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Wednesday, 04 April 2007 |
By Buck Traxler, I-O Editor
Mayor John Shevlin gave a brief update on the land situation at the Industrial Park which involved the city and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad during the council meeting Monday evening.
Readers will recall that there is a small section of land that Columbia Grain would like to purchase, however the BNSF claims all rights to it.
Researched by Pondera County Title, it shows that the city actually owns the parcel. BNSF though has informed the city it wants $22,000 for the land that they don’t own.
While the railroad won’t admit to say they own the land, they claim to have an interest in it. “This won’t be over with over night,” commented the mayor.
The council received only one quote for this season’s mosquito control contract.
Bill Halver of Shelby, who had the contract last year, submitted the lone bid for $9,900, up $700 from last year. He got a late start, in July, last season, but will begin controlling the pesky bugs in May.
Four building permits were OK’d by the council, claims and payroll were also passed. There were no water contracts.
Several items on the agenda received no action and will be carried over to the next regular meeting. Those include action on the growth policy, action on the Brian Heath property and action on the CDBG planning grant.
Jerry Stubbs was hired for the Maintenance Worker I position and the city will re-advertise for a pool manager until the position is filled.
Resolution 939 was read and passed, noting that excess funds from swimming pool funds may be moved to the general fund.
There was no comment on this during a public hearing portion of the meeting. The council passed the resolution 4-0.
Aldermen also received routine reports from City Attorney Mary Ann Ries, Police Chief Gary Dent and Richard Anderson, Public Works Director and Cheryl Curry of the Port Authority.
The next regular meeting of the council will be on April 16, 7:30 p.m. in city hall, 411 ½ S. Main. |
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Wednesday, 04 April 2007 |
By Buck Traxler, I-O Editor
A packed Norley Hall on Tuesday saw a mixture of responses for a proposed 230-kilovolt-transmission line that would run from Lethbridge, Alberta Canada south to Great Falls.
Approximately 130 miles of the 203-mile transmission line would be constructed in the U.S. Between 45 and 52 miles of line would be in Pondera County.
Between 70 and 80 people were at the first of three public hearings, many of them in possession of the heavy inch and a half thick draft environment impact statement put out by the DEQ (Dept. of Environmental Quality).
Tom Ring of the DEQ, who drew a chuckle from the crowd as he explained the ground rules, saying, “We need to keep the comments PG rated, because you’ll all be on record”, moderated the public meeting.
 There were four alternatives to the proposed project, one being to take no action should the project not be approved.
The second alternative is preferred by MATL (Montana-Alberta Tie Ltd.).
It would run 129.9 miles with the line running east of Valier, west of Conrad, crossing over I-15 just north of Brady, and continuing south to Great Falls.
The first speaker, Shawn Dolan, came up from Idaho to comment because his family has land near Valier that the transmission line would cross. He felt that, “The line for economic development was overstated.” He saw, “A little push in motel, gas stations and restaurants, but that was all.”
He went on to add that the wind farm developers are multi-national companies from out of Montana looking for a tax write-off.
Ted Kronebusch speaking as a businessman and Regional Port Authority board member commented, “I’d relish anyone who will bring high paying jobs into the county. I support the project.”
Rep. Llew Jones, HD-27, was on hand and passed out copies of HB-843, which he has introduced.
Being in support of the proposed transmission line, his bill will allow a property tax exemption, under certain conditions, for land owned by the taxpayer that includes land adjacent to the certain transmission lines.
“This is a potential $1.2 billion investment, I hope we work on this,” he said.
Jim Nelson, who farms along the Bullhead Road said, “This runs the full length of my land, I’m opposed to coming across it.”
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Wednesday, 04 April 2007 |
By Gen McCracken
When Lent began, it was time for the contest to see who could hide the most eggs before the Easter egg dying, blowing and decorating day came.
As we were evenly divided, the contest was between boys and girls. It was a great honor to bring in the most eggs and be able to choose the egg you wanted of the decorated ones. And, if the Easter Bunny brought a special egg, that was even more wonderful.
We knew that the Easter Bunny laid the eggs because one morning Dad called us to the window to show us a big white rabbit sticking his nose into a little green nest of Easter candy eggs out in our yard—positive proof!
The rivalry was strongest amount the older ones in the family, and we younger ones were begged, bribed, and bullied not to tell anything we saw or heard to the opposite team.
When Mom needed eggs, she called, and all had to stay in the house while the designated one brought in the needed eggs. They were then credited with the amount of eggs they had brought in. If their eggs were stolen at a later date, those would be all the credit they would have – and if the eggs were frozen, all they got was a scolding.
The one time I really remember this tradition well was when I discovered Frank and Rolly’s nest and told Inez and Sarah about it. The boys had dug a deep hole, lined it with straw and rags, put a board over the top, and covered it with lots of straw.
The girls waited until late in the night before the contest ended to move the eggs in a basket and hid it under their bed. When the boys found out that I was the informer, I was very unpopular.
I was sorry I had told because Frank and Russell were really my playmates instead of the girls. But the girls gave me the lovely blown egg that Inez had decorated and I kept it for many years.
Mary hadn’t been in the contest, but she let me help make the big cake and help out on the decorations.
Easter was a joyous day after all, but I don’t remember that the contest was held again. I guess we moved to town so the bigger children could attend high school, and then we had church to go to on Easter instead.
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