Volume XX, Number 30

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Page One News at a Glance

Only one of five cemeteries qualifies for ballot

School honors retired police chief

Stevi video policy on agenda again

Only one of five cemeteries qualifies for ballot

By Michael Howell

Only one out of five local cemeteries has gathered enough signatures in time to place the formation of a new Cemetery District on the May ballot, according to Ravalli County Election Supervisor Regina Wilson.

Following an opinion by Deputy County Attorney James McCubbin that it was not legal for the County to give tax dollars to a "private cemetery," the Commissioners cut their traditional funding for the Grantsdale, Sunnyside, Corvallis, Victor and Sula Cemeteries. They urged the cemeteries to gather signatures to place the formation of cemetery districts, which can levy their own tax support, on the May ballot. Only the Grantsdale Cemetery has succeeded in time to be on the ballot.

At first even the Hamilton Cemetery and two cemeteries in Stevensville were included in the opinion. Later, the county decided that it was legal to fund the municipal cemeteries under a contract for services. But the five other cemeteries in the valley were told to form cemetery districts if they hoped to use public funds.

Caught off guard from the beginning, the cemeteries felt blind sided when suddenly faced with the loss of their traditional funding. Most of them only found out about the decision after receiving their property tax notices, which showed no money was being collected for the cemeteries.

Left scrambling to gather enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, only one out of five has succeeded.

Donald Thorson, of the Corvallis Cemetery, still doesn't believe that McCubbin's interpretation is correct. He believes that the valley's cemeteries are not exactly "private." In his view, the Corvallis Cemetery is a not-for-profit organization performing an essential public service and ought to be able to receive county funding.

Thorson was shocked and offended at having to discover that the cemeteries were not going to be funded by looking at his personal tax bill. With only a short time to gather signatures for the formation of a cemetery district he was hamstrung with ill health.

"They also changed the rules on us during the process," said Thorson. He claimed that he was first told that he needed to gather signatures of 20 percent of the district's voters. The boundaries of the proposed Corvallis Cemetery District had been set to match the Corvallis Fire District. He said that later he was told that it had to be property owners who were registered to vote in that district.

Thorson said that volunteers were able to gather quite a few signatures but that when the requirements were clarified to require property owners it threw their efforts into a tailspin. He said that, technically, if property was owned only in the husband's name, then his wife could not sign the petition. The same holds true for property held in the name of a company or a trust, said Thorson. Those entities do not vote. As a result, said Thorson, the number of signatures turned in, once they were winnowed out according to the criteria, was not enough to qualify the Corvallis Cemetery District to be placed upon the ballot.

The only district to gather enough signatures to qualify for the ballot was the Grantsdale Cemetery. One of the leaders in that effort, Amy Alford, surmised that the success of their efforts may be due to the fact that they got to set a smaller boundary for their district than other cemeteries. While other cemetery districts had been set to correspond to already established school or fire districts, the Grantsdale area, which did not fit into any established school or fire district, according to Alford, designated its own boundaries.

"I'm excited it worked out for us," said Alford, "but I'm sad for the others."

A fifth generation Bitterrooter, Alford claimed to have relatives all over the valley and said that some probably wanted to be buried in Grantsdale, but others would want to buried near where they lived, in Hamilton or Stevensville, or Darby.

"We are not talking much money here," said Alford. She said that the Grantsdale Cemetery was receiving $1,000 a year, in two separate installments for a long time before that was cut in half, to $500 annually, a few years ago. She said that the valley's cemeteries contain so much of the valley's history that it needs to be recorded and preserved. She said that her cemetery was working hard to replace the old wooden crosses that had deteriorated in the old section of the cemetery.

"There is so much history there," said Alford. "I think it is sad that the county doesn't want to support this anymore."

Given their own district boundaries, the Grantsdale Cemetery needed to gather 163 signatures of property owners registered to vote. They gathered 169, according to Election Supervisor Regina Wilson.

According to Wilson, the Sunnyside Cemetery, in Lone Rock, and the Victor Cemetery needed 450 to 500 signatures, Sula needed 127 and Corvallis needed 750.

Although Corvallis Cemetery supporters were able to gather over 1000 signatures, not enough were certifiable given the requirements. Thorson said that if the Corvallis Cemetery was allowed to set its own district boundaries, like Grantsdale was, it might have a better chance at gathering the requisite number of signatures.

Even the Grantsdale Cemetery, which qualified for the ballot, may not receive any tax monies in the next tax period, according to Wilson. She was not certain of the details but has arranged a meeting with the Commissioners and a representative of the State Department of Revenue, the county attorney's office, the Clerk and Recorder, as well as interested cemetery representatives, to hash things out. The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 24, in the County Administration Building at 10:30 a.m.

"I wanted the Commissioners to hear from these people," said Wilson. "It was not an easy thing to get done in a few months."

School honors retired police chief

By Michael Howell

The Stevensville School District Board of Trustees honored retired Stevensville Police Chief Lew Barnett at its meeting Tuesday, February 8. Barnett was presented with a plaque and a lifetime pass to Stevensville High School activities.

"Although I have quit as a police officer," said Barnett, "I still have a real interest in the kids."

Barnett told the Board that as a police officer it was always the youth of the community that drew his attention. He said that, since retiring, he was doing some substitute teaching.

"I've got a new appreciation for teachers," he told the Board.

Barnett said that he could see the quality of the teachers by the real interest he sees in the eyes of the students.

"It gives me hope for the future because you can see the level of the kids coming out," said Barnett.

He said that the school had always been cooperative with the police department and that they were producing better students and better citizens now than they had in the past.

In other business, the School Board accepted the resignations of Glenda Bardsley and Patricia Wilson.

"The staff and administration have always been so supportive and I have felt it an honor to be a part of such a great professional group," Bardsley wrote in her letter of resignation.

Wilson had been serving as the Director of the Elementary After-School Program.

Board member Bill Goslin praised Wilson for her work in a program that combined academic, athletic, and enrichment aspects into the after school program.

The Board also hired Sheryl Ross as a High School Title I Paraprofessional.

The Board heard about several subdivisions being proposed within the school district.

Consultant Steve Powell is currently negotiating with the District to make some donation with respect to a proposed 2-lot subdivision on 9.74 acres off of Pine Hollow Road. The developers are Jack James and Brien Martin.

The Board was also informed that Bruce and Lori Park, developers of the 19-lot major subdivision called Park Place, just south of Stevensville, were not offering any donation to the school to offset impacts to the district.

The Board was also informed about a 5-lot minor subdivision on 13.7 acres with four variance requests located off of South Sunset Bench Road and MacIntyre Road. The developer is Joseph P. Smith Jr.

The Board also heard about a 127-lot subdivision proposed south of the Wye on the west side of the Highway. Because it is dedicated as retirement housing no impact on the schools is expected.

There was some discussion of the nature of the donation process, whether or not it is required and how the money is handled.

Board members were told that the contribution to the schools is from developers to offset impacts to the school and is totally voluntary. Although the school district is asked to comment upon the impacts to the district, it is not considered during the approval process.

Board member Kirk Thompson commented that it is hard to correlate the effects of subdividing on the school district.

"Student population is not increasing as fast as the general population in the District," said Thompson. He said it was subsequently difficult to predict the impacts of development.

The Board also heard mention of two ongoing projects in the District, one involving a traffic study and the other a potential land exchange with the Lone Rock School District. The traffic study has to do with the congestion in the area when parents are picking up children after school. The land exchange has to do with redrawing Stevensville and Lone Rock School District boundaries to make them more practicable in terms of school bus routes.

Currently a Lone Rock school bus is required to enter the Stevensville District to pick up students who live up Iron Cap Drive. The land exchange would place Iron Cap Drive in the Stevensville School District. A similar area now served by Stevensville School buses would be moved into the Lone Rock District.

According to board member Kirk Thompson, the greater land area would be going into the Stevensville District while the greater tax base would be going into the Lone Rock District. But Thompson commented that both Districts face similar transportation issues that would be resolved. Currently only two students are involved in the transfer but, according to Thompson, the land is ripe for subdivision and the issues could become very problematic in the near future.

The School Board also agreed to apply to Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital for another contribution to the K-12 nursing program. The hospital donated $6,500 to the program last year.

The Board agreed to rent a house, owned by the school, to Ginny Horning.

The Board agreed to allow Transportation Director Paul Ludington to pursue the formulation of a 6-year purchase plan for the school's fleet of buses. The plan tentatively calls for the purchase of a new 45-passenger travel bus for approximately $120,000 in the 2005-06 fiscal year. It would involve the replacement of the entire fleet over a 6-year period.

The Board also spent a considerable amount of time discussing the current contract with Harlow's Bus Company which is soon due to expire. The school operates some buses on about five school routes and contracts out about seven routes to Harlow.

Overall school enrollment amounts to a wash with about 134 students withdrawing and 135 enrolling in the first half of the school year.

A Board of Trustees work session was tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, March 22, but may be changed.

Stevi video policy on agenda again

By Michael Howell

The Stevensville School Board is heading towards the first application of its new video policy at the next school board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, March 8.

Following some very controversial meetings this fall resulting in a new video policy, the Stevensville School Board will consider next month whether to allow students in Mr. Wood's High School history class to view five R-rated movies. Wood has requested to show his students "Godfather I" and "Godfather II," "The Wild Bunch," "M.A.S.H." and "Apocalypse Now."

The policy, as currently adopted, requires approval of both the Superintendent and the Board of Trustees before any R-rated movies can be shown in class.

Superintendent Dennis Kimzey said that he is recommending that the movies not be allowed.

"In this case I think it is better to err on the side of caution," said Kimzey.