BIGFORK – When Jon Tester stood up in front of a class of Bigfork High School students last week, the first question he answered dealt with a decision upon which he would be questioned and congratulated almost continuously over the course of the day he spent in the Flathead: his vote against the $700-billion bailout bill for the nation’s financial industry.
Freshman Sen. Tester was among the 10 Democrats who opposed the bailout bill when it passed the U.S. Senate easily Oct. 1, on a 74 to 25 vote.
Feedback on the Bailout
In Flathead, Public Tells Tester Their Economic Concerns
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U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, center, addresses the questions from Flathead Valley Montessori Academy students and other members of the community during an open house at his Kalispell field office. - Lido Vizzutti/Flathead Beacon |
60+ Scouts travel to Hamilton for Mountain Man Rendezvous
Flathead-area Scouts invade the Bitterroot
A Rendezvous staffer in period clothing melts a lead mixture before pouring a mold of .50 caliber shot for his blackpowder rifle. Mark Riffey photo for the Beacon
More than 60 Boy Scouts from six troops in Bigfork, Columbia Falls, Kalispell and Whitefish descended on the Bitterroot Valley's Rennaker Ranch this past weekend for the fifth annual Bitterroot Rendezvous.
The event involves approximately 200 participants and staffers, with events and activities including a Colter Run, spear throw, flint and steel fire starting, tomahawk throw, archery, blackpowder and a mountain man trading post complete with blackpowder rifles, throwing hawks and knives, as well as hand-made mountain man style clothing.
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The event involves approximately 200 participants and staffers, with events and activities including a Colter Run, spear throw, flint and steel fire starting, tomahawk throw, archery, blackpowder and a mountain man trading post complete with blackpowder rifles, throwing hawks and knives, as well as hand-made mountain man style clothing.
Bigfork Celebrates 20 years of Tamarack Time
Fall Flavors
Setting up for the 20th Tamarack Festival: new this year was a hayride. Saturday's sunny yet cool and crisp weather brought out tasters ready to sample the creations of local cooks competing for the best dish in categories ranging from ethnic fare to pickles. – Katrin Frye for the Beacon
A list of 1st Place winners:
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Lyla Page was Pronounced Dead at KRMC
Name of Victim of Bigfork Crash Released
MISSOULA – Officials have released the name of a 29-year-old Laurel woman who was killed in a one-vehicle crash near Bigfork.
The Montana Highway Patrol says Lyla Page was westbound on Secondary 209 Friday night when she veered off the right side of the road and overcorrected. Her SUV overturned and rolled several times.
Page was pronounced dead at Kalispell Regional Medical Center.
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The Montana Highway Patrol says Lyla Page was westbound on Secondary 209 Friday night when she veered off the right side of the road and overcorrected. Her SUV overturned and rolled several times.
Page was pronounced dead at Kalispell Regional Medical Center.
Van Strikes Tractor-Trailer Hauling Apples
Update: Accident Victim Identified
Somers firefighters keep a pile of smoldering apples contained after an accident occurred involving a van, an SUV and a tractor-trailer on Montana Highway 82 on Thursday evening. - Lido Vizzutti/Flathead Beacon
A man who died Thursday evening when his van veered into oncoming traffic on Montana Highway 82 and sideswiped a tractor-trailer hauling apples has been identified as Trenton Thornton, 24. The driver of the tractor-trailer was taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center with minor injuries.
The accident is under investigation by the Montana Highway Patrol.
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The accident is under investigation by the Montana Highway Patrol.
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.
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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.
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.
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New restaurant flourishes on Flathead Lake
Blues, Booze and Barbecue
Jim Bassett, owner of East Shore Smoke House Bar & Grill, leans on the bar at his east shore restaurant on Montana Highway 35. - Lido Vizzutti/Flathead Beacon
FINLEY POINT – The sign for East Shore Smoke House is perched atop a towering tree trunk along Montana Highway 35. Written on it in bold letters are alliterative tributes to three of Jim Bassett’s most sacred pleasures in life: blues, booze and barbecue.
“Those are the three things I like,” Bassett, East Shore’s owner, said.
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“Those are the three things I like,” Bassett, East Shore’s owner, said.
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