We sell
licenses
• • 777-2822 • • 4039 HWY 93 N STEVENSVILLE
OUTLET STORE
PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID STEVENSVILLE MT PERMIT 89
For all your ammunition & Hunting needs
www.ammoandmorestore.com
Covering the Bitterroot Valley – “Where Montana Begins!” – Established 1985 – Locally Owned & Independent
‘The
’ ! l a c o L t a t s e B
Volume XXXVII, Number 3
www.bitterrootstar.com
Wednesday, August 4, 2021
Another Stevensville subdivision proposed
Montana gold
by Victoria Howell Landowners surrounding a proposed subdivision on the northeast edge of Stevensville were invited to a meeting last week to hear what the developer has in mind. Fred Croci introduced himself, saying that he has been a real estate developer for 52 years and has developed “thousands of home sites.” He introduced his daughter Yvette Larson, a teacher at Stevensville School, and his son-inlaw, Eric Larson, the new Fred Croci goes over his plans for a 36-lot subdivision in Stevensville principal at Stevensville with adjoining landowners and members of the public. Photo by Victoria High School. Croci is Howell. working with consultants to preserve four acres along the creek as a from PCI, Inc. who developed the site plan. “natural area.” Croci said that he’s hoping to create 36 lots Croci did his best to answer questions and on the 16.6-acre property that is just north listen to concerns from the audience, some of of Creekside Meadows subdivision. He said whom at times expressed open hostility. there would be two entrances onto Eastside A major concern of the crowd was high Highway on the west and east end of the ground water and surface water during spring subdivision. The lots would be about 10,200 run-off. He said all the houses will be on “slab square feet and he expects the single-family and grade” with no basements allowed. homes would cost about $450-$550k. The Croci said he may put in dewatering wells property is already within the Stevensville to lower the ground water, something he town limits and is zoned R-1. Croci said he will said he had to do in a Fort Collins, Colorado develop the subdivision but he is not a builder development. He said the wells would take the and plans to sell the lots. Croci said he plans to water out of the ground and put it in Swamp have a home built and live in the subdivision Creek and eventually the river. He said the “for most of the year.” Department of Environmental Quality would He said Swamp Creek runs through the See SUBDIVISION, page 2 property on the southern edge and he wants
Stained fingers are proof of progress in picking huckleberries. Photo by Nathan Boddy.
Huckleberries in season by Nathan Boddy To many Montanans, few things are as satisfying as a pound of Montana’s hard-earned native fruit: the huckleberry. While huckleberries can be purchased, nothing makes them sweeter than stained purple fingers, mosquito bites and a sore back. Admittedly, it’s a hard decision: an afternoon playing in the perfectly warmed waters of Lake Como, or filling a bucket – one small berry at a time – all for the promise of a spectacular pancake in January. Harvesting Montana’s favorite fruit is not easy, but for many Montanans, it’s a tradition the secrets of which are as tightly guarded as elk wallows and fishing holes. Huckleberries are native to western Montana and grow in abundance in many of the drainages feeding the Bitterroot River. They generally start to ripen mid to late July, and continue through August. Pickers who return annually to their favorite grounds can tell you that huckleberry bushes like a mix of shade and sunlight, some moisture and cool See HUCKLEBERRIES, page 2
This site plan, prepared by PCI, Inc., shows the proposed 36-lot subdivision in Stevensville that will be accessed from the Eastside Hwy. A creek near the south boundary, which will be left as a natural area, separates it from Creekside Meadows subdivision on the south.
Bellamy Brothers to headline benefit for LifeGuard by Victoria Howell The Bitterroot Valley is in for a treat when country music greats, The Bellamy Brothers, perform here at the Bitterroot Bash benefit concert for the LifeGuard Group and the LifeHouse. The concert will be Sunday, August 8th at 7 p.m. at the Darby Rodeo Grounds. The Bellamy Brothers have had many hits over their more-than-four-decades career, including “Let Your Love Flow,” “Redneck Girl,” and “If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me,” to name just a few. The Bellamy Brothers – David and Howard – have been on tour in Texas. Howard took some time out to visit with the Star about their long career in country music. The brothers were born and raised on a ranch in Florida that’s been in the family for 150 years this year. They still live there. “Rural Florida, there’s an agricultural side to Florida that most people don’t know about, that’s the environment we were brought up in,” said
The Bellamy Brothers, David and Howard, will be performing at the Bitterroot Bash in Darby on August 8th, a benefit for The LifeGuard Group.
Howard. “We grew up there, our dad played music, we always had music in our home. We never had a clue we could make a career of it.” They sang in church, and as they grew older they got more interested in music. “We matured to a phase where we started making music more seriously. We had bands and played in all kind of places, we cut our teeth that way. Not a lot of money was made. We were doing a lot of cover stuff. But we’d always manage to throw in a couple of our originals.” In 1974, David wrote a big hit for Jim Stafford, “Spiders and Snakes,” which sold 3 million records. It was the second of four U.S. Top 40 singles released from Stafford’s debut album and also the highest-charting. Howard and David ended up out in Hollywood. “We followed Jim Stafford out there,” said Howard. They worked with Stafford on the Smothers Brothers show for about three years. They befriended Neil Diamond’s band, “who had some of the same habits.” Howard See BELLAMY BROTHERS, page 2