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Mineral County seeks money for Saltese trestle work
Mineral County officials agreed to apply for a federal grant that would help restore the Saltese trestle which provides recreation access to the county.
Still no deal to reopen Mineral County detention center
Following attempts to reopen the Mineral County jail with help from a nonprofit private corporation, the detention center will remain closed when both failed to reach an agreement.
St. Regis Schools receive $50,000 grant
Superior, Alberton are denied
Sheriff honors deputies for saving man's life
Mineral County Sheriff Mike Boone recently lauded the efforts of two of his deputies, who worked to save a man’s life earlier this year.
Victoria Wood Benefield
Victoria Wood Benefield, 74, passed away Tuesday, June 18, 2019 at St. Joe’s Hospital in Lewiston, Idaho, after a five-year battle with Dementia and long-term diabetes. She was surrounded by her children and grandchildren.
Kalvin Miller
Kalvin Winfield Miller was born Sept. 19, 1951, to Winfield Miller and Minnie VanCampen Miller in Missoula, Mont.
Local afterschool programs in jeopardy
When Superior parent Roxanne Wyatt drops her kindergartner and fifth-grader off at Superior Elementary School for summer camp, she feels relieved to know her kids are being supervised and will be unplugged from their electronics while she’s at work.
Meeting set June 25 to discuss detention center future
After the Mineral County Detention Center closed six months ago due to a staff shortage, county commissioners will meet again with the CEO of a private prison organization to potentially form a deal and reopen the facility.
Fifth-generation Mineral County brothers host festival in Haugan
Music enthusiasts from all over the nation attended the fifth annual Silvercloud Campout, a family and dog friendly music festival next to the 50,000 Silver Dollar Bar, in Haugan on Friday and Saturday, June 7 and 8.
Community garden in Alberton to collaborate with schools
Last year, Ang MacDonald started a community garden filled with fruit trees, tomatoes and other vegetables in Alberton after two previous failed attempts. The Alberton Railroad Days Community Garden is a nonprofit that MacDonald runs and she’s responsible for most of the work. Her long-term goal is to start a Farm to School program with Alberton, where schools feature locally produced food on their school menus.
VonHeeder's track & field career progressing at MSU
Former Plains High School track and field standout Carley VonHeeder continues to pursue qualifying for the NCAA Division I National track and field championships.
Sanders County considers needs assessment for housing
One of the most pressing issues facing the growth of Sanders County, and in fact most of western Montana, is the conundrum of affordable housing.
Legals June 12, 2019
PUBLIC NOTICE This notice has been revised from the May 22, 2019 release to update the public comment period and public comment website. BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) has submitted a permit modification request to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to modify BNSF's hazardous waste permit for its remediation activities located in Paradise, Montana. The hazardous waste permit provides requirements for operation of a corrective action management unit (CAMU), continued maintenance of designated regulated units, and Facility-wide corrective action. The modification is being submitted under Title 75, Chapter 10, Part 4 of the Montana Hazardous Waste Act. This notice is to inform the public of the permit modification request and to seek their participation in the decision-making process. During the public comment period, the public may submit written comments to DEQ. The comment period will extend from May 17, 2019 to August 6, 2019. The permit modification is available online at http://deq.mt.gov/public/publiccomment, at the DEQ Helena office and DEQ Missoula office during their business hours, and at the Plains Public library located at 108 W Railroad St, Plains, Montana 59859. A public meeting will be held on June 12th, 2019 at 6 pm at the Paradise Civic Center, 2 School House Hill Road, Paradise, Montana 59856. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Yueh Chuang at 406-256-4040 or at email address, yueh.chuang@bnsf.com. All written comments of the permit modification request should be addressed to Ann Kron, DEQ, Waste Management and Remediation Division, Waste and Underground Tank Management Bureau, P.O. Box 200901, Helena, MT 59620-0901 or emailed to DEQhazwaste@mt.gov. Interested persons may also call Ann Kron at 406-444-5824 or email at akron@mt.gov for additional information. The permittee's compliance history during the life of the permit being modified is available from the DEQ. Based on the comments received, DEQ will make a final decision to accept or deny BNSF's permit modification request. Notice of DEQ's decision will be given to BNSF and each person who submitted written comments or requested a notice of the decision. Published in the Clark Fork Valley Press on June 12, 2019. MNAXLP
Frieda Huberty
Frieda Ann Huberty, 60, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday May 26, 2019.
Roberta Ruguleiski
Roberta Gayle (Johnson) Ruguleiski, 79, of Plains, Mont., passed away Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019, at Clark Fork Valley Hospital following treatment for a heart condition. Donald E. Ruguleiski, her husband of 59 years, was by her side.
The EMT shortage in Superior is nothing new
When Anita Parkin was substitute teaching at Superior High School on a Wednesday morning, she got a call on her pager from the 911 dispatcher for a medical emergency. She either had to abandon her class and hurry to the Superior Area Ambulance Service or deny the call. She opted to deny the call, but only because her co-worker, Life Science teacher Beau Servo, decided he would abandon his class of three to take it. Parkin worked to consolidate the classes while Servo fled the school to respond to the medical emergency. “The other teachers help out, but we can’t get away sometimes,” Parkin said. Scenarios like this happen often in Superior, where there are around nine active Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) who regularly respond to emergencies. “There’s a core group of us, we all have pagers and it’s basically whoever answers,” Parkin said. Parkin has been an EMT for 43 years and is the vice chair of the Superior Area Ambulance Service. She said the ambulance always struggles with EMT shortages because they are all volunteers and most already have other jobs. She says volunteers are generally not as committed as paid EMTs. “Sometimes people get off work to go (on calls),” Parkin says. “It makes life interesting.” She says there are about six EMTs who always wear their pager. Ideally three EMT’s should respond to a call, but sometimes only two are able to go. The state realizes Superior is rural, so they allow fewer responders than they would in a more populated area. Parkin says the ambulance will sometimes pick up EMTs in St. Regis or the West End if they don’t have enough responders in Superior. “It’s kind of an interesting thing, I don’t know too many other places that do it this way,” Parkin said. Superior’s ambulance was affiliated with Superior Volunteer Fire Department, but they separated in the last 20 years. The Ambulance Service is a nonprofit and the county gives them two mills every year which equals to $10,000 each. This also qualifies the service for grants. “We always need a new ambulance or something, we just built a new ambulance station and we do all the maintenance and shoveling,” Parkin said. Parkin teaches an EMT class in Superior every few years, and she recently finished one where six students finished. 12 students were initially enrolled and half of them dropped out after realizing how much work it entailed. Parkin says Superior will only gain one EMT out of this class if she passes the exam. For now, the Superior Area Ambulance Service makes do with their EMT shortage. “If we don’t have EMTs and respond to calls, they’ll have to wait for somebody from Missoula or Plains,” Parkin said. “We’ve made sure that doesn’t happen.”
Commissioners commit to re-opening detention center
After two hours of heated discussion at a public meeting on May 20, Mineral County Commissioners decided the detention center must reopen following its closure in February due to staff shortages. The questions remain how officials will attain this goal and where they will find the funding, but they are nearing a solution. Commissioners were to meet with the CEO of a private, non-profit jail corporation. Community, Counseling and Correctional Services, Incorporated CEO Mike Thatcher was scheduled to meet with commissioners on Tuesday, May 28, to discuss a jail lease deal. If officials cannot reach a deal with Thatcher, they will advertise for a jail administrator/commander position and the county will remain responsible for the detention center. “Thatcher is a big player in corrections,” County Attorney Ellen Donohue said. If they can make a deal with Thatcher, she hopes he will run the facility and be responsible for training and retaining employees. Ideally, Mineral County will maintain ten out of the 28 beds and Thatcher will hold the rest. Donohue hopes that with his resources, he could provide staff transportation from Missoula. Thatcher currently has transport operations for employees in Anaconda to commute to work in Butte. The county agrees they must find an experienced, competent jail administrator who will prevent the detention center from closing down again in the future. But hiring an experienced jail administrator would be expensive and the county doesn’t have the funding to pay an appropriate salary. A mill levy could fund the position but raising property taxes would be a challenge in a county with high poverty and residents with fixed incomes. “You’ve got to have something to vote on that people are going to trust,” former County Commissioner Judy Stang says. “I’ve tried to run levies before, and people won’t vote for stuff they don’t know enough about. They won’t vote for something that’s not working.” If the county finds the funding to pay a jail administrator a higher salary, this would cause a pay scale issue for the rest of the law enforcement officers. This means a jail administrator might have a higher salary than the sheriff. “How will that pill be swallowed by the sheriff and deputies which are decided by statute?” County Commissioner Roman Zylawy asked. Sheriff Mike Boone currently sends inmates to the Sanders County Jail in Thompson Falls the Missoula County Jail and other jails in nearby counties. Deputies must transport inmates to the other jails, leaving fewer officers to patrol Mineral County. “I fear every day for our deputies,” Mineral County resident Mary Jo Lommen said. Transporting inmates comes with liability. Lance Jasper, an attorney and Superior resident, said he dealt with a prison transport case five years ago in Plains where the patrol car wrecked and killed a mother of two in Sanders County, causing a $3 million settlement. “If we’re going to keep transporting, you better up the insurance,” he said. Mineral County pays $69.50 to Sanders County and $108 per day to Missoula County facilities to house an inmate. Mineral County paid a total of $20,000 to Sanders and Missoula counties in March. As of May 20, Mineral County had around ten inmates dispersed throughout Northwest Montana. If the county brings on CCCS, Mike Thatcher will run the facility and it will be the fourteenth facility the private system will operate. CCCS currently runs 13 facilities in Montana, Washington and North Dakota. Facilities in Butte include pre-release and treatment programs and correctional facilities. After four months with an empty detention center, the county agrees it must reopen soon. “It can’t go as it is, the commissioners have to make a decision,” Jasper says. “Are we going to have a jail or are we not going to have a jail? But they make that decision and they have to implement it.”
Mountain Cat girls finish fifth at Western C Divisionals
The Clark Fork girls placed fifth with 20 points at the Western C Divisionals track and field meet at Big Sky High School in Missoula on May 16 and 17. The Mountain Cat boys placed 11th.
Hacks and Blasts fill the spring air at Trap Club
The 19th annual “Hack and Blast” tournament — Plains Trap Club’s light-hearted kick-off of both the shooting range’s trap season and the golf season — got off to a jolly start. Fifteen teams from Plains and surrounding towns lined up to take their shots at the doomed clay pigeons. Hours later, as they made their way around the golf course’s nine holes, they were still laughing. Flags, patriotic pants, silly team names and goofy golf drives brought friends and community together.
Joye Pope
Joye Isabelle Pope (Willcutt), 77, passed away on May 15, 2019. Joye was born on Jan. 13, 1942, in Missoula, Mont., to Edwin O. (Kewp) Willcutt and Lenore (Toad) Willcutt where she grew up in Paradise, Mont., and attended Paradise School.