Planning board opening

One vacancy exists on the Columbia Falls City-County Planning Board for a 3-year term. A letter of interest including name, address, daytime phone number and qualifications can be submitted to Flathead County Commissioners, 800 South Main, Room 302, Kalispell MT 59901-5420. Deadline is 5 p.m. on Feb. 6. For additional information call 758-5537.

Women's luncheon

Columbia Falls Women's Connection, affiliated with Stonecroft Ministries, will meet for lunch at the Teakettle Community Hall, 235 Nucleus Avenue, on Wednesday, Jan. 18, at 11:30 a.m. Gretchen Finch will talk about dude ranch cook books. The speaker will be Linda Owen. Cost is $8 per person. Free child care available by reservation. For more informtion, call Candy at 387-4119 or Janet at 892-3621.

County board appointments

The Flathead County Commissioners made the following board appointments at their Dec. 12 meeting: Susan Haverfield and Russ Vukonich to the Columbia Falls City-County Planning Board; John Glader to the Middle Canyon Land Use Advisory Committee; and Ty Shanks and Robert Herman to the Columbia Falls Cemetery Board.

Community choir

The Columbia Falls Community Choir will begin practicing for the 2012 concert season at the junior high school on Sunday, Jan. 15, with sign-in and music pick-up from 1:30 to 2 p.m. Practices will be held at the junior high from 2-4 p.m. Final rehearsal will take place on April 20. The concerts will take place on Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22. For more information, call Ron Bond at 892-5174.

Voter registration

Montanans who want to be sure they are registered to vote this year can check their record online at https://app.mt.gov/voterinfo. Residents who have moved, changed their name or the way they sign their name can download a voter registration card at http://sos.mt.gov or call 1-888-884-VOTE (8683) and request a card be sent by mail. Updating an address with the postal service does not update voter registration information. Voters can also request to be put on Montana's annual absentee list and have their ballot automatically mailed to them 30 days before Election Day.

Winefest

The SNOW Bus Winter Winefest fundraiser will be held at The Lodge at Whitefish Lake on Jan. 14 from 6-9 p.m. with a silent auction, music by Steve Eckels and light appetizers. Tickets are $40 and will be pre-sold through the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce at 862-3501.

Speech judging

More than 500 judges are needed for the Class A speech and debate tournament to be held at the high school, middle school and elementary school in Polson on Jan. 27-28. About 400 students from across Montana will compete in more than 2,000 speeches, skits and debates through seven rounds. Judges will be provided food and beverages. A 1-2 hour long judging clinic will be held at the Polson High School library on Jan. 24 and 25 at 7 p.m. For more information, e-mail Pat Cross at judges@lumen-perfectus.com or Jon Peterson at jpeterson@polson.k12.mt.us or by calling 253-7801.

Little guy wrestling

Registration for Little Guy Wrestling will be held in the Columbia Falls High School gym foyer on Thursday, Jan. 12, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Forms are available online at www.cflittleguywrestling.com. The season will officially start on Monday, Feb. 13, and run about six weeks. For the Peewees (5 and 6 year olds) it will be a three-week season.

Republicans meet

The Flathead County Republican Women will meet at the Red Lion Inn, in Kalispell on Monday, Jan. 16, at noon. Speakers will be Sandy Welch, candidate for Montana Superintendent of Schools, and Derek Skees, candidate for Montana State Auditor. For more information, call Caroline Solomon at 837-4525.

IONS meet

The local Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) community group will meet at the Bohemian Grange, behind Montana Coffee Traders on U.S. 93, on Thursday, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m. Dr. Steven Schram will talk about "Core principles to improve brain and body health for success, happiness, and longevity: Reconnecting to our nature connection birthright." Schram is a licensed acupuncturist and chiropractic physician whose oriental and physical medicine practice is located at Walking Bear Resort, in Whitefish. For more information, call 862-9591 or 862-7711.