Volunteers 'make a difference'

There's so much opportunity to make a difference in your community that the local United Way decided it needed to schedule two days for Make a Difference Day.

Volunteers across the Flathead will spend part of today and Saturday doing work to help improve our community. Projects range from raking leaves and yard cleanup to painting, carpentry, building and home maintenance. Recipients include nonprofit community organizations as well as individuals who need special help.

This is the 16th year that Make a Difference Days has been celebrated nationally, and is just one of many ways that United Way makes a difference.

For more information about this and other opportunities to volunteer, call the United Way at 752-7266.

One particularly important program in this or any community is Head Start, which gives pre-school youngsters a place to develop the social and educational skills they will need to succeed in school.

Northwest Montana Head Start has been on tough times for the past several years, having had to endure several moves and less-than-optimal temporary quarters. But last week the organization moved into a brand new 14,000 square foot building overlooking Woodland Park at 79 Seventh Ave. EN.

Congratulations to everyone involved in making this dream a reality.

How is the Flathead Valley changing?

Find out by reading a special 30-page report in Sunday's Inter Lake.

"Changing Times" takes an in-depth look at how development - both residential and commercial - is affecting the quality of life in our communities.

The editorial staff looks at the impacts of growth on many facets of our society, from jobs to recreation and from housing to education.

The three-section project includes key perspectives from longtime residents as well as newcomers.

Hunters in Northwest Montana, and elsewhere in the state for that matter, have been fortunate to have several years of steady big game population growth, and that resulted in a very good opening day last weekend.

Check stations across the region turned up a 14 percent increase in the number of deer and elk harvested in the first day of the season, compared to last year.

Wildlife officials say steady improvement in hunting opportunities is the result of an ongoing, upward trend in game populations that has come about largely because of eight successive mild winters.

When you have 2,649 hunters stopping at six check stations in one day, you know the trend has to be pleasing an awful lot of people.