The news for beef, as of late, has been grim. Many of us have seen the disturbing footage of a living “downer cow” (a cow that cannot stand of her own accord) being moved on the end of a forklift, into the slaughter house, to be killed and potentially eaten by unsuspecting school children. Vegetarians, the nation ‘round, are likely shouting, “See. This is what we’ve been saying for years.” However, the repugnant reputation of mystery meat can be countered by conscientious butchers such as the man I interviewed this week.

Russ King runs the meat department at Bitterroot Community Market (BCM) in Stevensville. He has been in the meat business since 1969, when he began as a delivery guy for Durango Ice in Colorado where he delivered ice and meat to local stores. In 1975, he began his career as a butcher working for Toleman’s in Hamilton. He first came to Montana with the CCC’s and fell in love with this mountainous setting. He has been intimately involved in supplying meat to the public at a variety of locations for thirty-three years. He worked at the old Victor Mercantile in downtown Victor for four years from 1981 to 1985. This is where he met his wife Patty Buker, who was a part-time checker; they have been married for “twenty-seven, going on twenty-eight years.”

The Merc is also where I first met Russ, while shopping with my family when I was a youth. My great grandfather Harry, a former butcher himself who once ran a meat counter in Victor, loved Russ’ meat case because it was always immaculate and well organized and well stocked. Russ fondly remembers Harry’s compliments to this effect and took a picture of him that we cherish. Russ says he took many pictures of his regular customers. This is just one facet of his deep connection and commitment to the people he serves. He is all about customer service and this reputation has gained him a following. He recalls his embarrassment recently when three ladies were singing his praises loudly in front of the meat display at BCM. “They made me blush,” he says with a mixture of pride and amusement. He adds earnestly, “I do take a lot of pride in my case.”

The reason Russ gets this type of attention from his customers is because he works so very hard to help people. “I will do anything for any customer.” For example, he is especially concerned with the aging community on fixed incomes who cannot afford to pay $13.99 for one T-bone steak. “Older people get shafted because they just want one.” So Russ prices all of the steaks equally. It’s 5.99/lb. for the family pack and for the single steak during this week’s special. He truly cares for his customers in a way that is becoming more and more rare and he has a work ethic that is reminiscent of pioneer times. He works seven days a week and worries about how the meat case is looking when he isn’t there.

Russ moved to Reno, Nevada in 1985, where Scolarias Corporation employed him for twenty years as the meat manager in charge of twenty-seven different stores. He says he was their “fix-it man” and he was responsible for rearranging meat displays and “making sure that they were making money”. In 1985, Hillshire Farms recognized Russ’ efforts in the meat business with an award for his displays. “I got a jacket, $1,000.00, and a trip to the Harris Ranch,” he recalls. But for Russ, it was not just about the prize, it was about ensuring that quality meats were available to consumers.

Today, what sets Russ apart from other meat men is that he is involved in the entire process. He is not simply opening large cardboard boxes of frozen meat from Destination Who Knows Where. Russ works with Lolo Locker where he sees the animals alive. This means that he can accept or refuse animals based upon their potentially obvious health issues. He is intimately involved in the entire slaughtering process. Russ tells me that 85% of the beef at BCM is raised right here in the Bitterroot Valley by Wayne Olsen of Stevensville. Russ is committed to supporting local growers who raise quality, naturally raised meats. The “naturally grown” sticker that can be found on the meat at BCM ensures that these animals were raised without growth hormones and antibiotics.

This commitment to sell naturally raised meats is helping to right a profound wrong. In the recent short informational film made for the Governor’s Food and Agriculture Summit that took place in March of this year, there were the following startling statistics: until the 1950’s, 70% of Montana’s food was raised here in the state and Montana was also exporting processed food. In 2007, only 10% of Montana’s food was raised here. In 1950, food production and food processing was Montana’s number one employer. Now, the percentage is so low that it doesn’t even merit a statistical percentage. In 1910, Montana farmers and ranchers made sixty cents to the dollar. Today, they make a miserable seven cents on the dollar.

The best way to counter these trends is to do what Russ is doing by supporting Montana producers. To do so reduces the unknowns and guarantees a quality product that people from around the valley are coming to recognize as more healthy on a number of levels. It’s fresh, it’s local, and it’s natural.

Julie Kutter, who got her start in the grocery business as a meat wrapper says, “Russ is the fastest and best meat cutter I’ve ever seen.” And he does specialty cuts with the same alacrity that he does traditional cuts. He can adeptly turn out crown pork roasts that must be stitched together in order to stand up “in five minutes”, but his favorite cut is a thick rib-eye that “looks like a heart”; it’s four inches thick. “I call this the Montana Treasure Steak—that’s my own name for it,” he states proudly.

Russ lives and breathes his job, yet there is a story so compelling in his past that it screams to be told. When Russ was five years old, he was abandoned by his mother in Denver, Colorado. He was left in charge, at five, of his two younger siblings, a three-year-old brother and a two-year-old sister. When he was caught by a store owner for stealing to feed himself and his starving siblings, he was put in two different orphanages and a whopping total of fifteen foster homes before being adopted at the age of twelve by the King family.

“My name was Daniel Swift before I was adopted,” Russ explains. His adopted parents cared for ninety-three kids all told. They adopted six and raised six of their own. His adopted father was a saddle-maker as well as being famous for building clown shoes for the Ringling Brothers Circus Company. When Russ found a saddle in the Sierra Mountains that had been leaning up against a tree for who knows how long, he hiked it out seven miles and delivered it to his father to be reconstructed. Only the tree, stirrups, and horn were in decent condition but his father returned this “JD Hudd saddle from the 1800’s” to its former glory and then some. He cherishes this incredible gift from his father, who is still making saddles; it sits on a tree in his home to this day.

Russ never met his birth father, but he did find his birth mother. “She was Sioux. Her maiden name was P-r-u-e; it’s French Canadian,” Russ explains. She was living in Chicago when he located her through relatives in South Dakota. He spent one week with her before she died. “I went to her funeral in South Dakota.” It was there that Russ met the brothers and sisters he had never known. His adopted family has helped him to trace his Sioux history and it turns out that one of his Sioux relatives, named Short Bull, fought at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

While many people who have spent considerable time in social service systems have struggled, Russ says he has striven to avoid this repetition of history. Part of how he grounds himself has to do with his favored past-time, hiking in the mountains. “I have back-packed into almost every canyon in the Selway-Bitterroots.” One of his most memorable hikes was to the remote and beautiful Kerlee Lake. “You go seven and a half miles up Tin Cup Canyon, two and a half miles to Goat Lake, and a half mile to Kerlee.” Russ remembers the incredible waterfalls along this route and recalls how breathtaking his ascent to the top of El Capitan was. “I love the mountains,” he tells me with great heart. He enjoys the outdoors so much that he plans his vacation around the one- week lake association maintenance trip made to Big Creek Lake each fall. Whether Russ is slaughtering Montana-grown beef at Lolo Locker, or turning out the specialty cuts at BCM, or power spraying the face of Big Creek Dam to be resurfaced, he puts his heart and his back into each project with zeal.

Postal Service exam applications being accepted

The United States Postal Service is currently opening the Battery 473 Exam for 598 ZIP Code Offices. The positions covered by this examination announcement are City Carrier, Mail Processing Clerk, Mail Handler, and Sales, Services and Distribution Associate. Starting salary range from $14.43 - $19.61 per hour.

Applications will be accepted from March 1, 2008 through March 15, 2008. Apply on the Internet at HYPERLINK "http://www.usps.com/employment or by calling 1-478-757-3199" www.usps.com/employment or by calling 1-478-757-3199 (TTY 1-800-800-8776). Enter Exam Anouncement # 228652.

Applicants must be 18 years of age or 16 years with a high school diploma. Appicants must pass a written test and a pre-employment drug screening test. Call Today. The United States Postal Service is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.

Bitterroot NF Travel Management Planning Update

There is one last scheduled opportunity to visit with Bitterroot National Forest representatives regarding the Forest-wide Travel Management Planning project. February

27th will be the last of the scheduled “mini open houses”, scheduled from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm at the Forest Supervisor’s Office in Hamilton, before the comment period ends. Members of the public are encouraged to call 363-7100 and make an appointment for this day, but walk-ins are also welcome.

Public comments are due by February 29th, and can be submitted either by fax, email or direct mail to:

Travel Management Planning Team
Stevensville Ranger District
88 Main Street
Stevensville, MT 59870
(406) 777-7423 (fax)
Comments-northern-bitterroot@fs.fed.us (email)

The Bitterroot National Forest has prepared written answers to a number of the questions most frequently posed by members of the public, regarding the Forest’s Travel Management Planning Proposed Action. These answers are now posted on the Forest’s website, and are available in handout form at any one of the Forest’s five offices.

“Is the Forest proposing to eliminate camping outside designated campgrounds?” “Why are the opportunities for disabled hunting so limited?” “Why are some roads and trails only open part of the year?” “How many miles of road do we have funding to maintain?” “How much money is needed to complete the backlog of road maintenance?” And, “what will the Forest Service do with the comments from the public?” are just some of the 38 questions which have most frequently been posed by the public.

Responses to these questions are available at any one of the Forest’s five offices, and are posted on the Forest’s website at http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/bitterroot/projects/travel_mgmt.shtml.

Beginning in early March, the Forest will review the public comments and develop alternatives that will be considered in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). Following the release of the DEIS in the fall of 2008, the Forest will again solicit review and comments from the public prior to preparing the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) which should be released in the fall of 2009.

For additional information, please call any one of the Bitterroot Nationa Forest offices: Bitterroot NF Supervisor’s Office at 363-7100; Stevensville Ranger District at 777-5461; Darby ranger District at 821-3913; Sula Ranger District at 821-3201; and the West Fork Ranger District at 821-3269.

MSU Friday campus visitation

Montana State University will open its campus, classrooms and activities to potential students during MSU Friday, the university's campus visitation program, set for Friday, March 28.

Among the many MSU Friday activities are campus tours, sample classes taught by some of MSU's best professors, meetings with academic departments and a display of organizations and special services. There will also be presentations about special programs, scholarships and financing a college education. Panels for parents are also scheduled.

Cost for the one-day event is $15 per person, which includes lunch and activities. Students and family members attending MSU Friday may ski at a discounted rate on Saturday, March 29, and/or Sunday, March 30, at Bridger Bowl, Big Sky and Moonlight Basin ski areas.

Students wishing to spend a night on campus with a current student, sample food and experience campus life after hours, may contact the Residence Life Office at (406) 994-2661 to find out more about its Host Program. The cost of the program is $50 per night.

For more information about MSU Friday, contact the MSU Office of Admissions at (1-888) MSU-CATS, or (406) 994-2452.

Stevensville Community Foundation grants available

The Stevensville Community Foundation Spring 2008 grant cycle has now begun and the strict deadline for applications is Monday, March 31. Grants are awarded to organizations only that benefit programs or projects which make the greater Stevensville Community a better place in which to live. Excluded are religious or political organizations. Cycles are held both Spring and Fall. Thus far, over $160,000 has been awarded by the Stevensville Community Foundation grants to such worthy endeavors. Information may be obtained by picking up applications at the Bitterroot Star, the Rocky Mountain Bank or the Farmers State Bank. For more information or to submit and application, write to PO Box 413, Stevensville, MT, 59870, or call 239-5726.

DNRC urges caution as open burning season begins

With the statewide open burning season set to begin March 1, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) wants to make sure that unwanted debris is the only thing going up in flames.

“Each year people start more than half of all wildfires in Montana, and the majority of those fires are started by burning debris that escapes control,” said Pat Cross, DNRC Fire Prevention Specialist. “Open burning of trash and other materials is a worthwhile tool, but it comes with risks.”

If a landowner’s debris fire escapes control, Cross said, that individual can be held liable for fire suppression costs and any damage done to neighboring property. “The safest way to dispose of trash and debris is to haul it away,” he said. “But if you must burn, be careful and follow all the basic safety rules.” Those rules include the following:

• Never start a burn in windy conditions

• Keep burning piles away from buildings, dry grass and other debris

• Clear the area of all flammable material

• Burn only one pile at a time

• Keep a water hose and hand tools close by

• Attend the fire until it is completely extinguished

• Make sure you have enough help to manage your fire

• Be prepared to put your fire out if weather conditions change or the fire becomes difficult to manage

For more information on open burning and fire safety, contact the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation or your local fire agency.

De Haan files for County Commissioner Race

On Monday, February 11, 2008, Roger De Haan filed as a candidate for County Commissioner in District 3. He will run as a Democrat.

Roger De Haan is 56 years old and has lived in the Bitterroot since 1980, except for two years overseas in the Peace Corps and a 6 month tour working in Vietnamese refugee camps in Malaysia. He is a Professional Engineer specializing in water supply and sewage treatment and has owned and operated Pinnacle Engineering Consulting Engineers since 1986. His wife of 24 years is Nancy Spagnoli.

Roger has been active in community service for many years. He has been a member of the County Board of Health for 10 years. He represented Victor on the County Growth Policy, worked on the Highway 93 focus group and helped develop the Victor Park District. He was part of the Forest Consensus council and is a strong advocate of finding the common ground in the community among diverse viewpoints. He is currently involved with the Countywide Zoning community planning committee and represents the Health Board on the Streamside Setback Committee.

In his free time, he and Nancy like to hike, ski and backpack and work in their garden. Roger also likes to volunteer in the public schools.

When asked why he wants to be County Commissioner he said, “It is a public service thing. It is not necessarily a fun job, but I believe I have skills that would be valuable to that office, and would like to offer them.”

Roger supports the current planning and zoning efforts. He said that the County’s growth can be a valuable thing for local jobs and economy, and it needs to be managed so that taxpayers do not wind up paying for unintended consequences. “You will hear me say over and over that what our County government needs is predictability and consistency, fairness and sound logic, and accountability. We need appropriate regulations that let everyone know what the rules are, and that make it easy to work with the County. We also need good enforcement and accountability from all sides.”

Roger De Haan said that he looks forward to the campaign process and meeting as many people as possible. If anyone would like to talk with Roger, or invite him to meet with any club or group, he can be reached at 961-3953 or P.O. Box 456 Corvallis, Mt. 59828.

Obituaries

Tony Lankhaar
1956-2008

Tony Pete Lankhaar, 51 of Stevensville died Thursday, February 21, 2008 at his home of an apparent heart attack.

Tony was born on April 10, 1956, the 3rd child of Anthony (Tony Sr.) and Jean (Petersen) Lankhaar, in Monterey Park, California. Tony spent his younger years in Southern California, always working in the drywall trade.

Tony’s father (Tony Sr.) was a resident of Stevensville since 1973, he died in 1994. Tony and his brother Dick also of California came to Montana to handle their father’s estate. Tony fell in love with the beautiful Bitterroot and made it his new home. Having always worked in the drywall trade, he became known as “Tony the Taper, the Best in Town".

Tony loved the outdoors especially fishing the Bitterroot River, hunting up Bass Creek or visiting the Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge with his many friends. He loved giving flowers and many people reaped the benefits of his numerous bouquets that seemed to show-up everywhere. He could often be seen at the local café’s where he will be clearly missed.

In 2004 he was re-united with his long lost daughter, Victoria Lankhaar. It was one of the greatest highlights of his life.

Tony was a huge Rolling Stone fan and in 2006 one of his life long dreams was fulfilled when he saw them live in concert in Missoula.

His father Tony and sister Susan preceded him in death.

Survivors include his mother Jean and her husband Ron, California, Daughter Vickie, Brother Dick , Stevensville; 4 nieces and 2 aunts, an uncle, many cousins, as well as his huge family of friends in the Bitterroot.

Visitation will be held on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at the Whitesitt Funeral Home in Stevensville from 6 – 8 pm with the family present.

Funeral Services will be held at the funeral home on Wednesday, February 27 at 2 pm.

Burial will follow at Sunnyside Cemetery. A reception will be held at the Full Moon in Stevensville.

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