This week 50 years ago: St. Joe buys clinic, election approaches, Palmer raises 300 birds in Charlo

The Flathead Courier, October 28, 1976

Hospital Purchases Grandview Clinic

St. Joseph Hospital this week announced the purchase of the Grandview Clinic from Roy McDonald. The clinic will be expanded from the four original units to seven units in the near future.

Hospital Administrator Tom Gillespie said that the expansion will make more office space available for physicians to come to Polson in the future and will enhance medical care and facilities in the area.

He said, "It will help reduce the commuting time of physicians from their offices to the hospital, and the doctors will be in a better position to give emergency care, which has to be performed at the hospital.

Also, the clinic location will make easily accessible the sophisticated X-ray, lab, inhalation therapy and physical therapy departments at the hospital. A covered ramp will connect the clinic and the hospital.

Plenty of parking space will eliminate the need for elderly patients to fight traffic and walk long distances from their cars to doctors' offices. The closeness of the professional offices to the hospital also makes it easy for patients to go to the hospital for tests and return again to their doctor's office.

Gillespie said, "It will help keep overall cost of medical care down in the area. St. Joseph Hospital is a non-profit organization, so any money goes into services and wages or into advanced medical equipment.

There is absolutely no money paid to corporate officers and/or investors. Every dollar is re-invested in the community for future care."

The administrator also pointed out that hospital-owned clinic facilities will be advantageous to recruiting young physicians graduating from colleges and universities. He said, "Having office space readily available to be spent at or paid to the hospital is either returned to the area from which the medical facilities are accessible, allowing these young physicians to go into practice without the large investment in equipment.

Expansion of the clinic will be done on a non-profit basis by McDonald Construction Co.

McDonald said that construction should be under way, weather permitting, by Nov. 10. He estimated the cost of the new project at about $80,000 … 

Election is Tuesday 

Lake County electors next Tuesday, Nov. 2, will be greeted at the polling places with a "saddle blanket size" general election ballot plus a smaller ballot pertaining to the County Government Study Commission's Final Report on an alternative form of county government. Ronan, St. Ignatius and Polson voters will also receive ballots on alternative forms of city government.

Ronan-Pablo school district voters will be handed yet another set of ballots pertaining to school bond issues.

Proposed is a $1,550,000 bond issue to construct a new elementary school to replace the present structure originally built in 1921; and $500,000 to construct an auditorium and to add two classrooms to the present high school.

For national and state offices, voters will be asked to mark their preference for the following: President and Vice President of the United States: Democrats Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale; Republicans Gerald R. Ford and Robert Dole; and Americanist Party candidates Thomas J. Anderson and Rufus Schackelford.

For U. S. Senator-Republican Stanley C. Burger or Democrat John Melcher. For Representative in Congress, First District-Democrat Max Baucus or Republican W. D. (Bill) Diehl.

For Governor and Lt. Governor: Democrats Thomas L. Judge and Ted Schwinden; and Republicans Bob Woodahl and Antoinette Fraser Rosell. Waging a write-in campaign are independents Charley Mahoney and K. Morrow.

For Secretary of State, Democrat Frank Murray, the incumbent, is the only candidate. For Attorney General, Democrat Mike Greely and Republican James T. Harrison, Jr. For State Auditor, Democrat Jerry M. Mitchell and Republican E. V. (Sonny) Omholt.

For Public Service Commissioner in the Fifth District-Democrat George Turman is the only candidate. For Supt. of Public Instruction-Republican John B. Deeney and Democrat Georgia Ruth Rice. For Clerk of the Supreme Court-Democrat Thomas J. Kearney is unopposed …

Charlo man raises pheasants

Lewis Palmer of Charlo has a different hobby. He raises exotic birds and is a licensed taxidermist. He has about 300 birds in pens, from young ones to breeders. He raises pheasants, quail, bobwhite, chukars, pigeons, turkeys and chickens.

The exotic birds come from the Phasianidae family, which includes quail, pheasants, peacocks, and chickens. It is hard to believe that the chicken is part of this family. The Jungle Fowl, with colors of red, black and green, came from an area in India to Ceylon, and it was from this that the domesticated chicken came.

In 1943, while visiting in Oregon, Mr. Palmer saw a pair of Golden Pheasants and decided someday he wanted a pair of them. It was not until about five or six years ago that he had the opportunity to start his hobby.

In his pens are Golden Pheasants, Yellow Golden Pheasants, Lady Amherst, Chinese Pheasants, Mongolian Pheasants, Reeves Pheasants, Versa Colored Pheasants, Green Pheasants, White Pheasants, and a cross between a Golden and Chinese Pheasant, which is a beautiful maroon color. The colors of these birds are too hard to describe. I had the opportunity to hold a Yellow Golden Pheasant with its beautiful yellows, reds, browns, whites, etc.

In the spring, these birds are bred. Palmer also raises Banty Chickens to help hatch his pheasant eggs. The Banty Hen is a better mother than the pheasant.

The pheasant is flighty, and if an unknown person or dogs rush up to their pens, they get scared and fly into the wires, and sometimes they can break their necks.

In the fall, Palmer cuts down on his birds and tries to keep a pair of each. He sells them to anyone who desires them. But purchasers must get a permit from the Montana Fish and Game. He also needs a permit to raise them.

When pheasants are young, they do not have much coloring, and it is hard to tell the males from the females. It takes two years for the young rooster to develop his beautiful colors …