Kalispell Downtown

Growing up, Connor Fuller’s competitive nature occasionally got him into trouble. Taking that energy onto the basketball court is what makes him a big man on the hardwood. “I haven’t been the strongest, tallest or the best,” said Fuller, a senior point guard. “But I bring intensity. I like competing. I know I can be a great player.”

Robin Pflugrad, the new head football coach at the University of Montana, is going to give Glacier High School’s Shay Smithwick-Hann the opportunity to do what he does best, and that’s play quarterback. And Plfugrad is going to let Whitefish High School’s Derek Crittendon do what he does best, which is terrorize offenses and chase ball carriers down. Smithwick-Hann and Crittendon are two of three Montanans in Pflugrad’s 2010 recruiting class. On Feb. 3, Pflugrad announced his first recruiting class as head coach of the Montana Grizzlies. Including transfers, the Grizzlies have 20 new commitments. The third Montana recruit is defensive end Zach Wagenmann from Missoula Sentinel.

Click the image or use the arrows to see photographs from a 4-H Club shooting sports night at the Flathead County Fairgrounds. Pat McVay, a pioneer of Montana’s hunter education system, thought something was wrong with teaching kids about hunting but not fully teaching them how to shoot a firearm. To learn, he believed, they needed to actually shoot. So in 1984 McVay started the program that is today known as Flathead County 4-H Shooting Sports. Don Anderson, who runs the club, said it was the first of its kind in Montana. Now similar kids programs are found throughout the state.

On a recent morning at Sykes’ in downtown Kalispell, Lee Sturdevant’s phone rang just about every five minutes. While this might be an annoyance for some, it’s a good sign for Sturdevant, who is launching a taxi business serving Kalispell and Whitefish after both cities have gone for months without one. Last Monday, state Public Service Commissioner Ken Toole announced at a Whitefish public meeting that Sturdevant was being issued a one-year taxi permit, allowing him to operate in a radius of 50 air miles from the downtown Kalispell post office. A separate permit allows him to offer taxi service in Lincoln and Sanders County with some restrictions.