History - Looking Back for September 27, 2023

A look back at past Pilot articles by Julie Engler

50 Years Ago

September 27, 1973

The Whitefish Junior Rifle Club girls’ team received trophies this week from The National Rifle Association for placing third in the 50-foot indoor Junior National Sectional Rifle matches. The girls won trophies for two types of matches. The international junior sectional matches fired on the A-36 target with 20 shots in each of three positions: prone, kneeling and standing. This is the same type of match used in the Olympics. Rita VanAlstine, Roberta Gustave, Julie Svee and Gail Joy fired a team score of 1990 in the matches that were held in Whitefish on April 1, 1973.

40 Years Ago

September 29, 1983

If all went according to the Flathead County Commissioners’ plan, the viaduct over Burlington Northern tracks in Whitefish would have been rebuilt. Commissioner Mel Woolan called the bridge, which carries thousands of skiers to The BIg Mountain every day during the ski season, a bottleneck. Commission chairman Henry Oldenburg said the viaduct is a “poorly constructed safety hazard.” He added, “It is an absolute impediment to the economy of the (Flathead) Valley.” The viaduct had been ranked second among county bridges needing repair. First was Twin Bridges west of Whitefish.

30 Years Ago

September 30, 1993

The newly-formed Whitefish Figure Skating Club was granted interim probationary membership last month in the United States Figure Skating Association in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Whitefish Figure Skating Club was formed in 1992 and had 18 members. Officers were Ron Brevik, president; Pat Egan, vice president; Pat Hulla, secretary; and board members were Wes Hulla, Carol Anderson and Hugh Robertson. “The Mountain Trails rink gives youth an opportunity to do a winter sport that is affordable,” Hulla said. “It gives a nice alternative to skiing, which gets more expensive as the ski resort grows.”

20 Years Ago

September 25, 2003

Conditions were excellent and so were the Whitefish cross country team’s times for the Ronan Invitational. All but one runner on the Bulldog team posted their fastest race of the season. Matt Helgath led the boys squad with his first sub-17 minute race of the season. He finished with a speedy 16:35. The girls team tasted sweet success through and through when all of them ran their fastest times of the season.

10 Years Ago

September 25, 2013

The Montana Supreme Court denied Whitefish’s request for mediation in the planning doughnut lawsuit. The state’s high court said that, given the plaintiffs’ objection to mediation, it was appropriate to deny the city’s request. Whitefish appealed to the Supreme Court a decision handed down by District Court Judge David Ortley that gave Flathead County jurisdiction over the two-mile planning doughnut around the city, and declared invalid a city referendum that threw out a 2010 interlocal agreement.