We sell
licenses
PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID STEVENSVILLE MT PERMIT 89
• • 777-2822 • • 4039 HWY 93 N STEVENSVILLE
OUTLET STORE
For all your ammunition & Hunting needs
www.ammoandmorestore.com
FREE CONSULTATION Phone number (LARGE) (bullet) website 515 Main Street (bullet) Stevensville
’ ! l a c o L t a t s e B ‘The
Covering the Bitterroot Valley – “Where Montana Begins!”
SAVE THE DATE Bitterroot 4th Annual
50 MILE GARAGE SALE
Bransby Law Firm P.C. Family Law • Probate Matters Estate Planning • Guardianship FREE CONSULTATION
JUNE 29 & 30
777-1000 • bransbylaw.com
bitterroot50milegaragesale.com
515 Main St. • Stevensville
Established 1985 - Locally owned & independent
Volume XXXIII, Number 48
A trail that remembers Walking the Lewis and Clark Descent Trail
Ken without hat with Tanner Family LawWednesday, (bullet) Probate Matters June Estate Planning (bullet) Guardianship
20, 2018
Stevi council looks at using county law enforcement services By Michael Howell
Since the recent resignations of two Stevensville Police officers, the department is currently operating with only a single employee, Chief James Marble himself. At the June 11th Town Council meeting, it was decided to look into the possibility of contracting with the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement in town as an alternative to funding a municipal police force. Council President Bob Michalson, who placed the issue on the agenda, said, “We can sugar coat it all we want, but this is a revolving door police department since I first came here 13 years ago.” He said new people are hired, trained and schooled and then within a short time take a job with Missoula or Ravalli Counties, where salaries are higher. “I’m not saying that the Police Department has to go,” said Michalson, “just that we should look at other options.” Councilperson Ray Smith agreed, adding that in his opinion there is “a confidence problem at the top… I have a loss of confidence in our Chief now.” Chief Marble said, “After
By Michael Howell
There is probably no better way to walk in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark as they descended into the Bitterroot Valley to meet the Salish in 1805 than to walk it with one of the men who helped track them down. Ted Hall, along with all the help he could round up, which was a lot, set out to “ground truth” the trail that Lewis and Clark took from the Missouri through the Rocky Mountains. His first book on the subject, published by Stoneydale Press, is called “The Trail Between The Rivers” and describes the rigors and the joys of ground truthing the trail from the Missouri headwaters through the Rocky Mountains. Based on hard science and tons of research, it presents his view of the Corps’ actual trail, a view that subsequently continues to be confirmed. His second book, written at the urging of his publisher, Dale Burk, focuses in on the two days of travel, September 3 and 4, 1805, when the Corps of Discovery descended into the valley. This work led to the formal re-establishment of the Descent Trail that runs from the top of the pass to the Indian Trees Campground. Last week, as part of the Darby Adult Education program, Hall and his compatriot Blaine Furniss took the class out on a rainy day to walk down the trail about three miles and visit the “Witness Trees,” the trees that were living witnesses to the passage of Lewis and Clark. Only about a quarter mile down the trail, Hall and Furniss believe they have found an old grove of “Witness Trees” that Sergeant Whitehouse refers to in
Kenneth Bransby, Attorney
all the blood, sweat and tears I’ve put into this place, to say that there is a confidence issue is a slap in the face.” He said that he was not responsible for hiring and that the Police Commission makes the first recommendation and submits it to the Mayor. After that he gets involved doing background checks. “To say there is a confidence issue because a person’s choice that occurred off-duty somehow reflects on me is offensive. It boggles my mind. I really don’t know what to say. I’m dumbfounded by that comment.” One officer who just resigned had a previous DUI conviction while not on duty and the other resigned after coming under investigation on criminal charges unrelated to his job as School Resource Officer. Marble went on to say that in his opinion, “to really put this issue to rest we need to go down and have a conversation with the Sheriff.” He said once the information is obtained the public needs to weigh in. “We need to listen to everybody, not just one person’s opinion, Mr. Smith,” said Marble. He said with the right process, and See STEVI, page 12
Creamery Picnic cancelled, almost
Blaine Furniss (l), a retired Botany Professor, did the core sampling the was used to determine the age of the trees along the Lewis & Clark Descent Trail. He also identified plants, mosses and fungi on the walk down the mountain. Michael Howell photos. his journal as a “thicket of young spruce.” It was a notable occasion because they had not found any game for two days and were ravenously hungry when they discovered a very large group of grouse in the thicket. Furniss, a retired botanist, did the core sampling that helped determine the age of the trees. He said that you often hear people say, as they walking by trees that were here at the time, that they “wonder if someone from the Corps of Discovery might have actually touched this tree.” See TRAIL, page 2 Above: This is the sign you will see at the top of Lost Trail Pass at the beginning of the “Descent Trail” that was trod by the Corps of Discovery as they descended into the Bitterroot Valley in 1805. But you won’t see any more signs like that as you descend the trail. As Ted Hall (at left) explains, the trail was established as a “Wilderness Trail” and no signs are posted along the way. Sometimes a game trail will cross your path and create some confusion. In that case you size up the trails. The “Wilderness Trail” would have been cleared of any lower limbs making a four foot wide clearance and trees on both sides of the trail will be blazed, that is, a patch of bark has been removed to mark the way.
By Michael Howell
After failing, for a number of reasons, to pull together plans for the Creamery Picnic celebration in Stevensville this year, the Stevensville Civic Club board of directors quietly cancelled the annual event. For over a hundred years, the town has celebrated the rebuilding of the Creamery following a catastrophic fire. The only other cancellation of the event occurred during World War II. Last Friday, however, more than 20 community members representing businesses and organizations, like the local drug store, the Masons, the American Legion and the Senior Center, as well as a number of individual town residents, showed up at Town Hall to reverse that decision. The main question asked repeatedly of Tonya Eckert, Civic Club treasurer and chair of the Picnic for the last several years, was why the Civic Club didn’t ask for help when they saw that things were not going well. At this point, there are only about 40 days left to organize and fund the activities, which traditionally take place the first weekend in August. Former Town Council member Bill Perrin brought the issue up at the last Town Council meeting on June 11 in the public comment period, saying he had heard rumors that the event had been cancelled. He said that the Creamery Picnic was too important to the town to be abandoned. “It’s a part of our heritage,” said Perrin. “It has always been held and is a part of our legacy.” He said if the Civic Club would open up the process
and let people help that it still might be preserved. Although Town Council member Robin Holcomb serves on the Creamery Picnic committee, she did not confirm or deny or even respond to the comments. When Mayor Brandon Dewey did get confirmation of the cancellation, he sent out about a dozen emails to people he thought would be concerned about the issue and scheduled an informal meeting last Tuesday at Town Hall to discuss it. Eckert attended and told the group that she was just “burned out.” Rather than go public with their troubles the committee apparently began making plans to downsize the celebration by eliminating certain traditional events, before reaching the point that they considered it unfeasible and cancelled it altogether. Eckert said she believes the main issues are a lack of volunteers and not enough financial sponsors. She said the event costs at least $16,000 to put on. The Stevensville community is not going to let the Picnic die. The group reached consensus that the celebration would go on and they were all committed to scrambling in the short time remaining to make sure the longstanding tradition continues. It was agreed to meet every Tuesday at Town Hall at 7 p.m. to continue the planning and execution of the event which is scheduled for August 3 and 4. Anyone interested in helping out is invited to attend the meetings or call Town Hall at 777-5271 and leave their name and contact information.