Looking Back: Director of U.S. Ski Coaches Association leads local cross-country ski clinic
Whitefish Pilot | UPDATED 3 days, 8 hours AGO
Jim Trout of Whitefish flops down a strip of sod. Trout and more than 30 other volunteers worked to save the community money and put "instant grass" down at Riverside Park in 1986. (Steve Schunk photo)
A look back at past Pilot articles by Julie Engler
50 Years Ago
Oct. 28, 1976
Whitefish area residents, along with the rest of the nation, would go to the polls Nov. 2 to elect officials ranging from the President of the United States to State Representatives. Whitefish area residents who are registered to vote would cast their ballots in one of five polling places. On the ballot locally for President and Vice President were Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, Gerald Ford, Robert Dole, Thomas J. Anderson and. Rufush Shackelford. For Senator in the U.S. Senate, voters would choose between Stanley C. Burger and John Melcher. Max Baucus and W.D. “Bill” Diehl were vying for the office of Representative to Congress from the First Congressional District.
40 Years Ago
Oct. 29, 1986
Peter Ashley, current currently the Nordic technical director for the U.S. Ski Coaches Association, and Jeff Clark, Nordic ski coach at Montana State University, presented a clinic to about 30 Whitefish area. Bill Koch and junior program coaches and skiers. Lectures, movies and dryland training kept the group busy during the two eight-hour sessions. “Part of my job is to have coaches educated in the use of the latest technical aspects of cross-country skiing,” Ashley said after the clinic. Ashley travels across the country setting up clinics and working with other ski coaches to improve local programs. “I know Rhonda and Mike Fitzgerald, and they had asked me this summer if there was a possibility of me coming and conducting a coaches' clinic in Whitefish. I found an open date on my calendar and told them I would love to come up,” the Park City, Utah, ski expert explained.
30 Years Ago
Oct. 31, 1996
Although Winter Sports Inc, owner and operator of the Big Mountain Ski and Summer Resort is reporting lower first fiscal quarter earnings, early snow on the mountain could mean business would pick up this winter. Revenues for the quarter ending Sept. 15 were $911,345 compared to $936,144 last year at this time. That is a decline of $24,799 or 3%. A net loss of $523,682 was reported this year versus a net loss of $519,395 recorded in the first quarter of the prior year. The drop in revenue was mainly a result of lower real estate revenue during the quarter compared to the first quarter of the prior year, according to WSI's Finance Manager Thomas E. Cullen.
20 Years Ago
Oct. 26, 2006
Two weeks after the Whitefish City Council extended its urgency stormwater ordinance for another six months, the Whitefish City-County Planning Board turned down a permanent version of the same ordinance. The vote to deny the amendment to the zoning regulations was 6-3. Seven people spoke in opposition to the city's proposal, including three Realtors, a civil engineer, a geotechnical consultant, an attorney, and a University of Montana law professor. Greg Carter, a Whitefish developer and civil engineer, questioned the validity of prohibiting building on slopes over 30%, saying engineering solutions could exist. He also questioned the fairness of leaving the “reasonable use exemption” decision up to the zoning administrator.
10 Years Ago
Oct. 26, 2016
In the late 1950s, as a young Charlie Abel was plucking duck feathers in his dad's garage, Susan Monroe asked him to go with her to a high school dance. They'd met before. His dad's cousin was good friends with the girl's parents. Upon hearing about the invitation, Charlie's mom was adamant that he go. “I was accosted and my mother said, ‘you got to go.’” Charlie said, laughing. “She was the girl next door. I married the girl next door.” Susan laughed at the memory as the couple sat together recently in their home overlooking Whitefish Lake. “It was a little rocky, but it's been good. Fifty-three years later, we're still married,” she said. The Whitefish Rotary Club named Charlie and Susan Abell the recipients of its 2016 Spirit of Whitefish award. In all their years in Whitefish, the couple have been heavily involved in the community, working in local businesses, serving on school and city boards, teaching in rifle clubs, and organizing the Whitefish Winter Carnival, among countless other things.