[news]
WEEK IN REVIEW
VIEWFINDER
by Cathrine L. Walters
Wednesday, November 27 A Missoula police officer suffers a minor gunshot wound during an incident on the 2300 block of Reserve Street. Law enforcement officials say the shootout occurs during a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force operation, and that one of four suspects is also injured.
Thursday, November 28 Marking an annual right of passage, Missoula’s Goodfellows Club and a cadre of Boy Scout volunteers serve roughly 525 free Thanksgiving dinners at Fuddruckers, which donates restaurant space. Meals come complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, corn and pumpkin pie.
Friday, November 29 Fifteen protestors gather outside the Walmart on Brooks Street in solidarity with Our Walmart, a group seeking increased wages and more full-time jobs at the retail chain. The local Black Friday demonstration is one of an estimated 1,500 held at Walmarts across the country.
Saturday, November 30 Coastal Carolina beats Bethune-Cookman 48-24 in the first round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, setting up a second-round game against Montana on Dec. 7 in Missoula. The Chanticleers are coached by former CEO and program booster Joe Moglia.
Sunday, December 1 A 27-year-old hunter goes missing in Wallace Creek near Clinton, prompting three twoperson teams from Missoula County Search and Rescue to scour the area on ATVs. The man is found safe the next morning.
Monday, December 2 Missoula’s Urban Forestry Division announces that the city will replace 98 dead or dying trees along residential streets throughout the city beginning in December. The city says these trees “represent an unacceptable level of risk to citizens” and plans to replace them with fast-growing species like bur oak and honey locust.
Tuesday, December 3 The Montana Organizing Project and the Alliance for a Just Society release their annual Montana Jobs Gap Study at a mid-morning gathering of politicians, activists and workers at the YWCA. The report calls for Medicaid expansion and a living wage of $13.92 an hour for single workers in the state.
Mrs. Claus reads children’s holiday books at Walking Stick Toys Dec. 2. The readings continue every Monday at 10:30 a.m. through December.
Farms
Proposed regs raise issues Early in October, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition launched a campaign to fix new safety regulations set down in the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010. The federal Food and Drug Administration was taking public comments on the revised standards at the time, and the NSAC sought to inform as many people as possible about the major impacts of those revisions on small-scale farms across the country. The FDA has since closed public comment, and farmers nationwide are waiting to see what changes—if any—the agency makes in response to nearly 20,000 written comments. The concern is serious in western Montana. Bonnie Buckingham, executive director of the Clark Fork Agricultural Coalition, says that for small farms in the Missoula area, the FDA’s proposals are “onerous to the point of just being unaffordable.” “At a time when people are wanting more local food, wanting to know their farmer, wanting to really connect with their food and where it comes from,” Buckingham says, “this is a rather big blow.” Sen. Jon Tester drafted a letter last month taking
[6] Missoula Independent • December 5–December 12, 2013
aim at the FDA for its one-size-fits-all approach, requesting, among other things, that the agency soften the terms used to determine which small farms qualify for exemptions. Those exemptions were created to apply “common-sense rules for food safety at small operations that would still allow small, local markets and farms to flourish,” Tester wrote. “We need more small farms and facilities, not fewer, and these proposed rules must not stymie this local economic growth.” Other areas of concern include stricter testing of water sources for diseases like E. coli that could dramatically increase the cost of even small-farm operations. The FDA is also recommending lengthening the required time between manure application and crop harvest to nine months, an added challenge in Montana’s already short growing season. Dave Prather, general manager of the Western Montana Growers Cooperative, hopes the FDA heeds the feedback and revisit its proposals. As written, he says, the new regulations would overburden small farmers to the point of driving some out of business. Consumers could see an increase in the price of locally grown foods and a reduction in the amount available. “The big guys will be okay,” Prather says. “They just
have to shore up a few things. But smaller producers, if they’re not going to qualify under any exemptions, are going to have a tough time.” Alex Sakariassen
Wildlife
Bad news for hunters Roughly 400 white-tailed deer dropped dead in the greater Missoula area this fall, most in or around water. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks promptly sent samples in for testing, but the state was candid about its suspicion: epizootic hemorrhagic disease. Lab tests confirmed the theory. The outbreak became the first-ever appearance of EHD in Missoula County. According to Doug Inkley, a senior scientist at the National Wildlife Federation, the prevalence of EHD could be on the rise. During a Nov. 22 press conference, Inkley explained that the virus—carried by biting midges commonly known as “no-see-ums”—is directly linked to drought conditions that are becoming more frequent across the United States. Longer, hotter summers prompt big game populations to spend more time near the very water sources where midges thrive.