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Covering the Bitterroot Valley – “Where Montana Begins!” – Established 1985 – Locally Owned & Independent
‘The Volume XXXVII, Number 9
’ ! l a c o L Best at
www.bitterrootstar.com
Valley remembers heroes of 9/11 This year marked the 20th anniversary of the attack on our country on September 11, 2001 in which 2997 people lost their lives when terrorists hijacked four commercial jets and crashed two of them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, and one into the Pentagon in Virginia. The fourth jet, flying towards Washington, D.C., was diverted from its target by the passengers and crashed in a Pennsylvania field, leaving no survivors. The Stevensville and Hamilton volunteer fire departments held special events of commemoration to honor the first responders and others who died as a result of the attacks. At right, in Hamilton, the fire department used its ladder trucks to display this huge American flag. Photo by Joan Nygaard.
Board of Health adopts new MOU with County by Michael Howell The Ravalli County Board of Health (BOH) approved a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Board of County Commissioners last Wednesday that was designed to bring it into conformance with state law following the passage of House Bills 257 and 121. The legislation, championed by local Representative David Bedey, was designed to clarify the relationship between the two boards and give more authority to local elected officials. “Basically, the new statute strips the Board of Health of a bunch of authority that it had under the old MOU,” said Jeff Burrows, Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners and the Board of Health. He said under the previous law and the previous MOU the Board of Health had See MOU, page 4
Hamilton School District forms Covid Response Committee by Nathan Boddy
Wednesday, September 15, 2021
be echoing the sentiments of Governor Greg Gianforte, who has advocated control of the
on the rise, the district has assembled a Covid Response The Hamilton School Board Committee, comprised of school continues to deal administrators with pressure and with the from all sides assistance of as the Covid-19 area medical virus infects more professionals. people in Ravalli Discussions County. Prior to about the the start of fall district’s classes, the board responsibility approved a plan in the face of for reopening increasing school in light cases of Covid of the highly were taken up contagious virus, at the board’s choosing to regular meeting require masking on Tuesday, only for students September 7th. K-5th grade On that evening, in particular members of A discarded mask at Daly Elementary. Photo by Nathan Boddy. settings. That the public once plan put the again took to the pandemic through “personal District in stark contrast to all microphone to express their responsibility,” the Hamilton other school districts in the preferences as to masking. School District has tried to Bitterroot Valley, none of which straddle a somewhat unwieldy School Superintendent Tom require any masking, regardless divide. Now, as cases of Covid Korst noted that the district is of age. While most school in the valley and the incidents districts in the county seem to See COVID RESPONSE, page 5 of childhood infection are
Scarecrow contest entries being accepted by Victoria Howell The 15th annual Scarecrow Festival will take place October 1-3 in Stevensville. This popular event started in 2006. It was a project of the Stevensville Art & Sculpture Society (SASS) whose president was Gary Knapp at the time. Knapp passed away in 2012 and SASS is also no longer in existence. However, Knapp’s wife Loey has worked to keep the Scarecrow Festival
alive, and so has Gretchen Spiess, owner of River’s Mist Gallery. The two women are organizing the event this year, taking over from the now defunct Stevensville Main Street Association, which organized the Scarecrow Festival in 2019 as one of its last projects. Loey Knapp recalls that there were no more than 10 scarecrows entered the first year. In 2019 there were 50 or more. The entries went all the way down the bike path
See SCARECROW, page 6
Passion for birds and other living things by Victoria Howell
except for last year, go towards a plethora of events and projects that Bitterroot Audubon supports in order to educate the general public about the important part that birds play in our environment and how and why they need to be protected.
Audubon’s mission is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and earth’s biological diversity. Becky Peters, BA board member, made a list of the donations that
There’s one thing members of Bitterroot Audubon Society have in common. They are passionate about birds. A few members stopped by the Bitterroot Star last week to talk about the 2022 Birds of the Bitterroot Valley calendar that came out in July. These calendars are extremely popular, filled with gorgeous photos of birds that can be found here in the Bitterroot. Competition is fierce among local photographers who vie with each other to get their bird photos into the calendar. The calendars also feature information about all the birds in the calendar, as well as artwork by 4th graders from Daly Elementary School. Proceeds from the sale of these From left, Pam Murphy, Mel Holloway, Becky Peters and Mike Daniels, all members of calendars, which began in 2013 the Bitterroot Audubon Society as well as serving on the 2022 Calendar Committee. and have been published yearly Photo by Victoria Howell.
Bitterroot Audubon has regularly made: • Bitter Root Land Trust Fishing Access Sites and Riverfront Park acquisition • Wildlife rehab • $1000 yearly scholarship to a university student enrolled in environmental studies • 4-H fair premiums in natural science category • Audubon Adventures for classrooms • Winter Eagle Project • Financial assistance to local kids to attend summer camps • Wild Skies Raptor Center • Binoculars for field trips • Bitter Root Water Forum – Skalkaho Bend plant pollinator flower seeds See AUDUBON, page 3