis, are daring to ask to come back to America. Now they want us to let them back in. They are traitors! We must not let them in to again spy and promote recruits to kill Americans. It would be like letting a poisonous snake in your house and hoping you and yo...
SEELEY LAKE - First, I want to express appreciation to the staff of the Seeley Lake Post Office. They have undergone a complete transformation in the last several months with a new postmaster and 100 percent new staff. Now they are learning our area and our box holders and addressees, all while operating with a shrinking budget and declining staffing, over which they have no control. And yet they try. The challenges are many and the frustrations are climbing. Most of us deeply appreciate what you do. Many of us do not have street delivery of...
Here I am in reality. I turn the page, and I'm in the forest. Trees lightly dusted with white powdered sugar. Wearing just pajamas and slippers, I start walking. I saunter over logs, Under low branches. I see squirrels scurrying up and down trees, Deer chomping on snow covered needles. I stop walking and look back. My footprints have disappeared within the new fallen snow. I start running. Not knowing what I'm running from, just knowing that I need to escape it. I hear the muffled thump of foots...
Let's talk today about one of the most horrible illnesses known to, well-MAN-the man flu! As a man and a previous man flu sufferer, I can tell you-it's awful. While my wife (and women in general) may not agree, the urban dictionary explains quite clearly that the man flu experience is more agonizing than childbirth. The nurses at our clinic are pretty good at spotting this terrible affliction. It's pretty much a text-book diagnosis, just watch for a man who is emitting involuntary groans of...
Cutt'n timber all over the country you get to see and hear some things that you'll never forget. On that burn over at the North Fork of the Blackfoot where me and Elden Rammell were sentenced to cut, a sorta comical comment from a dude sticks in my mind. I was falling along an old road and here comes an outfitter out for a day ride with a bunch of dudes. Not wanting to scare the ponies, I sat on a stump to let them pass. I guess I was a sorry look'n sight, black from one end to the other. The...
Tucked in the valleys and mountains that surround Ovando and Seeley Lake are the many creeks that feed into the Blackfoot River. Among them are North Fork of the Blackfoot, Monture Creek, Morrell Creek and West Fork of the Clearwater. These tributaries are the lifeblood of the Blackfoot watershed and its fishery, as explained in a recently released short film titled “Hallowed Waters: The Legacy and Lifeblood of the Big Blackfoot.” To protect the Blackfoot River long-term, we need to start with protecting these key tributaries. That’s what...
HELENA – Montana State Parks is seeking public comment on proposed Recreational Trails Program (RTP) grant awards for the current grant cycle which closed Jan. 31. Public comment on the proposed RTP grant awards is open through Saturday, March 9 at 5 p.m. Seeley Lake Driftriders, Seeley Lake ROCKS and Swan Valley Connections were among the 76 organizations that applied this cycle. RTP is a federally funded program administered by Montana State Parks. It provides funding for trail and trail related projects across the state. Eligible projects i...
SEELEY LAKE - Please join us to listen to John Fraley, historian and storyteller of infamous characters who shaped the history of wild country in the forks of the Flathead River. He will be sharing some of these colorful and true tales at Alpine Artisan's Open Book Club Saturday, March 2, at 7 p.m. at The Grizzly Claw Trading Company. Seeley-Swan High School sophomore Cory Wilkey will be reading her poetry before the speaker. The event is free and everyone is welcome. Fraley has done exhaustive...
We've been experiencing an active residential market in Seeley Lake this winter with five homes currently under contract. Not bad for the dead of winter in Seeley Lake! Experts agree that the market is softening for buyers, but will it be a full-on buyers' market? In Seeley Lake, it depends on the price range. The demand for houses in Seeley Lake under $300,000 is currently strong. All five homes presently under contract are listed under $300,000. There are only eight active residential...
The snow is flying and the Seeley Lake Community Foundation is hard at work on our biggest new project, creating a community space in the former Deer Country Quilts building, along Highway 83. We're working to make this beautiful log building, in the heart of downtown Seeley Lake, into a hub for community activities and a centralized location for residents and visitors to access important services. SLCF exists to support local nonprofit organizations, and connect and grow resources for the...
We are coming up on transmittal week. Any general bill that has not had a hearing, passed through a committee and whichever chamber it originated in by the end of this week will be dead. Committees will be in overdrive and every House Floor Session will have 20 or so bills on it. Things will be moving fast and we should see some interesting bills being put in at the last minute. We also announced our new plan for infrastructure this week and the first bill of the new plan had its hearing in House Appropriations. The new program places a strict...
House Endorses Legislation To Prohibit Local Gun Ordinances The Montana House of Representatives last week passed a bill that would prohibit local governments from implementing gun ordinances. About 50 volunteers for the Moms Demand Action group gathered in the Montana Capitol Monday to lobby against the bill, House Bill 325. The national Moms Demand Action group aims to fight for stricter gun laws and was formed after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Head of the Montana chapter Kiely Lammers of Billings said the bill is a...
SWAN VALLEY - The Swan Lake Ranger District of the Flathead National Forest is requesting public scoping comments on the Van Lake Project in the Swan Valley. Comments received by March 15 are the most helpful in project development. The proposed project seeks to improve the existing dispersed camping and recreation area adjacent to Van Lake. The popularity of dispersed recreation around Van Lake has increased, leading to increased effects to the surrounding area including soil compaction, vegetation damage, riparian degradation and associated...
SEELEY LAKE - Gloria Jean and Jack Venters of Seeley Lake celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary Feb. 12. They were married in 1966 in Des Moines, Wash. Happy Anniversary and love from your daughter Renee....
SWAN VALLEY – Winter is typically a quiet time of year, but come February, the phone at Swan Valley Connections (SVC) starts ringing. "Yes, the date is still April 15," I hear Leanna Grubaugh say down the hall. Leanna may be our longtime Office Manager but everyone in earshot knows she's not talking about tax day. She's talking about another kind of deadline, determined by the time when Douglas-fir beetles take flight. Douglas-fir beetles, along with the mountain pine beetles, are creatures w...
HELENA - William Donald Martin Jr. passed away peacefully at home on Tuesday, Feb. 5. He was preceded in death by: his parents W.D. Martin, Sr. and Ann Marie Martin; sons William D, Martin III and Shawn Lester Martin; brothers Frank Martin and Jackie Bob Martin; and sisters Patsy Martin and Joanne Martin. Don is survived by: his wife Bonnie (Sherman) Martin; sister Barbara Stevens and her husband Jim; son Steve Martin and daughter-in-law Staci Martin; daughter Angie Ratayczak and son-in-law... Full story
A good friend once used the illustration of what he referred to as, “The Faith Train.” He pointed out that our faith is the engine, fed by the coal car of facts and followed by the caboose of feelings. When we let our feelings, or emotions, be the engine (as I recently did) we are misled and do not allow God to work. Sometimes it is because we are over anxious and unwilling to wait for God’s timing, sometimes we are misled by our feelings. But regardless of the reason, we must allow God and the Holy Spirit to do Their work, and not attem...
BUTTE, MONT. - The Lady Blackhawks' season came to an end at the hands of the Manhattan Christian Eagles at the Western C Divisional Tournament Feb. 23. The Ladies fell to West Yellowstone in the opening round and then sent Drummond home in their first loser out game. The Lady Blackhawks faced an uphill battle in the second half with West Yellowstone after falling 18 points behind in the first half. The Ladies nearly matched West Yellowstone in the third quarter and made a run in the final...
Help set the stage for the 2019-2020 2 Valleys Stage season SEELEY LAKE - It’s already time to start making plans for next season’s 2 Valleys Stage performances! Everyone in the community is invited to participate and provide input on which performers will be invited for the 2019-2020 season. Join 2VS Friday, March 1, 4 p.m. at The Hub in the Bison & Bear Mall in downtown Seeley Lake. They will listen to CDs and/or watch videos of prospective guest artists and discuss their suitability as performers for the community and for area schools. First...
As a conservative, I am used to Liberal Democrats accusing me, or the people I vote for as: sexist, bigoted, misogynist, racist, xenophobe, homophobe, climate denier, hater and dumb. I admit, I don’t know what some of those big words mean, but I never thought, until now, that they were right about me being dumb. Liberal Democrats just introduced “The new green deal.” Its brilliance caused me to doubt my intellectual capacity. I never knew eliminating cow gas could help stop climate change. I have thought if you eliminate people gas you could...
