Missoulian week in review: Local news recap for May 25-31 (2024)

Here are some of the headlines from this past week in the Missoulian. To read the full stories, click the link on each headline:

It was a tale of two winters in Glacier National Park: Not much snow down low over the past seven months, but a steady accumulation higher up that has been bolstered by late-season storms and cold weather.

For the equipment operators who use a fleet of heavy machinery to clear the park's iconic Going-to-the-Sun Road, that meant smooth sailing up to around the Big Bend on the west side, 3 miles short of Logan Pass. But beyond that, it's been a slow trudge to the top, and there's no date set for when the road might open to vehicles.

According to Brian Paul, road supervisor for the park, there was so little snow below the Big Bend, which sits at about 5,800 feet elevation adjacent to the Weeping Wall, that he was able to clear the road to there with half the normal equipment and personnel. But beyond the Big Bend and across terrain above about 6,000 feet in Glacier, winter has persisted even to June — a common phenomenon despite the uncommon lack of lower-elevation snow.

"It's an odd year," he said about the contrast between terrain above and below about 6,000 feet.

On Thursday at Logan Pass, park equipment operators were using an excavator, a bulldozer and a massive rotary snowblower the size of a large tractor to clear snow that covered the road near the Logan Pass Visitor Center parking lot. The lot was mostly cleared but the road was identifiable only by the roar of diesel engines, tufts of black exhaust smoke and the massive arch of flying snow shooting from the snowblower.

The Montana Department of Revenue made an error when appraising property values in Browning that bumped tax bills two to four times above normal in the impoverished area, according to documents and sources familiar with the matter.

State Reps. Tyson Running Wolf, D-Browning, and Dave Fern, D-Whitefish, both said the error was likely due to a flawed Department of Revenue computer model. It affected 371 properties in Browning, a town of less than 1,000 on the Blackfeet Reservation on the east side of Glacier National Park. The error affected the land portion of appraised values, not the value of buildings on a given property.

To remedy this, the legislators said the Department of Revenue plans to adjust each affected property down about $30,000 in market value.

Lee Montana reviewed documents that confirm Fern and Running Wolf’s statements.

There's a new restaurant in the Missoula area, a few new food trucks and St. Pat's hospital is hosting a groundbreaking research trial, plus more in this week's business news.

Kenneth Grable walked into Yoke's Fresh Market in June 2023. In the deli area, he stuffed a sandwich down his pants. It wasn’t his first time stealing from Yoke’s. He stole from there a month prior, when he was formally banned from the store, according to court documents.

Grable, a homeless man, accrued 29 misdemeanor citations in municipal court from 2022 to 2023, mostly dealing with theft and prior notices that he was barred from Yoke’s property, court documents show. Employees witnessed the sandwich theft in June 2023 and called police. By the time officers arrived, Grable had eaten the sandwich.

Officers then charged Grable with burglary, a felony in Montana. Because Grable was previously told to stay off Yoke’s property, the burglary charge was applicable under state law.

In February, a Missoula County judge sentenced Grable to three years with the Department of Corrections in the case. The judge recommended Grable get placed in a substance abuse treatment program, but now he is in the general prison population.

For the last several months, criminal justice advocates, including staff at the Missoula Public Defender’s Office, have raised concern over a rising trend of suspects getting felony burglary charges for stealing cheap products like beer or food from retailers.

How people accused of low-level theft crimes in Missoula— almost all of whom are homeless— are handled in the criminal justice system has also shown a divide between the city’s three municipal court judges and the Missoula County attorney.

Missoula's municipal court and the county attorney’s office operate independently from one another in Missoula’s criminal justice system. But decisions made by either department can have reverberating effects for people accused of high- and low-level crimes.

—Zoe Buchli and Griffen Smith,

Republicans in Montana generally issued sharp rebukes Thursday of the historic jury decision finding former President Donald Trump guilty of 34 felony counts in a New York hush-money trial.

Trump is popular in Montana, winning the state with nearly 57% of the vote in 2020 and 56% in 2016. In 2018 he made four visits to the state,holding massive ralliesin support of the Republican trying to unseat incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester.

The former president is playing an important role in Montana again this election cycle as Tester seeks reelection.Trump has endorsed the Republican front-runner, Tim Sheehy, in what is one of the biggest U.S. Senate contests in the country. The Sheehy campaign pushes the endorsem*nt often: Every time Sheehy'scampaign siteis accessed, for example, there is a popup window that notifies site visitors that Trump has endorsed the candidate.The former president’s backing of Sheehy in this year’s Senate race also proved adeath knell to Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale's own aspirations in the race.

—Montana State News Bureau

Fort Peck Tribes' Law and Justice Department and the Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Department announced on Thursday that their search for a missing 31-year-old man has now transitioned to a “recovery mission,” which could take several days to complete.

The law enforcement agencies have been searching for 31-year-old Vinson Ryan Cooper, a citizen of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, who was last seen south of Poplar on Monday late afternoon.

He is 5’10,” has brown hair and brown eyes and was wearing a gray shirt and black shorts.

A Missoula doctor criminally accused of sexually assaulting multiple patients is now facing a civil lawsuit in county court, brought by two women accusing him of abuse.

The suit was filed on Thursday in Missoula County District Court against Tyler J. Hurst, a former doctor who practiced at Community Medical Center’s emergency department and who's facing felony charges in Missoula stemming from accusations that he sexually abused women during exams in the ER. John Heenan, attorney for the two plaintiffs, said in a phone call the two women in the civil suit aren't part of of the criminal case that's already been filed.

The three-page suit says Hurst sexually assaulted two women during separate visits to the Community ER in June and October of 2023.

Hurst, who’s at a sex addiction treatment facility in Mississippi, previouslypleaded not guiltyto two felony charges: sexual intercourse without consent and third offense sexual assault, along with two misdemeanors, first and second offense sexual assault. Those charges were filed by the Missoula County Attorney’s Office in early May.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have partnered with Lake, Missoula and Sanders counties to open satellite offices across the Flathead Reservation ahead of Tuesday's primary election.

The offices will be open through June 4 and will offer services, including voter registration, ballot distribution, early voting in-person and ballot drop-off.

Satellite voting offices on the Flathead Reservation:

Thursday, May 30

Friday, May 31

Saturday, June 1

Monday, June 3

Tuesday, June 4 (election day)

One person is dead after a two-car collision on U.S. Highway 93 early on Thursday morning, temporarily closing the road to traffic, the Montana Highway Patrol said Thursday.

Trooper Sheridan Crutcher told the Missoulian there is an ongoing investigation into the incident, which happened at mile marker 88 of Highway 93 near Blue Mountain Road. The identity of the driver has not been released.

At approximately 7:20 a.m., Crutcher said one vehicle was traveling northbound, while another was driving southbound. He said the southbound vehicle crossed the intersection and hit the guardrail of the northbound lanes.

The southbound driver then collided with the northbound vehicle. Crutcher said the driver of the southbound vehicle died on scene. The other driver was taken to the hospital. No passengers were in either vehicle.

Crutcher said vehicle speed might be a suspected factor in the crash. The southbound driver was also not wearing a seat belt.

Members of the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center chose this year’s theme for the annual Peace Party for a number of reasons.

“Finding joy during challenging times” will be celebrated through a catered dinner, outdoor games, auctioned off items, and live music from local blues band Mudslide Charley. Doors will open at 5 p.m. on Friday for the ticketed fundraiser at Ogren Park at Allegiance Field.

“Our community, our Peace Center members and our community partners have had a lot of focus and a lot of concern, particularly, on unrest and war abroad,” Karen E. Concannon, a Jeannette Rankin Peace Center board member, said ahead of the event. “Creating a space where we can find joy together among what is otherwise extremely troubling current events is I think probably the aim behind the choice of theme this year.”

The Jeannette Rankin Peace Party is the largest fundraiser of the year for the group. While the event itself is funded through community sponsors and donations, sales through tickets go to funding the group’s local work.

A 39-year-old died in Missoula police custody on Wednesday afternoon, according to a news release from the department issued Wednesday evening.

Missoula police were sent to a structure fire at about 1:30 p.m. The fire was suspected to be the result of a criminal act, the MPD news release stated. The blaze was at the 2400 block of Dixon Avenue.

When officers arrived, they tried to detain a man related to the investigation.

"The male was uncooperative and resisted arrest. After a prolonged physical altercation, the male became unresponsive," the release stated.

The news release didn't provide more detail on what the "physical altercation" entailed. A call to a spokesperson for MPD was unanswered on Wednesday evening.

Officers administered naloxone to the man (a nasal spray to counteract opioid overdoses), performed CPR and also deployed an Automated External Defibrillator until medical personnel arrived. The man died on scene, according to the release.

When 71-year-old Laurie Higgins Marso received her property tax bill for her home in Browning, she panicked.

“I thought, ‘Oh my God. What am I going to do?’” she said. “I have to figure out how to get more money this month.”

In 2021, Higgins Marso paid $700.62 total in property taxes. In 2023, her bill for the yearincreased73%. She now owes more than $1,200, half of which isdue on May 31.

Higgins Marso is retired and on a fixed income. She raises two grandchildren full-time, and on weekends, she takes care of two more.When she got her tax bill, she wondered whether she’d have to return to work.

Higgins Marso previously worked at the Indian Health Service for 30 years. On holidays and weekends, she would pick up shifts at the local gas station or tutor at the high school. In 2021, she paid off her mortgage and retired.

Forty-seven non-tenure positions at several Missoula County Public Schools properties are being cut following a vote at a board meeting on Tuesday night.

Trustees approved 33 elementary teacher cuts and 14 secondary education eliminations. According to MCPS Spokesperson Tyler Christensen, notices to affected staff members have already been sent out.

MCPSpreviously acknowledgedlayoffs would be necessary to address a deficit of millions for the 2024-25 academic year, and Superintendent Micah Hill had warned that up to 100 eliminations could be needed.

Terminations affect a small handful of staff each at of most MCPS elementary schools, including Paxson, Russell, Franklin, Hawthorne, Lowell, Chief Charlo and Jeannette Rankin, according to a list included in public school board documents. Jobs at Big Sky, Sentinel and Hellgate high schools were also cut.

Contracts for those positions for the 2024-2025 school year won’t be renewed, Christensen said. Terminations are effective as of June 7.

Calling U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy a "lost cause," U.S. Sen. Jon Tester held a press conference in Missoula on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing controversy aboutnow-delayed plansto move Missoula's outgoing mail processing to Spokane.

Tester also called on the U.S. Postal Service's Board of Governors to remove DeJoy from the top job at the federal agency and said he's told the board to do so in the past.

Tester said his purpose for the press conference was to "discuss his successful efforts forcing the USPS to halt plans" to move the Missoula Processing and Distribution Center's outing mail processing operations to Spokane. That plan would have meant that most mail sent from Missoula and bound for other locations would have been trucked over two mountain passes, processed, and trucked back if it was bound for Missoula.

The Postal Service said it would have saved about $1.3 million a year from the move, but the plan was opposed by the local Postal Service workers union and roughly a dozen non-career employees would have lost their jobs. Tester and other members of Congress, including Sen. Steve Daines, opposed the move.

An Elmo man admitted to charges on Tuesday accusing him of illegally receiving over $100,000 in federal benefits by collecting his dead mother’s Social Security payments and also not disclosing proceeds from a dog grooming business, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Gerry A. Albus, 64, pleaded guilty in federal court to theft of government money and Social Security fraud, according to a news release and court records.

Prosecutors allege that in May 2015, Albus was approved to get Supplemental Security Income benefits. He was advised that he was legally obligated to accurately disclose his income, resources and household composition to the government.

Albus reported in October 2016 that he moved to Elmo, lived alone and paid rent to his landlord—but Albus wasn’t paying rent, prosecutors allege, and his landlord was his romantic partner. In 2017, the couple converted the 20-acre property into a dog grooming business, the news release stated.

Children on bicycles yelled with joy as they bombed down Marshall Mountain behind a crowd of local government officials, forest managers, nonprofit leaders and outdoors enthusiasts ready to declare the mountain permanently public.

The next generation of Missoulians willretain access to the mountain after the city and county recently purchased the 480-acre park, a years-long process that started after part of the former ski hill went up for sale in 2021.

"This place is an amazing example of what we can do in partnership and what we can do when we work together and when we work together on a common vision," City Council President Amber Sherrill said during a ribbon-cutting on Tuesday. "I think we all saw that and we all knew that this was something that was going to be amazing for this community."

A house was destroyed in a Monday night fire on Nine Mile Road, local fire officials announced.

Frenchtown firefighters responded around 5 p.m. on Monday to Old Spur Road and Nine Mile Road in Huson for a house fire. Multiple explosions were reported with active flames and smoke showing, according to a Frenchtown Rural Fire District social media post.

Crews found a fully collapsed house when they arrived, the post stated.

There weren't any occupants in the house, according to the post. First responders found two rabbits alive under a piece of roof debris. The fire's cause is under investigation.

Going without prescriptions for months. No longer being able to afford in-home care. Showing up for scheduled exams or dental appointments only to learn they no longer had insurance. Racking up steep out-of-pocket bills to remain in the nursing homes where they’ve lived for years. These are stories Marcy Brookie has heard time and time again over the last year from seniors who lost Medicaid coverage during the redetermination process.

As program director for a nonprofit in Roundup that serves aging adults and people with disabilities, Brookie and the staff at Area II Agency on Aging are often the first point of contact for seniors with health concerns in the community. Area II Agency on Aging is one of nine nonprofit sites across the state that receives public dollars to refer seniors to nearby service providers, help them navigate benefits and provide direct in-home care.

Unwinding— a national requirement that state health agencies redetermine the eligibility for Medicaid beneficiaries after a three-year pause during the pandemic— has been the main worry for many of the seniors that walk through Area II's doors since April 2023 when the process began. A small team there has supported more than 500 individuals, mostly seniors, attempting to reapply for the insurance program. Some experienced lapses in coverage, or were told they didn't provide the requested information so they lost it altogether. Others remain in limbo, waiting to hear about their applications and overwhelmed by the process.

ACLU of Montana filed for a preliminary injunction against a pair of policies that effectively bars trans people from updating the sex markers on their birth certificates or driver’s licenses.

In April, the organizationfirst filed suit against the statein the Lewis and Clark County District Court, naming Gov. Greg Gianforte, the state health department and its director Charlie Brereton and the Department of Justice and Attorney General Austin Knudsen as defendants.

Lawyers are now asking Judge Mike Menahan to issue a preliminary injunction that would halt implementation of the policies until the case is decided. Doing so, the motion asserts, will protect trans people from potential harm caused by the policies.

“Being forced to use identity documents that do not match a person’s gender identity can result in discrimination and violence when a person is called on to present identification that states a sex inconsistent with how the person publicly presents himself or herself,” according to court documents.

Representatives from Gianforte’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment and a spokesperson for DPHHS declined to comment.

Montana Indigenous artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith's boundary-breaking year

One of the most prominent artists from western Montana has had a precedent-setting year, exhibiting her work and curating in major museums.

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, has long been well-known in the Montana art community. Her work, expressionistic and politically charged and steeped in Indigenous imagery and issues, has reached a yet larger audience through a retrospective, “Memory Map,” which covers nearly 50 years, signaling to the art world the importance of the work she’s been making into her 80s.

"Memory Map" originated at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, one of the country’s most significant art institutions.

It’s a first in several categories, according to Laura Millin, executive director of the Missoula Art Museum, who’s known and collaborated with the artist for decades. Quick-to-See Smith is “the first Native American artist and first Native woman artist to be featured with a retrospective at the Whitney (or any other major museum in New York City). Millin called it "breaking the buckskin ceiling."

You can also see uproarious comedy "Babes" and a special screening of "Donnie Darko" this week at the Roxy.

—Charlotte Macorn, for the Missoulian

Arts Missoula Awards recognize local movers and shakers, a Thai theater group performs at Free Cycles and a Norman Maclean biographer is speaking at Missoula Public Library and in Seeley Lake.

Going without prescriptions for months. No longer being able to afford in-home care. Showing up for scheduled exams or dental appointments only to learn they no longer had insurance. Racking up steep out-of-pocket bills to remain in the nursing homes where they’ve lived for years. These are stories Marcy Brookie has heard time and time again over the last year from seniors who lost Medicaid coverage during the redetermination process.

As program director for a nonprofit in Roundup that serves aging adults and people with disabilities, Brookie and the staff at Area II Agency on Aging are often the first point of contact for seniors with health concerns in the community. Area II Agency on Aging is one of nine nonprofit sites across the state that receives public dollars to refer seniors to nearby service providers, help them navigate benefits and provide direct in-home care.

Unwinding— a national requirement that state health agencies redetermine the eligibility for Medicaid beneficiaries after a three-year pause during the pandemic— has been the main worry for many of the seniors that walk through Area II's doors since April 2023 when the process began. A small team there has supported more than 500 individuals, mostly seniors, attempting to reapply for the insurance program. Some experienced lapses in coverage, or were told they didn't provide the requested information so they lost it altogether. Others remain in limbo, waiting to hear about their applications and overwhelmed by the process.

Perhaps the most difficult part, Brookie says, has been bearing witness to the emotional distress redetermination has created for aging Montanans, many of whom have already endured a lifetime of worry.

“They feel like throwaways,” Brookie said. “They feel like they’re not not honored, respected individuals anymore. And for that generation, it’s hard to ask for help anyway because of their pride.”

The latest fundraising numbers in one of the most expensive and competitive political contests in the nation are in.

Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Tester outraised first-time candidate Republican Tim Sheehy by roughly 2 to 1in a recent six-week period from April 1 to May 15.

This year, Republicans are set on taking back control of the U.S. Senate and they have targeted Montana's Senate seat as one of the most vulnerable in the nation. Tester — a third-term senator — is one of only two incumbent Democrats up for reelection in the Senate who represent states that former President Donald Trump won in 2020.

Despite the fundraising gap, Tester faces a formidable challenge in Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL and Belgrade-based businessman. The Republican hasendorsem*nts from Trump, Gov. Greg Gianforte, Sen. Steve Daines and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, one of the main groups responsible for putting the Senate back in Republican control. The incumbent has won over Republicans in tight elections before, but Montana is increasingly a red state and especially so since his last win in 2018.

EVERGREEN — After all the residents of a large mobile home park near Kalispell were given 180-day eviction notices on April 29, two Montana nonprofit organizations are raising funds to help the people find new places to live.

The 32-unit Spring Creek Mobile Home Park in Evergreen was purchased by Flathead Valley developer and real estate agent Brett Kelly in December of last year.

The eviction notice his property manager sent to all residents stated that the park is changing from tenant-owned homes to a mobile home park with landlord-owned homes.

"In order to accomplish this change of use, all tenant-owned homes must be removed from the premises," the eviction letter stated. "At this time, there is no change of use permit required, and the owner is not appearing before any local government to request approval for this change of use because no approval is needed. Your landlord hereby terminates your lease effective in 180 days. You must vacate the premises and remove all personal property and your mobile home by that date."

Mobile home park residents are often very low-income or are on fixed incomes, and they often do not own the land underneath their trailers.

Resident Stephanie Pestkowski emailed the eviction notice to the Missoulian. She said she and her family are facing the real possibility of becoming homeless.

"We just don't have the money to demolish our mobile home, put our things in storage, register camper, do car repairs, truck repairs to pull (the) camper and get camper ready," she said. "At this point we're just going to be homeless, camper-hopping from Walmart to church."

Missoula's city and county government have formalized a new administrative body and special district to help direct renovations and updates to the John Engen Local Government Building, also known as the Engen Building.

Top administrative officials from the city and county, alongside Missoula County Commissioner Dave Strohmaier, approved an agreement that gives limited authority to the body to oversee the Missoula Local Government Building Special District.

The creation of the special district will allow top administrative officials overseeing the building transition, Dale Bickel for the city and Chris Lounsbury for the county, to start signing contracts, approving building tenants and handling other bureaucratic processes to ready the building to house local government offices.

The 120,000-square-foot structure, formerly known as the federal building, was jointly purchased by the city and county in 2023. Eventually both government agencies plan to create a local government center in the building, which would alleviate the need for extra office space that the city and county lease around town.

John Adams, special projects manager for the city, said the agreement sets a formal process for getting work done, but larger approvals still must go through the city council or the county commissioners.

Money for two potential sewer systems in Missoula County could come from the federal government after Montana's western U.S. House representative made a request through Congress last week.

Rep. Ryan Zinke announced the funding request for 15 western Montana infrastructure projects on Friday, including $18 million for a Seeley Lake sewer, which locals have revived as housing prices rise and water quality diminishes.

Zinke also requested $10 million for a wastewater treatment plant in Ravalli County, which has struggled to keep up with sewage as the Bitterroot Valley booms with growth.

The money would come from the House's Community Project Funding. Each request must be approved by the House Appropriations Committee. Zinke, a Republican, is a member of the committee.

“We’ve identified and nominated great projects like a wastewater system in Seeley Lake that will help revitalize the town and bring back jobs, and a five-county law enforcement project that will deliver state of the art equipment to our sheriffs and allow them all to coordinate with the same comms and gear should a multi-county situation emerge," Zinke said in a news release announcing the request. "I am thankful to the county commissioners, mayors and sheriffs who have been working with my office for months to identify projects that would have the biggest impacts.”

Missoula's newest Mexican restaurant finally has a permit to sell alcohol secured and will be hosting a grand opening block party on June 9 with live music.

"It's gonna be a lot of fun," said co-owner Scott Billadeau.

Elote, located at Southgate Mall at 2901 Brooks Street, has been open for a few weeks now and has been busy with as many as 600 customers a day.

The restaurant is locally owned by Pangea Restaurant Group in Missoula, and Billadeau and his business partners were looking to provide the city with some new flavors and a unique, colorful, lively dining atmosphere.

So, they hired Fila López, who is originally from the Mexican state of Oaxaca, and his wife, Leticia IsabelJiménez, as chefs and let them and their staff come up with a menu that features everything from ceviche to carne asada tacos to the namesake of the restaurant, elote, which is grilled street corn topped with aioli, chili powder, cotija, cilantro and lime. They also serve brunch items every day, including chilaquiles and huevos rancheros.

Lopez said his siblings have also started restaurants and cooking runs in the family. When asked how he learned to cook, Lopez just smiled and shrugged.

"I'm from Oaxaca," he said, grinning. "Everyone learns to cook."

Walking through Townsend with Susie Hedalen takes twice as long as it would alone. She can tell a story about most local businesses on downtown’s main drag, and she’s stopped for conversations with parents and students at what feels like every corner.

Some call her Susie, others Mrs. Hedalen. There are the handful who call her coach because of her stint running the basketball team, and the parents who know her as their friend Suze.

Hedalentook overas superintendent of the Townsend School District in 2021. A veteran educator and administrator, she was drawn to the job because it gave her a chance to get back into a community— she had previously spent a number of years at the statewide education agency — to tackle unique challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, she’s one of two Republican candidates vying to become superintendent of the Office of Public Instruction. The race to run the education agency is the only statewide contest without an incumbent this year. Elsie Arntzen, who currently holds the position, will term out at the end of this year and is running for Montana’s second congressional district.

The June 4 Republican Primary will pit Hedalen, who has the support of GOP notables including Gov. Greg Gianforte, Rep. Ryan Zinke and Sen. Steve Daines, againstembattled school administratorSharyl Allen. Both held roles at OPI under Arntzen.

On a rainy Missoula Wednesday, about 20 Sentinel High School students carried boxes of plants around the county fairgrounds, meticulously placing each one in measured plots where they’ll grow.

Sentinel’s Advanced Placement environmental sciences class spent the last week getting 10,000 square feet of what used to be a parking lot ready for hundreds of new plants. The time in the garden fills in the weeks after the students wrap up their AP test, but before they graduate.

Last week, the students watched their hard work pay off as they measured and dug through dirt to lay seeds and plants. They’ll soon bloom into a myriad of produce at the Rocky Mountain Gardens, a new addition to the Missoula County Fairgrounds.

“I love that this used to be a parking lot, and that they completely tore it apart and made a beautiful garden,” senior Ava Meyer said. “There are so many effects of climate change it’s helping and preventing.”