Wanda Thomas, Billings Montana Real Estate

Read this now, before you have a fender bender on icy roads in Billings. After the roads have iced up, the news lets us know that the Billings Police Department has instituted it's "Slick Street Policy". Pretty much, it means, if there's no one injured, get out of the way because the Police must prioritize their response and go to injury accidents first. My question was, then what? I emailed the Billings Police Department and got some clarification from Sgt Kevin Iffland, Administrative Sergeant. Thanks Sgt Iffland!

Wanda,

The following is the Billings Police Department Policy on "High Accident Days" also has been referred to as Slick Streets Policy. If you have further questions please feel free to contact me.

High Accident Days:

A. If the Commander finds he does not have the ability to investigate all accidents during a

shift, he can issue an Accident Alert and limit accident investigations to those accidents

that have:

1. Serious personal injuries;

2. Reports of DUI Drivers; and

3. Accidents with disabled vehicles.

B. The Commander will notify the Communications Center that he is issuing an Accident

Alert for the City of Billings. The Communication Center will use their procedure for

alerting local media organizations. The Commander will notify agency personnel and any

relieving Commander about the existence of the alert.

C. The Commander who cancels the Accident Alert will notify the Communications Center

and agency employees. The Communications Center will follow their procedure for

canceling the alert.

D. If accidents are not investigated, the persons should be advised to fill out a Montana

Highway Patrol Vehicle Accident Report (“White Form”). The report can be obtained at

City Hall.

Just lately I was showing a country property when the buyer asked the question "where does the water for the house come from? And where does it go when you're done with it?" While I'm quite comfortable with country plumbing, I could tell the buyer was really working hard to visualize what the heck I was talking about.

Link to Montana State University Website Video

This video is about 16 minutes long and is very well done. I have started to direct inquires about country living to this page online. I hope you enjoy it.

There are some parts of our rural country side where no matter how big your well driller rig is, you may not find drinkable water. Not the best situation, but living with water saving devises and having water hauled to an underground tank near your home can work very well.

Many people think that Montana has unlimited water resources, this is very far from truth. In many parts of the Yellowstone Valley, water can be found in the ground at only 5 or 6 feet. Just up the hill, the water may not be found for 700 feet!

The cost of well drilling is often a big consideration in the domestic water plan for a home. A home with a well sells faster and for more money than one without!

It's always a little fun to listen to a traveler through our state of Montana who can't understand why we don't have a sales tax! Somehow it just makes them happy!

On the other hand, when I travel and have to pay a sales tax, I forget and look stuptified at the sales clerks when they announce the tax on my items.

I don't want you to think we're a tax free state, in fact, some people in our state think we are horribly over taxed (isn't that true everywhere?)

We have state income taxes, property taxes (school tax, state education tax, county tax, economic development tax, county road tax, weed tax, county refuse tax, fire service, soil conservation, medical levy).

We also have vehicle registration taxes, gas taxes, phone taxes, utility tax, coal tax and I'm sure I've missed a few things here that are hidden, but really, we're not doing too bad.

Our State of Montana seems to be fiscally responsible at this point as well. We need to have a pretty big savings plan to cover a bad fire year. We have cut back our state funding of the Public School system over the last 15 years, making up for it on the local level. Some of our school funding this year was funded by Stimulus money, which won't be there year after year.

Personally I think a sales tax will not pass in our State of Montana in the near future, people just like the idea of the status quo.

Shop In Montana!

Our landscape in the Rocky Mountain West is experiencing a change that is just plum scary! A couple of years ago, while heading up to Yellowstone Park from the Cody Wyoming East entrance, I was trying to figure out why there were so many dead trees. I tried to count, (don't worry, my husband was driving) and the best I could do was 1 live tree for every 5 dead ones. The weirdest thing is how brown the mountainside is, not the beautiful green I am used to.

We always try to sign up for the Park Ranger talks available throughout Yellowstone Park (I think my husband wants to become a Park Ranger some day). The Ranger's were explaining about the loss of Grizzly Bear food in the high elevations, the food is the White Bark Pine Nuts. In the late summer, squirrels and chipmunks work like crazy to create their winter food storage in heaps of pine cone middens that contain large amounts of the White Bark Pine Seeds. Grizzly's hunt around for these middens and raid them for this very nutritious food that they need before winter.

The White Bark Pine Trees are being devastated by The Mountain Pine Beetle. These beetles are having a hay day in the forest since areas like Yellowstone National Park have had trouble with drought and above average temperatures for about the last 10 years. When the trees are thirsty and dry, they loose their natural ability to push these beetles right out of their bark with large amounts of sticky sap. No water, less sap; less sap, more beetles in the trees. These beetles then reproduce and contaminate the host tree with a deadly fungus. The tree dies. No more pine nuts. Hungry squirrels, chipmunks, and Grizzly's.

I think these terrible pests will be making the news for the next 5 to 10 years as we cycle through the loss of trees, the fires that will eventually burn them up, and the rejuvination that needs to occur in the future.

I know I need to do my Christmas shopping early, but why should I change my ways now? Maybe I would have less stress if I just planned a bit better instead of rushing around at the last minute. My husband is a real trooper, he expects to shop the week before Christmas, he enjoys it, and he's very good at it (stores love him).

But I must complain, when the Christmas marketing season starts so early, as it has for years now, I am practically worn out by Christmas.

Too much of my brain gets tied up in trying to figure out what everyone wants (almost impossible), how much to spend (always an issue) and what the true meaning of Christmas really is about!

I do love the Christmas movies we have though, especially the ones that remind us that basic human kindness and care are the best gifts of all (and they shouldn't be limited to one season). I have lots of those movies, maybe I should start playing them now.