On this day 50, 25 years ago: Slim turnout for high school construction, State considers Camp Creek restoration

March 23, 1976:

Top news on this date 50 years ago, Hamilton school officials were disappointed by the small turnout on a public meeting to discuss the proposed high school building. Questions from the 35 citizens who showed up ranged from why Hamilton High School would have to accept students from outside districts to why trustees felt total consolidation of the districts was a "dead issue."

In other front-page news, 28 Hamilton-area mothers "solved" the issue of unaffordable babysitting by forming a babysitting co-op, and land was restored to many tribal reservations.

March 23, 2001:

On this date in 2001, a former courthouse employee filed a lawsuit in Ravalli County District Court charging defamation by Ravalli County Commissioners Smut Warren, Alan Thompson and Jack Atthowe in addition to 10 other defendants. Gordon Wax claimed that information distributed by the commissioners was malicious and intended to cause serious damage to his reputation.

In other front-page news, the Montana Department of Transportation in collaboration with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks began restoration of Camp Creek to return it to its historic floodplain channel, a Darby drug dealer got a 5-year sentence for marijuana-related felonies, and Ravalli County population increased by 44 percent.