Volume XX, Number 52

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Lutheran preschool registration

Our Savior Lutheran Preschool of Stevensville is accepting registrations for the 2005-06 school year. Children three or four years of age by September 10th may participate in the program.

Our Savior's curriculum prepares preschoolers not only academically, but more importantly, for appropriate social interaction with children and adults. Social and academic readiness are addressed through a variety of activities to strengthen basic kindergarten readiness skills, establish self-discipline, advance maturity in social situations, and promote self-worth.

Register now! Classes are filling fast. For further information or to register a student for fall sessions, call 777-5625 Tuesday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to noon, or 777-3115 afternoons and evenings.

Our Savior is affiliated with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and is located at 184 Pine Hollow Road, one mile south of Bitterroot Community Market on the Eastside Highway. Turn east on Pine Hollow, cross the tracks and the canal, and the church will be on your left, marked by three crosses.

Sports physicals offered

Bitterroot physicians, in conjunction with Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital, will be offering sports physicals for all male and female valley athletes in high school and middle school on Monday, August 8 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital. The physicals will cost $25 per student. Payment is due at the time of the visit. All fees collected will be donated back to the student's athletic department. The physical will include height, weight, blood pressure, pulse, vision, evaluations for posture, joints, strength, and flexibility, heart, lungs, abdomen, ears, nose, and throat. Participating doctors include Drs. Larry Brouwer and Kathleen Harder Brouwer of Ravalli Family Medicine; Dr. Michael Moran of Bitterroot Clinic; Dr. Kirk Crews of Life Span Family Medicine; Drs. Fred Ilgenfritz and Luke Channer of Hamilton General Surgery and Drs. Walker Ashcraft and John Moreland of Physicians Clinic. Sports physical forms are available from coaches, at Ravalli Family Medicine, 411 West Main, Hamilton; or online at www.mdmh.org. Forms must be signed by a parent and accompanied with payment at the time of the physical. Students with chronic problems should be seen by their primary care provider. For further information, call 363-5104.

Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital is committed to excellence in providing quality, accessible, personalized healthcare.

Overeaters Anonymous

Overeaters Anonymous is a Twelve Step program that deals with compulsive eating behaviors. It offers a solution within reach of all those who want to find relief from the obsession with food. It meets weekly on Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. (new time) with information for newcomers at 5 p.m. at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 203 Main Street, Stevensville. A meeting is held on Saturdays at 10 a.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 1220 W. Main St., Hamilton. For information call 777-7160.

Three Mile/Ambrose Creek community meeting

The Friends of the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge, along with the Tri-State Water Quality Council, will sponsor a public meeting Tuesday, August 2 at 7 p.m. at the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge's visitor's center, to continue a "community conversation" about conditions in the Three Mile/Ambrose Creek watershed affecting water quality and possible options for voluntary actions to improve water quality and fish and wildlife habitat conditions.

The meeting will focus on opportunities for local landowners, residents and other interested persons to take actions to improve stream and watershed habitat conditions. Options for individual landowners, as well as group efforts will be discussed. It will also be an opportunity to voice issues and concerns to be considered in developing local community-based priorities and goals for a voluntary watershed improvement program. Some of the recent and current improvement implementation projects will also be presented.

The meeting will also provide presentation and discussion of the results of watershed assessment efforts conducted from 2002 to 2004. Suggested goals, objectives, and priorities for water quality and habitat improvements are included. Data gathered for Three Mile, Ambrose, Wheelbarrow, Gray Horse, and Spring Gulch creeks will be available, including nutrient water quality and fisheries sampling.

The watershed assessment effort was sponsored by Montana Department of Environmental Quality grants, along with assistance from the U.S. Forest Service's Ravalli County Resource Advisory Committee, and was administered through a collaboration of local residents, the Bitter Root Water Forum and the Tri-State Water Quality Council.

Information gathered from the assessment and the community is being used to better understand the role and importance of local creeks in the community, as well as how the community feels about taking actions to maintain or improve water quality, and fish and wildlife habitat conditions, as the area's population continues to grow and change. If you have any questions or comments regarding the watershed effort or the August 2 meeting, call Jim Rokosch at 777-2511.

Uncover Montana Speaker Series

The Lolo National Forest, Travelers' Rest Preservation and Heritage Association, and the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula will host an evening program entitled "Treaty Game: A First Person Engagement of the Cause and Effects of Nez Perce Treaties," with Diane Malikan. The program will be held on Thursday, August 4, at Lolo Hot Springs, 25 miles west of the town of Lolo on Hwy. 12.

Diane has worked at the Nez Perce National Historic Park for the last 13 years. She majored in history and anthropology at the University of Idaho and Lewis and Clark State College. She's had the privilege of helping publish "Nez Perce Nation Divided," and the reprinting of the "Memorial of the Nez Perce Indians."

During the program the audience will be divided into "Nez Perce Bands" through traditional choosing practices. Each group will choose a "chief" who will read a card of what actually happened to them. The audience will learn how the tribes were split up and separated across the western United States and understand where the Nez Perce people are today in terms of location, language, and unity.

This program is part of the free, summer-long Uncover Montana Speaker Series and is brought to you by Travelers' Rest Preservation and Heritage Association, the Lolo National Forest, and the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula. Join in each week, at various locations in the Missoula area, to explore the rich cultural and natural history of western Montana. For more information, call Bryce Parker, Lolo National Forest, Missoula Ranger District at 329-3936.

Dana Gallery Paint Out

The Dana Gallery's Third Annual Paint Out will be Saturday, July 30 through Tuesday, August 2. During this special five-day event, artists are invited to paint in the Bitterroot, Blackfoot, Mission and Missoula Valleys, and surrounding areas. The completed plein air paintings will then be on display at the Dana Gallery from Wednesday, August 3 until Tuesday, August 30. The public opening reception for the Paint Out exhibition will take place on Friday, August 5 from 5 to 8 p.m.

The artists participating in the Third Annual Paint Out are Mary Carlton, Julie Chapman, Brent Cotton, Thomas English, Tom Gilleon, Phil Korell, Richard Scott Morgan, Nicholas Oberling, Steven Oiestad, Bruce Park, Neil Patterson, Parvin, Bob Phinney, Sheila Rieman, Ken Roth, Robert Schlegel, Aaron Schuerr, L.A. Stevens, Janet Sullivan, Ron Ukrainetz and Jeff Walker.

Locations of where artists are painting will be posted at the Gallery so that anyone interested may watch some of the artists at work. The public is also invited to stop by the Gallery anytime during the Paint Out to see what still-wet paintings artists have brought in.

MS Support Group

The Bitter Root Valley Multiple Sclerosis Support Group will hold its monthly meeting Wednesday, August 3, at the Willow Court Apartments meeting room, 150 Skeels Ave. in Hamilton from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Join members for a social hour of visiting and enjoying refreshments.

Meetings have been moved the the first Wednesday of each month to eliminate scheduling conflicts with the therapeutic horseback riding program. The meetings are handicapped accessible and open to anyone with MS, MS caregivers or family members. Contact LaRoy Williamson at 360-1117 or Nancy Holzer at 363-1149 for more information.

Your favorite photo of Fido or Fluffy could end up on a t-shirt and make you the grand prize winner of this year's fair contest for the Bitter Root Humane Association!

Ten contest finalists will be chosen and displayed at the Bitter Root Humane Association's fair booth with fairgoers judging the winners for a penny a vote! Votes will be tallied Saturday, September 3 at 3 p.m. to select the grand prize winner and two runner-ups.

So, if you think your photo displays the most amazing, mischievous, photogenic, best dressed or just plain cute pet, send your color photo or photos (up to 8x10) along with a $5.00 entry fee per photo to: BRHA Photo Contest, P.O. Box 57, Hamilton MT 59840 or you can drop it off at the shelter. Be sure to include your name, address and phone number on the back of the photo. Deadline for entries is Friday, August 26. If you wish your photo returned, include a self-addressed, stamped envelope with your entry.

All entry fees will be used for the shelter's Precious Companions Program which assists in the adoption of older and medically needy pets. For more information contact Mary Gehl at 642-3785.

Stevensville Government Study Commission

The Stevensville Government Study Commission will hold a Public Hearing on August 2, at 7:30 p.m. in the Stevensville Town Hall. Town residents are invited to participate.

Volunteers sought for Teller Refuge Garden

Looking for gardening opportunities in a beautiful organic garden? Accomplish and learn a lot in an hour or two at Teller Wildlife Refugeıs garden in Corvallis. You can help out on your own schedule or work with gardener Sandy Gates. Volunteers may also assist with Art in the Garden, a program that teaches children about gardening and creating art. For information, call Sandy Gates at 370-0808.

Natural history events

The Montana Natural History Center is sponsoring the following events:

Tuesday, August 2 ­ Wildflower Gardening with Prairie Keepers, 6 pm, no charge. Time to start thinking about attracting wildlife to your garden this fall and winter! Learn about easy-to-grow native plants that produce bird friendly berries, hiding spots and spring nesting opportunities. Meet at the Nature Adventure Garden at Fort Missoula.

Saturday, August 13 ­ Big on Bugs Saturday Discovery Day, 10 a.m.­3 p.m., cost $5/$4 MNHC adult members, $3/$2 MNHC child members. The Montana Natural History Center has gone buggy! Bring the family in for a day of interactive, invertebrate fun. Drop by the Center between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and get a chance to meet live insects, and learn about where they live and what they do during this on-going celebration of bugs.

Tuesday, August 16 ­ Knapweed Biocontrol Collection Workshop with Prairie Keepers, 6 p.m., no charge. Help collect knapweed root boring insects for redistribution in Missoula. You can take some home if you help collect for the common good! Meet at the Nature Adventure Garden at Fort Missoula.

Saturday, August 27 ­ Glacial Lake Missoula Field Trip Saturday Discovery Day with Ice Age Floods Institute, 8 a.m.­6 p.m., cost $75 includes IAFI membership or $50 MNHC members/$40 IAFI members, students and teachers. This fee includes lunch, beverages, transportation and all presentations. "Shorelines, Erratics, Ripples, Kolks and Varves: Missoula to Rainbow Lake" takes place Saturday, August 27. USFS geologist Jim Shelden will serve as guide for the charter-bus tour, along with several other Glacial Lake Missoula experts. The trip is sponsored by the Glacial Lake Missoula Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute. Space is limited, registration required.

August 30 ­ Prairie Seed Collecting Workshop with Prairie Keepers, 6 p.m., no charge. Learn to collect seeds from wildflowers and native bunchgrasses. The seeds will be used in local restoration projects. This is a great activity for families and kids. Meet at the Fort Missoula Native Prairie.

To learn more, visit www.MontanaNaturalist.org.

'Perspectives on West' lecture

The 8th Annual Perspectives on the West will be held at on Thursday, August 18, at 8 p.m. at the Teller Wildlife Refuge in Corvallis. The speaker will be Wayne Fields, PhD, the Lynne Cooper Harvey Distinguished Professor of English, American Literature and American Culture Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, recognized as one of the leading authorities of early American culture and literature.

Professor Fields will talk about how early writers and explorers of the American west had to develop literary methods to describe extraordinary vistas to make landscapes come alive for people who had never seen them. These techniques arose out a recognition that the simple description of "how tall, how wide, or how big" failed utterly to convey a sense of awe and majesty of natural places. Simply put, these writers had to figure out how to put the "West into Words."

The public is invited to attend the event, held in the Slack Barn at the Teller Wildlife Refuge (TWR). There is no admission charge, but donations to support the TWR mission of conservation, education, and recreation are encouraged. For additional information, contact Teller Wildlife Refuge at 961-3507, or go to www.tellerwildlife.org.

Alzheimer's Memory Walk

The Montana Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association announces the kick off of the inaugural Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk to take place in Billings this fall. Numerous communities throughout Montana will host Memory Walk wrap around events such as vintage car shows, mini walks, Halloween Ball and/or bake sales at local caregiver facilities.

The walk will take place on Saturday September 10, at 8 a.m. on the walking path behind MetraPark (parking is available in the upper parking lot) in Billings. One-, two- and three-mile walking routes will be posted with inspirational memory thoughts and quips. This volunteer-driven event will provide participants with route support, snacks, water stops, encouragement, excitement and appreciation.

Individuals or teams of family members, friends, co-workers or business sponsored groups are asked to raise pledges for their efforts to benefit the Alzheimer's Association. Prizes are achieved by reaching pledge levels.

Proceeds raised through the Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk and its wrap around events will stay in Montana to provide support services to the thousands of Alzheimer's patients, their care givers and communities in which they reside. Information, education, advocacy, support groups, and research are the foundation of the Alzheimer's Association's essential connections with those touched by Alzheimer's disease across our state.

Sponsors for this lively and meaningful event are Anthony D. Miller Financial Group, Gold Advantage St. Vincent Healthcare, Highgate Senior Living, Deaconess Billings Clinic, St. John's Lutheran Ministries, and Forest Pharmaceuticals. National sponsors include: Genworth Financial, Creative Memories, and Kindred Healthcare.

Contact the Alzheimer's Association Montana Chapter for more information or to register for the Memory Walk at 406-252-3053 or visit www.alz-mt.org.

Dances of Universal Peace

The Dances of Universal Peace bring joy and light to us individually and to the planet. Come join the family-friendly dances on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month at Common Ground Center, 258 Roosevelt Lane, Hamilton at 7:30 p.m. All dances are simple circle dances to live music, taught each time using phrases from the world's spiritual traditions. Suggested donation is $3. For more information call Brian or Star at 363-4026.

Foot clinic

New Horizons Physical Therapy will hold a free foot clinic called "Walk Away from Pain" on Tuesday, August 9 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Hamilton Senior Center. Call 363-2570 to register.

Creamery Picnic Kids Parade

The annual Creamery Picnic Kids Parade will be held Friday, August 5. Line-up for those not preregistered starts at 5:30 p.m. and preregistered line-up starts at 6 p.m. at the old Stevensville Feed and Farm. The parade starts at 6:30 p.m. with prizes awarded before the parade and free ice cream after the parade in Veterans Park. This year's theme is "Summer Sun and Tons of Fun." There is no charge to enter and the entry forms are available at Stevensville Feed and Farm, Valley Drug, and Leaps and Bounds Learning Center. This year's categories are Bicycles, Pets, Ponies, Costumes, Miscellaneous, and Large Groups. For more information contact Felicia St. Germain at 777-3707 or 777-1323.

Soccer physical exams

Physical examinations for Stevensville High School girls and boys soccer teams are scheduled for August 10 at 1 p.m. at the Stevensville gym. Call Ralph Serrette, 543-3514, for details.

BEAR backpacking trip

BEAR, a non-profit agency providing outdoor education since 1993, will lead an intermediate backpacking trip from August 8-12. This will be a challenging five-day adventure with an emphasis on backcountry skills. The trip will focus on navigation (map and compass), camp set up and care, Bitterroot fauna and flora, Leave No Trace wilderness ethics, teamwork, and fun. The cost is $150 and scholarships are available. Call BEAR at 375-9110 for more information or to register.

Dressage competition

The 15th annual Missoula Dressage Competition and Sport Horse Show including the Montana State Dressage Championships will be held Saturday, August 6 and Sunday, August 7 at the Missoula Equestrian Park, North Ave. and 35th Streets, close to Fort Missoula. Tests are from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Judges are Debbie Riel-Rodregues, USEF "S" and Tracey Lert, USEF "S".

The event is open to competitors from the U.S. and Canada who wish their horse to be judged by a national standard and who may also wish to compete for national awards.

Testing will start at Training Level through Grand Prix and Musical Kurs. New this year are Sport Horse classes and Montana State Dressage Championships.

Spectators are welcome and there is no fee for spectators. For more information contact Darla Carothers, Show Secretary, 728-3820.

Stevi Booster Club meeting

The Stevensville Booster Club will meet Monday, August 15 at 7 p.m. in the high school. Planning for the 2005-06 school year will begin. In September the normal meeting date and time will go back to the first Monday of each month at 7 p.m. A membership drive is currently underway. To join or for more information call 777-7305.

Stevensville Museum

York says, "Hey, guys! Let's take a look at the neat museum." Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday. The Stevensville Historical Museum is located at 517 Main in Stevensville. Admission is free.

Creamery Picnic at library

The North Valley Library will have a double-header celebration during the Creamery Picnic weekend. First, a reception for the new Library Director, Renee McGrath, will be held on First Friday, August 5, from 5 to 7 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Secondly, a bigger-than-big book sale will be held in the libraryıs meeting room on Friday and Saturday, August 5 and 6, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on both days. Many more books than ever before will be available. Come see for yourself!