Help shape future of our schools

What do you want Kalispell's new high school and revamped junior high to look like?

If you want to have a say, Saturday and Monday are the days to do it.

School District 5 is sponsoring public forums to gather citizen comments on the $50.7 million in school projects approved by voters last month.

Saturday's session, from 8 a.m. to noon at the large lecture room at Flathead High School, will deal with the new high school to be built northwest of town.

On Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the Kalispell Junior High library, a similar session will scope out public suggestions about improvements to the junior high.

School officials are particularly interested in hearing from the public about specific needs for academic and extracurricular programs - and how those needs should be reflected in facility design.

These meetings are valuable opportunities to help shape the future of Kalispell schools.

Once again this Saturday, the eyes of Montana football fans will turn toward Missoula.

The Montana Grizzlies take the field for their third straight home playoff game in a I-AA semifinal matchup with Sam Houston State.

Each week, as Montana keeps winning big and heading deeper into the postseason, Grizzly fever keeps building higher and higher.

Although on Saturday the Griz have to overcome a team that already beat them this year, the echoes of UM's previous national-title seasons are reverberating.

The dreams of Griz fans are turning into reality - and the more optimistic among them are even booking flights to Chattanooga, Tenn., for next week's championship game.

Here's hoping for another made-in-Montana triumph and the next step in the team's try for Tennessee.

It may seem like a real downer to think about death during the Christmas season.

But many people have to deal with death.

There are those who are facing the ends of their lives and may not make it to another Christmas (a difficult situation, too, for their friends and families).

There are families, too, facing Christmas for the first time without a loved one who has passed away.

And there are those caregivers who help shepherd the dying and the bereaved through these difficult times.

These hospice caregivers provide a bright ray of hope and immeasurable amounts of solace for people in their final days.

But perhaps their greatest contribution is to help people find joy in their lives, even at a time of death.

That's a holiday gift to cherish.