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A recent Pathfinder article announced the selection of a new superintendent at the elementary school. Subsequent information indicated that the candidate declined the contract offer and the second of three interviewed candidates was offered the position. Whoever moves into the position, I wish them all the success in the world. What was disturbing to me was that the third of the three interviewees had to read the Pathfinder article to learn he had not been selected. He was not contacted by any member of the school board or their...
Jacinda Morigeau is a hardworking, caring and community-minded candidate who will bring her energy, vision and grassroots connections to the Montana Legislature. Senate District 46, a newly structured district, includes parts of the City of Missoula and the southern half of the Flathead Reservation. Jacinda has deep roots and relationships that extend across the entire district, and she is well-positioned to be able to represent this culturally diverse and complex area very well. Jacinda has demonstrated this bridge-building ability through...
C.B. Pearson is hands down the most experienced candidate running to represent Senate District 46 in the Montana Legislature. Throughout his career, C.B. has fought for public health, environmental quality, consumer protection and campaign finance reform. He’s taken on powerful economic interests, and won many victories for Montanans. When it comes to navigating the Montana Legislature as an advocate for the public interest, C.B. is an old hand. He understands the values that Montanans share — like hard work, conservation and transparency in...
The Blackfoot Communications Board of Trustees is awarding the Seeley Lake Branch Library $1,000 toward the purchase of a new color copier/printer. The machine will also have faxing capabilities. Thank you to everyone who shared with me about this desired resource for our community. Please note there will likely be an increase in printing fees (currently 10 cents a page) to account for the higher cost of colored ink. The public will be kept informed as to when it is ready for use and any...
Thursday, May 9 at 7 p.m. the whole community is invited to gather for prayer at the Mountain Lakes Presbyterian Church at 3292 Highway 83. Together we will join hearts and minds in a spirit of prayer for our community, our churches, our nation and the world. Together we will pray for healing and wholeness in every facet of life. In biblical Greek, the word that is translated as “healing and wholeness” can also be translated as “salvation.” The noun is soteria, the verb is sozo. For me, studyin...
Safety begins with preparation. When you wade fish in streams, be they big rivers or small creeks, you stalk your fish. That usually means getting into the water, staying at angles where you are concealed, and positioning yourself away from swift currents and slippery rocks as you prepare to make your first cast. Preparation begins with respecting the swift currents and staying out of them. That's not where the trout are anyway. They're along the edges of those currents. At any time of year,...
Community-wide giving campaigns are a growing trend in the nonprofit world. Place-specific giving days are happening around Montana this month. The Seeley Lake Community Foundation is now running our community-giving campaign, the Change Your Pace Challenge, for the month of May. Let’s take a deeper look into this popular form of philanthropy. Giving Tuesday — the Tuesday after Thanksgiving — is the most well-known giving day in the US. It was formed in 2012 as a response to commercialization and consumerism in the post-Thanksgiving seaso...
For the past six months I have been talking to hundreds of Montanans about their concerns and hopes for the future, and the one issue that comes up every time is housing. Some of our neighbors and their kids are living on the streets. Young families who would like to live here can’t afford to. Businesses, like Pyramid Lumber in Seeley Lake, are closing down because the workers they need can’t afford to live in town. There’s no doubt about it: the housing crisis is severe and it’s doing real damage to communities throughout western Montana...
Back when Ulysses Grant was President, my fiancé and I attended a - required by the church - weekend seminar called "Engagement Encounter." The idea was to improve the chances of marital success by having the couples engage in serious discussions about core issues - money, communication, in-laws, respect and so forth. We were posed questions that we answered in notebooks, then shared the answers with each other. Messages such as "please don't get fat," and "if you turn into a drunk my divorce...
We are learning a lot about how the timber industry has been such a key part of the Seeley-Swan Valley for over 100 years. Our forests provided logs for lumber, and our loggers and truckers have worked tirelessly to make these logs available for mills. Let’s take a look back and see what the timber industry was like during the boom years following the Second World War, and how our area was involved. Dr. Horace H. Koessler, owner of the Gordon Ranch, started a sawmill on the ranch in 1946, using local timber. The following year, along with s...
Sometimes you just need to go fishing. You just need that time alone, time away from what doesn't give you peace. You might catch a trout or two but that doesn't really matter. The trout aren't what you're after. You need for your peace to return and know, when you fish, that you're connecting with something greater than yourself that will restore your peace. At other times it's about being with those rare people with whom you share a special bond - it's about strengthening the bond and...
During the early to mid-twentieth century several upper Swan Valley dude ranches were at the height of operation, providing packing and guiding services to guests from around the world. Holland Lake Lodge and 33 Bar Ranch In 1924, Roria "Babe" Wilhelm, along with his sister, Ada, and her husband, Art White leased land from the Forest Service and built the Mountain View Hotel near Holland Lake. The hotel was built with lumber from Babe's steam-powered sawmill and sided with half-logs to give the...
This spring, voters in Swan Valley Elementary School District #33 will have the opportunity to vote on two levies: one for general operations and one for technology. Swan Valley Elementary School has not asked for an operational levy for 14 years and currently does not have specific funds designated for technology. We all know the cost of everything has increased in the last 14 years. These funds will help Swan Valley School keep up with rising transportation costs, support staff salaries and retention, and ensure students and educators have ap...
I am writing this letter in support of Representative John Fitzpatrick and his candidacy for reelection to House District 76. I’ve known John for several years and during the 68th Legislative Session in 2023, he proved to be a solid and thoughtful legislator. I found him to be a very respectful representative of his constituency and wanted to do what was best for Montana. Additionally, Rep. Fitzpatrick is an extremely accomplished legislator who possesses the leadership skills and legislative experience to successfully move legislation through...
Today, April 25, the Church celebrates the Feast Day of St. Mark, Apostle, and Evangelist. He is the second of the four writers of the Gospels (Matthew, Luke and John) and associated with the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew and Luke). Most of what we know about St. Mark we learn from Scripture generally and his Gospel in particular. There is general agreement that the Mark of the second Gospel is the John Mark of Acts 12:12. He was part of the early missionary efforts of Apostles. He left his home in Jerusalem to accompany Barnabas and Paul as a...
The need for compassionate and effective approaches to mental health crisis intervention has never been more pressing. In Missoula, an innovative response to this need, The Mobile Support Team (MST), has emerged as a benchmark for mental health crisis interventions in our region. When someone in Missoula calls 911 with a concern about a behavioral health issue, the Missoula Mobile Support Team (MST) springs into action. Comprised of a licensed mental health clinician, an emergency medical technician (EMT) and a case facilitator, the MST...
What I see on too many YouTube videos makes me wince. Some of the trout, I'm sure, don't survive. Most of them probably make it, despite the rough handling they're subjected to. Wild trout are hearty creatures, but still, they're deserving of our respect. They deserve - and require, if they're to remain viable when subjected to natural stresses and unnatural fishing pressure - informed and responsible handling that will give them an optimal chance of survival. I've written comments in response...
Layered onto the diverse landscapes that grizzly bears call home is another, equally variable ecosystem: the human one. As bears exit their winter dens in search of food and mates this year, be it in sprawling sagebrush steppes, high-elevation whitebark pine stands, or willow-lined waterways, their success will be determined by the availability of social habitat - the tolerance and attitudes that enable coexistence - as much as physical habitat. As a collective, we humans wield immense...
Greetings from Beaufort (Be-you-fert) South Carolina, where we are precariously tied to the very outside dock of a marina, which is perfectly aligned to allow us to fully experience the 1984 hit by the Scorpions entitled "Rock Me Like a Hurricane." It is not technically a hurricane, but when the toaster oven and the coffee maker become deadly projectiles, it seems that way. We have been cruising up the coast, from Key West now to Beaufort, soaking up the history and geography as well as soaking...
Saturday morning I went to the Seeley Lake Post Office. As I turned off Highway 83 into the parking lot of the post office I was pleasantly amazed that the minefield of deep holes into the parking lot off of the highway had been neatly filled in and graded. When I mentioned how safe, nice and welcoming the turn-in was to the postal employee on duty, the reply I received was that they did not know who had done it. In fact the employee further mentioned that "it was not that way when I left last night but was repaired by this morning". I would...
Cardiac health and management of cardiac disease has been and remains a key focus in our healthcare with more than 50% of all healthcare monies directed toward diagnosis and treatment of cardiac disease. With more and more investment directed toward innovation for disease management, mainstream science is also seeing the emergence of high-end toolkits directed toward early diagnosis and front-end prevention. We now have the ability to utilize innovative imaging, wearable and laboratory testing technology to screen for early markers of...
Ever since Pyramid Lumber announced their upcoming closure, I have been asked one question by clients, friends and community members more often than any other: How will the mill closing affect real estate? Before I expound on that, there are many other things appropriately considered. First and foremost are the 100 employees that will be without a job. Behind each one of those employees are families that count on the wages brought home from the mill and without those wages, those families will be adversely impacted. Then there are the loggers,...
You see the same thing every year: on the Bitterroot, some anglers get so fixated on the skwala hatch that they forget everything else. Never mind, especially in a year like this one, that the hatch might sputter from day to day. The angler armed with the hot new skwala fly, or a proven old one, for that matter, might find himself out of luck. These big brown-olive stoneflies bring the big fish up when they're present. And when they're not, the fish might still come up for them. It's no wonder...
March was a disastrous month for Seeley Lake. The departure of long-term employer Pyramid Lumber will leave an immeasurable impact on the area for some time. The loss impacting 100 or so jobs will ripple through the local economy and create uncertainty for the families involved. Montana presents many unique challenges — the environment, transportation and workforce. Pyramid’s announcement cited a lack of available workers and retention of workers. Affordable housing in Seeley Lake became more complex due to out of state residents gobbling up...
It is with great concern that I write regarding the recent actions of the Montana state Senate led by Republican Jason Ellsworth and supported by Steve Fitzpatrick. Their decision to form a committee aimed at attacking our state's judicial system is not only a misguided endeavor but also a direct assault on our cherished state constitution. At a time when Montanans are grappling with pressing issues such as skyrocketing property taxes, a dire shortage of affordable housing and the alarming loss of healthcare access for many of our citizens, it...
