Firefighters tested by area growth
Inter Lake editorial
Business is booming for the Evergreen Fire Department.
That's not necessarily a good thing, since business for an emergency-services provider means dealing with someone's misfortune - a fire, vehicle accident or ambulance call, for example.
Nonetheless, the mostly volunteer outfit has seen its number of calls soar, doubling in five years and going from 687 calls in 2006 to 903 calls in 2007.
The increased demand is putting pressure on the Evergreen Fire Hall, which has no room for more emergency vehicles and not enough space for emergency staffers, either. The department needs a new ladder truck and ambulance but has no place to put them.
The department is taking initial steps toward overhauling the fire station it has outgrown. Given the increase in workload, improved quarters may well be justified.
Congratulations to Flathead High School sports standout Brock Osweiler, who has committed to Arizona State University in a bid to play college football.
The 6-foot-8 junior decided to change sports gears last week. Instead of playing basketball for Gonzaga (as he had announced before his sophomore year), Osweiler will try his hand in the Pac-10 football world as a quarterback.
Osweiler's prowess in two sports put him in the enviable position of weighing competing college offers. But perhaps on the strength of some stunning seasons on the football field (almost 5,400 yards passing his sophomore and junior years), Osweiler decided on football as his future.
Flathead fans no doubt will be carefully following his college career (and of course Osweiler has one more season of Braves football, too). It will be interesting to see how he does at the next level.
Competition at Arizona State is bound to be intense, since among the Sun Devils' other quarterback prospects is a Colorado passer named Jack Elway. His father, John, is in the NFL Hall of Fame.
Attention, Postal Service shoppers! You have two days left to buy the Forever Stamp at the lowest-ever price of 41 cents.
Starting on Monday the cost of a first-class stamp will increase to 42 cents, but if you buy a Forever Stamp this weekend you will be able to save a penny. And Forever Stamps are good, well, forever, so you don't have to worry about sticking an extra stamp alongside them when the price goes up.
Some people are stocking up well beyond their immediate needs on the assumption that prices will indeed keep going up. Based on past experience, that seems like a safe bet.