They turned out with chain saws in hand to help a neighbor and friend.
A stroke in July left Farrell DeLapp of Garrison partially paralyzed and mostly speechless, reports Mark Eisenbeil of the Silver State Post in Deer Lodge.
At 8 a.m., the woodcutters began sawing, splitting and stacking 30 cords of firewood donated to the cause. Two men split the cut wood by hand. Others manned powered log splitters, according to Julie Mann, a friend and neighbor of the DeLapps. The air was crisp, Mann added - perfect for that kind of work.
Then came the feed. Lots of it.
People brought garden produce and casseroles and a couple of deer, courtesy of bowhunters in the crowd. Some people chipped in money, which the DeLapps will use for gas cards, food, credit cards and the power bill. Farrell and Donna make two 70-mile trips to Missoula each week for his physical therapy.
Farrell can get around slowly now, Mann said. His speech is improving and his spirits are good, especially after that Saturday.
“We live in a really exceptional community,” she said.
Underpasses mean no Nordic at Whitefish resort
There won't be Nordic skiing at Whitefish Mountain Resort this winter.
“Our grooming machines can't fit through the underpasses that were built on Glades Drive, which means it's very hard and time-consuming for us to move snow around out there,” resort spokesman Donnie Clapp told the Whitefish Pilot.
What's more, Clapp said, the trails weren't designed as Nordic trails but converted from roads. That means they're “particularly hilly and quite difficult.”
The resort hopes to someday design a Nordic center that provides something for skiers of all abilities, like its alpine slopes.
“We're not sure how we'll get there yet, but that is the desire,” Clapp said.
The announcement came on the heels of one in August that a regulation superpipe in the Fishbowl Terrain Park will be scrapped in favor of other features. Snow levels so low on the mountain, coupled with the resort's inability to make its own snow, make both the Nordic and superpipe features less favorable.
“We want to stop making promises we can't keep,” said Clapp.
Polson to pick manager from many applicants
Polson will name a new city manager Wednesday night.
According to the Valley Journal, the Polson City Council will announce the person selected to replace Jay Henry, who resigned after a year on the job.
Henry was Polson's first city manager, hired after city residents voted to switch from a mayor-council form of government.
Twenty-seven people applied to replace him. A selection committee narrowed that list to three finalists, and that number dropped to two after Steve Golnar of Salida, Colo., withdrew.
Polson will select between Paul Poczobut Jr., a Vermont native and assistant town manager at Taylor, Ariz., and Larry Stoever, who grew up in Elgin, Ill., and is former city manager at Saline, Mich.
“Being from Vermont, I love the outdoors, hunting and fishing, and I've heard the (Polson) public is made up of a pretty good group of people,” Poczobut told the Lake County Leader earlier this month. “I have friends who have been to the Flathead Lake area and say that it's great.”
“I've been thinking about moving out West and Montana is one of the places I've been considering,” Stoever told the Leader. “I spent a college semester with the Forest Service south of Missoula, enjoyed myself, and have wanted to get back when I had the opportunity.”
Both finalists visited Polson last week.
Steele officially to serve as mayor of Hamilton
He's “acting mayor” no longer.
Jerry Steele was officially appointed mayor of Hamilton last week to serve the remainder of a post vacated in early September by Jessica Randazzo.
Steele, a town councilman, will serve until the end of 2009, and he'll be paid for the weeks he spent as acting mayor, the Bitterroot Star reported.
Randazzo abruptly resigned in late August, surprising all around her but giving no public explanation. The Star said she terminated the city's administrative assistant, Nancy Anderson, on Sept. 2, the day Randazzo's own resignation from office took effect. The council confirmed Anderson's termination at the same meeting it approved Steele to fill out the mayor's term.
Weeklies Reader is compiled by reporters Vince Devlin and Kim Briggeman.
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