Feeding the Flathead's rich legacy

After 25 years, Community Kitchen Feeding the Flathead remains an all-volunteer program that works miracles with modest means.

From its humble beginnings — feeding 18 hungry people one evening in 1989 — the ministry now serves 1,500 meals a month.

Its success is a testament to the dedication of a host of community organizations, churches and individuals as well as some divine help. “God has kept it together for 25 years,” Director Naomi Davidson says.

The meal ministry involves more than 200 volunteers, some of whom have been cooking and serving all 25 years.

Their efforts have been heartwarming and appreciated.

Donations to Community Kitchen Feeding the Flathead may be sent to the organization at P.O. Box 3166, Kalispell, MT 59901. People also can call Davidson at 752-7337 to find out how they can help.

Thanks, Pete, for trying!

Sometimes good intentions count for a lot, even when they don’t produce the desired results. That’s the case for Pete Skibsrud, who deserves a lot of credit for purchasing a big section of the Old Steel Bridge with the intent of seeing it put to a beneficial public use.

To a lot of folks, the purchase may have seemed to be a quixotic endeavor. But not to Pete and supporters who had strong feelings about the historic value of a bridge that had spanned the Flathead River since 1894 until it was replaced in 2008. Skibsrud initially made efforts to have the bridge serve as a pedestrian crossing over the Stillwater River near Flathead Valley Community College. It was an idea that just might have come about, but alas that idea and others did not.

So Skibsrud recently handed over ownership of the bridge to Bigfork area blacksmith and artist Jeffrey Funk. While the bridge will not be kept in one piece, both Skibsrud and Funk are working for the next best thing: that some of it will be used in ways the public can appreciate, rather than being scrapped entirely.  

And we owe Skibrud a debt of gratitude for another one of his dreams that did come to fruition — the tunnel under U.S. 93 between the Kidsports complex and FVCC.

‘Doughnut’ saga near end?

A long local saga may soon be nearing the finish point.

The Montana Supreme Court heard oral arguments last Friday in Missoula on the so-called Whitefish “doughnut” case, and as everyone who has been a resident of the Flathead during the past decade can tell you, there is nothing sweet about the dispute.

The “doughnut” refers to the land area outside of the city of Whitefish which had previously fallen under the zoning jurisdiction of the city, and then fell into dispute.

A 2005 interlocal agreement between the county and Whitefish had essentially ceded county control over the area to the city. That agreement was later thrown out, and then replaced with a new agreement in 2010 that was rejected by city voters.

County residents in the “doughnut” area say they are treated like a colony by Whitefish, which wants to regulate water quality and other zoning-type matters in the doughnut even though residents there have no vote or representation in city government.

The city argues that what happens in the doughnut impacts the city, and that the city has to protect its interests by regulating nearby neighborhoods.

Will it all be resolved when the Supreme Court issues its ruling? We’d like to think so, but based on the past behavior of the litigants, we suspect that new challenges could appear either in District Court or even in the federal court system.

Both sides are vehemently insistent that they are right.

Editorials represent the majority opinion of the Daily Inter Lake’s editorial board.