Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Valley News at a Glance

Local singer finalist in country music competition - by Jean Schurman

River Clean Up a success - by Michael Howell

Going, going, gone… green - by Gretchen L. Langton

Referral service available

Stevi Foundation grants available

New board member at Stevensville Playhouse

TGRF grants available

Dog show results

Tyler Barham of Florence began the journey of his life on Sunday, September 7. The University of Montana freshman is currently in Nashville, Tennessee, where he is one of six finalists in the GAC network’s “Next GAC Star.” The winner will be named tonight at 7 p.m. on live cable television.

Barham is cautiously optimistic, saying he just hopes to be one of the four remaining so he can sing his original song tonight. That song, “Everything You Need,” was written by Barham and Cheryl Mahler, who lives near Stevensville.

The contest began eight weeks ago as an online audition. This type of audition was ideal for Barham as he had built up an online fan base with his YouTube fans. After posting a couple of music videos he got requests for more and more. He says he has posted more than 130 videos online of himself singing. His rendition of Brooks and Dunn’s “Red Dirt Road” was his audition song.

“It (the fan base) definitely helped with this contest,” he said.

Barham began singing when he was about nine years old when his family lived in Colorado. They went to Deer Creek, Wyoming, where his grandparents lived. There was a talent show and he entered it singing a Billy Gilman song. He didn’t win because the judges thought he was ‘lip syncing.’

The boy band Hanson was one of Barham’s first influences. He expanded to ‘N Sync and other pop styles before settling on country. He cites Phil Vasser as one of his favorite stars and is still star-struck because he met Vasser while in Nashville.

Barham possesses an incredible ear that can pick up most songs after just listening to them. He is learning to play the guitar but says his only formal training at this point is high school choir. He said he doesn’t really read music, just listens to the song and then sings it.

Throughout his high school years at Florence, Barham would sing for groups whenever he got a chance. He also competed on the Colgate Country talent search and the Montana Idol contests at First Night in Missoula. He finished second in the Colgate Country search.

After being selected as a finalist, Barham spent a week in Nashville with the other five finalists. They all have had much more experience in the music business and appreciated seeing the town and the event through Barham’s inexperienced eyes. Although the contest organizers hoped for some antagonism between them, they got along very well.

“I kept saying, I’m in Nashville, wow,” said Barham.

While in Nashville, he had a chance to work with record producer Desmond Childs who has produced the likes of Aerosmith and Bon Jovi. Child commented on the semi finals that Barham had no ego and took some pretty tough criticism but came back strong. Victoria Shaw, who has produced several Garth Brooks songs, and country singer Jack Ingraham, are also judges in the contest.

Another highlight of his July trip to Nashville was the Grand Ole Opry. The contestants had a chance to sit on stage behind Trace Atkins during the performance. Barham said it was just amazing to sit in that auditorium and think of all the great singers that have been on stage there. His face lights up as he says, “Someday, I’ll be right there.”

He will be that much closer to his dream if he is selected on Wednesday night. The grand prize is a record deal with Original Signal Recordings. He said all semi finalists had to sign the contract but before he did, he had his uncle, who is a lawyer, look it over, as well as his dad.

Even if he doesn’t win, Barham realizes what an incredible experience he has had and will use this experience to move closer to his dream of stardom.

“I know what I will need to work on, but if I win… oh man, I’m OFF!”

The 2008 annual Bitterroot River Cleanup Day was a big success, according to event organizer Phil Romans. He and his wife/co-organizer Dorreen and close to a hundred other participants celebrated the day’s work with music and food at the Angler’s Roost campground south of Hamilton.

A few participants got special recognition, like Geoff FitzGerald and Eddie Olwell. Working as a team they gained recognition for both the “heaviest” piece of trash to be removed from the river and the “most unique.” The heaviest thing turned out to be a large tractor tire. The most unique award went to what looks like the bottom half of an old street lamppost. The two men shared both awards.

Beyond the applause of fellow cleaner uppers there were no prizes given.

“The real prize is going down the river and not seeing any trash,” said Romans.

The annual cleanup event, co-founded by the Romanses in 2006, has led to the removal of tons of trash from the river and river banks from up the East and West Forks all the way to Missoula. The effort has drawn a lot of community support. Trout Unlimited and Bitterroot Disposal are major contributors. Food for the celebration picnic was furnished by Hamilton IGA, Safeway, Super 1, and Albertsons. Music was provided by local musician Kirby Erickson. Flyfishing, tackle and sports shops up and down the valley contributed as did dozens upon dozens of volunteers who spent the day performing one of the most humbling and yet most honorable of human tasks, picking up our garbage.

Terry Davenport has been building homes for 35 years, and this week people will get a chance to see how he has incorporated elements of “green” building techniques into his building style. The Green Home Living Tour takes place this Saturday and the home of Steve and Brenda Oreskovich, built by Davenport’s Natural House Builders, is one of the homes that will be featured.

Davenport, a Bitterroot native, began building with his father when he was 16.

"I started as a nail driver putting up siding," he remembers. That was before nail guns, when building was mostly manual. Terry went to southern California during the housing boom there and he recalls how they "would build thirty houses in three months." But this "production-oriented" method of building drove him to imagine another way to build. He traveled to the Seattle area and was inspired by "houses that were being built as art." This, combined with his reading of the "Natural House Book", motivated him to imagine unique homes, constructed meticulously, over a longer period of time. These homes in his mind could be both ultra-efficient (the main focus for the green building movement) and feng shui (aesthetically pleasing).

His company, Natural House Builders, now constructs two houses a year and he proudly revels in the outcomes. So do those who live in his creations. When the Oreskoviches were contacted to participate in the Green Home Living Tour, they were emphatic about taking part because "we just love Terry and would do anything for him." This rare devotion for a contractor is only one of the benefits gleaned from their fortuitous relationship that has blossomed into a genuine friendship.

As Terry, Brenda, Steve and I walk around their beautiful home, my first thought is, "I cannot believe this house is made of concrete." Concrete is the stuff of driveways. Horizontal and hard and stark and cold-to-the-touch. But this is not your daddy’s concrete. This home feels just the opposite: it’s creamy vertical walls, mixed with exquisitely artistic woodwork, reverberate with a softness and warmth that must be experienced to be understood. Perhaps this is because the concrete has disappeared behind buttery-colored stucco on the outside and off-white, textured, sheet-rocked walls on the inside.

Yet, how the walls look is really secondary to how they function.

"The walls are eleven inches thick; 2-? inches of concrete, 6 inches of foam, and another 2-? inches of concrete" Terry explains. "It has an R-value of 22. This house is tight… Forty percent of current houses’ carbon footprints are due to air-leaks."

This translates to an extremely well-insulated home, or a "tight home," one that stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter. As a result of its efficiency, this home uses fewer resources, thus reducing its carbon footprint, the "piece de resistance" for green builders.

The Oreskoviches did not intend to be ‘green warriors.’

"We were just poor," explain Brenda and Steve. Their circumstances dictated a certain frugality that they have come to embrace as a way of life. Frugality has flip-flopped from the necessitated custom of our parents and grandparents who lived through the Great Economic Downturn to an embarrassing ritual of spending above our means. To be frugal in recent times had negative connotations due to the traditional consumer-driven American economic model. Now, frugality is a coveted talent to be both in the right place at the right time and have an eye for how one man’s garbage can be a treasure to another. Steve and Brenda have stories that exemplify this.

Their countertops are the bowling alley lane out of Legendary Lodge, the Copper King William Clark’s getaway.

"They were tearing it out and they were going to throw it on the fire," states Steve with both disbelief and triumph.

The Oreskoviches saved this incredible wood and meticulously removed all the nails and hardware. They had craftsman Chuck Caprich laminate and refinish these strips of lane to a specified length and width and then it became a permanent part of their kitchen and dining room. In the latter, the refurbished lane is set up like a built-in sideboard, along the half wall separating the kitchen and dining area, with storage space beneath. When they have 30 people in their house at Christmas, the crowd flows as smoothly as a sixteen-pounder headed into the strike zone along this gorgeous surface. Part of their design plan was to have an open feel throughout the communal living space.

"It’s really like one big room" says Brenda.

The cabinetry in the kitchen is white pine, recycled from an organ box that was being dismantled in a nearby church. The Oreskoviches are self-admitted scroungers of the highest order. But what used to be "cheap" about the term "scroungers" has become both economical and environmental. Steve and Brenda have saved money as well as saving reusable items that would have otherwise been discarded. And thus, they have found another way to reduce their carbon footprint. By reusing materials, they do not have to buy and use new materials and expend the gigantic amount of energy it takes to produce these new materials. This is not to say that scrounging is not without its labor, but only in a time-is-money economy does this reusing of materials seem unprofitable.

There is a Swiss chalet flavor to all that is this structure for several reasons: first, because Terry naturally gravitates to this style. When he built his own house on Indian Prairie Loop, "it was supposed to be Tudor-style, but it ended up looking like a Swiss chalet." The Oreskoviches share Terry’s Nordic bent because they spend time in Switzerland during Steve’s sabbaticals from his Episcopal ministry. The house’s corbels (braced beams), constructed by local craftsman Mark Coleman, sing of Swiss architectural fortitude. Brenda’s warm rosemaling (a decorative Swiss technique of painting) shines on the beams and cabinetry. Steve, being fascinated with Swiss carving, has studied those styles and copied them.

"Romano Pedrini" is the name that inspires awe and mirth as we sit in the dining area on Swiss-style chairs. Steve explains that Romano Pedrini is said to have been one of the last big Swiss Italian carvers who did jobs for the European elite.

"He used to buy old Swiss farmhouses and save the carvings."

When Brenda and Steve went looking for Romano Pedrini, they were directed to a little village with a building that said "Pedrini and Sons" on the sign outside. As they looked at the ornate carvings all around, Steve was slyly taking photos with the hopes of duplicating some of the traditional designs. When they asked a young woman where Romano was, she explained that he had retired years before. When they asked her who was chiefly responsible for the art they were witnessing, this twenty-two-year-old exclaimed that she was the carver. They eventually met Romano’s son and Steve asked if he could photograph some of the designs in his elaborately carved office. "Yes," was the reply, "though, they are all on the internet." Steve came home and began to replicate, with magnificent success, some of the designs he had seen. He loves it enough that he wants to make his European/Alpine-style carvings into a cottage industry.

The artistry in this home is visible as soon as the cheery front door opens. What isn’t visible are the features that make this home so efficient, like the radiant floor heating that runs beneath the amber stained concrete flooring or the “hot roof" insulation system in the ceiling, or the Venmar High Efficiency air exchanger tucked neatly in the hall closet next to their on-demand hot water heater. All of these elements conspire to make this house an easy keeper in all seasons. In the winter, their heat bill is never over a hundred dollars, and "it would be less if my shop wasn’t so inefficient," laments Steve. In the summer, the house never goes above 72 degrees inside.

While the Oreskoviches trusted Terry implicitly with their project, they did agree to compromise on several items. Terry counseled them not to install a gas fireplace because fireplaces are typically responsible for air leakage, but Steve and Brenda wanted the double-sided fireplace, which adorns both their bedroom and the main room. The Oreskoviches were hesitant to put in the Venmar system due to its expense but at Terry’s behest they agreed and are very happy with its performance. Even with the expense of the Venmar, this lovely home was constructed for under $140,000.

See Steve and Brenda’s magnum opus, as well as four other green structures, during the Green Home Living Tour taking place on Saturday, September 13 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. This tour is a bus-guided tour; buses can be met at Safeway in Hamilton, at K-mart in Hamilton, or at Super One in Stevensville at 9 a.m. Tickets can be purchased at the buses or at the following locations: Chapter One Bookstore, the Bitterroot Star, Sunelco, or Bitterroot Community Market. For more information, call 207-3738.

Need help locating assistance with food, housing, daycare, support groups or other human services? Call 211/First Call For Help. Call 211 or 549-5555. 211/First Call For Help is a telephone information and referral service. Trained staff can analyze your unique problems and provide information or refer you to the social services designed to meet your needs. Call 211/First Call For Help or 549-5555. 211/First Call For Help is a service of the Human Resource Council and United Way of Missoula County.

The Stevensville Community Foundation Fall grant cycle will begin September 15th with a strict deadline of Friday, October 10, 2008. Grants are awarded to organizations that benefit programs or projects which make the greater Stevensville Community a better place in which to live. Excluded are religious or political organizations. Cycles are held in both spring and fall. More than $170,000 has been awarded by the Stevensville Community Foundation thus far to such worthy endeavors. Information may be obtained by picking up applications at the Bitterroot Star, the Rocky Mountain Bank or the Farmers State Bank. For more information or to submit an application, write to Box 413, Stevensville MT 59870 or call 239-5726.

The Stevensville Playhouse is pleased to announce the addition of Tim Shonkwiler to its board of directors. Tim is the owner of Madison Creek Furnishings of Stevensville, and lives in Stevensville. Tim has been involved with theater for most of his life.

The Greater Ravalli Foundation announces the deadline for the grant cycle ending September 15, 2008. This process expedites funding requests to benefit the youth of Ravalli County. Deadlines for submission of grant applications for consideration are: March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15. For the current cycle grant applications may be obtained on line at HYPERLINK "http://www.tgrf.org" www.tgrf.org. Return to HYPERLINK "mailto:adminassist@stockfarm.com" adminassist@stockfarm.com or fax to 375-1889 by September 15, 2008. Financial support is limited to the growth and development of Ravalli County’s school children K-12, addressing four specific areas. Those areas that the Foundation will consider funding are basic essentials of daily life in the Bitter Root Educational facilities, supplies and grassroots programs; scholarships for all levels of academic ability; sustenance, such as winter clothing, hot meals and other food programs; and various capital line items as they arise, such as cafeteria equipment and extracurricular program needs.

On First Friday the Stevensville Main Street Association hosted the first “Who Let the Dogs Out!” Dog Show. Winners were as follows:

Large Dog Category: Cutest - Rider, owner Rodney Madsen; Look Alike Owner/Pet - Lills & Harry, owner Cherry Tuck; Best Costume Owner/Pet – 1st, Bear Berthoud, owner Jenna Berthoud, 2nd, Jake, owners Dallas Baines & Pamela Cleaves; Most Talented - Rocket, owner Ashten Miller.

Judges: Trey Anthony, Mike Enzler, Mackenzie Zimmerman.

Medium Dog Category:  Cutest – 1st, Lucy Lou, owner Mandy King, 2nd, Blonca, owners Jordan & Rita Hackett; Look Alike Owner/Pet - Scoobie, wwner Anna Baker; Best Costume Owner/Pet - Cowgirl, owners Jamison, Sylvie, Carly; Most Talented - Topaz, owner Deborah Goslin.  

Judges: Chad Smith, Blake Smith, Charlotte Hoffman.

Small Dog Category:  Cutest – 1st, Coca, owner Mandy Kilpatrick, 2nd, Gizmo, wwner Misty Loesch; Look Alike Owner/Pet - LuLu, owner Patricia Don Diego; Best Costume Owner/Pet - Bling Bling, owner Donna Copps; Most Talented - Wheeza, owners Mike and Jenet McConnell.

Judges: Linda Kaufmann, Hannah Miller, Terry O’Neal.

People’s Choice Award went to Lucy Lou, owner Mandy King.  Congratulations.