[news]
WEEK IN REVIEW
VIEWFINDER
by Chad Harder
Wednesday, January 16 The Missoula City Council debates a proposal to illuminate the Madison Street Pedestrian Bridge to enhance safety and aesthetics. The proposal comes from a local group known as the “Light the Bridge Committee.”
Thursday, January 17 The Montana Highway Patrol scam in which a man solicits the phone for money-based claim that a relative is in jail money to be released.
warns of a locals over on a false and needs
Friday, January 18 Missoula’s inversion lingers like a bowl of particulate soup, prompting the Missoula City-County Health Department to issue a Stage 2 pollution warning. The air quality is deemed unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Saturday, January 19 Griz forward Mike Weisner hits a 3-pointer with 3.4 seconds left in regulation to force overtime against Montana State at Dahlberg Arena. The Griz go on to earn their 21st straight conference victory, topping the Cats 77-71.
Sunday, January 20 The Lifelong Learning Center hosts the final day of Montana’s first Start Up Weekend, a 54-hour event where aspiring entrepreneurs pitch and develop their ideas for a panel of judges. IWILLHELPOUT.com, a website that promotes and facilitates volunteerism, wins first place.
Monday, January 21 Missoula Republican Rep. Champ Edmunds is the only person to testify at the Montana Legislature in favor of HB 197, legislation he proposed that would require all companies statewide to drug test their employees.
Tuesday, January 22 The Montana Reproductive Rights Coalition hosts a rally in Helena to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision affirming a woman’s right to abortion.
Ice crystals form above an open section of Rattlesnake Creek in Greenough Park on Tues., Jan. 22.
Kettlehouse
Big changes, same taproom Kettlehouse Brewing has wrestled for years with the knowledge that, someday, demand for its popular craft beers will cause the company to breach the state’s 10,000-barrel production cap. That day is coming fast now, and when it does, Kettlehouse faced the prospect of having to close its Myrtle Street taproom. But co-owner Tim O’Leary has a plan to maintain the status quo. Last week, O’Leary announced via Facebook that Kettlehouse will soon split into three separate companies. Work is already underway to relocate the Myrtle Street brewhouse to an adjacent building, which will become the new headquarters for Kettlehouse Brewing. The newly established Myrtle Street Taphouse LLC—owned by O’Leary’s mother, Helen O’Leary—will take over the existing taproom location and is currently acquiring a beer and wine license to keep the taps flowing. Kettlehouse’s Northside location will be renamed the Northside Brewing Company and operate as-is under sole ownership of O’Leary’s wife, Suzy Rizza. “The major difference is the brewery will be
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[6] Missoula Independent • January 24 – January 31, 2013
owned by me and the beer bar will be owned by Mom,” O’Leary wrote Jan. 18. “We don’t expect to change our serving hours or quantities drastically. In fact we may not even serve wine. That is an option that the proposed license allows but does not require. Our goal is to maintain the atmosphere at 602 Myrtle that our longtime customers have come to love.” And since Myrtle Street Taphouse is a separately owned and operated company, Kettlehouse will be able to produce enough beer to satisfy increasing demand among wholesalers without upsetting local desire for neighborhood taprooms. O’Leary told the Indy last week that numerous other Montana breweries have already applied similar business models to comply with the state’s varied and restrictive microbrew laws. That’s not to say there aren’t still hurdles. Myrtle Street Taphouse needs a conditional use permit from the city before it can use a beer and wine license; the company’s permit application is scheduled for a public hearing before the Missoula City Council Jan. 28. But if O’Leary’s plan goes off, Kettlehouse will finally be free to expand—even as the original taproom maintains its familiar blue-collar flavor. Alex Sakariassen
Grizzlies
An issue of nuts Back in 2009, environmentalists successfully challenged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to lift federal protections for grizzly bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem. The victory hinged on the decline of whitebark pine in the region and the argument that grizzlies depend on the pine’s nuts for much of their diet. Two other environmental groups are now wielding the same argument in an attempt to gain Endangered Species Act protections for another species: the whitebark pine itself. The suit, filed Jan. 15 by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and the WildWest Institute, proves once again that the fate of grizzlies and whitebark pine are intertwined in the courts. Whitebark pine is in decline throughout the Rockies due to climate change, fire suppression activities, mountain pine beetle and blister rust. Environmentalists contend it’s also a critical food source for Yellowstone grizzlies—a point Alliance spokesman Steve Kelly says has been “integral” to court rulings over the years. “It’s not that the bears can’t adapt,” Kelly says.