Missoula News

Missoula Notebook

In response to the ban, several of Hebl’s past and present patients have been lobbying hospital officials to reverse their decision. Hebl says that there have been some positive developments.

Missoula Notebook

I’m proud of how relatively little I contribute to “the economy.” Sure, I’m driving an eleven-year-old car, carefully planning my first new-shoe purchase in five years, and squinting at a non-digital, non-HD television, but it’s hard to imagine how I could be much happier.

A lot of the credit goes to just living in Missoula, and I’m not alone in feeling this way. A recent survey found 94 percent of Missoulians “satisfied with the overall quality of life in Missoula.” Even among these sunny folks, I’m an outlier, because 64 percent of them said they were unhappy with traffic congestion here, and the relative ease of getting around this town compared to the Baltimore area is something Amy and I still marvel at, two years into our Missoula residency.

Economy

Brian Sipe recalls when the noted rifle barrel maker Les Bauska told him: “If you want to starve to death, become a gunsmith.” So, naturally, Sipe became a gunsmith.

Then in 1990, he parlayed his skills into the rifle barrel business, starting Montana Rifleman with “about $200” to his name. But one by one, the rifle barrels began pouring out of his shop and that $200 grew some fat. Nearly 20 years later, Sipe’s barrels can be found across the world, on rifles with household names like Remington and Bushmaster.

And this year, prompted by concern over how the Obama administration will affect federal gun laws, business has gone through the roof. People are stocking up on firearms, Sipe said. Montana Rifleman, located on Montana Highway 35 outside of Kalispell, has already churned out more than 100,000 rifle barrels this year. In past years, the total was closer to 70,000-80,000, Sipe said.

“We’re not a hobby barrel maker anymore,” Sipe said.

The Flathead Valley, and Montana for that matter, has a rich history of barrel and gun manufacturing, boasting names like the Bauska family, the Sipe family and, more recently, the Sonju family. The Sonjus have formed a sister company to their Sonju Industrial, which manufactures aerospace parts.

Commentary

A massive job awaits Jonathan Jarvis, the man who became chief of national parks this month, according to a fine feature story by Todd Wilkinson (which was published today in the Flathead Beacon).

The new park service director, a 32-year veteran of the National Park Service, kicked off his new job by visiting the home of conservationist John Muir and taking his family to Yosemite National Park, Wilkinson writes. If Jarvis got some extra energy from the trips, that’s good, the story notes. Because he’ll need it.

Press Release: Green Power in Montana

Comprehensive clean energy and climate change legislation now before Congress could create 13,000 jobs in Montana by 2020 and would increase average household incomes in the state, according to research announced today by environmental groups.

The groups releasing the information include Climate Solutions and Montana Business Leaders for Clean Energy; CERES; the Clean Economy Network; and Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2).

According to the groups, “clean energy legislation would create 918,000 to 1.9 million new jobs nationally, and increase national GDP by $39 billion to $111 billion more than what would occur without the legislation.”

Bob Wire Has a Point (It's Under His Cowboy Hat)

“You got to caaaaarve that punkin, you gotta caaaaaarve that punkin…” I’m belting out these words to the tune of Southern Culture on the Skids’ “Carve That Possum” when the kids get off the school bus. Their friends, doing their best Kilroy-Was-Here impression, watch me from the bus windows as it pulls away.

“Dad, you’re embarrassing me,” says Speaker, stamping a foot. At 11 years of age, she is highly susceptible to mortification. Rusty remains stoic.

“Sorry, kiddo. I’m just full of…Halloween cheer!” I whip a ten-inch chef’s knife out of my coat. “Do you know what night this is?”

Rusty gives me his best baleful stare. “Goat sacrifice?”

“No, but close. It’s pumpkin carving night! I’ve already picked out some pumpkins for you guys.”

PRATICAL TIPS FOR MAKING A GOOD CHOICE

So, you’ve finally decided to take that fishing trip of a lifetime--to Alaska, Canada, Patagonia, the Caribbean or another exotic location. Now, be sure you choose the right lodge.

The cost is always key, of course, but hardly the only concern. Regardless of your passion--bonefish, tarpon, muskie, salmon, monster rainbows or pike, whatever--you don’t want your long-awaited (and deserved, right?) vacation to turn into a stressful and costly disappointment.

If you’re a do-it-yourself type of guy, this column isn’t for you, but if you decide to stay at a fishing lodge and have a guided adventure, finding the right outfitter and avoiding problems along the way can be challenging. I’m hardly an expert, but I’ve stayed at a dozen or more lodges through the years.  Along the way, I’ve picked up a few tips that might be helpful.

FOLLOWING MY SHOTS

UPDATED 10/27/09. See end of column.

Anybody who reads NewWest.Net regularly might be getting a little weary of reading about Senator Jon Tester’s “Jobs and Recreation Act,” S. 1470. So far, by last count, we’ve posted twenty-two articles and columns on the bill and its impact. This includes our own coverage and several guest columns, as we’ve tried to give each major stakeholder a forum to voice their point of view, including one from the senator himself. (Click here to read them all.)

But this bill keeps on giving out stories, it seems, such as these updates and follow-ups to earlier postings.

Western Book Roundup

Helena-raised Kevin Connolly is on the road talking about his new memoir, Double Take.  He’ll visit Bozeman today (Country Bookshelf, 7 p.m.), and he’ll be in Helena on October 28 (Montana Book Company, 7 p.m.), and in Missoula on October 29 (Fact & Fiction, 7 p.m.). 

The 24-year-old Connolly was born without legs, but according to his bio on his publisher’s website, he “was otherwise a healthy baby and grew up like any other Montana kid; getting dirty, running in the woods, and getting dirty some more.”

Connolly began taking photographs four years ago, traveling around the world on a skateboard and “documenting the reactions” people had to him.  The photos in this series became ”The Rolling Exhibition,” which Connolly’s website describes as: 31 Cities, 32,000 photos, one stare.” Double Take is getting great reviews; Kirkus Reviews described it as “A courageous, immensely rewarding chronicle expressed in arresting words and pictures.” Visit Connolly’s website for an entertaining trailer about his experience reading an ebook on an over-sized PC.

Also in the Roundup: A Utah State senior wins the national Norman Mailer Award for nonfiction, two forthcoming regional novels, and David Sax finds some good Jewish delis in the Rockies.

Bob Wire Has a Point (It's Under His Cowboy Hat)

The U.S. Attorney General’s recent recommendation for federal prosecutors to lighten up on medical marijuana users and distributors has launched a cottage industry of media reviewers for marijuana dispensaries. Denver’s hipster weekly, Westword, has received over 120 applications for the position, a couple of them actually written in tiny script on a Zig Zag paper.

I could smell an opportunity for a journalist of my, uh, diverse background so I flew to Salt Lake City and got an audience with the city editor of the Deseret News, to persuade him that their paper needed a weed writer. The following interview was recorded with an iPod I had hidden in my Utah Jazz hoodie. Or maybe it was all a fever dream.