Features
When JR Daniels moved to the Mission Valley from Minnesota five years ago, he had no idea he would become the coach of the Flathead Reservation’s first lacrosse team. Last week, he watched as the fledgling Ten Sticks club did something no one else in Montana had done in two years: beat Hellgate, the No. 1 team in the state. “They’re such a dominant team,” Daniels said of the Knights. “That was really huge; it gives our team a lot of confidence … (Ten Sticks players) practice harder than anybody in the league; they practice longer and they travel farther.” That dedication has earned Ten Sticks recognition from competitors, lacrosse en...
MISSION VALLEY — For many years, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was something to be terrified of, but not something to talk about. Tom Freeman changed all of that on the Flathead Indian Reservation, and probably saved many lives in the process. According to the Center for Disease Control, HIV ca...
POLSON — Volunteerism is no stranger to Lake County, and while hundreds of community members donate their time and efforts to enrich life in the Mission Valley through a variety of programs and projects, many people have no idea the work put in by one small group of volunteers. They are Court Appointed...
RONAN — Autism, the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the United States, now affects one in every 88 children and one in 54 boys. According to advocacy and education organization Autism Speaks, “Autism spectrum disorder and autism are both general terms for a group of c...
CHARLO — When life gets you down — whether the reason is illness, natural disaster or just hard times — Charlo’s Sassy Scrappy Stitchers might be just the thing you need to get your spirits up. The group began in 2000 as a way for friends to get together and make quilts and b...
POLSON — Plants, from tiny alyssum seedlings to lettuce to a decades-old orchid cactus, fill South Shore Greenhouse. And potting, watering, feeding and caring for these plants are four generations of women Lois Shore, Kathy Shore, Kari Wise and Ursula Wise, the youngest at 17. “My dad’s ...
POLSON — Now in its 12th year, the twice-annual Mack Days fishing event is aimed at reducing Flathead Lake’s lake trout population and increasing the native bull and cutthroat trout population. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the tournament, however, are the tagged trout. An ext...
PABLO — Harold Kent stands on one side of the conveyor belt loading Fleming Farms potatoes onto a semi-truck, and his nephew, Sam Kent, stands on the other. When Harold guides the conveyor belt out over the waiting truck and pulls the lever, the russet potatoes start rolling. “They (the cre...
When the call came from Virginia Mason Hospital and Medical Center that Miranda Burland had moved from second or third on the kidney/pancreas transplant list to first, she knew not to get too excited. She’d had other calls, telling her she was second or third in line, only to next get the news that ...
RONAN — Prior to the recession, the housing market in Western Montana was a powerful economic force in the region. More than the simply buying and selling property, construction of new buildings and homes, permits, applications and additions built onto existing structures as well as new home-b...
