Montana Ski Report

Cat’s Eye Craftsman - maker of fine clocks

By Michael Howell

Gary Knapp of Stevensville is the Cat’s Eye Craftsman. He is a maker of fine clocks in the craftsman tradition. He straddles that old, and to a degree fictitious, dividing line between ‘fine art’ and ‘craft’. More...

Gary loves every aspect of the work, from the woodworking, to the product design and assembly, to the mixing and matching process, and the exercising his aesthetic eye when creating some of the “accents”. Knapp literally looks over pieces of slate at the hardware store with an eye for portions that might be cut out and inserted in the face of a clock. He showed me a piece of slate on his work counter, framed a portion of it with his hands, and there was a mountain landscape.

This midsize clock, designed and manufactured by Stevensville woodworker Gary Knapp of Cat’s Eye Craftsman, is one example of his latest style, showing more curves than his previous collections. His clocks are typically built in oak and walnut with accents of natural stone, fired tile, brass, or leather. The one pictured here sports a unique leather inset on the face of the clock tooled by Howard Night, also of Stevensville.

Hiring of Planning Office Manager postponed

By Michael Howell

The Ravalli County Commissioners put on hold the selection of a new Planning Manager/Administrator last week to allow the public time to access information concerning one of the applicants for the job. That information was only released to the public the preceding day. The commission did, however, void the previous decision in which GOP Central Committee Chairman and surveyor Terry Nelson was hired. That decision was voided due to lack of proper public notice for the meeting. Another meeting has been scheduled for April 20 to make the final decision. More...

Cattle prices at all-time high

By Michael Howell

Cattle prices have hit an all time high. The Missoula Livestock Auction saw its best day in history last Thursday, and some Bitterroot livestock growers cashed in on the roaring market. More...

Tourism tax district on the way

By Michael Howell

The Ravalli County Commissioners passed a Resolution of Intent last week on Monday, April 4, to create a Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) in the county. State law allows the establishment of such special taxing districts by the local government to generate funds for promoting the interests of the district’s members, in this case the tourism businesses in the county. The taxes involved would be determined and collected in a similar fashion to the currently existing statewide “bed tax” except that these taxes would be collected separately and go into local district coffers instead of to the state. Business owners identified as operating within the proposed district now have 15 days from the passage of this Resolution of Intent to submit a letter of protest. More...

Crowd turns out to support Stevensville restaurant

By Victoria Howell

Concerns over a Stevensville restaurant, which drew a significant outcry of public support, appear to have been resolved for now.

An overflow crowd of more than 50 people attended a meeting of the Stevensville Planning and Zoning Committee on Wednesday, April 6, in response to a rumor that the Town of Stevensville was planning to shut down Matt’s Morning Munchwagon/Winky’s Café. More...

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