News briefs

Young skater okay

POLSON — Tommy Mahseelah, 6, of St. Ignatius, suffered a 2.5 inch fracture on the left side of his skull this weekend at the Polson skate board park during the Element Skate Team event. As of press time he was at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Wash., but was expected to leave Nov. 8.

“He is expected to make a 100 percent recovery,” his mother, Karen Finley, said. “The scary part is over.”

The family has been inundated by phone calls of concerned friends and well-wishers. They are thankful and appreciative, however, the calls have become overwhelming. That is why they want to put out a message that the boy will recover.

While Tommy owns three helmets, he decided in that moment to skate without his helmet. He will take it very easy for the next three months, but he will skate again, Finley said.

-courtesy of Robert McDonald

Vets honored with free camping

HELENA — Montana State Parks will recognize the men and women who have served our country by waiving camping fees at Montana State Parks for veterans on Veteran’s Day weekend Nov. 11 through 14. The offer is good for one night only per visit.

“We’re grateful to all of our veterans who have served our country,” said Chas Van Genderen, Montana State Parks Administrator. “We’d like to offer them a night of camping as our way to say thanks. We hope to make this an annual occurrence, as well as offering specials during National Military Appreciation Month in May.”

The waiver includes both campsite and electrical hookup fees, where available. All campsites are on a first-come, first served basis.

Those planning to take advantage of the free camping offer may print out a coupon by going to the FWP Web page at fwp.mt.gov. Under “State Parks” look for “Veteran’s Day Camping.” Print out and complete the coupon, then insert it into the fee envelope at the park of your choice.

Campers should be aware that running water is shut off at this time of the year in state park campgrounds. That means that there will be no showers or potable water available. Plan to carry your own water for drinking and cooking.

Campgrounds will be open at Ackley Lake, Bannack, Black Sandy, Cooney, Finley Point, Hell Creek, Lake Mary Ronan, Lewis & Clark Caverns, Logan, Lost Creek, Makoshika, Medicine Rocks, Missouri Headwaters, Painted Rocks, Placid Lake, Tongue River Reservoir, West Shore, and Whitefish Lake.

Construction is occurring at Black Sandy and Lake Mary Ronan, but they are expected to open by November 11. For the latest status on Lake Mary Ronan, call the Kalispell Parks office at (406) 751-5501. For the latest report on Black Sandy, call the Helena Area Regional Office at (406) 495-3260.

For more information about Veteran’s Day weekend or any state park, call the Montana State Parks office at (406) 444-3750.

-courtesy of Linda Howard

Railroad signal

DIXON — The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) would like to notify the public and seek comments on a proposal to upgrade the railroad-crossing signal east of Dixon on Highway 212 just north of the Jocko River in Lake County. The project will involve upgrading the existing grade-crossing-signal electronics, along with the addition of gates.

The work will be accomplished in conjunction with Montana Rail Link, Inc. MDT is providing funding for the upgrade of the signal system, with a cost share from Montana Rail Link, Inc.

Montana Rail Link, Inc., will perform the physical installation of the signal crossing system.

The purpose of the project is to enhance safety at the crossing. The work is tentatively scheduled for construction in 2011.

For more information, please contact John Althof at (406) 444-7247 or Doug Moeller, Missoula District Administrator, (406) 523-5800. Please submit written comments to John Althof at the Montana Department of Transportation, PO Box 201001, Helena MT 59620-1001 or online at http://www.mdt.mt.gov/mdt/comment_form.shtml.

Also, please indicate comments are for project CN 6318.

-courtesy of Lori Ryan

MDT sign proposals

POLSON and RONAN — The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) would like to inform the public and seek comments on a proposal to install chevrons, signs and delineators at two off-system locations in Lake County. The locations and proposed scope of work for each site are as follows:

Site No. 1: Improvement Site 1 is located south of Polson on Skyline Drive beginning at the Pablo Feeder Canal bridge crossing (reference marker 2.9) and extending 3.8 miles south to the intersection with Light Road (reference marker 6.7).

- Pablo Feeder Canal: installing flexible delineators, a narrow bridge sign and reflective bridge and markers;

- Caffrey Road intersection: removing existing signage at the intersection and installing new stop and intersection warning signs;

- North Reservoir Road intersection: installing updated stop and stop-ahead signs, along with intersection warning signs near the intersection.

- Glover Road intersection: installing narrow bridge signs for two canal structure crossings; flexible delineators and reverse turn signs north and south of the intersection;

- Light Road intersection: installing a new stop and stop-ahead sign at the intersection.

Site No. 2: Improvement site 2 is located on Old U.S. 93 north of Ronan, beginning at Reference Marker 5.5 and extending 0.2 miles south to just south of the Ronan Airport entrance (Reference Marker 5.7).

Improvements at this location include replacing curve-warning signs and installing chevrons through the curve section of roadway.

The project is tentatively scheduled for construction in 2011, depending on completion of all project development activities and availability of funding.

No new right-of-way or utility relocations will be needed.

For more information, please contact Shane Stack, Missoula District Preconstruction Engineer, (406) 523-5830. Written comments may also be submitted to the Montana Department of Transportation Missoula office at PO Box 7039, Missoula, MT 59807-7039, or online at www.mdt.mt.gov/mdt/comment_form.shtml noting comments are for project CN 6671001. Alternative accessible formats of pertinent information will be provided upon request.

- courtesy of Lori Ryan

Progress in Big Arm

BIG ARM — Over the last two weeks twelve Big Arm residents have started the restoration work inside the historic Big Arm school. Wainscoting, window and door trim have been carefully taken down and nails removed. Each piece has been given a location number, packaged up and put into storage.

The badly damaged plaster has been removed, a very dusty and dirty job but done with great humor and lots of hard work. The lathe has also been removed along with many mice and Flicker nests. Once the wiring has been replaced by a licensed electrician the insulation will be installed.

The Big Arm Association is very proud to have such a great bunch of volunteers helping to preserve this local treasure. Thank you also to everyone who helped provide the funds to pay for this restoration work.

- courtesy of Alison Meslin

Mustang raffle extended

RONAN — The Boys and Girls Club Task Force Committee, the resource development arm of the board of directors, decided Friday to extend the raffle drawing date for the 1967 Mustang to Dec. 18. The drawing will be held at the final Ronan Christmas Treasures event.

Committee members found that the sales goal of 5,000 tickets is behind schedule. The drawing will be held at the later date to sell as many tickets toward the goal as possible. The drawing will be held on that date regardless of the ticket sales numbers.

This will be the second year the board of directors has raffled a classic car. Last year Mandy Smith from Polson won the first Mustang. After the initial purchase by the club, volunteers have helped with restoration and any parts needed to complete the car. All funds from the raffle help with the operational costs of the two units of the Boys & Girls Club. Approximately 95 children per day use the services of the club after school.

For information about the raffle please call John at 676-5437 or email hope@ronan.net.

- courtesy of John Schnase

Libraries go broadband

HELENA — Library advocates and supporters, librarians, and partners recently came together in Helena for a two-day celebration that launched the Montana State Library’s Broadband Technology Opportunity Project (BTOP). Local library board chairperson Jackie Gran and library director Marilyn Trosper attended the event to represent the North Lake County Public Library District.

The State Library received a $1,829,473 grant to fund its “Enhancing Computer Centers at Montana Public Libraries” project, which is designed to expand broadband capacity and training in many of Montana’s public libraries. An additional $867,231 in matching funds was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Funding for the “Connect @ your library” BTOP launch meeting was provided by Connected Nation through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

A study last year rated Montana 50th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia in broadband Internet penetration, with just 34 percent of connections having broadband speeds above two megabits per second.

“The Montana State Library was honored to bring together so many of our state’s greatest leaders, thinkers, educators, and community advocates as part of this project launch,” said Darlene Staffeldt, Montana State Librarian. “The presence of so many of Montana’s leaders signifies that creating opportunity and providing equal access to information and opportunity for all Montanans is important to our state’s future as a whole.”

Details about how the grant will positively impact the North Lake County Public Library District will be forthcoming soon.

Providing fast Internet service in Montana’s most rural areas remains a challenge, but the Montana State Library is taking some big steps to make the technology available in more and more places as it launches its $2.7 million, three-year program to make more computers and higher Internet speeds available at 42 Montana libraries spanning 29 of Montana’s counties that are home to 86 percent of the state’s population.

“Bringing all 42 of the grant’s participating libraries together with program partners and community and state leaders was an excellent way to kick off the hard work that this grant will require of so many of us,” said Darlene Staffeldt, Montana State Librarian.

The grant officially began on July 1, 2010 and will conclude on June 30, 2013.

- courtesy of M. O’Brien

New Flathead basin imagery

FLATHEAD VALLEY — New aerial imagery and topographic data (including two-feet interval contours) for the Flathead Valley region is now available through the Montana Natural Resource Information Service (NRIS). The data was collected in September 2009 by means of an airborne survey. The aircraft platform utilized Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology to map the ground surface terrain. High resolution imagery, including near infrared imagery was also collected for the project area. Data is available in the immediate vicinity of Swan Lake, Whitefish Lake, and Flathead Lake, as well as the portions of the Flathead Basin between Whitefish and Flathead Lake.

Two public meetings will be held to present an overview of the topographic mapping and aerial imagery collection project, the types of data available, and how to access the data. A meeting will be held in Polson on Tuesday, Nov. 16 from 7 to 9 p.m. in Room 316 of the Lake County Courthouse located at 106 4 Ave. East. Parties that might be interested in this data may include consultants, planners, surveyors, engineers, GIS specialists, researchers, contractors, developers, natural resource groups, and any others that deal with projects such as development, construction, mapping in vicinity of the Flathead Valley, Swan Lake, Flathead Lake, and Whitefish Lake.

Representatives from MT Department of Natural Resource and Conservation, NRIS, and other project participants will be available to answer questions. For questions concerning these meetings or the data, contact Tiffany Lyden at the Lake County Planning Department, 406-883-7235 or Steve Story at the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, 406-444-6664.

- courtesy of Tiffany Lyden

Fire on the Land

PABLO — The groundbreaking Fire on the Land environmental-education project now has a new curriculum guide, which is being distributed to educators on the Flathead Indian Reservation. This is a tribal project that is based on tribal values and works toward cultural competence while meeting state education standards. This curriculum, with the Fire on the Land DVD, integrates tribal and scientific knowledge about fire. Students can explore a Coyote story about stealing fire from the sky world, listen to interviews with tribal elders and fire managers, interact with a primer on the science of fire ecology, and read a history about the collision of Indian and non-Indian views on the use of fire on the land.

The multimedia collection is infused with the cultural values of the Salish and Pend d’Oreille, whose world view differs from mainstream practices. This program offers an alternative way of looking at both fire and landscapes and how Native Peoples used fire in the Northern Rockies.

This curriculum is part of a larger fire-education project produced by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs–National Interagency Fire Center. Entitled Native People and Fire in the Northern Rockies, the project includes an interactive DVD Fire on the Land (Disk 1)— the contents of which are on this Curriculum DVD— the storybook Beaver Steals Fire published by the University of Nebraska Press, and a short film Beaver Steals Fire, based on the book.

The curriculum DVD includes 12 lessons that explore topics including: A contemporary retelling of a traditional Coyote story that teaches fire was a treasured gift, landscape photos taken from the same place over time that reveals changes, elders lessons on the changing land and uses of fire. Also explored are lessons on the Tribes’ life cycle and the use of fire within it and materials that engage students to understand historical events in the lives of the Tribes. There are also problem-solving games tied to how different forests and grassland types will respond to fire.

Reservation schools are receiving the curriculum free of charge. Several hundred copies have already been distributed to reservation and Missoula schools.

-courtesy of Robert McDonald

MME joins AWARE

RONAN — Mission Mountain Enterprises, Inc., has established a partnership with AWARE Inc. to provide psychiatry services in Ronan. Mission Mountain, a community-based program, provides a variety of supports to people with developmental disabilities in Lake County. AWARE, based in Anaconda, also provides services for people with developmental disabilities and operates a mental health center that employs a dozen psychiatrists. Providing mental health care in rural Montana presents many barriers—some based on tradition, some on geography and some on culture.

Psychiatric services will include face-to-face, on-site assessments as well as continuing care on-site and through the use of AWARE’s tele-psychiatry network. AWARE psychiatrists will also provide ongoing education, consultation and support to Mission Mountain staff as part of its partnership with the AWARE network of psychiatric services

AWARE has been working under contract with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services Addictive and Mental Disorders Division to develop tele-psychiatry and help to bring psychiatry into communities across the state where there is a need. After the initial assessments, which occur on site in Polson and Ronan, people will receive follow-up and ongoing psychiatric services via teleconference with a psychiatrist from AWARE’s Missoula office. These appointments, set up at fixed intervals or as needed, are easy to coordinate even on short notice.

The Polson Community Foundation gave Mission Mountain Enterprises a $1,500 grant to assist with start-up expenses of partnering with the AWARE network.

- courtesy of Jim Tracy