Indoor Swimming. Yep, I said it.
Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
http://www.ehow.com/list_...ities.html

Interesting read! Now how to pass the information on to the right people... I need help with this.
Obviously Fun2U was a bust, and I am sorry, but for all the people that say 'we can't afford it', blah blah BLAH don't talk, ok?
An indoor swimming facility is not something that should be a priveledge for the upper class. I am not from Miles City, but I have lived here 6 years. I have observed a fair amount of local culture and lifestyle, but I also remember my hometown of Bozeman very well and often miss the recreation availability and variety, and wish my 3 kids had more choices than they currently do. I believe every child should have the opportunity to learn how to swim. (and without waiting for the right season and hoping not to get a disease).
There are a lot of resources for getting this thing in motion, and it is not an unrealistic goal. Come on, Miles City, lets do this for our kids! Swim team, swim lessons, WATER AEROBICS, syncronized swimming, diving club, water polo. There are so many opportunities involved in having an indoor swimming pool for our whole community! I'm sick of new fast food joints and casinos. I'm gonna get a little mean here, but it's really not so suprising that our town has such scary and concerning suicide rates. OPEN YOUR EYES, GUYS. We can all pull off BHS every year with our eyes closed but we can't teach our kids to swim. We need to broaden the recreational spectrum a little!
I resent how closed minded so many people here are about the 'indoor pool' idea. Did you know a lot of towns have bonds passed that assign a new or old indoor pool to the City Parks and Rec. Dept. to pay for and maintain? This could be done in part or in whole. There are numerous grants for this EXACT purpose. People of Miles City, officials of Miles City, previous Fun2U Secretary people, previous Fun2U Volunteer people, everyone. Can we stop making excuses and being lazy and finally make this happen? There is NO GOOD REASON WE CAN'T OR SHOULDN'T.
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
Mary, read the article.
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
I was making a generalized comment about the need for a local business owner association in Miles City, as well. It was just another thing I noticed that we don't have here, that I believe would be beneficial to our town to have. Im aware that Fun2U already had a business model they were following, although im sure if at some point the effort resumes, some reassessment of that might be necessary. Mary, its interesting how the tone of this thread has changed a bit, but yours continues. Just an observation.
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
http://www.downtownbozema...ut-us.html

Check out the website and info on how they contribute and enrich the community

[edited - added url tag]
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Posted by Amorette F. Allison (+1916) 11 years ago
1) Learn to use URL tags.

2) BOZEMAN IS NOT MILES CITY! I lived in Bozeman for more than 20 years. I am very, very, very sure that Bozeman is a bigger city, with a much bigger tax base. What works FABULOUSLY in a western Montana college town next to two ski resorts is not going to work the same way in Miles City.

3) I keep hoping that the indoor pool will be built as soon as we get new water and waste water plants; all the waste water, storm sewer, and water lines are upgraded; the streets are all freshly paved with new curb and gutter; the parks are all in excellent condition with no major improvements or upgrades needed, the City Hall has the new roof it needs and the interior restored; . . .

4) I'm done.
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
Amorette, I understand that Miles City is not Bozeman. Sorry about the url tag. How do you feel about the business association? If people were following this thread more closely I think they would notice that it isn't only about the pool anymore.
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sponsor
Posted by Frank Hardy (+1730) 11 years ago
New slogan possibilities:

1. AD: She's not really JUST about the pool.

2. A town without AshleyDawn is a town without a pool debate.

3. Miles City- Little Bozeman w/o the people, money, or pool.

4. Just who the Hell is AshleyDawn anyway?

5. Our AshleyDawn can argue the crap out of your AshleyDawn!

6. It might be Fun2U but it's incessant crappiness to AshleyDawn.


FH
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Posted by Dan Ries (+23) 11 years ago
Amorette, i don't know how to use url tags either. A more helpful #1 would be instructions. Jeff or somebody made the comment that a tax increase has been tried for this before. NO it hasn't, its actually not legal as Dave taught me. I am sure there is a way to establish and fund a parks and recreation department, instead of a few guys that are understaffed and over parked. Anytime and unfortunetly everytime these post get personal. Ashley really started out peacefully, she got defensive because the negativity started right away. Amorette, you have a brilliant mind and a ton of useful historical information, i would encourage you to be a leader on these posts for all concerned. Good luck Ashley, i am out.

[This message has been edited by Dan Ries (2/2/2012)]
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Posted by BDrew (+18) 11 years ago
I have an idea. Just throw up a big aluminum sided shed over the Oasis. It would be indoor. Win win win right there.
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Posted by Jimmie (+61) 11 years ago
Ashley really started out peacefully


Really Dan? Not how her very first post started out.
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
Dan- I am so glad you had the reading comprehension ability to notice that this thread began in a positive(ish) tone. Where were you a week ago? LOL
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
Frustration was present, yes. However like I have said before there are so many flags here for me, on the outside looking in at this. My big question right now is this: What has changed from the time that the most recent indoor pool effort was active and actively supported by the community to now- that it seems I am being scoffed at for even having such a notion. What made it feasible 2 years ago, but not now- when if anything, the incoming business and visitor numbers are only rising? The water main concerns are certainly not new, so what changed the level of support from the general public on this issue?
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Posted by Levi Forman (+3712) 11 years ago
Amorette, i don't know how to use url tags either. A more helpful #1 would be instructions.


You successfully made a post. I wonder if, while you make your next post, there might be some way you could locate this information. It might involve looking below the "continue" button on the posting form.
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Posted by Steve Allison (+981) 11 years ago
Just a bit of math on the pool subject. Bozeman spends close to a million tax dollars a year on two pools, one of which is outside. Rounding up and dividing by two means $500,000.00 each. I feel the rounding up is justified by the fact the indoor one probably costs more. The official population of Miles City is just under 9,000. rounding this up and dividing 500,000.00 by it, leaves $50.00 per person per year plus the use fees to have a pool here. This means Amorette and I would pay $100.00 per years and a family of four would be $200.00 per year. As far as Fun2U goes, I commend them on their efforts, it should be done every so often in order to judge current demand and economics. This may change very soon if Miles City has much oil boom effect. As to an organization of businessmen in town, it is called the Chamber of Commerce and can be contacted at 234-2890. They would probably love help working on local events and activities.
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Posted by Denise Selk (+1670) 11 years ago
I know that we have hammered the point I am about to make into the ground on more than occasion here on mc.com, but I feel it is worth reiterating in light of this conversation.

I am a total supporter of the idea of an indoor pool, though I think that a concrete outdoor pool is probably more of a feasible and attainable idea for our community, with the foresight at construction to be able to enclose the facility at some point in the future, if the funding is there. I have been a supporter in the past, and will continue to do so in the future. BUT, the lack of a pool is NOT the reason for suicides in Miles City. In fact, of the first 15 most suicidal cities in America (all per capita), Tulsa, Phoenix, Fresno, Portland, Pittsburgh, Wichita, Jacksonville, Denver, Miami, Mesa, Albuquerque, Sacramento, Tucson, Colorado Springs, and Las Vegas, every single one has a plethora of concrete pools and swim facilities, as well as more activities than one child can possibly squeeze into one day.

But, I know. There is nothing to do here, nothing to do here, nothing to do here. Well, as I just mentioned, people are no happier in places where there is plenty to do. And in fact, there is more than enough to do here, if you go looking for it. Kids will be as busy or as bored as they and their parents want them to be. Softball, baseball, soccer, football, basketball, Caledonian dancing, gymnastics, tap/ballet, art classes at the Art Center, Girl/Boy Scouts, Tai Kwan Do, band, piano lessons, supporting the Cowboys/Cowgirls in all of their activities, supporting the Pioneers/Lady Pioneers, fishing, hunting, reading, bike riding, volunteering, and so on. Add all of these opportunities to the school that kids attend most of the day, and the homework and/or jobs that they may have, and I would say a child's day would be sufficiently full if they so choose.

The loudest argument that I hear about any of the above is that they cost money. Well, just about every activity has some sort of scholarship program to help offset the costs of participation, if only the parents would request the assistance. A program cannot help if it is not aware of the need. And, in all honesty, if a parent does not want to pay the participation fee for any of the existing activities, I can't see how a $4 or $5 per swim session fee would be any more feasible. Also, as I've heard more than once, not all kids are into sports. I understand this, and the list above includes plenty of things that are not sports-related, but if a child is not going to be interested in sports of any kind, I think the odds of him or her being interested in swimming is negligible.

Good luck with your endeavors. But, a swimming pool is not the solution to our problems, any more than it has been a solution to the problems in Colorado Springs or Sacramento. It should be but a tool in our kit, another option to offer our citizens looking for fulfillment. It is up to our citizens to want to be fulfilled in the first place.
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Posted by Russell Bonine (+246) 11 years ago
For those of you who keep saying that Miles City is too small of a community to support an indoor pool I would suggest that you take a trip to Powell and Cody WY. These two towns are both in the same county in WY and both of them have very nice indoor recreation facilities that include swimming pools and recreation pools.

The population of Powell is around 5,000 and Cody is around 9,000. The reason that Powell built their facility was because the state required that they build a new high school but refused to fund a replacement pool that was part of the old high school. The community and the county responded and they built what they have now.

As an aside Powell also has a community owned department store. They sold shares to the residence when the Anthony's store closed up. It has been a success from the beginning.
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Posted by Levi Forman (+3712) 11 years ago
So where did the money come from?
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Posted by Steve Allison (+981) 11 years ago
I believe it was in the 80s maybe earlier, there was a government stimulus program, call something else the, that helped small towns with projects like pools. Miles City tried for one at the time but was too big a community, I know hard to believe we could be considered too big but that was the program at the time. With dollars being tight now, Government spending on frivolous things, like pools, is out of fashion. Grants and the like tend to forbid them or eliminate them some way.
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Posted by Russell Bonine (+246) 11 years ago
I am not sure what funded the facility in Cody. I think there was a lot of private funding. For the Powell facility it was funded primarily through a 1% cap tax.

Here is a link that explains the details better than I could.

http://voteyescaptax.word...com/powell
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
Sept. 20, 2011 '?MILES CITY - A San Francisco-based independent film writer, producer and director is making suicide in Eastern Montana the subject of a 20-minute short film that is expected to premiere in March.

The film, targeted toward youth, will feature interviews that are already under way with residents whose lives have been affected by suicide.

"I'm using this film to activate change," producer Lise Swenson said.

Swenson teaches film at San Francisco City College and works for the Miles City-based Global Health Equity Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 2007 that seeks to address challenges faced by health and mental health care providers in rural areas. The foundation serves as a catalyst for community awareness, communication and involvement. Several community forums have already been held to facilitate discussion.

Suicide has ravaged Eastern Montana, an area known for its sparse population, extreme climate range, and "cowboy-up" mentality and culture, said Kasey Stanton, 21, from Miles City. He is studying psychology at Montana State University Billings and received an internship with the Global Health Equity Foundation, where his primary role was to research and collect data on suicide, depression and the stigma associated with mental illness in Eastern Montana.

Several factors exacerbate the suicide rate in this corner of the state, including a lack of mental health awareness, an inadequate availability of mental health services and social isolation, according to Stanton's research.

Between 2000 and 2006, the suicide rate in five counties in Eastern Montana - Custer, Fallon, Powder River, Sheridan and Roosevelt - ranked nationally at or above the 80th percentile.

At least five children from Poplar Middle School on the Fort Peck Reservation in northeastern Montana, home to the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes, killed themselves in 2009. Even more tried. During the 2010-2011 school year, two more high school students in the same area committed suicide.

"It is evident suicide has persisted as a formidable, although often covert and unspoken issue in the state of Montana," Stanton said.

There are myriad reasons for the high incidence, Stanton said. But one reason he highlights is that in Montana, firearms are readily available. Of all suicides committed in the state, 66 percent are completed with a firearm compared with 50 percent nationwide. Thirteen percent of those committing suicide hanged themselves, and 10 percent used drugs.'



Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/article_2643b05a-0528-5fd7-bac5-700f13bb8e6f.html#ixzz1lGWRrr1x
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
Steve, I am familiar with the Chamber. The association I was referencing is something that is formed completely separate from the Chamber, and has different objectives. If you get time to look into it, you will realize what a great idea it is for Miles City, and how it could help accomplish a lot of the things that the people in our community would love to see. Most towns, in fact, have some type of one. In conjunction with also having a Chamber. It would be a great thing to have here, and fun fact for ya! our population, tax base, and other considerable factors do not affect the likelihood of benefit it would serve the community. As far as your comment about the fundraising efforts for the pool, I'm really not sure what to say. A public opinion poll might be what you find more streamlined with what you believe to be the positive attributes of a on-again, off-again community fundraising and planning project for a pool- That's just not what organizations as Fun2U are started for.

Cindy- Your head is buried in the sand. Wake up, we have a serious suicide problem in Eastern Montana. It is indisputable fact.
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Posted by PrincessGB (+121) 11 years ago
Is there anything you don't know about? While you are adding your 2 cents, I'll add mine, when exactly were you married.....twice? Just saying
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
Nonprofit Innovators Battle Obstacles to Creative Solutions
By Nicole Wallace

October 2, 2011


Students in Project Exploration's weeklong Forensic
Investigators Program collect evidence at a staged crime
scene, analyze it, and present their findings during a mock
trial. Courtesy of The Chronicle of Philanthropy Keep up with the ways nonprofits are changing their programs and operations in our new blog, Mission: Innovation.

The research had been sitting on the shelf for years. A $200-million federal study found that people at high risk of developing diabetes could cut the odds by 50 percent with intensive counseling on healthy eating and exercise. But the cost of the counseling approach used in the study was too high to expand the program widely.

Then the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis and professors from the Indiana University School of Medicine designed a low-cost version of the program that achieved the same results. Now the YMCA's Diabetes Prevention Program has spread to 43 cities, with more in the works.

The program's expansion has been spearheaded by the national YMCA's three-person innovation team, which is charged with scanning the business landscape, societal trends, and activities at local YMCA's for ideas to help the organization better meet its mission.

The innovation team is unusual in the nonprofit world, but it's helped make the cultivation of good ideas more deliberate, says Neil Nicoll, chief executive of the YMCA of the USA, in Chicago.

"In the world that we live in as nonprofits, it's very easy not to see beyond the end of your nose," he says. "You're just running so fast trying to keep up. It struck me that we needed a disciplined approach with a team of people who were looking 10 or 15 years down the road."

Adversity Fosters Ideas

Like the YMCA, a small but growing number of nonprofit organizations are taking a more planned approach to innovation, hiring staff members and starting programs designed to foster new ideas. They are convinced that to stay relevant, organizations must challenge current practices and look for ways to improve what they do.

But the hurdles are significant. Money for experimentation is hard to come by. Carving out the time to try something new while keeping current efforts going is difficult. And for reasons both practical and psychological, the nonprofit world has a deeply ingrained fear of failure.

Facing significant cuts in government aid and the specter of another recession, too many groups feel like innovation is something that will have to wait for an improved economy, says Kenneth Foster, executive director of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, in San Francisco.

By contrast, Mr. Foster thinks that finding more effective ways to do things is even more important during tough times. He says that participating in a Doris Duke foundation-sponsored innovation program helped Yerba Buena develop the nimble mind-set the group needed to navigate the recession. (See article.)

"If you were stuck in a very traditional way of working, then you were totally thrown by the crash," says Mr. Foster. "You didn't know what to do or how to get out of it."

Breakthroughs, he says, are more often born out of adversity than plenty: "Nobody innovates when they're fat and sassy."

Exactly what qualifies as an innovation is a matter of debate. But Aaron Hurst, president of the Taproot Foundation, in New York, argues for an expansive definition.

Faced with the challenge of how to attract more skilled professionals willing to volunteer for charities, Taproot tested more than a dozen ideas to increase recruitment. The one that made a difference was shortening its application from 20 questions to four.

Redesigning a form isn't front-page news, but it had a big impact on Taproot's ability to fulfill its mission, says Mr. Hurst. The organization recruited one-third more volunteers in the year after making the change.

"We tend to want to celebrate the big, fancy innovations," he says. "But there's so much amazing, sustaining innovation that's going on all the time that doesn't get celebrated."

Innovation is an active process that involves people with different perspectives thinking about ways to do things better, gathering information, testing small ideas, and putting together disparate thoughts, says Gerald Chertavian, head of Year Up, a Boston charity that helps low-income young adults gain skills and entry-level jobs.

"There is a danger in seeing innovation as the inspiration of one person sitting in a dark room with a towel on their head thinking about the next great idea," he says. "Great innovation is a culmination of a lot of thought and the synthesis of diverse opinion."

Fear of Failure

Paying for innovation is a big challenge, because most groups struggle just to cover their annual program needs. Even for groups that have a surplus, restrictions on funds are an impediment to innovation. The use of government money is highly restricted, and individuals generally want their gifts to go toward programs.

Unfortunately, even foundations are not a likely source of money for innovation, say some nonprofit leaders.

Foundations are willing to pay for program costs and, to a lesser extent, operating expenses, but it's very difficult to win grants for high-risk experimentation, says Andrew Zolli, executive director of PopTech, a New York charity that supports efforts to use emerging technology to solve global problems. "Funders don't want to fund failures," he says.

The projects with the biggest potential are often the most risky, but program officers are judged on and rewarded by the impact of the grants they make, not by the risks that they take, says Mr. Zolli. Imagine, he says, that a program officer has a choice between one program that has a 90-percent chance of lowering obesity among 10 percent of children and another that has a 30-percent chance of decreasing obesity among a far bigger share of kids.

"If you're looking at that and you're measured by the outcomes you create, you're going to gravitate to the surer bet," says Mr. Zolli.

Charities know that grant makers want to back winners, so they feel they must hide their mistakes or risk losing support, says Darell Hammond, leader of KaBoom, a Washington charity that promotes the building of playgrounds. The result is more talk about innovation than actual innovating, he says.

"A lot of times, unfortunately, it's putting lipstick on the proverbial pig to try to gussy yourself up for more funding," he says. "You start to put an innovative spin on the exact same thing you were doing yesterday."

Barriers to Change

Not everyone thinks the lack of money for risky projects is the primary barrier to innovation among nonprofits.

"If you are a charismatic nonprofit leader, you are going to be able to raise money to do early-stage innovation," says Ben Hecht, head of Living Cities, a coalition of grant makers and financial institutions based in New York.

While that may be true, it's what comes next that is often the problem, says Jeff Bradach, managing partner of the Bridge-span Group, a Boston nonprofit organization that provides management consulting to charities and foundations. He says the "innovation pipeline" breaks down when organizations try to answer two questions: Does it work, and if it does, how can it be expanded widely?

If the charity isn't rigorous enough in its evaluation, it's hard to know whether the new approach warrants expansion, says Mr. Bradach.

Sometimes the people who care the most about a charity can be the biggest barriers to change.

Nonprofit board members and longtime employees often hold those positions because of their dedication to the work organizations have done in the past, says Ben Cameron, who oversees arts grant making at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, in New York.

"Those two groups, frankly, are least invested in dramatically rethinking prevailing practice, not out of stubbornness or obstinance but because they are committed to and love the way it has been," he says.

Practices in the nonprofit world that make sense in their own right can also have the unintended consequence of holding back new ideas.

While evaluation is critical in deciding which programs should receive scarce dollars, it could also act as a brake on innovation, says Anne Marie Burgoyne, a director at the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, in San Francisco. "If you design those systems too early, it takes away from your ability to be innovative because you start to focus on outcomes before you've focused on the possible," she says.

Similarly, the pressure to grow can hinder innovation, says Gabrielle H. Lyon, head of Project Exploration, a Chicago group that offers science programs for inner-city students.

While the charity is expanding the number of children it serves in Chicago, for now it has decided to hold off on expansion to other cities, she says. Project Exploration has decided it can make the biggest difference by improving its programs so other groups can emulate them. "It would be fabulous if a funder came to us and said, 'What you're doing is great. I want you to do it for the next 10 years with exactly the same number of kids,'" says Ms. Lyon. "Imagine how much better we could serve those kids."

In the end, innovation may be best understood as never fully accepting the status quo, says Chris Krehmeyer, head of Beyond Housing, in St. Louis.

He says that fostering innovation is a critical part of his job as a nonprofit leader but that he almost never uses the word. His focus instead is on creating a culture in which he and his employees always ask, Is there a better way to do this?

Says Mr. Krehmeyer: "Great changes don't come because someone says, 'I want to innovate.'"


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tips For Nonprofit Innovation

Create opportunities for employees to brainstorm.
Involve people with different responsibilities, levels of experience, points of view, and ways of thinking. A diversity of perspectives is key.
Set innovation goals and hold yourself accountable.
Ask clients what they want and need.
Bring in speakers, visit other organizations, and explore different disciplines.
Don't reinvent the wheel. Find out what other groups are already doing.
Start with small tests. Learn by doing, not by studying a topic to death.
Don't just collect data. Take the time to analyze and reflect.
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Posted by Denise Selk (+1670) 11 years ago
Cindy- Your head is buried in the sand. Wake up, we have a serious suicide problem in Eastern Montana. It is indisputable fact.


I am assuming that you are addressing me. If so, I don't believe that is what I said at all. Thank you for telling me that my head is buried in the sand though. To that point, I respectfully disagree. I'm not sure what the article has to do with this discussion. No one is disputing whether or not suicide is a concern in Miles City. My comment addresses the fact that a pool is not the solution. Nowhere in your article does it list the lack of a pool, or in fact a lack of any recreational facilities, as primary causes of suicide. I would actually concur with your article that

Several factors exacerbate the suicide rate in this corner of the state, including a lack of mental health awareness, an inadequate availability of mental health services and social isolation, according to Stanton's research.
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
Princess, this thread is not about my personal life-contribute or go stick your nose in someone else's business.
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Posted by Bridgier (+9547) 11 years ago
Cindy- Your head is buried in the sand. Wake up, we have a serious suicide problem in Eastern Montana. It is indisputable fact.

Which no one was disputing - beyond the idea that a pool will solve everything.

Are you and Denton part of some sort of cult? YOU'RE NOT GETTING A PROCREATING POOL IN MILES CITY BECAUSE YOU'RE TOO GODDAMNED POOR PER CAPITA TO AFFORD ONE.

THE PARAMETERS WITHIN WHICH YOU ARE BEING FORCED TO WORK (TAX BASE, LEGAL ISSUES, FUNDING, ETC) PRECLUDE YOU FROM A POSSESSING A MUNICIPAL POOL FACILITY.

YOU CAN NOT HAZ!!!
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Posted by Cindy Stalcup (+586) 11 years ago
Me? I have not said anything about suicides although my head may be in the sand. Depression is a chemical imbalance and is treatable through medication. Having or not having an indoor swimming pool is not going to make spit bit of difference.
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
Yes, Denise, I was addressing you. Sorry I got your name wrong. I never said that a pool would solve this problem for us. I do, however, think it would help. Physical activity is one of the most affective ways to overcome stress, depression, obesity, among other things...I don't want to debate over sports in Miles City, but I will say that there is a very apparent bias reflected by the community towards certain activities available to our youth. I think its great how supportive we are of certain ones, but there are others that carry on virtually unnoticed, even seem to simply be ignored altogether by everyone that isn't directly involved. This is just my observation-grain of salt.
We should have a pool- I really think we need one. The opportunities would also be available and accessible to all people in the community, not just our youth. How many other activities in Miles City can you say that about?>
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Posted by Jimmie (+61) 11 years ago
Ashley, two questions.

What do you pay in property taxes every year?

How did Guesthouse persuade a Mensa member to work their front desk? Must be a great benefits package.
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Posted by Denise Selk (+1670) 11 years ago
Then why do cities with the highest suicide rates all have plenty of swimming opportunities? The reasoning behind suicide is far too complex to easily categorize, as you have done with

I'm gonna get a little mean here, but it's really not so suprising that our town has such scary and concerning suicide rates. OPEN YOUR EYES, GUYS. We can all pull off BHS every year with our eyes closed but we can't teach our kids to swim.


I am a supporter of an indoor pool, but even without, my children have managed to learn how to swim, as have most of their friends. Will they ever be competitive swimmers? No. But they will also not be competitive downhill skiers. Both of which are the pitfalls of living in a poor, rural community in the plains of Eastern Montana. Is that the end of the world? No. They can swim, and enjoy swimming, so I'm not too concerned about their time in the Short Course 50 Free.

Some day a pool will happen in Miles City. I hope to be a part of that. It will be accomplished by those who remain positive and uplifting and who build healthy working and personal relationships with their business peers and neighbors, remaining practical in the process.

As to

I think its great how supportive we are of certain ones, but there are others that carry on virtually unnoticed, even seem to simply be ignored altogether by everyone that isn't directly involved.


I'd be curious to get your take on this, since you've thrown it out there. What activities receive more than their fair share? Which are ignored altogether? And who is doing the supporting/ignoring that you are referring to? Isn't it up to the people involved to drum up the support in the first place?

[This message has been edited by Denise Selk (2/2/2012)]
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
Denise,
I don't want to disclose any more of my opinions about the support level inconsistencies I have noted when comparing different activities available in the community. As I said, it is a personal opinion. I have no evidence to support that opinion other than my own observations, which I suspect wouldn't be deemed valid if I chose to divulge them to milescity.com.

Thank you for your input into this thread, Denise. I hope we can come together as a community to get an indoor pool in the future, also. I do know that if the people of Miles City don't think they need a pool, they won't get a pool. That is certain. We all cultivate the environment we live in, work in, play in. Each one of us, at every level of the community.

Although I think I may have caught just a slight undertone of condescention in your last statement (probably directed toward me, Im assuming) (THAT'S RIGHT), I really valued your contribution to the thread and definetely feel like you offered some food for thought. I have decided that no matter who you are, what you have to say, or how legit what you have to say may acatually be- whether it's on an internet forum or town hall meeting or your kids soccer practice, you will never say all the right things to all the right people at all the right times, leaving everyone satisfied with every little thing you say and do. Live and learn, move forward, and don't give up. Do the best you can- nothing more, nothing less. That's my approach to everything. Thanks again, Denise.
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
Jimmie,
I don't know exactly, but I want to say it's around 2,000. I could be way off.
I have no idea what group or whatever you're referring to at the Guesthoiuse. Depending on what it is, maybe you could call and talk to them about it.
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
Miles City wont get anything that the people in the community don't collectively agree on and support- zip. Which seems like, well, almost everything you can think of. Im done today, im exhausted!
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Posted by Bridgier (+9547) 11 years ago
Bizarre.
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Posted by Cory Cutting (+1272) 11 years ago
Well that's a first!
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Posted by Buck Showalter (+4460) 11 years ago
AshleyD obviously don't know jack about MC. GO COWBOYS!!!
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Posted by clm (+104) 11 years ago
"I'm on a roll guys, so just hear me out. I'm going with it."

Diatribe or Manifesto?
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
Niether. What would you call it, Connie Muggli?
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Posted by Frank Hardy (+1730) 11 years ago
I wouldn't call it Connie Muggli. There's already a person by that name. Why not call it "Ashley Comes the Dawn wearing my Justin Bieber watch?"

FH
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
Clm is Connie Muggli. Economic Development. Hm. That's ironic.
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Posted by Buck Showalter (+4460) 11 years ago
I'm unclear on irony. Is ranting like a lunatic and being upset when people don't respect you also ironic?
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
No, not particularly.
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Posted by Lorin Dixson (+596) 11 years ago
I never thought this would go to even a hundred posts. So I guess I will put in my 2 cents. Your neighbor Terry has had a pool since at least 1939, and has been able to maintain it and keep it open. They always some how manage the cost with a much smaller tax base than MC.
It is not a indoor pool and was hand dug and the concrete hand poured by the WPA, I think in 1939 maybe a year or two before that. I doubt that with todays rules and regs it could be done that way now, but maybe a lot of it could be done with local volunteer contractors, maybe covered at a later date.
It was the high light of a rare summer time trip to town when I was a kid.

[This message has been edited by Lorin Dixson (2/3/2012)]
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
While we are on the subject of local economic development, anyone know the status on the train depot 'project'? (After that thread I posted, I will forever feel compelled to put quotations around the word 'project'-see, there it is again!)
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Posted by ABE (+421) 11 years ago
Hey A.D. ? Is the laundry "folded yet"?

[This message has been edited by ABE (2/3/2012)]
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Posted by David Schott (+18979) 11 years ago
The last time I saw Terry's "cement pond" it was pretty scary looking. It looked like it was hand-dug and hand-poured 70 years ago.
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
Yes, Arron. It is. Asshole. The taxi there to pick you up yet?

whahahahahaha
i'm creepier than you are.

hahaha

*evilsmilemeniaclelaughter*
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
Anyone else see the indoor pool committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday listed in Friday's paper? Is it open to the public?
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Posted by MilesCity.com Webmaster (+10053) 11 years ago
AshleyDawn wrote:
Yes, Arron. It is. Asshole. The taxi there to pick you up yet?

Hey, watch your language.
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Posted by AshleyDawn (+346) 11 years ago
Sure thing.
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