On Friday morning, parents calling Stevensville School heard a special message from High School Principal Jim Notaro, reassuring them that a potential incident involving a student was under control.

Last Thursday afternoon and into the evening, students were furiously spreading the word, through phone calls and text messaging, that an emotionally disturbed high school student had threatened to bring a gun to school.

Notaro said on Monday that, after being notified by concerned parents, the school administration sprang into action. The Stevensville Police Department and Sheriff's Office were notified. Upon investigation, it was determined there was no truth to the rumor. However, the student in question was kept home on Friday under the supervision of his parents, and with their cooperation, will not be returning to the school for the remainder of the school year.

Notaro said, "Basically, a couple of students were talking about this possibility and it took off like wildfire, took on a life of its own." No proof was found that the student ever said anything at all.

Stevensville Police Chief James Marble "did a wonderful job," according to Notaro. Although the Sheriff's Department was notifed, local police were able to handle the situation. Notaro said that, if needed, the county would have been involved. He said the school enacted its Incident Command system, and things worked out well. "Everybody was safe," said Notaro. "The process we have to work on things like that worked." He said school administrators held a debriefing on Monday.

Chief Marble released a statement on Friday, stating that his office had "followed up on the allegations through an interview with the suspect and other students involved" and "were unable to substantiate any of the allegations at this time." He said they were "currently following up any leads that we are receiving," and encouraged parents to contact him directly with any information and concerns that they have by calling 777-3011.

On Friday, 258 out of approximately 420 students were absent from school. However, according to Notaro, this included many who were attending extracurricular events.

Farm subsidy recipients changing

By Michael Howell

The nation's farm subsidy program was initiated under the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt and was designed to aid small family farmers struggling during the Great Depression. Since that time, critics argue, as the amount of money being dumped into the program has mushroomed, the nature of the recipients has also morphed from small family farmers struggling to survive to include several Fortune 500 companies and wealthy "hobby farmers" who are not in need of the subsidy. To make matters worse, they claim, the increase in subsidies to large profitable companies and wealthy individuals is actually fueling a buy-out of the small farms by the bigger entities which can use their farm subsidy money to make land purchases that will then serve to increase their wealth.

"The result," claims Brian Riedl, a Grover H. Hermann Fellow in Federal Budgetary Affairs in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation, "is a 'plantation effect' that has already affected America's rice farms, three quarters of which have been bought out and converted into tenant farms." He claims that other farms growing wheat, corn, cotton and soybeans are tending in the same direction. He notes that since 1935 the number of farms has decreased from 7 million to 2 million (only 400,000 of which are full-time farms). In the same period, the average farm size has increased from 150 acres to more than 500 acres.

According to Riedl, the record shows that 73 percent of all farm subsidies in 2001, for instance, went to the top 10 percent of recipients, most of whom earned more than $250,000 annually. Top recipients from 1996 to 2001 included 12 Fortune 500 companies and individuals such as David Rockefeller, Ted Turner, Kenneth Lay (of Enron fame) and others.

The main losers in 2001 were the bottom 80 percent of farm subsidy recipients whose collective share of the subsidy pie shrank from 16 percent in the previous five years to 12 percent in 2001, a 25 percent decline. Meanwhile, the number of farms receiving over $1 million in subsidies in one year increased by 28 percent to a record 69 farms.

Eligibility for farm subsidies is not determined by income. Although farm subsidies have targeted large farms for decades, Riedl notes, the evolution of farm subsidies into a corporate welfare program has accelerated in recent years due to increased funding and the consolidation of farmland that it is fueling. Congress is considering spending at least $171 billion on the program over the next decade.

Aside from the commodity subsidies, the government is also now in the business of subsidizing conservation projects through the farm subsidy program as well. In Montana the subsidies for Conservation Reserve Programs rank next to the top in the decade from 1995 to 2005, totaling $1.188 billion. That was out of a total of $3.72 billion in total subsidies over the same decade. Montana ranks 16th out of the 50 states receiving farm subsidy payments.

A non-profit research and information group called the Environmental Working Group has established a database on the internet displaying farm subsidy statistics.

According to EWG statistics, Ravalli County received $5.41 million in farm subsidy payments in the decade from 1995 to 2005. The breakdown during that decade includes $1,119,755 in Disaster Payments to 331 recipients, $810,423 in Wheat Subsidies to 177 recipients, $733,329 in Environmental Quality Incentive Programs to 42 recipients, $703,381 in Dairy Program Subsidies to 35 recipients, and $642,320 in Livestock Subsidies to 293 recipients.

While the list of recipients in Ravalli County over that decade does include names associated with longtime ranching and farming families, it also includes some corporations and some wealthy newcomers to the area, as well as some names associated more these days with realty companies and car dealerships rather than farming and ranching.

Some of the companies that have received payments in Ravalli County are Las Flores Apiaries, headquartered in Lompoc, California, which was awarded a one time payment of $145,214 as part of the honey subsidy in 2001. Water Consulting Inc., a Hamilton based consulting and hydrological engineering company (now defunct), received a one-time payment of $27,163 in 2002 for a conservation subsidy. Randolph Creech, a relatively recent arrival in the valley who has purchased much of the old Thoft ranch and many other tracts in the area, received a total of $129,969 in subsidy payments over the decade ending in 2005. His wife, Kay Akey Creech, received $60,246 in subsidy payments over the same decade. Even one of our County Commissioners, Greg Chilcott, has received small payments for wheat and barley subsidies from 2002 to 2005.

The database compiled by EWG includes the name (ownership), location and amount of farm subsidy payments made by the federal government throughout the nation. It can be accessed at www.ewg.org.

Montana Water Trust receives funds to restore streamflows in the Clark Fork Watershed

The Montana Water Trust has been awarded $40,000 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Private Stewardship Grant Program. This grant will provide matching funds for the Trust’s “Streamflow Restoration in the Clark Fork Watershed,” a $288,000 project dedicated to protecting flows in tributaries important for bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout. These funds will allow the Trust to lease senior water rights from willing landowners in the following dewatered streams:

· Middle Clark Fork Watershed: Ninemile Creek

· Bitterroot Watershed: Lolo Creek

· Blackfoot Watershed: Keep Cool and Stonewall Creeks

· Flathead Watershed: Dayton and Ronan Creeks

“Over 4,000 miles of Montana’s streams and rivers are listed by Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks as ‘chronically or periodically dewatered,’” says Montana Water Trust Director, John Ferguson. “This grant will allow us to work closely with landowners on irrigation efficiency and instream water rights management in these target watersheds.”

MWT partners with landowners to keep Montana’s celebrated streams alive and flowing. Founded in 2001, the Trust now manages 20 instream flow agreements located in six watersheds throughout the state.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced grants totaling more than $7.2 million awarded to 80 projects in 36 states. The Private Stewardship Grant Program—now in its fifth year—provides federal dollars on a competitive basis to individuals and groups engaged in voluntary conservation efforts on private lands. All projects must benefit endangered, threatened and other at-risk species.

"We are seeing tremendous benefits to wildlife by partnering with private landowners," said H. Dale Hall, Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service. "It is heartening to see how much progress we can make when we work together."

Other funding sources contributing to the Trust’s “Streamflow Restoration in the Clark Fork Watershed” include the Columbia Basin Water Transactions Program, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Bullitt Foundation, the Cinnabar Foundation, Patagonia, and the Harder Foundation.

Two other Private Stewardship Grants were awarded in Montana to the Big Hole Watershed Committee and the Kootenai River Network, Inc.

Motorists reminded of 'Click It or Ticket' campaign

The Hamilton Police Department announces there will be extra law enforcement officers patrolling during the national Click It or Ticket campaign. This campaign centers around the Memorial Day holiday and involves law enforcement, community coaliton members and other interested citizens. Those involved in the campaign are dedicated to the goals of the campaign - buckling seatbelts saves lives. Officers will be on the lookout for drivers and vehicle occupants who aren't wearing their safety belts.

"I'd like to remind all motorists to buckle up when they get in a car," said Hamilton Police Chief Ryan Oster. "My officers will be out in force ticketing people for not wearing their seatbelts. Seatbelts save lives."

While law enforcement is always looking for non-safety belt users, extra traffic patrols will be operating throughout the City of Hamilton.

Chief Oster added, "Remember, it only takes a few moments to buckle a seatbelt; it takes your family and friends the rest of their lives to recover from the hurt of losing you."

Increased patrols are funded by the Montana Department of Transportation with grants from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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