Year in Review 2019: The biggest stories in Sanders Co.

Join the Clark Fork Valley Press news team as it takes a look back at the biggest stories of 2019.

Danielle Wood

hearings

A Northwest Montana woman accused of murdering her ex-boyfriend in 2018 is seeking a reduction in her bond.

Danielle Jeanette Wood, of Thompson Falls, is accused of murdering Thompson Falls resident Matthew George LaFriniere in May 2018. Wood was arrested in March 2019.

In her most recent hearing, Wood appeared by video Dec. 17 in the Sanders County Courthouse.

Woods is being held on $1 million bond in the Lake County Jail.

Her bond reduction hearing was set for Jan. 21, 2020. Also, an omnibus hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 18, and Wood’s trial dates have been scheduled for April 1-10, 2020.

Wood was LaFriniere’s ex-girlfriend and had a child with him, according to court documents.

Wood was arrested Wednesday morning and charged with deliberate homicide. Based on Wood’s purchase of a handgun less than two months prior to the death of LaFriniere, connections between Wood’s cellphone and a disposable phone linked to Wood and statements from family members and neighbors, “probable cause exists that the defendant (Wood) has committed the alleged offense of deliberate homicide,” court documents state.

LaFriniere, 51, was found dead by one of his co-workers on May 3, 2018, underneath a piece of plywood, lying face down on the ground. He had been shot three or four times in the chest, back and hand.

A Thompson Falls police officer had gone to LaFriniere’s residence earlier that day to conduct a welfare check after LaFriniere’s father said his son hadn’t shown up for work at Empire Builders Ace Hardware in Thompson Falls that morning and wasn’t answering his phone. The officer saw LaFriniere’s truck in his driveway but didn’t find him at home.

An officer interviewed Wood that same day and learned the couple have a child together. Wood claimed she had gotten a text message from LaFriniere saying he was predisposed in Trout Creek and that she should take their daughter.

Wood characterized the texts as “strange” because they didn’t originate from his phone number, but rather a number later tracked to a disposable Tracfone, according to court documents.

The couple were never married, and were involved in a custody dispute that resulted in LaFriniere getting primary custody of their child.

Plains sewage treatment plant in trouble

The town of Plains is proud to say that it has one of the lowest sewer rates in Montana. This is mostly in part because it has not seen any significant price increase in over 5 years. This is about to change however, because of a very imminent threat facing the town. For the last 20 years the Clark Fork River has been meandering closer to the lagoons of the town’s waste treatment facility. This has been a known issue, however, and the only solutions have been band aid fixes to a problem bleeding much more profusely every year. Within this time the river has moved from 359 feet to under 130 feet, with last year alone contributing a loss of near 50 feet. It is no guess that the river is returning to traditional pathways and the plant is right in its route. Though many options have been suggested, few are plausible, with every single one being vastly expensive and extremely time consuming, including doing nothing.

At an updated cost of $ 5.25 million the facility will need to be moved. In emergency funds for the entire state of Montana provided by the TSEP (Treasure State Endowment Program) only equal to about $500,000 in aid, and the town does not have enough funds to cover such a massive project alone.

At the moment the town, through possible funding with higher taxes, various grants and loans provided, as well as through government assistance the town now has access to over $1 million. There are also other grants the town has applied for, so there is potentially more that can be added into the is pool.

Plains Class of

1962 reunion

“When we were young, we couldn’t stand each other, now we can’t wait to see each other,” said Doug Wheeler about the class he graduated high school with. They were the class of 1962. This was the year John Glenn orbited the earth, Marilyn Monroe was found dead and the first James Bond film was released.

In Paradise the railroad tie treatment plant was still in full swing, cranking out ties to be sent all over the United States. The students at the time came from all over the valley, including from the nearby town of Paradise; four kids from Paradise graduated high school in Plains. They went to class in the old schoolhouse that has since been torn down and were part of a graduating class of about 24 students. Of that, eight have passed away and only 10 showed up last Thursday for their annual class reunion.

Road construction

to save the sheep

Since 1985 the stretch of Montana 200 that runs between the towns of Plains and Thompson Falls has been a hotspot for bighorn sheep-vehicle collisions. Since then there have been roughly 440 incidents involving vehicles, some causing major vehicular damage and even death or severe injury.

There are four herds monitored by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks in Sanders County but the herd most in danger of being wiped out by vehicles is the Thompson Falls herd that calls this stretch of highway home. In the 1940s the bighorn sheep of the valley were all but wiped out, so FWP reintroduced some back in the 1950s.

In 2006 the herd was measured at around 250 members. The population then, for some unknown reason, dropped steeply. In 2008 the herd’s population was observed as low as 30 members. Those numbers rose again steadily to around 75 to 85 members that are recognized today but have been taking major losses from vehicular incidents recently, within the last few years, about 12 sheep a year. FWP has been searching for a way to mitigate the danger to the herd, and the area between mile markers 64 and 65 has accounted for around 85% of sheep loss due to traffic.

FWP then tagged on some construction concepts that have had positive results in other areas for preventing vehicle collisions with animals such as elk.

2019 Sanders

County Fair

The Sanders County fair is the biggest, most revered and most beloved event of the year for Sanders County, and this year’s was perhaps the most successful yet. The fair brought in over $190,000. The concessions alone contributed nearly $27,000 and several vendors have yet to pay their dues. There were numerous vendors who claimed that this was their most successful year, and that they made more this year than any other that they could remember. The fair was attended by nearly 10,000 people just looking at ticket sales, not including the people working it, or with passes. This attendance was higher than the last few years, being at least $2000 more than last year’s fair alone. Throughout the fair there were only four injuries, and two of them were from heat exhaustion.

Lantern Launch 2019

Saturday night locals gathered for the Cancer Network of Sanders County’s annual Lantern Launch. Volunteers gathered in the agriculture building at the Sanders County Fairgrounds, for a remembrance of those who have been taken by cancer.

Led by President John Clark, locals unfolded and inflated colored, environmentally friendly, biodegradable lanterns with blow-dryers. These lanterns each had a message and/or a name of someone affected by cancer or someone to be remembered written on them. The messages were scribed by those who purchased each lantern.

For the last several months the cancer network has been selling the lanterns for $10 each. Lanterns were for sale at several local stores throughout Plains and Thompson Falls, as well as at several of the network’s yearly scheduled events. Clark, himself bought two, one each for his late daughter and for his wife.

After a lantern was inflated a piece of wax-infused cardboard underneath it was lit like a candle. Then a volunteer would then walk outside into the cold and the snow to release it into the night air.

The CNSC has been hosting this event for about ten years and the original idea came from a local. “The event used to be held on new years eve, however since the nights are quite cold that late in the year the Cancer Network has stared releasing the lanterns the Saturday following Thanksgiving,” as Clark explained.

New Waste Transfer

Station for Sanders

County

Local officials, community members, commissioners and staff met at the location of the new waste transfer station for Sanders County to commemorate its opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The new facility promises to be far more efficient than the last, according to Bob Church, an engineer from Greg West engineering who was one of the key participants in the project’s construction.

Church said “this will really improve the efficiency of waste handling in the county.” The project has been in the works since 2014, in the planning stages, and finally finished construction early Dec. The project had a cost of nearly $5 million. This funding was provided by the USDA’s (United States department of Agriculture) Rural Development Program.

In charge of organizing and requesting the funding was USDA representative Lyle Coney, who was also present at the ceremony. Coney said “this was probably the most well organized project I have ever worked on,” as he discussed his time working with members of Sanders County, the engineering and construction crews along with the County Commissioners. This sentiment was shared by all of the project participants present at the ceremony.