Opportunity Meeting summary

MEETING IN OPPORTUNITY NOV 2 AT 7PM

Lime Treatment Facility

I know you have all seen them, but I am about to take you on a first hand tour of the Lime water treatment facility at the head end of the Warm Springs ponds..
For your viewing pleasure:


Silo's while walking in...


Back side of facility...


Lime dumping into river....

Looks like a lot of lime for a supposedly clean silver bow creek..

Grizzlies used to catch debris that floats down the river...


Debris caught by grizzlies...

To Atlantic Richfield Company:

Well either you have done a good job in keeping the dust down to a minimum or you have been lucky, due to the wet spring we have had. Either way, I want to say thank you, it has been nice to breath non contaminated air here in Opportunity. We don't miss those nasty dust storms we had in Jan of 2008. I have seen a couple of minor dust storms coming from the repository but not nearly as it has been. Thank you...
George Niland

Nice overhead pictures of Beaver Dam School and surrounding area..

Contributed by Mike Kustudia, coordinator for CFRTAC

Our little piece of history

Well folks, we are about to lose our last little piece of history from our community of Opportunity. All of our fights to try to keep the old Beaver Dam School, have hit brick walls and we are about to lose it. The latest straw on the camels back was the flier that ADLC sent out to every household in Opportunity, explaining how much money it would cost to rebuild the old Beaver Dam school. It also said that there was no money available to rehab it. 90% of the fliers returned, had demolish on them. There is money available out there but if they see that the community doesn't want the building in the first place, they are not going to give the money. Once again, my community stood by us and helped get something done..NOT.. One things for certain, we ARE going to have a park in Opportunity whether people want it or not. Please enjoy, compliments of the folks that care.......




Here is the questionnaire that ADLC sent out to the people of Opportunity..

PARK PLANS

Here are three plans that where presented to the Opportunity citizens by WWC engineering out of Helena Mt. for the park in Opportunity. After reviewing them with citizens, it was noted that most people like them all but want to bring some items from one of the plans to the other plans which was perfectly ok according to WWC employees. They liked some things on one plan and some things off the other 2 plans so they want to mix them together to make a truly desirable park for us all.

WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OCPA is happy to announce, construction will begin this summer on the new “Beaver Dam Park and Trail Head”, located at the old Beaver Dam School in Opportunity. Engineers from WWC engineering out of Helena, have held 2 meetings to announce plans of designing a Park in Opportunity and trails in the area. There was a public meeting at the Opportunity Community Club to discuss with the citizens of Opportunity, idea’s for the new park. Lots of ideas came up like a new baseball field, a large mound of dirt for kids to play on and sled down, picnic tables, gazebo’s, a skate board park, walking trails, playground equipment, including equipment that will be handicap accessible for children who might be handicapped. Also suggested, was a duck pond and lots of trees and shrubs. We (OCPA) thinks it will be a very nice park, projected to be complete by the fall of 2009. 2 short years ago, the Anaconda School Board, was ready to sell Beaver Dam School and property to the highest bidder. OCPA seen the park slipping out of the communities hands and thought something needed to be done right now or face losing the last place for kids to play in our community. We started negotiations with the School board to try to buy the property from them. OCPA even went as far as to put in a $1,000.00 bid on the property. At that time, Connie Daniels and Dan Villa, came to OCPA and informed us of a large grant through the dept of Transportation that we where eligible for. We where told, that it was a matching funds type of grant, and for every dollar we sent the DOT, we would get 7 in return. The total amount of the grant was $5 mil dollars but it was to be divided between Milltown and Opportunity, to develop parks and trails in the area and we each where eligible for 2.1 mil.. We could get the grant as long as we put in a trail head that would meet up with the “Greenway trail” coming from Butte. Well, needless to say, the negotiations where on. Finding a use for the old building has sort of set us back but there are some great idea’s out there to put it to use and save the historical values that the old part of the building posses. An Interpretive center is just one idea for the building. There could be tons of exhibits in that old building that really need to be on display. It could also be a museum to store all the historical items around Anaconda that the county has no room to store and there are several other idea’s floating around that sound real good as well. If at all possible, the people of Opportunity would really like to see the building stay. If you can think of a reason to keep the building to where it would be self sustaining or would like to take part in planning this great park, then call Shawn Higley at 406-443-3962 or send him an email at shigley@wwcengineering.com and give him your thoughts of what you would like to see in YOUR park. Right now is the designing phase and if you don’t get in on it, you will lose your chance of being part of this great project.

Fall in Montana

Here are some pictures I took over the weekend in the Big Hole valley.. I think snow is on its way..

Wreck on Golf Course Road

Not sure what this guy was doing trying to ride the fence....

We had a great Oppor Day

Everything went very well at our 3rd annual Oppor Days and Fun Run. We didn't have the crowd we had last year but there was a lot of things going on that day in the area. We still didn't have much support from our community, in fact, not one of the volunteer firemen showed up. I guess we will have to do something different that appeals to our community. Its sad because it was a time when all local people had a chance to go have some fun and socialize with their neighbors. We had lots of things for the kids to do re: 3 jumping house, a water slide, a slip and slide with surf boards, face painting and various other things. The Race Track Fire Dept brought over their smoke house and showed the kids what to do if there is a fire in their homes, and things to watch for that could start a fire in their home. We had so many gifts to give away at the picnic that it took most of the day to draw tickets. Most everyone won something. There where some really great prizes which included local artists prints, DVD players, a ride on the Copper Express, meal tickets etc etc. We also had some really awsum food. There was BBQ'd prok chop sandwichs, corn on the cob, hamburgers, hot dogs, Beer and Pepsi products. If you didn't make it to the party, then you really missed a good one. Here are a few pictures from the event. I was in charge of the Poker Run so I missed a lot of the kids stuff. We even had a couple of Canadian Geese fly in to enjoy the party.

3rd Annual Oppor days and Fun Run

OCPA has set a date for the 3rd annual Oppor days and Fun Run. It will be held August 23 2008. There will be a poker run that starts at 10am at Carmels Bar in Anaconda and will end at the Community Club in Opportunity. The event will be held at the OCC this year because of problems we had with insurance on the Beaver Dam School property and also we could NOT sell beer there because it is on School property. We are also going to have child safety awareness for the kids again this year with free prizes and lots of fun. OCPA will be having a fund raiser garage sale in the club building with lots of great deals. Food will be excellent as usual with BBQ'd pork chop sandwiches and corn on the cob. There will also be hot dogs for the kids. DJ Doc Savage will be providing the music. We hope to have an even bigger event this year so I urge you to join us. Bring the whole family and an appetite.

Saturdays Meeting

Saturdays meeting went real well. Rick Appleman, gave a reoprt on the air monitors that OCPA worked so hard to get installed. Come to find out, the monitors are NOT doing what we want them to. They measure particulate size but what we really wanted to know, is what is in this dust that engulfs our neighborhoods. Also, the data from these monitors, has been recorded as averages for the day, week, month and so on. We don't want averages, its like the old saying goes, "The solution to pollution, is delusion". When you take an average from the samples, it takes into consideration all of the days when the dust wasn't blowing and figures that in for the average. This brings the bad days data down to where it doesn't look so bad. We want data on the dust event days and what is in it. We don't care about averages.
Also, Elizabeth from WET gave a report on the 26 wells they have been testing monthly for the last year. There where a couple of wells that where elevated in Arsenic but nothing to worry about YET. More testing to come in the future.
Also, Mark Kovacich from the law firm of Lewis, Slovack and Kovacich was there to sign up more people for the law suit that a group of Opportunity residents files against ARCO and to answer any questions that anyone may have concerning the law suit.
All in All, it was a great meeting. OCPA even got to show off their new reader board.. It will serve a good purpose in the future. If you missed the meeting, you missed another good one.