`The Stratton family could use some financial help if there is anyone out there who is able. allester6(a)msn.com<mailto:allester6@msn.com>
> Stratton homestead to be lost to history
>
> I recently attended the final July 4th picnic at the
> historic 120-year-old Stratton Mill in the
> Highlands. I can't tell you what a sad occasion it
> was for me.
>
> Friends and family gathered and said their goodbyes
> to the mill and its surroundings.
>
> Some of us took small pieces of the mill building
> just for our own memories.
>
> As I walked through the grounds, I thought about the
> rare turn-of-the-century water-powered sawmill that
> supplied the lumber for the Butte mines. I thought
> about the historic significance of this ground
> beneath my feet. I thought about how soon there
> would be no trace that it ever existed. It sickened
> me.
>
> Then, as I sat watching everyone visiting and
> reminiscing, I couldn't help recalling how Sen.
> Conrad Burns had told Vadis Stratton (with a hug and
> a kiss) that she would never lose her home or the
> mill.
>
> I recalled the pleas, the phone calls, and the
> letters and e-mails sent to Burns, Max Baucus and
> Dennis Rehberg, which eventually all fell on deaf
> ears.
>
> I remembered how prime land in the Beaverhead County
> was offered as an exchange and refused, as well as
> petitions with over 4,000 signatures were unaccepted
> by the Forest Service.
>
> Vadis Stratton truly believed Burns would help her
> save her husband's family homestead. She believed
> that the historic 120-year-old structures would not
> be destroyed. She has clung to the hope that her
> senators and congressman would help her.
>
> An historic homestead has been taken away from a
> native Montana family that arrived in the Highlands
> by covered wagon. On Aug. 31, the Stratton's will be
> leaving their home and memories of over 100 years.
>
> The public voice was ignored when the Forest Service
> employees refused to accept the petitions from the
> Strattons.
>
> (They stated they weren't taking any petitions at
> that time.)
>
> The public voice was also ignored when all the
> correspondence fell on deaf ears by our Montana
> delegation. Don't believe this could not happen to
> you.
>
> I hope those 4,000-plus voters who signed those
> petitions will remember the fatal outcome of the
> Strattons. I still believe that more than 4,000
> votes could be powerful in an election.
>
> Readers...remember the Strattons when you step into
> that voting booth.
>
> Becky Benson Taylor
>
> 126 Bluebird Lane
>
> Whitehall