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Covering the Bitterroot Valley – “Where Montana Begins!”
‘The B Volume XXXV, Number 31
Family tradition
Established 1985 – Locally owned & independent
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Big Sky Trust Fund making jobs in the Bitterroot By Michael Howell
Jimmy Edwards, owner of Burnt Fork Market in Stevensville which was selected as Business of the Year by the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce. Michael Howell photo.
Last week the Ravalli County Commissioners closed out the books on a Big Sky Trust Fund business expansion grant, signed a contract for implementing another recently awarded grant, and approved submission of a new grant proposal. Ravalli County Economic Development Authority Executive Director Julie Foster was the key facilitator in all the actions. The Commissioners approved a certification of closure on the BSTF grant used for business expansion by Bitterroot Tool and Machine. The company manufactures automatic ammunition loading machines, grain mills and other manufactured items at its plant located near the Stevensville Airport. The grant was originally awarded in October of 2018 for up to $50,000 for creating up to
10 new jobs in conjunction with a low interest loan used to purchase equipment. The grant provided reimbursement of $5,000 per job created. Last Thursday, the commissioners closed out the deal by reimbursing the company $15,000 for the creation of three new jobs at a pay of $16.77 per hour. The owners contributed $173,250 in matching funds for purchase of new equipment that supported the job creations. The commissioners also approved three separate agreements with Montana Studios LLC and the Ravalli County Economic Development Authority including an Assistance Agreement, a SubRecipient Agreement, and a Management Plan related to the BSTF grant awarded in October 2019. Montana Studios is the anchor tenant in the Bitterroot Gateway Development’s campus, a multipurpose media manufacturing
campus located at 132 Skalkaho Highway south of Hamilton. The campus contains 30,000 square feet of building space for media artists, entertainment professionals, film production, and other media projects. An additional 10,000 sf contains office/manufacturing suites and secure storage space for production sets and other clients requiring secure storage. The Assistance Agreement was for $10,000 in grant funds from BSTF to Montana Studios; $9,200 for the purchase machinery and equipment and an additional $800 for administration of the grant. The plan is to create two new full-time jobs paying a minimum of $17.15 per hour without employee benefits. In addition, Montana Studios LLC has agreed to a total new investment in employee
Burnt Fork Market named Business of the Year New antiviral drug may help
against 2019 novel coronavirus
By Michael Howell
Owner and operator of the Burnt Fork Market in Stevensville, Jimmy Edwards, is not an office type of guy. He’s got one, back in the warehouse section of the sprawling grocery store, but it doesn’t get much use. If you want to talk to the boss when you visit the business, you will usually have to find him somewhere out on the floor. He could be checking on the status of the produce section, which he is quite proud of, or he could be down some aisle stacking shelves. That’s where I found him for this interview about the recent award. Burnt Fork Market was selected as the Business of the Year by the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce. He was presented with the award at this year’s annual Chamber banquet. “It’s nice to be recognized,” said Edwards about the award. “We’ve been doing this a long time.” In fact, his family started in the grocery business up at the Three Mile Trading Post northeast of Stevensville in 1946. Then they moved to downtown Stevensville, just south of where Valley Drug is located, and ran the grocery in that location until 1978. That’s when the current building was constructed, and the grocery moved to the south
See MARKET, page 10
Newly elected Bitterroot Chamber of Commerce president Jaime Devlin (l) and immediate past president Susan Wetzsteon presented Burnt Fork Market owner Jimmy Edwards with his Business of the Year award at the recent banquet. Eric Elander photo. edge of town. His dad operated the business there until sometime around 2007 when he sold the business to the store’s manager. That business didn’t last very long and the building ended up sitting idle for about five years. The family remained involved in the grocery business in Missoula, but at one point Jimmy came to Stevensville to try and sell the building for his dad. But he said after talking to a lot of people
what he found was that a lot of them really wanted it to be a grocery store again. “I came down to sell, but I ended up looking into the possibility of just opening it again,” said Edwards. He had a professional marketing analysis done and the answer, based on population statistics, was that it could be done, but it wouldn’t be easy. See MARKET, page 2
Employees at Burnt Fork Market were so pleased to hear that it was chosen as Business of the Year. Liz Cook photo.
According to a new study from National Institutes of Health scientists, the experimental antiviral remdesivir successfully prevented disease in rhesus macaques infected with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). Remdesivir prevented disease when administered before infection and improved the condition of macaques when given after the animals already were infected. The new report from NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. MERS-CoV is closely related to the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2, previously known as 2019-nCoV) that has grown to be a global public health emergency since cases were first detected in Wuhan, China, in December. Remdesivir has previously protected animals against a variety of viruses in lab experiments. The drug has been shown experimen-
tally to effectively treat monkeys infected with Ebola and Nipah viruses. Remdesivir also has been investigated as a treatment for Ebola virus disease in people.
Colorized scanning electron micrograph of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus particles attached to the surface of an infected cell. Credit: NIAID-Frederick
The Corvallis School Board of Trustees met on February 12 and chose six finalists to interview for the position of Superintendent. The public, students, and staff are invited to meet the finalists at a public reception and ice cream social to be held on Sunday, March 1, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the High School Library. Interviews will be on Monday, March 2 and Tuesday, March 3 at the High School Library and are open to the public. “We have selected excellent candidates to interview and look forward to hearing about how their experiences can help them lead our schools and be an active member of our community,” said Board Chair Becky Anderson. “Corvallis is a unique district with outstanding students and staff. The Trustees are excited to find our next superintendent. We appreciated the community’s participation in the survey we commissioned. The Board relied on the responses in our discussions about who we
wanted to interview.” The six finalists selected are: Corey Austin, Superintendent at Target Range School District; Tim Bronk, Superintendent at Chester-Joplin-Inverness School District; Gerald Chouinard, Superintendent at Lame Deer School District; Jon Konen, Principal at Lincoln Elementary in Great Falls; Larry Markuson, Superintendent at White Sulphur Springs School District; and Brian Rayburn, Superintendent at Lima School District. The finalists, in alphabetical order, are as follows: Corey Austin – currently serves as Superintendent of the Target Range School in Missoula. He previously served as Superintendent at Southeast Fountain School in Indiana and as principal at North Vermillion High School and North West Hendricks School Corporation in Indiana. He holds a PhD from Indiana State University and a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts from Oakland City
The current study was conducted at NIAID’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, See VIRUS, page 10
Corvallis School Board selects six superintendent finalists
University. Tim Bronk – currently serves as Superintendent at Chester-Joplin-Inverness School District in Chester. He previously served as Superintendent at Laurel School District, Superintendent at Darby School District, and Superintendent at Highwood School District. He holds a Master of Science from Winona State University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of MontanaWestern. Gerald Chouinard – currently serves as Superintendent at Lame Deer School District in Lame Deer. He previously served as Principal at Lame Deer Elementary School and as Principal at Inspire-The Idaho Connections Academy. He holds a Master of Arts from Idaho State University and a Bachelor of Arts from Montana State University. Jon Konen – currently serves as Principal at Lincoln See FINALISTS, page 2