Get your ballot in for bond

A very big piece of Whitefish’s future hangs in the balance as Whitefish School District voters decide whether or not to approve a $14 million bond request to renovate Whitefish High School.

The bond would help finance a $19 million upgrade that involves reconstructing portions of the 1950s building.

Don’t forget that mail-in ballots are due to the school district’s office at Whitefish Middle School by Thursday, March 15. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. If you’re mailing your ballot, it needs to be in the mail no later than Monday to be likely to get there in time.

After many months, years in fact, of working through various designs and gathering community input, the taxpayers will decide if the project should move forward. We believe it’s time for Whitefish to vote yes for an improved high school and have said so, but the voters will have the last word.

WHITEFISH MUSIC programs are getting a boost from “The Boss.”

Bruce Springsteen’s sound engineer Toby Scott and founding bass guitarist Garry Tallent are the muscle behind a unique fundraiser that will raffle off two tickets to see Springsteen perform during the upcoming “Wrecking Ball Tour.” In addition to the tickets, the package comes with VIP backstage passes and $1,500 in cash to defray travel expenses to see the band at the venue of the winner’s choice.

Proceeds will benefit Whitefish Middle School and High School and North Valley Music School.

Here’s the real deal: Raffle tickets are only $10 and you still have a chance to buy one or more until noon on March 16. Tickets may be purchased at the schools and at any Sportsman & Ski Haus, Bookworks or Montana Coffee Traders location.

IT’S ALWAYS been an intuitive assumption that Glacier National Park is an economic driver for the Flathead Valley and the state, but it’s interesting to see just how much of a driver it is.

A recent study quantified Glacier’s economic impact with some impressive numbers based on the park’s busiest year on record, 2010, when 2.2 million people visited the park.

The study calculated that those visitors spent almost $110 million in and around the park and supported 1,695 jobs in the greater Glacier area. That’s an eye-popping infusion of money, particularly if you consider that the bulk of it was spent during the short summer season.

In more ways than one, Glacier National Park is priceless!