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December 3, 2009
Tribal council election: polling places listed
Valley Journal
The general election for CSKT tribal council seats will be held......
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November 26, 2009
Family of special needs child seeks educational solutions
Kate Haake/Valley Journal
Nick Zorotovich shows off his bike-riding skills in his home outside of Charlo. Though he suffers from childhood schizophrenia, cognitive delay and mild mental retardation, Nick enjoys riding his bike and playing with his brothers like any other adolescent boy. By Kate Haake
Valley Journal
CHARLO — Nick Zorotovich looks like a normal kid. With short blond hair and loose fitting jeans, he seems a little distant as he plays video games with his younger brothers, Quin and Sean. Other than an apparently reserved personality, there is not much on the outside that is noticeably different.
But throughout the years, the 13-year-old child has been diagnosed with everything from Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, Bipolar Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to Tourrette’s Syndrome and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
The most recent diagnosis classifies him with two types of childhood schizophrenia along with previous diagnoses of mild/moderate mental retardation and cognitive delay.
“It was the first time my wife and I said, ‘Yeah, I think he got it right,’” Nick’s stepfather Marty Stewart said of the recent diagnosis by Dr. Robert A. Velin, a Neurobehavioral Specialist in Missoula.
Because of these disabilities, Nick is prone to ......
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H1N1 immunization walk-in clinics offered
Valley Journal
The Lake County Public Health and CSKT Health Departments receive H1N1 vaccines on a weekly basis. Free walk-in clinics will be held on Tuesdays, 1-4 p.m. at Lake County Public Health in Polson and Tribal Health in Arlee, Elmo, Ronan and St. Ignatius.
The Health Departments will continue weekly clinics throughout the valley as vaccine availability allows.
Pregnant women, persons who live with or provide care for infants under six months of age, health care and emergency medical services personnel, persons six months to 24 years of age, and persons aged 25-64 years who have medical conditions that put them at a higher risk for influenza-related complications.
These medical conditions include ......
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October 29, 2009
Kate Haake/Valley Journal
Project Manager Chris Cheff discusses the progress of the new multi-purpose building in Charlo.
Charlo School Board hears special education concerns
By Kate Haake
Valley Journal
CHARLO — The Charlo school board opened last Tuesday's meeting with a speech from Marty Stewart, father of three sons in Charlo Middle School and Elementary School.
Marty and Kerry Stewart are the parents of a special needs child in the Charlo Middle School. Marty Stewart addressed the school board during the public comment time and asked the board to look into developing its special education program.
“When it comes to mental disabilities, it’s not so easy to see or understand,” Stewart said.
Stewart gave an example of an autistic child in Ronan who is 14 years old and prone to excessive physical outbursts. According to Stewart, the child was given the proper tools and is successfully learning at the appropriate level......
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October 8, 2009
Melea Burke/Valley Journal
Bison roundup workers fit a pregnant bison cow with a tracking collar as part of a new reproductive study at the National Bison Range.
Bison herd undergoes annual health check-up at roundup
By Melea Burke
Valley Journal
MOIESE — Bison may look peaceful grazing on a distant hillside, but corral them and separate one from its friends, and the giant is gentle no longer. The National Bison Range’s annual fall roundup offers plenty of excitement, and that’s why hundreds of visitors, from out-of-state tourists to buses full of local students, turned out to see the show on Monday and Tuesday.
The roundup is the Range’s annual herd health checkup and allows surplus bison to be separated from the herd. After the Range staff and volunteers gather the bison in a pasture near the corral, the animals are herded into the pen in small groups.
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September 3, 2009
Charlo students’ first day sees new faculty additions
Erin Gallagher/Valley Journal
Kindergarten teacher Amy Delaney reads a book, “The Kissing Hand,” to her new gaggle of Kindergartners. The story tells of a young raccoon’s first day of school, when his mother kisses his hand to serve as a reminder of her while he is away.
By Erin Gallagher
Valley Journal
CHARLO — For most students, the first day of a new school year is often very similar to the first days of previous school years. This held true for the first day of the 2009-2010 school year in Charlo on Aug. 27.
For Kindergartners, of course, everything was new. As their parents shed a few tears over how fast their babies are growing up, the Kindergartners’ bright, excited eyes took in interesting new sights that will gradually become familiar to them over the course of the next 13 years.
For students grades 6-12, on the other hand, they started the day assembled in the gym to learn about new additions to the student conduct code, just like in previous years. Aside from a few new rules, however, much of what students heard was something they had likely gone over before, save perhaps for high school principal Steve Love’s declaration that one of the best things about his job is that it keeps him young.
But though the daily procedure may hold few surprises for older students, new additions to the faculty are always bound to inspire a few curious or nervous whispers between them. This year, Charlo welcomed two new teachers and one administrator. For them, the first day was a collection of experiences both good and bad, expected and unexpected.
For Darcy Eickoff, Charlo’s new high school science teacher, the first day of school reacquainted her with the obligatory student goofballs. There’s at least one in every school, Eickoff said, and she learns very quickly who they are.
“It’s not good if I remember you the first day,” Eickoff told one such student.
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August 20, 2009
Charlo Booster Club replaces crow’s nest
Aaric Bryan/Valley Journal
Troy Truman installs some window trim on the Charlo crow’s nest Friday. Truman was just one of many workers who donated their labor to the project.
By Aaric Bryan
Valley Journal
CHARLO — When the Charlo Vikings host the Alberton Panthers Sept. 5 at Halgren Field, the announcer should have a good view of the action.
It'll be a nice, warm and dry one, too.
The past week, volunteers finished building a new crow’s nest for the field. The new 14-feet by 24-feet crow’s nest was a project of the Charlo Booster Club.
Tina Firestone, the booster club’s president, said that building the crow’s nest was an easy decision.
“When I became president last year, I asked all the coaches what they wanted and they all said this (crow’s nest). Over everything else they all wanted a new crow’s nest,” Firestone said.
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August 13, 2009
Koberg family travels to Guatemala to raise school, chapel factory
Courtesy photo
Kelsey, left, and Karissa Koberg lay mortar at the chapel factory in preparation for adding another layer of brick to the building’s wall. Erin Gallagher
Valley Journal
When most people think “summer vacation,” they probably imagine lavish, exotic locations built for relaxation. Though this year’s summer vacation for the family of Bill and Melodie Koberg may have been exotic, relaxation was clearly not their goal.
The Kobergs took their three daughters, Karissa, 17, Kelsey, 15, and Kylie, 12, to Guatemala with a church organization, Mission to Guatemala, to spend 10 days building a school and chapel factory. From July 12-22, the Kobergs stayed in the village of Chisec, laying brick, painting buildings, and fulfilling a number of other duties to help construct the new facilities.
“We always wanted to show the girls what life was like outside the U.S., and in a third-world country,” Melodie explained. “It shows how we all worship the same God.”
The workers spent many hours a day putting together the new structures. A “chapel factory” is a building where columns of prefabricated rebar are made. The columns are then erected to make building churches and schools in nearby villages easier and more efficient. Once the columns are up, the workers build the roof and add siding.
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July 30, 2009
Charlo fire department receives new fire truck
 Erin Gallagher/Valley Journal
Dick Erb, left, and Fire Chief Mark Young stand next to the Charlo Fire Department’s new Ford F550 fire truck. The truck will be the first vehicle on the scene for things like car accidents and grass fires.
Valley Journal
CHARLO — A lot happened in 1972. American swimmer Mark Spitz won a record seven gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Munich. And Pong, the first commercially successful video game, was introduced to the world.
It was also in that year the Charlo/Moiese Volunteer Rural Fire District acquired a new-model Chevy fire truck.
But times have changed, as they tend to do. Pong has since been replaced with dramatically more sophisticated games, and swimmer Michael Phelps shattered Spitz’s record at last year’s Summer Olympics in Beijing.
And after purchasing a new fire truck, the Charlo fire department has finally caught up with the times, as well.
With grant money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the department recently bought a 2008 Ford F550 4X4 fire truck. The grant covered $104,500 of the truck’s $111,389 price tag, which left the fire department to pay the remaining $6,889 — a comparatively minimal sum.
Fire Chief Mark Young said the new truck is far superior to its 37-year-old predecessor in many ways. It has airbags, a larger motor, four-wheel drive and a cab large enough to safely fit five firefighters. The old two-wheel drive truck lacked airbags and was only suited to carry three firefighters.
The new truck is better suited to deal with the range of incidents firefighters often have to respond to. It will be able to carry the department’s Jaws of Life equipment in addition to 350 gallons of water. The truck also has built-in equipment to inject the water with foam to smother gas fires.
Young said the list of improvements goes “on and on.” These improvements will increase firefighters’ safety, as well as their reliability when responding to incidents.
“It’s better aid for virtually no money,” Young explained.
According to Young, the fire department has Dick Erb of Moiese to thank for the FEMA grant. Erb, who is a former member of the Charlo fire department himself, wrote the proposal that earned them the grant.
Erb has succeeded in earning the department two grants in the past, one of which went toward new gear and equipment, the other of which bought the department’s 1991 Freightliner fire engine.
Though Erb makes earning grant money look as simple as child’s play, it is anything but. Applicants must send a 15-20 page application to FEMA for consideration. Because FEMA is a nationwide program, any fire department around the country can submit an application, and only a few are selected to receive money.
Erb said that because FEMA puts a lot of emphasis on responding quickly to fires and accidents, and on the safety of firefighters, the time he spent as a firefighter was a great asset when writing the proposal.
“The experience gave me a direct feel of what I needed to make the case,” Erb said.
Erb and Young also said Steve Stanley of the Office of Emergency Management for Lake County gave them good advice on what to include in the proposal, and was a big help in earning the grant.
The Charlo fire department also recently received an “upgraded type 6 engine” from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC). The truck, a 2001 Ford F450, has replaced the 1991 Chevy 3500 they had been using through the DNRC.
The vehicle is a part of the state’s obligations under the Montana County Cooperative Fire Protection Program, which is a partnership between the DNRC and local fire departments. The program is meant to ensure wildland fire protection on “all state and private lands in Montana.” Of the 400 such engines in service throughout Montana, four of them are in Lake County.
Young said they expect their new fire truck to be in service within the week.
The truck will be the first response vehicle for most incidents, mainly car wrecks and grass fires. Because the department’s Freightliner engine will take over large-scale fires, the new truck will not respond to such incidents unless more people are needed on the scene.
July 9, 2009
Independence Day sparks small town pride
CHARLO — Every year, Charlo residents go all-out when it comes to celebrating the Fourth of July and last weekend’s festivities did not disappoint.
Hundreds of people came out this year for the annual parade and fireworks display sponsored by the small community. And the festivities went off with a bang.
Main Street in Charlo started filling up before noon for the parade that started at 1 p.m. By the time the floats started to roll around, the area was packed with people.
And the parade seemed to be well worth the wait.
“I don’t know how many we had last year, but we had 47 entries and a good variety this year ... it was a good turnout,” parade organizer Lynn Fullerton said.
This year, one of the crowd-pleasing additions to the parade was the Charlo/Moiese Volunteer Fire Department. The firefighters may have ridden in the parade in past years, but this year the men and women of the department brought some relief from the heat along with them. Fire engines stopped multiple times along the route to douse the crowd, creating a frenzy of people soaking up the fun in the street.
The parade this year also featured a color guard from the Ronan VFW, as well as a mounted color guard consisting of Skyler Frame, Naomi Knight and Abby Knight.
Charlo native Ashley Vincent led the parade and Dick and Agnes Stipe were selected to be the grand marshals.
“We just try to honor somebody that’s been in the community a long time,” Fullerton said of the Stipes.
To kick off the parade, Schaelyn Fell and Jesse Kingery sang the National Anthem in spirit of the patriotic holiday.
And of course, in typical Charlo fashion, the floats made their way up Main Street twice and brought plenty of candy and goodies for parade-goers eager to fill their bags.
The floats also sported the best displays of red, white and blue in the valley to compete in a number of competitive categories.
First place in the youth float division went to the Ninepipe Explorers for their float themed, “4-H is Growing.” The Ninepipe Explorers also snagged the grand champion honors for the youth division of the parade.
Second place in the youth float division went to Mystery Little’s Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Third Place was awarded to the Mission Mountain Miners baseball team.
In the Youth Novelty division, first place went to Isaac Cantlon who drove a tractor pedal car. Second place was awarded to Garrett Vaughan for his patriotic representation of Huckleberry Finn. Third place was awarded to Spencer Stagg.
In the youth bicycle division, Team Allen BMX took the top honors.
For the youth horse and rider division Skyler Frame was awarded first place and “Fiona and Steed” snagged the second-place title.
In the adult division, Mission View Garden Club won the organizational float for their entry themed, “Mr. McGregor’s Garden.” Then Mission View Garden Club also won grand champion honors for the adult division.
Second place in the adult organizational float category went to the Mission Valley United Methodist Church for their float themed, “Jonah and the Whale.” Third Place was awarded to Burger-B’s.
In the vintage car category Lonnie and Marie Smith took the top honors, winning first place with their 1930 Model-A Ford coupe.
Second place in the vintage cars category went to Wayne Hardy with his 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air.
In the tractor division, Nathan Cantlon won first place with his 8N tractor and Ed Brueckmann and family took second place with their collection of antique farm engines.
In the stock car division, Butch Duran was awarded first place for his winged sprint car and Bruce and Stacey Stinger took second place with their Mission Valley Speedway limited late model.
In the adult commercial category, Branding Iron and friends won the first place award and the Lake County Tavern Association snagged second-place honors.
Outstanding female rider honors went to Andrea Mitchell, who won with “Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Second place was awarded to Bobbi Garrigus with her Arabian/AQHA.
Outstanding male rider was awarded to James Murphy who won with his sorrel quarter horse.
In the animal-drawn vehicle category, Kenny Esterby and Gene Erb were awarded first place for their wagon pulled by a team of mules.
After the parade, Charlo residents and visitors celebrated Independence Day with festivities like the turtle races at Tiny’s Tavern and the Lions Club barbecue booth. Vendors were also on hand to serve up hot frybread with all the toppings, including homemade huckleberry butter.
Regardless of how people in Charlo spent their day celebrating the holiday, just about everyone in town made it down to the baseball fields at dusk to catch an impressive fireworks display.
This year’s display was made possible by generous donations as well as support from the community. To raise money for the show, community members held a rummage sale in the city park the week before and also organized a spaghetti feed at the Charlo Senior Center.
All the hard work and dedication paid off as the fireworks show did not disappoint, inspiring many cheers to accompany the patriotic music played during the show.
No doubt, the celebration left plenty of people with a renewed pride in their country and maybe even their little hometown of Charlo. .
June 11, 2009
Charlo Schools opts for wood flooring in new facility
CHARLO — After viewing samples from flooring experts, the Carlo School board decided to re-advertise the flooring bid for the new construction project, this time opting for hardwood instead of rubber.
The motion, made by Rhiannon Liberty, called for a number two grade northern maple floating interlock plywood floor on a 5/8-inch pad.
The board originally called for bids on a rubber-flooring surface, assuming the system would be cheaper. After bids were opened, the district discovered hardwood, in fact, the most economical option.
The flooring representatives presented samples and explained the benefits of wood over rubber as a gym floor surface.
The first representative presented statistics that showed a wood floor would last a minimum of 40 years as opposed to the rubber floor he said typically last about 20 years. Also, because the rubber floor is applied directly to concrete, there is a higher rate of injury as compared to wood flooring.
A number of district coaches were present at the meeting and told the board they preferred wood flooring.
Chris Cheff, the construction manager, also updated the board on the progress of the new multi-pupose facility.
He said the old lobby is almost completely demolished and removed. Fryberger Excavation is moving the playground equipment and cleaning up the area for the storm water pond.
The storm water pond is part of the storm water plan required for construction, which was approved at the last meeting.
Cheff also said that he knew of people interested in painting bids and said that would be advertised.
He also noted that the district received a couple of proposals for the steelwork in the new lobby. This, he said, would include columns and handrails and they, “look like they’re about $6,000.”
He said that this proposed expense is about $3,000 under the budgeted amount for the project.
Also in the meeting, the trustees accepted a letter of resignation from Martin Ashley, the district’s Information Technology employee. The board noted that the position would open up and would be advertised.
Before adjourning, the board discussed an issue with the heating and ventilation bid. Diamond Plumbing and Heating in Kalispell submitted a bid that was thrown out on a technicality. Diamond representatives addressed the board, saying the technicality was a misunderstanding and noted that they would have had the lowest bid. After reviewing the declined bid, board members discovered that Diamond was actually offering to do the job for $23,692 less than the accepted bid.
The board said they would seek legal counsel to see if there would be repercussions for retracting the award.
The school board will meet again today to continue negotiations with the classified union at 7 p.m.
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