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Covering the Bitterroot Valley – “Where Montana Begins!” – Established 1985 – Locally Owned & Independent
’ ! l a c o L t a t s e B ‘The
Volume XXXVI, Number 48
JUNE
25TH AND
26TH Wednesday, June 16, 2021
www.bitterrootstar.com
A princess party!
Pride crosswalk proposal draws strong opposition by Nathan Boddy
Six-year-old Maci Eldridge was granted her wish to be princess for a day, with all the bells and whistles, courtesy of the Make-A-Wish Foundation South Dakato & Montana.
Maci gets her wish
by Victoria Howell On Saturday, six-year-old Maci Eldridge of Stevensville was the star of a very special “Frozen” princess party, complete with a coterie of other young princesses and other royalty, courtesy of Make-A-Wish. Maci first got pampered at Kutting Edge Salon, where her hair and nails were done and she donned her princess dress with tiara and earrings. She was transported to the party at Three Mile Fire Station by Ravalli County Sheriff Holton, where she was lavished with presents, cake and fun and games. About 30 people attended including family members and friends and volunteers from Make-A-Wish. The Sheriff then gave Maci a ride back to her home in Stevensville. Maci was born with a heart condition called Hypoplastic left heart syndrome, according to her grandmother, Robin Kester, who is raising Maci. She has had three surgeries – first when she was a newborn, then at six months old, then last year. “She’s a happy kiddo, she’s gone through so much,” said Kester. “She
likes to make friends and she likes people in general. She’s my hero.” Maci just finished kindergarten and will be going into first grade at Stevensville. “She’s gotten through a lot of hurdles,” says Kester. “She still goes to physical therapy. She was speech delayed but now she’s up above her age group. I tell her what’s what, I’ve told Ravalli County Sheriff Steve Holton was Maci’s personal chauffeur as she went to the salon and then to the party and back home. her about her surgery. We “She loves dresses,” added Kester. google what we don’t know. She wants “She’s a little glamor girl. She’s bright to learn.” See WISH, page 11
Several dozen people were clustered around the entrance to Hamilton City Hall last Tuesday, June 8th, well before the door was opened for the Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting. The majority of the large turnout was there to voice their opposition to a proposal by area high schoolers and volunteers to paint rainbow crosswalks at a downtown Hamilton intersection in support of “diversity and inclusivity.” The City Council had requested, on May 25th, that city staff assemble a written policy which could be used to determine any future proposals for painting upon city pavement or asphalt. The week prior, on May 18th, the council had granted a request by Bike/Walk/Bitterroot to redo a series of paintings upon the four crosswalks at the intersection of State and 4th Streets. That proposal, which passed unanimously, had no public opposition at its hearing. The proposal for the rainbow crosswalk, however, brought with it a substantial amount of opposition by area residents. Mayor Dominic Farrenkopf had, at that time, suggested that the council
move cautiously, and asked that staff prepare a policy for dealing with future proposals. Town Planner, Matthew Rohrbach, presented a “Paint the Pavement” policy, tailored to the City of Hamilton. The policy, if adopted, would require applicants to complete a multi-phased application process and provide: design specifics, liability insurance, a maintenance/vandalism plan, and an application fee, among others items. Furthermore, the policy would require that any proposal “must meet at least one of the sub-criteria for Safety Improvement or Community Vitality.” Among the listed possible sub-criteria are: “Enhances existing traffic control,” and “Improves or enhances the vibrancy of Downtown.” To the draft policy, Councilor Kristi Bielski asked that an additional requirement be added showing that any proposal, “must fall under (the) mission statement and vision statement,” of the City of Hamilton. While the agenda item was the draft policy, public comment was very clearly aimed more at the rainbow crosswalk proposal than the policy itself. Dozens of speakers expressed viewpoints See CROSSWALK, page 7
Festival season starts in Stevi Stevensville Western Heritage Days is back after a pandemic-induced hiatus. The committee is hoping this will be a banner year for attendance as people turn out to celebrate making it through a super challenging year and can now gather and enjoy this popular local festival. The festival, the 32nd annual, will be held Friday and Saturday, June 25 and 26. Events kick off on Friday with the annual rummage sale at the Stevensville Historical Museum and the 50-Mile Garage Sale which will have locations throughout Stevensville. The Chuck Wagon Camp will set up at Priest Park at the west end of Ravalli
Street. People can check out the wagons and watch the wagon judging followed by the Kids’ Cooking Competition at 6 p.m. Then enjoy live music with Bill LaCroix and friends at the camp. This year the “Pie in the Big Sky” pie auction will be held on the Stevensville Hotel lawn on Friday at 6:30 p.m. People can come and have a glass of wine and bid on dozens of pies of all flavors and types, both edible and non-edible. All proceeds this year will go towards the Stevensville Splash Pad. Saturday’s fun begins with the expanded farmers market and craft fair at 3rd and Main. The Museum See FESTIVAL, page 7
Council member calls out Stevi mayor on legal fee issue by Victoria Howell The Thursday, June 10th meeting of the Stevensville Town Council got off to a rocky start when council president Dempsey Vick asked for a suspension of council rules. He told the council that he had released a statement earlier that day regarding a claim payment and subsequent return of the money for legal fees that were incurred for the Dewey v. Rodabaugh case. Vick also said that he had found out that Robert Underwood, the Town’s financial officer who is retiring, had been told
by the mayor that very day that “his services were no longer needed.” Vick said he found out that the issue he was concerned with had actually happened in December, not in April, so he was very concerned. Vick made a motion to put Mayor Brandon Dewey on trial for misuse of public funds but the motion died for lack of a second. Vick said he had asked the town attorney to investigate the matter. Council member Patrick Shourd said he agreed that there needed to be an investigation, but he thought a “trial” was “jumping the gun.”
Mayor Dewey suggested that, “rather than going down the road of an investigation, the council might want to see an account of what happened.” He reminded the council that the town attorney had said that nothing illegal had happened. Then he read a letter from Town Attorney Scott Owens which essentially stated that the claim for payment of legal fees was submitted and processed out of cycle, and he had been informed of that. Owens stated that he advised the mayor to pay the money back, which the mayor did. Owens also said that it was unclear
whether the lawsuit would qualify for indemnification, but that in any event that would have to go before the council for approval. Council member Jaime Devlin said that the council was informed about this in April and she wondered why Vick was bringing it up now. Vick said it was because he received a call from Underwood that he was asked to leave early and also that Underwood had told him that some other employee had entered the information on the payment for legal fees into the accounting software system at the instruction of the
mayor. The mayor said it was true that another employee had processed the claim, which is part of her job, and that it was coded under legal services, none of that being unusual. The mayor said that Underwood reviews all claims and signs all checks along with the mayor. The mayor said that in February, he and Underwood realized they had failed to get the outof-cycle claims ratified by the council. The mayor said they contacted the attorney and on his advice, the mayor repaid the money for the legal fees to the town. “We had two options. That See COUNCIL, page 10