The Missoulian from Missoula, Montana • 13

NEWSROOM 523-5240 Missoulian Section Friday, May 2 1, 1999 I WaMfraiftV "1 Cash 4 Life 05-51-76-86 (match first set of numbers $1,000 a week for life) Quick Call, a free service of the ISSOULIAN, CARRIES THE LATEST WINNING feOTTERY NUMBERS. CALL 542-2525 AND ENTER Category number: 2740 POWERBALL 2738 Montana 2730 attea dwrap sites may ifowtayBite lLandfill manager Iwants to lock bears out of green-box sites sandwiched among a string of unincorporated communities. In this relatively wild country, it is not uncommon to see bears lumbering past homes in search of a free lunch, and the buffet has been discovered at the Dumpster site. The bruins have crushed the fence, he said, dragging bags of garbage 100 yards into the woods to eat in peace. Trail of trash lead into the trees, where cubs climb rubbish in paw to eat unmolested in the branches.

"We have both black and grizzly bears up there," Johnson said. "I believe they are imprinted on the trash, and so we really need to secure the site immediately." branches 20 feet up, glittering like the sparkle of so many ornaments, and ribbons of shredded plastic cling like tinsel. Steve Johnson cannot bear the sight of the trash trees, and is looking to fix the eyesore with a few high-tech hydraulic garbage cans. Johnson, director of Flathead County's landfill, oversees a number of rural "green box" sites, where county residents take their trash. Those sites are not staffed, and Johnson often runs into trouble with people dumping too much of the wrong thing.

In Coram, however, his problem is not the people, but the bears. The Coram green box site is just outside West Glacier, To secure the trash, Johnson has his eye on a handful of high-tech Dumpsters. With the push of a button, a hydraulic arm would raise the lid on the bear-proof container, and a timer would make sure the lid dropped if the resident failed to push the down button before leaving. If installed, the hydraulic Dumpsters would be the first in the Flathead, although they are already in use in nearby Lake County. And although the Coram site is first on Johnson's priority list, he would also consider using the bear-proof technology in other green-box trouble spots, such as Essex and Olney.

"We had a guy pull his truck up to the Olney site last year," Johnson said. "He opened the back of his truck and started throwing stuff into the box. Well, he 1 startled this bear that was in there, and it jumped right out of the box and into the back of his truck." In Coram, however, such a story might not even raise an eyebrow, which is why that dumpsite enjoys top priority. Even before he could get to work, Johnson bumped into a problem of space at the Coram site. The current site is too small for; the number of people using it, he said, let alone for a series of large, bear-proof Dumpsters.

Currently, he said, his crews See FLATHEAD, Page B2 By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian CORAM In a place not far from Glacier National Park, the evergreens look tlike Christmas trees decorated by Oscar the Grouch. Clumps of garbage dangle from Tool Man would be so proud it i1 i irrfiaciMa Bring the family to May Fair Fling 4 -is it i 1. 1, 4 By BETH WOHLBERG for the Missoulian The May Fair Fling at the Western Montana Fairgrounds this weekend promises whirlwind carnival rides, raging rodeo shows and a smashing demolition derby. But the most unusual event on Saturday may be 14 riding lawn mowers, some as fast as 60 mph, speeding off at 4 p.m. in a race ill A around a track.

v- C7 1 i Admission to the fairgrounds 'is free, however individual events require tickets. Die carnival opens Friday at 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday at The lawn mower event is followed by dozens of demo derby cars smashing and crushing their competitors and then smaller cars doing the same in the Herbie Derby. Women can compete in the Powderpuff Derby event. The Northern Rodeo Association, the group's first noon. ft 4i I MICHAEL GALLACHER Missoulian Shan Jones of Lolo will be burning aviation fuel in his 16-horsepower lawn mower when he takes to the track Saturday night at the Missoula County Fairgrounds.

venture to Missoula, will feature bareback riding, steer wrestling, break-away roping and several other events. On the way to the shows, fair-goers can stop by the Treasure Chest Model Car Show to judge plastic and wooden car models on display. "Some of them took these guys a year to make," said Dave Seaholm of the Treasure Chest, the Missoula-based hobby and craft store sponsoring the model car show. "One guy is bringing in a stagecoach that sits about 2 feet high." Fair-goers can also head to the woodcarving exhibition, the remote-control airplane demonstration and swap meet, and a blacksmithing competition. The Western Montana Woodcarvers Show will exhibit woodcarvings, offer prizes for the best work and raffle off a carving.

A few woodcarvings, as well as carving tools and other supplies, will be on sale. "We have several Santa Claus carvings and gnomes and fish," said Betty Kirschten of the woodcarvers club. "The largest is probably 20 inches tall unless someone surprises us." The Big Sky Thunderbirds is sponsoring the airplane display, swap meet and raffle for a $100 airplane kit. The public is encouraged to judge the See FLING, Page B2 Mowers burn up the turf By MICK HOLIEN ot the Missoulian machines, then line up for a different kind of race on an 800-foot dirt tri-oval track in front of the grandstand. It is all part of the May Fair Fling at the fairgrounds.

They're scheduled to race in three six-lap heats with the top two finishers advancing to a 10-lap championship with the winner claiming you guessed it a lawn mower; a $2,400 riding mower-tractor donated by Quality Supply, according to Allen Kessler of Z-100 radio, one of the event's organizer. "You guys run what you brung," was Kesslcr's advice to competitors interested in fielding an entry in what they hope will be a yearly addition to spring activities at the fairgrounds. Competitors will participate in a Le Mans start where they'll be required to run to their machines, start 'em up and head 'em out. "It's something we heafd about a long time ago and started asking people if they wanted to do it, so we'd like to make it an annual event," said Kessler. Kessler and on-air partner Craig Johnson loudly previewed one of the machines during their broadcast this week in the parking lot outside of their North Avenue station.

One of the entries that's coming from Tacoma, runs some 60 mph, said Kessler. And since there's no restriction on the type of fuel used machines are limited to 1 8 horsepower the event promises to be at the least interesting and at best, spectacular. See MOWERS! Page B2 These machines are just a mowing deck away from being able to cut your lawn. But if you used the mowers that will race at the Missoula County Fairgrounds on Saturday ones with their mowing deck removed to trim the grass, they'd be sure to finish the job in a hurry. A dozen or more riding lawnmower drivers will run time trials in their beefed up Montana Rail Link wins national safely award El Mar residents face tough choice Overtaxed sewer systems force decision between cosdy repairs, city hookup By JOHN STUCKE of the Missoulian By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian Washington, D.C The Harriman Awards were established in 1913 by Mary Harriman in mcmoiy of her husband Edward Harriman, a railroad financier and administrator who reorganized and consolidated railroads in the United States.

He was a president of the Union Pacific Railroad. Frost said the award was the culmination of MRL's emphasis on safety. The company has worked hard in recent years on safety, hoping to reassure people it is safely run after serious accidents such as the derailment and chlorine spill near Albcrton in 1996. The railroad is a privately held company and is part of the Washington Companies, a group of businesses in which Montana businessman Dennis Washington owns a significant interest. The railroad has 113 locomotives and 2,159 freight cars that haul lumber and woid products, farm goods, fuel, mineral concentrates, and coal.

MRL has 1,100 workers and ran 214,871 loaded rail cars in 1998. It is the east-west railroad across southern Montana. Carlson said the systems' design was actually quite good for avoiding contamination to either the groundwater or rivers. But the cost of needed repairs is almost certain to be more than bringing a public sewer line to the area, he said. The Missoula County commissioners will have a public hearing on the wastewater treatment systems at Sunset Memorial Gardens June 2 at 7 p.m.

"I think people will be dumbfounded about the money that needs to be spent," Commissioner Barbara Evans said of the engineering study's results. But the problem to resolve is whether to spend a lot now to do big repairs on the systems, or just a little to maintain them until a city sewer line reaches the area. Rebuilding El Mar's system could cost $4,6 million, according to county estimates. Connecting the area to the city of Missoula's sewer system would cost about $2.9 million. Fixing the Golden West treatment system that serves New Meadows would cost while connecting to the city sewer would be $734,000.

The whole area is under consideration for sewer line extension, according to City Public Works Director Bruce Bender. I lowcvcr, the city has no firm plan to send a line out Mullan Road until it knows who is willing to pay for it. That would involve negotiations with the El Mar area residents to learn if they'd tax themselves to bring the line. Sewer lines usually also bring annexation into the city. But Bender said the El Mar area might be able fo take advantage of a deal now in the works with East Missoula, where annexation negotiations arc put off for 20 years after the lines are laid.

The city might actually prefer that delayed decision, since it would nave trouble extending other services such as police and fire protection-so far beyond the current western city boundary of Reserve Street. The city's proposed long-range wastewater treatment plan gets a hearing of its own June 7 before the Missoula City Council. The plan includes the proposal to connect the El Mar area into city services. Copies of the plan are available at the Missoula Public Library and at City Hall. Montana Rail Link received a national award this week for safety performance.

The Missoula-based railroad, which operates nearly 956 miles of track between Huntley, just cast of Billings, to Sandpoint, Idaho, along with several branch lines, earned a gold medal from the E.H. Harriman Memorial Awards Institute. "It's all about our employees," said MRL spokeswoman Lynda Frost. "They have worked very hard at this." Each year the institute presents awards for safety based on few personal injuries and an absence of accidents. Besides the award, MRL received a Certificate for Commendation for two or more years of continuous improvements in its safety record.

"Wining this award speaks volumes about Montana Rail Link's commitment to safety and the quality and character of our people who have been dedicated to this accomplishment," MRL President Dan Watts said in a press release issued from An overloaded wastewater treatment system has residents of the El Mar Estates area west of Missoula facing the dilemma of paying for an expensive repair or a connection to the city's public sewer service. The roughly 500 homes in the rolling hills around Mullan Road south of Missoula International Airport depend on two community treatment systems. Missoula County took over management of both in 1994. A draft engineer's report released two weeks ago shows both systems were having trouble handling the amount of effluent and wastewater. City-County Environmental Health Director Jim Carlson said the systems have been linked to groundwater quality problems in the area, and required hauling more than 1 million gallons of waste to the city wastewater treatment plant in 19 when that year's huge winter snowpack threatened to overflow the system's storage lagoons..