Opinion / Guest Column


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  • Library news

    Carrie Benton, Seeley Lake Public Library Librarian|Feb 22, 2024

    This month’s Book Club pick is Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West. Swing by the library for a copy. The book club meets in the library the first Thursday of each month at 11:00 a.m. Next gathering is March 7. Your local Seeley Lake Public Library has added these new titles to the Montana Collection. For our quilters: Border to Border: Quilts and Quiltmakers of Montana. The quilts chronicle Montana's history over the last 150 years, tel...

  • New Year resolution for your teeth

    Dr. Alyssa Harris DMD, Seeley Swan Medical Center|Feb 22, 2024

    As the New Year settles in, you may be thinking about ways to improve your health. Many of us are familiar with Dry Month January where people abstain from alcoholic beverages. As a dentist I strongly applaud this effort. Alcohol is associated with causing seven different types of cancer, including oral cancers. Did you also know that alcohol as well as many other beverages cause acid erosion of your teeth? Severity of tooth erosion is directly related to the pH, or acidity, of the beverages we drink. The acid pulls critical minerals out of...

  • A loopy idea

    Alan Muskett|Feb 22, 2024

    It is helpful, when your life or job is in grind mode, to have a diverting obsession. At 3 a.m., in a fluorescently lit surgeon's lounge, waiting my turn in the OR to reconstruct a face that, earlier in the evening, had lapped up a dozen beers or so, then flew through the windshield of his Ram 2500, I would peruse innumerable websites related to way cool boats and yachts and exotic locations. The fact that many of these vessels cost ten times more than my net worth (counting the sale of a...

  • Tactics and flies for late winter, early spring

    Chuck Stranahan|Feb 22, 2024

    One nice thing about fishing this time of year: you're not likely to fish in a crowd. You might see a couple of others, and like you, they probably value their solitude as much as you do. You tend not to bother each other; the social exchanges are apt to be quiet, pleasant, and brief before you go your separate ways. The solitude you'll find when it's not quite spring is reason enough to get out and fish. Another nice thing is that despite the cold water temperatures that lull the trout into a...

  • Not your usual February, and walking along the river

    Chuck Stranahan|Feb 15, 2024

    This February feels different. I don't quite have a sense of what to expect as it plays out. Today, as I write, I see a covering of fresh snow. The rain that fell over the last few days is frozen under the snow. The streets are icy and very slick. The cars move slowly, cautiously, along the road I can see from the house. The day feels more like it belongs in early December. The intermittent rains and snows will come, or so the weather forecasts tell me, and the snow will melt and the rain and...

  • The power of a walk

    Tom Browder|Feb 15, 2024

    At the Seeley Lake Historical Society, a main focus of ours is maintaining and enhancing the museum at the Barn. Those of you who have visited us recently (we are open Thursday through Saturday 11 a.m - 4 p.m. throughout the winter) have seen the updated exhibits discussed in our December article, and now can view our Veteran's display. This includes uniforms and artifacts going back to the First World War. We have other projects in the works, so in addition to visitors, we love to have volunteers as well! Understanding and appreciating...

  • Asking for help is not a sign of weakness

    Rep. Ryan Zinke, Western Montana District|Sep 28, 2023

    Montana faces a mental health epidemic. All our families have been touched by this crisis in one way or another. Tragically, many of Montana’s mentally unwell end up in prison or end their own lives rather than get the help they need and deserve. In fact, our suicide rate is second in the nation. It is a crisis that demands our immediate attention, compassion, and action. September is Suicide Awareness Month, and I feel it is my duty to speak as your congressman, as a Montanan and a combat veteran about an issue that strikes at the core of o...

  • A message from MAS Resource Center

    Jen Ryan Hickes, of Missoula Aging Services|Sep 7, 2023

    A Message from the Missoula Aging Services (MAS) Resource Center: Open Enrollment is your annual opportunity to optimize your Medicare coverage. Whether you’re considering a Medicare Advantage plan or adjusting your Prescription Drug Plan, MAS is here to help you make the most of Medicare. Open Enrollment consultations are tailored to your situation, helping you review your options and secure the most suitable and cost-effective plan for the coming year. Missoula Aging Services doesn’t offer a singular approach to Medicare and Medicaid ass...

  • Bear working group hopes to lower human-bear encounters

    Sharon Teague, Clearwater Valley Bear Smart Working Group|Sep 7, 2023

    Last winter several Seeley Lake area residents concerned about bear activity and conflicts met with local conservation groups, wildlife agencies, bear specialists, and biologists. We wanted to know how to best tackle bear population issues, sparking the formation of a local working group. This is the first of several articles that will introduce the community to the group. Why are we called the Clearwater Valley Bear Smart Working Group? With bear issues being served by Swan Valley Connection and Blackfoot Challenge, we realized the Clearwater...

  • Hoppers, beetles, ants – and Hannah

    Chuck Stranahan, Bitterroot Fly Fisherman|Aug 24, 2023

    Hannah Baron Spencer is a tall athletic woman with an engaging presence and winsome smile. She is a wife and the mother of lively twins living a homestead way of life on the Salmon River; she’s also a fly fishing and whitewater rafting guide, and an artist. The vibrant colors of her primitive woodblock prints capture visions of the life she lives. To take a look, go to www.hbsartworks.com. I met Hannah before her marriage and move to Salmon, when she was living in the Bitterroot Valley. She was equally at home wearing her broad-brimmed straw h...

  • Op-Ed: PSC puts the burden on Montanans while letting out-of-state corporations off the hook

    Jesse Mullan|May 4, 2023
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    Montana’s Public Service Commission (PSC) is under renewed scrutiny following a deal negotiated by NorthWestern Energy that all but assures Montana residents will face drastically higher energy rates. The 100% Republican-controlled PSC completed a review period in which the public was able to comment; now the commission is planning to approve new rates that increase costs to consumers by 28% for Montanans, 25% for small businesses, and only 15% for giant box stores owned by out-of-state corporations, and 15% for government buildings. Why the G...

  • Northern Hawk Owl – rare owl in southwest Montana

    Gary Swant, GoBirdMontana.com|May 4, 2023

    There was quite the stir in the birding community when a local birder found a Northern Hawk Owl near the school in Wise River in the first week of January. Why the excitement? Very few people have ever seen one, and they are typically never this far south. All of my sightings prior to January 17, 2023 were in Glacier National Park, on the "Inside Road" to Polebridge near the Howe Lake trail area, some 265 miles north of Wise River. The first was of two fledglings in June of 2005. That sighting...

  • Op-Ed: Nanny politics are a bad excuse to raid habitat funds

    Jesse Mullen|Apr 20, 2023

    The Montana Legislature is pushing through two house bills, both co-sponsored by area representative John Fitzpatrick, that fundamentally alter the way marijuana tax monies are allocated in direct opposition to the will of the voters. HB 462 and HB 669 steal $15.8 million from wildlife habitat acquisition that Montana voters overwhelmingly approved when they passed I-190 in 2020. Montana's libertarian lean is under attack by well-meaning but ultimately destructive politicos claiming to know what...

  • Ego: Identity and much more

    Ken Silvestro|Feb 23, 2023

    I've described a person's ego (identity and I-ness) in many ways over the years. I'm returning to the ego today because the ego is responsible for so much of a person's conscious (aware) psychology and behavior. Developing a balanced ego is important for everyone, but it doesn't always happen. People are referred to as egotistical, which means they are inflated with big egos and think highly of themselves, even if no one else does. People also are referred to as self-centered, which means they...

  • Buckaroo Country

    Dale Terrillion|Feb 23, 2023

    Hang'n out in the cabin this winter, pack'n wood in and ashes out, brings to mind another winter the logg'n was shut down there in Eastern Oregon. Mills were full. Loggers were always too good at what they did. We were living at the ol' Mount Emily logg'n camp. Our neighbor Bud Woodard and family has a corral pole operation, him and his two boys. He had an old Peterbuilt short logger and a pup trailer that hauled 1,100 rails. Sold'em to the big cattle ranches in Nevada near the Oregon state...

  • Affordable housing: Lessons from a garbage can

    Roger Koopman|Feb 9, 2023

    Some problems are perplexing and complicated, with solutions evading the wisest among us. The need for affordable housing is not one of those issues. The causes and cures are not complicated. They evade us only because somewhere between kindergarten and college graduation, we never learned basic economics. Often, one avoidable and seemingly unrelated problem can inform the solution to another. Take your garbage, for example. It should interest you to know that if you live in Montana, garbage isn’t very affordable – its disposal, that is. Dep...

  • Six steps to kick-start your small business in 2023

    Aikta Marcoulier, SBA regional administrator|Jan 26, 2023

    Making predictions is never easy, especially for small business owners and their managers. Unlike their larger counterparts, small firms do not always have the resources necessary to monitor and adapt to new consumer trends and/or changes in the economy. Even entrepreneurs who’ve experienced numerous business cycles face new circumstances that confound their instincts and knowledge. As we enter the new year, it is important to assess the economic landscape to determine the best course of action to grow and expand your business in the coming mon...

  • An ode to Seeley Lake

    Claire Muller, Seeley Lake Community Foundation Executive Director|Jan 19, 2023

    Claire Muller, executive director for the Seeley Lake Community Foundation, volunteered in 2022 for the Red Ants Pants Foundation for their Girls Leadership Program, where mentors and mentees received a training on Rural Identity from Megan Torgerson, the founder of the Reframing Rural podcast. Muller said they listened to her narrated essay, “Patchwork Quilt” and explored how to talk about and celebrate the rural Montana places they lived in. “We did a quick exercise of writing a poem about our homes and I loved it,” Muller said. “Afterw...

  • No matter where we go, there we are

    Rev. Jon Bergen, Pastor, Seeley Lake Baptist Church|Jan 5, 2023

    Rev. Jon Bergen has moved from Scotland to be the new minister at Seeley Lake Baptist Church beginning Jan. 1. Ahead of starting his new position, he shared some thoughts on celebrating “Hogmany” and his anticipation of building new relationships in Seeley Lake in 2023. Christmas is past and the New Year is about to begin. Happy Hogmany (Scottish for New Years Eve), it may be a wee while before I say that and people understand what I mean. As the new year starts, I’ll be starting my new adventure in Seeley Lake, Montana. A new year, a new l...

  • OPINION

    Nov 3, 2022

    The Trinity project that will provide 130 much-needed affordable housing units off Mullan Road in Missoula is the direct result of partnership and collaboration between Missoula County, the City of Missoula, Missoula Housing Authority, BlueLine Development and Homeword. We are writing to share information with readers about Trinity Apartments and provide facts in response to former County Commissioner Jean Curtiss’ recent letter to the editor published Oct. 20. Curtiss claimed Homeword, BlueLine and the City made promises regarding the c...

  • Fighting judicial overreach

    Nov 3, 2022

    Montana is currently experiencing a crisis in judicial overreach accountability. Last year, Montana state legislators passed multiple laws to protect Montana students, both those in grade school and in college. The laws were designed to ensure students can speak freely on campus, participate in the exchange of ideas, and experience the full benefits of Title IX’s equal protection for female students. However, instead of enforcing these new laws and protecting our students’ constitutional rights, the Montana Federation of Public Employees (MF...

  • Who is in charge at the county?

    Oct 27, 2022

    From Kim Chambers, Commissioner Candidate What is going on in the Missoula County Commissioners Office? At a recent candidate forum, incumbent Commissioner Dave Strohmaier said the Commissioners are not at the top of the organizational chart within Missoula County government. However, the Commissioners portion of the Missoula County website says different. In part the website says, "The Board of County Commissioners has the jurisdiction and power to represent the County and has care of the...

  • OPINION: Holland Lake Development should be denied

    From Save Holland Lake|Oct 20, 2022

    From Save Holland Lake An ad-hoc coalition of citizens called Save Holland Lake says nearly 99 percent of public comments to the U.S. Forest Service opposes a massive development proposed by a Utah ski developer on public land at pristine Holland Lake. The Flathead National Forest received just more than 6,500 public comments on the Forest Service and ski developer POWDR's proposal to triple the size of the Holland Lake Lodge in western Montana's rural Seeley-Swan Valley, and about 99 percent...

  • Can the vaccine prevent virus spread to the non-immune? Mucosal immunity and vaccines

    John Farrar PhD, Ovando, Montana|Feb 3, 2022

    Last week in The Pathfinder, I described the Systemic Immune System which mostly serves to protect internal organs and is activated by clinical infections of all sorts including the COVID virus and intramuscular vaccines such as the COVID vaccines. The larger “compartmentalized” mucosal immune system which is integral to the lining (mucosa) of the airways (from the nasal passages to the lungs) was also described. When the airway is exposed to the airborne pathogen (like the COVID virus), the immune cells (lymphocytes) in the airway lining are...

  • Can the vaccine prevent virus spread to the non-immune? Understanding "Compartments" of immunity

    John Farrar PhD, Ovando, Montana|Jan 27, 2022

    It is very awkward for me to do this, but to lend credibility to what I have written below, I will state my background. I have a doctorate degree in immunology from The University of Notre Dame. I spent a career at the National Institutes of Health and in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry studying the regulation of the immune response. I have authored or co-authored over 70 scientific research publications on the same. Enough said. In the past two years, I have spent hundreds of hours monitoring and studying scientific reports on the...

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