[news] plan will affect their quality of life. Among the primary sticking points is a provision to limit the steepness of slope upon which a home may be erected. Residents are also worried about a fire mitigation mandate that calls for cutting down their beloved pines. “We knew that there was a certain fire risk involved with living in the woods,” wrote Double Arrow homeowners William and Roberta Cruce in a July 7 letter to the commissioners, “and we gladly accepted that rather than being forced to live within a city and having all the zoning requirements that goes with it.” While the substance of the proposal is taking fire, the protocol used by the Double Arrow Ranch Landowners Association to initiate the plan with County Commissioners is also drawing heat. Residents claim that the association’s board of directors promised them the opportunity to vote on the plan. Instead, they were informed on May 17 that commissioners are poised to codify the proposal. “It came sort of out of the blue,” says Klaus von Stutterheim, who serves on the Seeley Lake Community Council. “Our constituents feel that they have not been adequately informed.” In response to criticisms, board member Jim Normark says the oversight body has worked publicly since 2010 to craft the document and never promised landowners a vote. It’s not the board’s fault, he says, that Double Arrow residents haven’t been paying attention. “You can take the horse to water, but you can’t make ’em drink,” he says. Now that residents are paying attention, Normark says he’s happy to work with them to find common ground. He’s also asking commissioners to delay casting their votes. “There might be a better way to do this,” Normark says. “This is not set in stone.” Jessica Mayrer
Facial hair
Beardless in De Borgia Last January John DuBois started dreaming about the biggest beard and mustache competition Montana—maybe even the Northwest—has ever seen. His vision of the Western Montana Beard and Moustache Festival, the first regional event of its kind, would turn the tiny town of De Borgia, located about 70 minutes west of Missoula, into the celebratory epicenter for pogonotrophy purveyors and admirers alike. There’d be live bands, golf, fly-fishing trips, venders and crowds. All 18 categories would be filled and carefully scrutinized by a panel of wellgroomed judges. “We thought people would jump on this thing,” says DuBois, who doesn’t happen to have any facial hair. “But
as of last week we were seriously thinking of shutting it down for lack of interest. We only had one registrant.” One would think the Rockies would be crawling with mountain men eager to flaunt their Verdis or Musketeers. DuBois marketed from Butte to Whitefish and Helena to Spokane. He advertised on various college campuses, built a website and a Facebook page, and even contacted a couple of beard clubs. No one signed up. Maybe it’s bad luck, or the time of year, considering only the most resolute keep a full beard in midJuly. DuBois has his own theories. “It could be just a male thing. It’s hard for a person that has a beard, which is a very personal thing to him, to get up on stage and have someone say, ‘Well, that’s not really a great beard, that’s more like a third place beard,’” DuBois says.
Despite the obstacles, DuBois has stuck to his plans. He approached bearded and mustachioed men at the St. Regis Fair and elsewhere, and successfully found competitors. He also still intends to hold a Whiskerinas competition for women; fake beards can be made of anything, from polyester to flowers. The full festival is scheduled to take place at the O-Aces restaurant in De Borgia, beginning July 12. The first year might not be the grand vision DuBois originally hoped, but if it can generate some momentum he plans on making it an annual event, with perhaps a few minor changes. “Maybe we’ll do it in late fall, when it’s easier to grow a beard,” he says. Dameon Pesanti
Traffic
Another road diet? Mary Laporte feels nervous when she rides her bicycle on Fifth and Sixth streets, not far from her
BY THE NUMBERS issued by the Missoula Police 20 Citations Department on the Fourth of July to
people illegally setting off fireworks within city limits. Missoula officials instituted a “zero tolerance” policy this year and dropped the maximum fine from $500 to $100 for a first offense.
Riverfront Neighborhood home. “It can be kind of hairy,” she says. Laporte’s trepidation is among the reasons she supports a tentative plan being vetted by the Missoula City Council that would eliminate one vehicle traffic lane from Fifth and Sixth streets. As it stands, both are two-lane thoroughfares that accommodate oneway traffic heading, respectively, east and west between Higgins Avenue and Russell Street. Proponents say the change would make more room for bikes and cut back on the all-too-frequent occurrence of parked vehicles being sideswiped by speeding cars. “Slowing down the traffic is a good thing,” says Laporte, who serves on the Riverfront Neighborhood Council, which has unanimously endorsed the proposal. “These are residential streets.” Not everyone, however, is sold on the pitch. Councilman Adam Hertz says that since the referral, which is being sponsored by Councilman Alex Taft, went public this past week, several locals have contacted him to voice concerns. His constituents worry, Hertz says, that if the city eliminates vehicle lanes, traffic congestion will increase and idling traffic will negatively affect air quality. “It’s like, what on Earth are we doing here?” Hertz asks. “I think it just defies common sense.” There’s a perception among some of Hertz’s constituents that alternative modes of transportation are increasingly being prioritized over automobiles—and they don’t like it. In an effort to find middle ground, Hertz suggests officials should create bike-friendly routes on calmer streets rather than slimming the two relatively high-traffic ones. “Maybe we can think outside the box a little more,” he says. Taft, for his part, says he’s open to brainstorming. He disagrees, however, with naysayers who predict calamitous results from the proposal. He points to past controversial local transportation overhauls, such as the addition of roundabouts in the University District and the “Broadway Road Diet,” which eliminated one vehicle lane, as proof that gridlock fear doesn’t always come to fruition. “When things are changed,” Taft says, “people adjust.” Jessica Mayrer
ETC. Last fall, a series of sickening photos creeped out of the world of social media. They’d been taken by Jamie Olson, a Wyoming-based federal wildlife specialist with Wildlife Services, and posted to Facebook and Twitter. They showed his dogs taunting coyotes caught in leg-hold traps that Olson himself had set. The images caused a nationwide uproar, and prompted Olson to admit to the Indy that he’d made a “big-ass mistake” in posting them. Since the revelation about Olson’s activities, more stories have come to light involving the dubious predator-control methods employed by other Wildlife Services personnel. But Olson isn’t the only fed betraying backward priorities. The Department of Homeland Security appears more concerned with the reaction from animal rights activists than with the disturbing behavior of federal employees. Not long after the stories of alleged animal abuse broke, a nonprofit called Project Coyote launched a petition on Change.org calling for Olson’s firing. WildEarth Guardians signed on, as did the Animal Welfare Institute. Signatures poured in, reaching 40,000 in a few short weeks. Four members of Congress wrote to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform demanding a “full and thorough investigation of Wildlife Services.” The response from DHS? A counter-terrorism bulletin dated shortly after Project Coyote launched its petition, warning law enforcement agencies to “be aware of the potential for increased threats and interference by animal rights activists” to Wildlife Services and other agencies dealing in wildlife issues. One of the news stories that brought much of this to light, a three-part series by the Sacramento Bee, found that Wildlife Services employees have killed nearly a million coyotes since 2000, along with millions of other animals including black bears, river otters, porcupines and even bald eagles. The same article stated that “on average, eight dogs a month have been killed by mistake by Wildlife Services since 2000,” and that more than a dozen employees and civilians have been injured by cyanide cartridges meant to kill wildlife over the past two decades. Olson’s photos were just the tip of the iceberg. With these transgressions in mind, it seems deplorable that DHS should target those seeking action on a widespread and well-documented problem. Perhaps it’s time the federal government began looking a little more in the mirror and less at those simply seeking to protect wildlife, pets and people.
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missoulanews.com • July 11 – July 18 , 2013 [7]