Committee agrees to consider two-lane roadway
Bypass Plans Scaled Back
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Plans for the long-awaited Kalispell bypass took another turn last week when the project’s advisory committee reversed its push to develop sections of the road in their entirety and agreed to consider a scaled-back plan instead.
Rather than the proposed four-lane construction, the Technical Advisory Committee decided to entertain plans for an interim two-lane highway first, with the groundwork set to add two additional lanes later.
Songwriters showcase begins at Red’s
Providing a Stage for Local Talent
Betty and the Boy members Betty Jaeger, right, and Josh Harvey. - Lido Vizzutti/Flathead Beacon
When Jonathan Parkison was in high school, there were no fewer than 15 punk rock bands regularly performing original music in Evergreen. It was a movement. Over time, it slowed to a crawl until it eventually all but disappeared. But the music never did. In a county with more than 80,000 people, Parkison knows there are dozens of talented songwriters and gifted musicians just waiting for their chance.
He intends to give them their chance.
Family Will Use Proceeds to Buy Land In Montana
Historic Libby Pistol Sells for $920,000 in Maine
FAIRFIELD, Maine – An anonymous bidder paid a record $920,000 for a historic .44-caliber revolver, and Maine auctioneer James Julia said that despite the price, it was a bargain.
The Colt Walker pistol made for U.S. marshals in the 1840s belonged to University of Maine graduate John McBride's great-great-uncle. McBride, who lives in Libby, Mont., returned to Maine for Tuesday's auction. He waved his cowboy hat and cheered "Yee-ha" when bidding ended for the gun he said he's never fired.
Sawmill Closures Exacerbate Economic Downturn
As Markets Decline, Timber Industry Hangs On
A feller buncher places a tree in a pile to be hauled out by a grapple skidder at a thinning project on state land near Echo Lake. - Lido Vizzutti/Flathead Beacon
Over the last several weeks, the news out of Western Montana’s forest products industry reads like an all-too-familiar litany of job losses, shuttering mills and falling commodity prices.
At the end of September, Plum Creek Timber Co. laid off 24 employees when it suspended operations at its finger-joint stud plant in Kalispell. At the same time, the Tricon Timber mill in St. Regis laid off 40 full- and part-time workers, citing a soft lumber market. Less than two weeks earlier, Plum Creek eliminated 35 jobs at its fiberboard plant in Columbia Falls. In August, Stimson Lumber Co. laid off the final dozen workers from its finger-joint plant in Libby, just a few months after the company closed its Bonner sawmill, putting 92 people out of work.
Lake Drowning
Coroner: Flathead Lake Drowning was Accidental
Authorities say a former Alaska man living in the Flathead Valley died by drowning, and the death was accidental.
The body of 43-year-old George Boss Jr. was found Monday afternoon, washed up on the shore of Woods Bay in Flathead Lake.
Lawsuit Could Grow to Class Action Size
Employees Sue Hospital Over Eliminated Benefit
A lawsuit filed last month by three Kalispell Regional Medical Center employees alleges the hospital and its parent company, Northwest Healthcare, illegally cut a severance pay plan that allowed some employees to cash in on unused sick leave.
Sheila Chipman, Ellen Hames and Deborah Wallen filed a complaint in Flathead County District Court in September, alleging Northwest Healthcare broke its employee contract when it eliminated a plan that reimbursed workers with 25-plus years of employment for unused sick hours.
Runway Resurfacing Work to Happen During Peak Tourism Season
Glacier Airport Schedules Runway Closures for August 2009
Co-pilot Stephen Hanks inspects the exterior of a SkyWest Airlines plane after its trip from Salt Lake to Glacier Park International Airport. - Lido Vizzutti/Flathead Beacon
The main runway of Glacier Park International Airport will be closed for 12 days throughout August of next year to allow for resurfacing and improvements, necessitating substantial rescheduling of flights in and out of the Flathead during one of the peak periods of the summer tourism season.
[read more]Kalispell Fatal
Michigan Man Dies After Being Struck by Pickup
A Michigan man was struck and killed by a pickup truck as he tried to flag down a passing motorist on U.S. Highway 2 near Kila.
Flathead County sheriff's deputies said the crash happened just after 4 a.m. Tuesday. The 78-year-old man died at the scene. His name hasn't been released.
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