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Covering the Bitterroot Valley – “Where Montana Begins!”
’ ! l a c o L t a t s e B ‘The
VOTE FOR ADULT LITERACY NOV. 6 This $120,000 Levy Reduces government dependency Produces taxpayers Paid for by the Committee to Pass the Adult Literacy Levy Dixie Stark, Treasurer, P.O. Box 2132 Hamilton, MT 59840
Volume XXXIV, Number 14
Investing in youth
Established 1985 - Locally owned & independent
Countywide literacy, basic education levy on ballot
By Michael Howell
Elks provide new computers for the Linda Massa Home On October 12, members of the Bitterroot Valley Elks Lodge and Lady Elks of Ravalli County gifted the Linda Massa Youth Home with Chromebooks, computer covers, a laser printer, head sets, and other computer accessories. The Linda Massa Youth Home provides a safe, secure home for kids 10 to 17 years old. Either short term crisis stabilization or long-term care is available for children in crisis. Currently there are eight middle school/high school kids living there. Upon looking into the needs of the Linda Massa Home, Elks members Deborah York, Dick Smith and Jerry Luellen
applied for a grant from the Elks National Foundation for new computers for the kids to use for their homework. At the time, they had only one computer and the office printer for eight kids to share. Having a Chromebook makes it easier for students to interact with their teachers as they work on school projects and homework in real time rather than waiting to discuss problems and ideas with the teacher during class. That facilitates completion of work and in today’s computerized world, interest in doing more and doing it well. The Lady Elks worked with Ed Eldridge from Hamilton Computer and Anna Green, Direc-
The Bitterroot National Forest has released its Environmental Analysis (EA) on the Darby Lumber Lands Project – Phase 2, and is inviting the public to review and make comments on the proposal. The vegetation management, fuels reduction, and transportation system project encompasses approximately 27,453 acres in the South Fork Sleeping Child and Rye Creek drainages in the Sapphire Mountains east of Darby. Phase 1 of the project was completed in 2016 and focused on improving watershed and stream health including reducing chronic sediment from an extensive road system built decades ago for timber management. It also created a sustainable motorized access system and loop-based motorized routes, including 44 miles of connector trails for motorcycle and ATV travel. Phase 2 is a continuation of the original project and also incorporates vegetation management activities. Objectives of Phase 2 include:
• Design and implement a suitable transportation system for long term land management of the area • Improve forest health by reducing Douglas fir mistletoe outbreak • Reduce potential fire severity • Manage timber to provide forest products, jobs and income to local communities Proposed treatments include commercial timber harvest on 1,274 acres, non-commercial thinning on 333 acres of dry pine sites, and prescribed burning to improve forest health. Thinning activities would favor leaving mature Ponderosa Pine occupying the site at historic densities. There are three diseased Douglas fir stands that are proposed for regeneration harvest that would be replanted to Ponderosa Pine after harvest. The project also proposes changes to access on existing roads and trails, storing and decommissioning unneeded roads
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
tor of the Linda Massa Youth Home, to determine what was needed. Hamilton Computers and Cybernet 1 are dedicated to youth and community projects. With Hamilton Computers’ help there was even enough grant money left so that a laptop could be bought to use with the Youth Crisis Diversion Project. This is an outreach program aimed at preventing youth suicide. Eldridge also donated several hours to help Green set up the equipment, so everything runs smoothly and securely. Bitterroot Valley Elks Lodge and the Lady Elks were proud to complete another project and help these kids succeed in school.
Forest seeks comments on Darby Lumber Lands project
and trails, building two new motorized connector trails for ATV travel, and construction of several temporary roads. The EA is available online at www.fs.usda.gov/ project/?project=49700. It is also available for review at the Darby/ Sula Ranger District and the Supervisor’s Office in Hamilton. Public comments specific to this project and/or to individual sites and resources are valuable in helping the Forest Service identify concerns, develop alternatives to the proposed action, and refine the analysis to focus on issues. Comments are due by November 20, 2018. Submit comments to the Responsible Official: Eric Winthers, District Ranger, by one of the following methods; mail: P.O. Box 388, Darby, Montana, 59829, FAX: (406) 821-4264, or email: comments-northern-bitterrootdarby@fs.fed.us. Hand delivered comments must be delivered See FOREST, page 3
Ravalli County voters will get to vote Yes or No on a 1.5 mill levy to support the county’s local Literacy Bitterroot program. The program’s High School Equivalency Program graduates an average of 50 students a year. Advocates of the program note that this is more than the Darby and Victor high schools combined. According to board member Terry Ryan, the local program pays for itself multiple times over by adding over 70 new taxpayers to the community every year. She said that possessing a high school diploma doubles a person’s lifetime earnings and that increases the taxes they pay over the same lifetime period. The Literacy Bitterroot program, besides helping people, both young and old, achieve a high school diploma, also assists people
in college preparatory work as well as individualized instruction for entering the workforce. Ryan said that consolidation of services into regional districts for funding purposes eliminated the county’s ability to get any direct funding for its own program and that the services being rendered by the regional center in Missoula are not going to meet the county’s needs. She said the local program was always very proactive in its approach, going out and making initial contact with potential students where they live. She said the urban program just waits until the student walks in the door. “One problem with that,” she said, “is that it requires an employed person to have over two hours’ free time a day to travel, and an unemployed person money for gas as well as a vehicle in good
operating condition.” Ryan had a financial firm in California figure out the tax returns produced by the program’s production of high school diplomas at a cost of $1,000 per student. The results are staggering. They estimate that 70 graduates paying $4,488 per person per year in taxes yields $314,160. That’s a little less than four times the initial investment. Over 40 years, it comes to over 104 times the investment. The owner of a home valued at $100,000 would pay approximately an additional $2.03 per year for a 1.5 mill levy. The owner of a home valued at $200,000 would pay approximately an additional $4.06 per year for a 1.5 mill levy. The county may not levy more than a 1.5 mills of property tax for the Literacy Levy and the levy will have no durational limit.
Florence school bond on ballot
By Michael Howell
Property owners in the Florence-Carlton School District will get a chance to vote thumbs up or thumbs down on a school bond this November 6, designed to finance a $15,975,000 expansion and renovation project. The current district buildings cover a span of years stretching from 1959 to 2014, including two temporary classroom buildings. According to Superintendent Edward “Bud” Scully, student and staff safety is one of the most serious concerns being addressed in the project. One of the most serious safety issues is the current location and use of the temporary classrooms. The classrooms, purchased as a temporary solution at the time, are now 46 and 33 years old, respectively. Traveling outside, he said, to
the detached, temporary structures multiple times a day is not safe. It isolates students and staff from the rest of the campus, making it difficult to provide adequate real-time supervision. Currently, physical education classes and the district’s food service program must share the same physical space. This arrangement dictates core class schedules and requires PE classes to work around delivery of student breakfast and lunch times. Some benefits of the project, according to district officials, include more effective student supervision, a decrease in operation and maintenance costs for the old temporary buildings, and the elimination of associated deferred maintenance costs. It will bring ventilation air up to meet building code requirements providing for a healthier environment and the
upgraded electrical system will allow for the continued expansion of computer-related technologies. The project includes: new K-5 classrooms, a dedicated dining and assembly space that can also provide an additional multi-purpose space, new band and choir spaces, modern code compliant locker rooms, and a health enhancement classroom space. It includes a new kitchen, high school commons, new Career Technology Classroom space, along with new district maintenance shops. According to material provided by the school district, the Florence median home value is $335,000. The estimated annual tax increase for a home with a taxable assessed value of $300,000 is $541.31 or a monthly cost of $45.11, according to the chart below prepared by DA Davidson.
The above graph was taken from an informational handout provided by the Florence-Carlton School District.