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The July 16 Courier also includes:

~ Affordable housing going up in Boulder ~ Houses are beginning to take shape at the Boulder affordable housing site west of the Jefferson County courthouse. Foundations are in and walls will rise soon.

~ Fairgrounds sprucing up for big event ~ With less than a month to go to the annual Jefferson County Fair and Rodeo, the fairgrounds received a face lift recently thanks to the donation of lots of flowers from a county-based business.

~ High speed chase near Clancy ends with arrest after TASER ~ A high speed pursuit in Jefferson County July 3 ended near Clancy when a fleeing driver hit an oncoming vehicle, ran away from the accident, was chased down on foot and TASERed, the sheriff’s office alleges.

~ Mining in Jefferson County featured in several articles in mining trade publication ~ Jefferson County is front and center in a recent trade publication of the Montana Mining Association. Three major articles in “Montana Mining - 2008” focus on Jefferson County mining. A National Summit of Mining Communities set for early September in Butte will also include a couple of presentations about mining in Jefferson County.

~ Pine beetles, economic trends and candidates occupy discussion at July 9 business roundtable ~ The “exploding” pine beetle problem, whether national economic trends are trickling down locally, and how the county commission should work were topics at the North Jefferson County Business Roundtable held July 9 in Montana City.

~ How does your garden grow? ~ Students at the Boulder 21st Century Community Learning Center have taken over two gardens in town, from which they will sell produce to the community this summer.

~ MDT: Seat belt usage rises, but still too rare ~ Even though seat belt usage is apparently on the increase, there were still 71 deaths last year that might have been prevented by seat belt usage, says the Montana Department of Transportation.

~ Federal funding on which county relies at risk ~ Montana’s Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester asked July 14 for emergency funding for Montana’s rural communities and schools, saying failure to fund PILT (payment in lieu of taxes) and SRS (Secure Rural Schools) will hurt Montanans. Jefferson County receives PILT funding that has been used to help maintain roads, support search and rescue and meet other emergency response needs.

~ Clancy Scouts among those spending week on an island ~ Boy Scouts from Clancy are among the more than 150 Montana Scouts and leaders spending the week on an island in Flathead Lake.

~ Upcoming events, business advice...and lots more.

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Thursday, July 17, 2008