Bitterrooters for Planning, a local non-profit organization that promotes planned development, has filed a lawsuit in District Court challenging the Ravalli County Commissioners’ recent decision to grant a third extension to development timelines for the Morado Mountain Estates Subdivision located six miles east of Florence. The subdivision was first proposed in or around 2006. The […]
Ribbon cut on new surgery center
More than 650 people “crossed the red line” for a special tour of the new Surgery Center at Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital’s open house last week. Chief of Surgery Dr. James Zubernis, Dr. Michael Dolecki, CEO John Bishop and Hospital Board Chair Lois Hedg-Peth all have a hand on the scissors as they perform what […]
Solar panels installed at Hamilton sewer plant
Hamilton Mayor Dominic Farrenkopf, Rick Hamilton from Solar Plexus, Public Works Director Donny Ramer, NorthWestern Energy District Manager Tim Moody and NorthWestern Energy Management Specialist Shawn Fredrickson were all on hand last week to dedicate the new solar panel array that has been installed atop a shed roof at the City’s wastewater treatment plant. According […]
Property owners file federal suit over unpermitted road
Several property owners in Sunnyside Orchards subdivision, located between Stevensville and Florence along the Eastside Highway, have filed a federal lawsuit against the county; developers Donald and Alexandra Morton and Sunnyside Orchards LLC; realtor Lee Foss and Foss Realty Inc; Western Montana Excavation; and Starlight Interests, LLC, a Georgia LLC. The plaintiffs and the development […]
Special concert set for Stevensville library
A couple of musicians have teamed up to provide the Bitterroot community with an all too rare opportunity to hear some late baroque and more contemporary trumpet tunes performed in concert at the North Valley Public Library in Stevensville. Local trumpeter Elliott Oppenheim will be accompanied by pianist Heidi Schnarr in the First Friday evening […]
Alumnus shares passion with career day at Stevensville High
It hasn’t been that long since Christopher Driemeyer graduated from Stevensville High School. Like many graduates he went off to college to further his education and had to face one of life’s biggest questions for many kids: What to do for a living? Driemeyer has always been a bit of an achiever. His last year […]
Phillips resigns from Stevensville town council
Stevensville’s town hall has been plagued by bitter disputes between the Stevensville Town Council and the Mayor’s office. Town Clerk Audrey Tribbensee recently resigned due to what she called “harassment and bullying” by council members. Now the council’s newest member, Jerry Phillips, has tendered his resignation effective April 18, 2019. In his resignation letter, Phillips […]
Fire scorches Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge
An accidental wildfire scorched about 391 acres on the west side of the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge north of Stevensville last Friday when a slash pile fire was blown out of control by high afternoon winds. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fire management team was burning ditches and some slash piles last Friday […]
Stevi grammarian gets national award
Ann Ellsworth, a Montana State University education professor, has received the 2019 Grammar Teacher of the Year Award, a national award presented by the Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar and GrammarFlip. The assembly is a branch of the National Council of Teachers of English, and GrammarFlip is an interactive grammar and writing program […]
Addressing Chronic Wasting Disease in Montana
About fourteen years ago, Rocky Mountain Laboratory sponsored a program at the Hamilton Performing Arts Center on Chronic Wasting Disease research. As part of the National Institutes of Health, RML has been involved with research into prion related diseases like CWD for a long time. Now that CWD has been identified in Montana wildlife, RML […]
Bitterroot Buggers Fishing Day set
Spring is a really busy time in the Bitterroot for almost any kind of work, but if I had my choice, I’d rather go fishing. Some lucky kids get a chance to do just that. The kids taking the Bitterroot Buggers’ after school fly fishing program at the Hamilton Middle School for instance, get […]
New Surgery Center at Daly Hospital to hold grand opening
Your chance to walk across the Red Line There is a chance coming up for the general public to do what will soon be forbidden, that is to walk across the Red Line at Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital’s new Surgical Center, the line that stops anyone but qualified personnel from approaching the critical areas of […]