New West Network

My Page: Anne Medley

In The New West magazine

It's 2:30 a.m., and Bud Boyce, 75, fumbles in the dim light of the pickup cab for the controls of the mounted spotlight.

Outside, the beam cuts the blackness, illuminating clouds of warm breath and glassy eyes as it pans from left to right, then back again across a herd of more than 250 Angus-Hereford cows, all pregnant and ready to give birth.

The cattle huddle in dark masses. Bud plays the light across them, carefully watching for a cow in labor or a newborn calf. With no signs of a delivery-in-progress and no new calves since the last check three hours ago, he wheels his pickup back toward the house and lurches down the frozen drive. In three hours, he'll do it again. Then, ranch hand Mike Horst will take over.

It's a grueling schedule, part of what makes ranching a lifestyle, not a job. [more]

slideshow

A royal crowd of kings and queens took to the stage at Dauphine's on Saturday night as part of Missoula's second annual Panty Rock Drag Show, a fundraiser for the University of Montana’s Women's Center. The benefit—featuring DJs Mora Cass, Dave and Everno—included thirteen drag show performances, a panty auction, a date auction and no small amount of attitude.

To view a slideshow of this year’s behind-the-scenes debauchery by NewWest.Net photographers Anne Medley and Emily Haas, click here or on the image.

In memory of Chris Wells. [more]

In The New West magazine

The urban livestock movement can seem more whimsy than necessity, more social gesture than lifestyle. It can be viewed as a protest of the American industrial food system, but also strikes an old instinct: to raise and gather food.

"There is certainly a romantic nature to it," said John Bottelli, a 37-year-old urban parks planner who also owns three chickens. His wife, a cellist, named them after classical composers. "It's also an affordable way to get fresh eggs."

In some cities across the West, the collision of these rural ideals and urban life can be jarring. In Missoula, Mont., the city council spent months debating an urban chicken ordinance last year before finally agreeing to allow residents to keep up to six chickens, no noisy roosters.

In the video at above, NewWest.Net's Anne Medley explores the issue in Missoula. [more]

Photographed in Moscow, Idaho by Jean Crawford Evans

evolution of childbirth

Close to 100 people filled the Roxy Theater in Missoula on Saturday night for a benefit screening of The Business of Being Born, a documentary film produced by actress and former talk show host Ricki Lake and director Abby Epstein.

The inaugural event of the newly formed Missoula chapter of ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network) aimed to raise awareness about the steady increase in cesarean births in the U.S. while demystifying the practice of home births and midwifery. [more]

habitat conservation

David Allen wants to clear up a common misconception about the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation:

"We are not a hunting club. We don't intend to be a hunting club. We are a membership organization that has an overwhelming number of hunters…but we're not doing wildlife conservation to improve our hunting."

As the newly appointed CEO and President of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Allen (who hails from Billings) plans to return to the core mission of the Foundation -- conserving, restoring and enhancing elk and other wildlife habitats. [more]

Hand-picked Headlines

This morning's hand-picked headlines from in, around and about Missoula...

• The Helena Independent Record reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection is struggling to fill positions along Montana’s northern border due, in part, to remote assignments and slow hiring practices.
  
  
• The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a small earthquake in the Grass Range area late Sunday night, according to the Billings Gazette .
  
  
• The Missoulian reports that some conservationists are working to pressure the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reconsider its decision to deny protection to the last remaining population of native, river-dwelling arctic grayling in Montana.
  By Anne Medley, 11-27-07 | add comment | email story | print story

Hand-picked Headlines

This morning's hand-picked headlines from in, around and about Missoula...

• The Helena Independent Record reports that Former Lt. Governor Karl Ohs died Sunday morning in Helena at the age of 61 due to complications from brain cancer.
  
  
• Police are still looking for a man accused of pulling a knife on workers at a Missoula Subway restaurant on Saturday afternoon, according to KPAX.
  
  
• Mountain Home Montana’s annual fundraiser “Festival of Trees” is on display at the Southgate Mall through December 2, the Missoulian reports. Proceeds from the silent auction benefit teenage mothers and their babies.
  By Anne Medley, 11-26-07 | add comment | email story | print story

Hand-picked Headlines

This morning's hand-picked headlines from in, around and about Missoula...

• The Helena Independent Record reports that Montana ranks third-worst in the nation in the percent of traffic deaths involving a drunk driver.
  
  
• Lack of funds prevented managers of Utah's Zion National Park from purchasing 10 acres of privately owned land within the park’s boundaries, according to the Billings Gazette.
  
  
• Hand-made Montana toys offer a safer alternative to foreign imports, KPAX reports.

Keeping a Holiday Tradition

On Friday morning at 10:00, the gates to the historic Nine Mile Schoolhouse in Huson, Mont. will open for the second annual Christmas Market under new owners Kurt Cyr and Jay Zaltzman.

Cyr, who grew up in Frenchtown, left Montana after high school to attend college in Los Angeles and has worked as an interior designer ever since.

In February 2006, Cyr and Zaltzman decided to purchase the Nine Mile Schoolhouse and revive the Christmas Market, a tradition started by former owners Les and Hanneke Ippisch who ran the market for 25 years.

In this multimedia piece, NewWest.Net/Missoula photographer and reporter Anne Medley documents the evolution of the Christmas Market and the inspiration behind it. [more]