The art is real. Although the two quilters who were honored at the Sapphire Quilters show over the weekend rely on needles, thread and fabric to create their art, the time effort and skill put into these quilts is truly inspiring. Mary Alice Sutherland and Cindy McKinley were the featured quilters at the show held at the Stevensville gym. Between the two, they had over one hundred quilts on display.

Sutherlin had 43 quilts that were judged and another 24 quilts on display. “I would have brought more but I couldn’t get any more in the car,” she said.

Her daughter, Teresa Thorstad, traveled from Washington to help out and was quilting during the show, right beside mom.

Sutherlin had one quilt she began in the 1980s on display as well as a few she did this year. She likes the ones made out of scrap pieces of material because she “just kind of puts them together to see what comes out of the scraps.” The Lone Star quilt is one pattern that she has used a lot but even with the pattern, she will put her own unique stamp on it, creating shadows or light using different types of fabric.

Joining Sutherlin as a featured quilter was Cindy McKinley of Victor. She began quilting after moving to the valley in the early 1990s. She said she was fortunate to get in with a group of really great quilters who taught her and inspired her. Many of her quilts are also “scrap” quilts.

“I like to scrap,” she said. “When I first started, I wanted everything color coordinated and structured but then I found I had all of this stuff left over and I started making scrap quilts from the leftovers.”

The scrap quilts may be made of various blocks of fabric pieced together into patterns like the log cabin or wedding rings or cathedral windows. Individually, these blocks may be quite simple or complex but once pieced together, the quilts they form are beautiful.

McKinley also hand quilts many of her quilts. She doesn’t like to “just watch TV” so will instead watch by sewing tiny stitches that bind the top, batting and back together to make warm, cozy blankets. She says her five children used to argue over who was getting the newest quilt and now the grandchildren are also in the mix for the quilts. In addition to bed-sized quilts, both McKinley and Sutherlin had a few placemats and smaller quilted items on display.

Becky Wilcox, president of the Sapphire Quilters’ Guild, said there were 252 quilts on display. Most of these were from the 45 active quilters in the Guild but there were a few from other people in the area.

Vendors from as far away as Nevada were selling fabric, patterns, cutters and anything to do with quilting or inspiring quilters. The Guild also had a variety of raffles with the proceeds going towards the Sunshine Quilt Fund. The Sunshine Quilts are given to anyone in the valley who needs special help.

More moisture, still a drought

Fire management officer expects ‘typical’ fire season

By Greg Lemon

Spring was cool and wet and now the river levels are healthy, but despite this, forests are still drying out.

“We really haven’t had any rain since about June 11,” said Rick Floch, Bitterroot National Forest fire management officer. “While we’re not as bad off as we were last year, it’s running pretty close.”

Last summer the last day of rain was June 11, just like this year. But July 2007 was a record setter for heat, said forecaster Mike Johnson from the National Weather Service in Missoula.

Last July, only one day failed to reach 90 degrees in Missoula, remembered Johnson. This year temperatures have been lower.

However, it’s been warm enough to dry out grasses and fine fuels in the lower elevations around the Bitterroot Valley, Floch said. And now the green grass, trees and brush at the higher elevations are beginning to dry out.

“In the lower elevations you’ll notice the hillsides are getting brown,” he said. “My guess is that if we get a fire in the lower elevations, it’s going to be tough for us to put out.”

Floch expects the higher elevations to dry out by the beginning of August, setting up conditions for a typically busy local fire season.

One of the differences between this year and last year was the winter snowpack. But that has little effect on fire season due to the extended drought affecting western Montana and much of the West.

“It’s really not the winter that affects our fire season as much as whether or not we get rain in later June and early July,” Floch said.

However, the abundant snowpack from this past winter and spring has helped the fishery in the Bitterroot River, said Chris McCabe, co-owner of River Otter Fly Shop in Florence.

The Bitterroot River and its tributary usually peak sometime in late May and drop to summer levels by the end of June. But this year, the cool weather in May and early June allowed the snow to hang on in the high country, McCabe said.

That snowmelt is still fueling the river, keeping water levels higher than normal, he said.

“This is lasting longer than we’ve seen it, that’s for sure,” McCabe said.

On Monday afternoon the river gauge in Darby was still running about 400 cubic feet per second above median flows.

Fishing has been really great up and down the river, McCabe said. He suggests golden stones, yellow sallies and green drake patterns. In the morning, look for a prodigious pale morning dun hatch.

The real benefit of the high river flows will come in late July and early August when water temperatures typically peak. The amount of water in the river now should mean that when the hottest weather hits, the river temperatures won’t warm nearly as much, McCabe said.

Trout flourish in cooler water, because it has more oxygen, he said. In the past few years, water temperatures have caused officials to place restrictions on portions of the river to protect fish.

The mild weather pattern that has dominated western Montana for the past two weeks may see a shift this weekend as models are beginning to predict a deep trough of low pressure in the Pacific Ocean, Johnson said. This could focus a strong ridge of high pressure over the northern Rockies. This ridge, if it develops, will allow temperatures to increase and monsoonal moisture to creep up from the Southwest. This moisture will result in afternoon thunderstorms that are typical for the northern Rockies in the mid to late summer.

Cutting of trees in River Park questioned

By Michael Howell

The City of Hamilton’s tree and vegetation management policies have been a recurring subject of public dispute for years now. Following the recent removal of several cottonwood trees in River Park last week, the issue threatens to boil over once again.

The Bitterroot Star received several e-mails last Monday from citizens concerned about the recent cutting of several cottonwood trees in the park by Hamilton City employees. One of the e-mails, from Jim Olsen, came complete with photographs and a plea to stop the “attack on cottonwoods.”

Olsen claims that over the last few years, the City of Hamilton has methodically eliminated native trees, shrubs, and grasses in the park. The result has been a reduction in bird habitat, which includes the Pileated Woodpecker and Great Horned Owl.

According to Olsen, River Park has long had easy public access and has served as a great spot for citizens of Hamilton to enjoy Montana’s natural river bottom plants and animals within walking distance of downtown.

“In spite of this,” he wrote, “the City of Hamilton appears to be accelerating the transformation of a natural park to something that is more like ‘New York City Central Park’. The resulting attack on cottonwoods, native shrubs, and grasses has the result of reducing bird habitat. In addition, it costs more money. The park was in a condition where banks were stabilized by native shrubs and trees, public access was focused on trails. Natural rainfall was generally sufficient for plant maintenance. Now, the City has to consider erecting fencing to stabilize banks, water and cut grass frequently.”

Olsen claims that the trees recently cut in the park left stumps that showed no sign of rot. He said that the photos verify this fact. He said that the latest tree removal was done without the knowledge of the Mayor. He said that a letter had been sent to the City asking who cut the trees and why. He said that a group of people plan to make a formal complaint at the next City Council meeting on Tuesday (too late for publication in this week’s Star).

Terry Cole, director of City Parks, Recreation and Cemetery, said that eight trees had been cut in the park last week. Out of that total of eight, he said, three were live trees. He said that the live trees were cut because they either blew over in the wind, or another dead tree fell on them and damaged them to the point that they needed to be removed as well. He said it was an unusually strong wind that caused the blow down.

“We are not attacking trees,” said Cole. “We are only addressing safety and hazard issues.”

Cole suggested that with live trees being affected it could give the impression to someone coming by afterward that perfectly healthy, green trees were being cut down. But he insists that this is not the case. He said in some cases live trees were blown over and in other cases neighboring dead trees fell onto live ones stripping them of limbs and breaking their trunks.

He said that as a matter of fact another wind had just created similar damage that was being assessed that day and invited the newspaper to come and witness the damage. He said that Mayor Jessica Randazzo was visiting the park that afternoon to inspect the damage herself. He said that he was not aware of any complaints about the tree cutting in the park. Later on Monday, he called to say that he had confirmed with the City Clerk that no complaints had been received.

Olsen said that the City Council would definitely hear some complaints at their Tuesday council meeting.

Stevi teacher dismissed

By Michael Howell

After deliberating for about six hours behind closed doors at a specially called meeting, Stevensville School Board members voted unanimously to dismiss tenured high school English teacher James Wood. The July 1 meeting was called by Superintendent Kent Kultgen for the Board to consider his recommendation to dismiss Wood.

Chairman of the Board, Bill Goslin, opened the meeting saying the purpose was to “consider a personnel recommendation made by the administration.”

Goslin then announced that, although the board’s meetings are subject to open meeting laws, he had determined that in this case “the demands of individual privacy in the expected discussion exceed the merits of public disclosure. Furthermore, I have been advised that the majority of the parties entitled to privacy in this case have determined not to waive the right to privacy during this meeting.”

At the meeting, Wood waived his own right to privacy.

But, citing the privacy rights of other, unnamed, individuals, Goslin closed the meeting anyway. Upon re-entering into open session the Board, without further discussion, voted unanimously, 7-0, to dismiss Wood.

Asked following the meeting why Wood had been dismissed, Superintendent Kultgen only said that it was based on his recommendation and the discussion in a closed session of the Board, the details of which he could not disclose.

Chairman Goslin said that Wood had been dismissed “based on the Superintendent’s recommendation and the evidence presented in a closed meeting.” He refused to elaborate.

Wood said, when contacted by telephone, that he had been advised by his attorney not to comment on the situation.

Under the terms of the District’s collective bargaining agreement with the Teachers Union, a teacher is entitled to representation by an attorney of their choice when facing termination proceedings. According to the same contract Wood would need approval of the Teachers Union to proceed with an appeal of any decision to terminate.

Stacey Hall, a representative of the union, told the Bitterroot Star that the Union did give the OK for an appeal in this case. Attorney for Wood, Karl Englund, said on Monday that an appeal had been filed. Englund said that his client was entitled to file a grievance concerning the decision to dismiss and if not satisfied could take the grievance into arbitration. Or he could simply go directly into arbitration.

“We have filed both,” said Englund. “It makes more sense to go straight into arbitration in this case since we already know how the board stands.”

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Bitterroot Star, the District did produce a letter from Kultgen to the board in which he states that his decision was made for the following reason:

“Mr. Wood has engaged in a pattern of inappropriate use of political/religious/sexual commentary to students in the classroom, has failed to follow the accommodations for a special education student, exhibits a general pattern of insubordination as evidenced by his continual derogatory comments about the administrators and exhibits a continuous pattern of refusing to accept the reasonable direction of his administrators.”

Kultgen said that the decision to recommend terminating someone’s employment was probably the most difficult decision a superintendent could ever make.

Petition to repeal Growth Policy in circulation

By Michael Howell

A petition to repeal the Ravalli County Growth Policy has been approved as to form by the County Attorney’s office and is ready to be circulated, according to Treasurer of the Citizen’s Coalition for Repealing the Growth Policy, Dan Cox of Conner.

Conner told the Bitterroot Star that the petition was approved for circulation last Thursday.

Ravalli County Attorney George Corn did not return phone calls from the Bitterroot Star on Monday.

Cox and his group are against zoning and see the repeal of the county’s Growth Policy as the surest way to stop the zoning process in its tracks. He called zoning the “biggest taker of private property rights in the country today.”

“I want it dead,” Cox said of the current zoning process. He said that it is the Growth Policy that gives the county commissioners the authority to pursue zoning and without it the process could not proceed.

The law gives petitioners 90 days to get the required number of signatures to place the issue on the ballot. But, due to certain time limits established in the law, in order to get the issue on the November 2008 ballot the required number of signatures would have to be submitted to the County Clerk and Recorder by July 22.

If the petitioners do not gather the necessary numbers by then, but still get them within the 90 days, the issue would be placed on the next scheduled election ballot.

While a recent Attorney General’s Opinion established that all county residents, including residents within the municipalities, can vote on zoning initiatives, when it comes to Growth Policy issues only voters in the unincorporated areas of the county are eligible to vote.

According to Cox, the petitioners need to gather 3,567 signatures (15 percent of the registered voters in the unincorporated areas of the county) within 90 days to place the issue on the general ballot. They would need to gather 5,944 signatures (25 percent of the voters in the unincorporated area of the county) to place the issue on a special election ballot.

The petition calls for the repeal of the Growth Policy and the three amendments associated with it.

Anyone interested in more information on the effort may contact Dan Cox at 821-0302.

Off Road Vehicle driver cited

Citation for interference also issued

By Michael Howell

A few citations were issued last week over an incident involving resource damage by illegal use of off road vehicles in the vicinity of the East Fork Guard Station on the Bitterroot National Forest. A witness to the events on Sunday, July 6, telephoned a complaint to TipMont which was relayed to the US Forest Service law enforcement division.

Bitterroot National Forest Public Relations Officer Nan Christianson told the Bitterroot Star that a citation had been issued for resource damage and that the perpetrator had agreed to make restitution by rehabilitating the damaged area. She refused to identify the person or persons involved.

According to John Preston, Patrol Captain for U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement for the Southwest Zone, who responded to further enquiry, a Forest Service Off Highway Vehicle Ranger was initially dispatched to the scene. Preston said that as the officer approached the gate to the Guard Station, which is rented out to the public for use, he was met by individuals who denied him entrance. He left, but two Forest Service Law Enforcement Officers and a Ravalli County Sheriff’s Deputy later returned to the cabin.

At that point, “one citation was issued for interference,” said Preston, “and after a subsequent investigation, a citation was issued for resource damage.”

Preston refused to identify the person or persons cited. He said that, being a federal agency, the Privacy Act was involved and protected the privacy of the individuals involved. He said that the matter was in the hands of the U.S. Attorney’s office at this time.

It was too late to call the U.S. Attorney’s office before publication.

Ravalli County Sheriff Chris Hoffman did not respond to multiple phone calls about the matter on Monday.

Two different people (not Forest Service officials), requesting anonymity, told the Bitterroot Star that, based on information provided by the unnamed complainant, that former State Representative Fred Thomas was allegedly involved in the incident.

Thomas, when asked about it in a telephone interview on Mondaym said, “Some family members had issues and worked it out with the Forest Service.” He refused to comment further on the incident.

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