Public works super details mosquito mitigation efforts
By Luke Ulatowski
With warm weather almost here to stay, Deer Lodge Public Works Superintendent Trent Freeman provided details on the procedures, technology and chemicals the city uses to protect lawns from mosquitos.
Public works has two separate procedures for mosquito control: larviciding and adulticiding. Larviciding kills mosquitoes in the larva stage through the application of chemicals to small, standing bodies of water where mosquitoes typically breed. In Deer Lodge, larviciding can take place any time between June and August.
“There are many different variables as to when to apply and when not to apply,” Freeman said. “In dry season, you don’t do applications as much as [during] a wet season.”
For larviciding, public works uses VectoLex FG, a selective microbial insecticide with the bacterium Bacillus sphaericus - which specifically infects and kills some of the most common species of mosquito - as the active ingredient. In humans, it causes skin irritation if touched and eye irritation if in close vicinity, requiring protective eyewear on application. It can also cause lightheadedness when inhaled, requiring applicators to wear facemasks.
The chemical, which comes in the form of pellets, can only be legally used by federal, state or local government officials responsible for public health with training and certification.
See Details page 10
With warm weather almost here to stay, Deer Lodge Public Works Superintendent Trent Freeman provided details on the procedures, technology and chemicals the city uses to protect lawns from mosquitos.
Public works has two separate procedures for mosquito control: larviciding and adulticiding. Larviciding kills mosquitoes in the larva stage through the application of chemicals to small, standing bodies of water where mosquitoes typically breed. In Deer Lodge, larviciding can take place any time between June and August.
“There are many different variables as to when to apply and when not to apply,” Freeman said. “In dry season, you don’t do applications as much as [during] a wet season.”
For larviciding, public works uses VectoLex FG, a selective microbial insecticide with the bacterium Bacillus sphaericus - which specifically infects and kills some of the most common species of mosquito - as the active ingredient. In humans, it causes skin irritation if touched and eye irritation if in close vicinity, requiring protective eyewear on application. It can also cause lightheadedness when inhaled, requiring applicators to wear facemasks.
The chemical, which comes in the form of pellets, can only be legally used by federal, state or local government officials responsible for public health with training and certification.
See Details page 10
HPC clarifies authorityBy Luke Ulatowski
Ahead of a June 20 public hearing, Deer Lodge Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) President Kathy Bair clarified a proposed amendment to the city’s Historic Preservation Ordinance that would establish the HPC as part of the planning process in the purchasing and modification of buildings within the Historic Downtown Preservation Overlay District, primarily consisting of Main Street. The HPC and the City of Deer Lodge reached an agreement in January for an ordinance amendment that would mandate the Deer Lodge Planning Board request a report from the HPC for every building permit application concerning a property within the historic district. The report, detailing the “historic characteristics” and “architectural character” of the property in question, must be presented to the applicant, the planning board and the general public by the HPC before a month has passed since the planning board’s request. Bair believes members of the public hold misunderstandings regarding the authority of both See HPC page 11 Old prison to celebrate auto museum addition Luke Ulatowski
The Old Montana Prison & Auto Museum Complex is celebrating the grand opening of a new addition to its auto museum with a Community Days event. The free celebration will take place at the old Montana State Prison on Main Street from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 3, featuring food trucks, games and a live DJ. The 8,000 square-foot addition to See Auto page 8 |
Tidying signs . . .
American Legion Post 10 member John Beebe adds a new coat of paint to a fatality marker near Sager Lane, south of Deer Lodge, on May 24. Photo by Luke Ulatowski
Local American Legion preserves highway fatality markers in countyBy Luke Ulatowski
The Deer Lodge American Legion Post 10 cleaned up 21 fatality markers representing highway deaths across the county on May 24. The Montana American Legion White Cross Highway Fatality Marker Program began in 1953 when Floyd Eaheart, who was a member of Hellgate Post 27 in Missoula, decided to mark six highway deaths that took place over Labor Day in 1952. It quickly became a statewide practice for members of American Legion - all veterans aiming to serve current and former service members - to place stakes with a metal white cross on them at sites of highway deaths. The practice was legally recognized in 2007, when the Montana Department of Transportation (MDOT) included the program in the 2007-2008 Official Montana Highway Map and began constructing signs across the highway informing drivers that the white markers are maintained by the American Legion. “I’m sure it started out where the white cross was a religious thing, but then of course, the government says, ‘You can’t do that,’ so it’s just a marker,” former American Legion Post 10 commander and current member Larry Spangberg said. According to Spangberg, putting up the markers is “not an automatic thing” for the Legion. They first have to receive a request and approval from a victim’s family. The program has been See Markers page 12 |
PCHS students respond to TikTok ban
By Luke Ulatowski
Gov. Greg Gianforte signed Montana’s ban on the social media app, TikTok, into law on May 17, and members of Powell County High School’s (PCHS) Speech & Debate club weighed in as members of the app’s target audience.
Introduced by Sen. Shelley Vance (R-Belgrade) on Feb. 20, Senate Bill (SB) 419 is meant to prohibit mobile app stores and TikTok’s parent company ByteDance from providing access to TikTok within the territorial jurisdiction of Montana starting in 2024. It imposes a daily $10,000 fine on any such entity that continues to allow people within Montana to access the app from Jan. 1 onward.
Both Vance and Gianforte’s rationale is based in concerns over data harvesting from the Chinese Communist Party, as ByteDance, a China-based tech company, is regulated by the Cyberspace Administration of China, and the app’s “Terms of Service” allow for the collection and use of data up to and including a user’s face.
“To protect Montanans’ personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party, I have banned TikTok in Montana,” Gianforte stated on Twitter on May 17.
The bill was immediately faced with legal opposition from ByteDance and several TikTok users within the state for perceived violations of the First
See Ban page 11
Gov. Greg Gianforte signed Montana’s ban on the social media app, TikTok, into law on May 17, and members of Powell County High School’s (PCHS) Speech & Debate club weighed in as members of the app’s target audience.
Introduced by Sen. Shelley Vance (R-Belgrade) on Feb. 20, Senate Bill (SB) 419 is meant to prohibit mobile app stores and TikTok’s parent company ByteDance from providing access to TikTok within the territorial jurisdiction of Montana starting in 2024. It imposes a daily $10,000 fine on any such entity that continues to allow people within Montana to access the app from Jan. 1 onward.
Both Vance and Gianforte’s rationale is based in concerns over data harvesting from the Chinese Communist Party, as ByteDance, a China-based tech company, is regulated by the Cyberspace Administration of China, and the app’s “Terms of Service” allow for the collection and use of data up to and including a user’s face.
“To protect Montanans’ personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party, I have banned TikTok in Montana,” Gianforte stated on Twitter on May 17.
The bill was immediately faced with legal opposition from ByteDance and several TikTok users within the state for perceived violations of the First
See Ban page 11
