13 minute read
Courts
from 07-06-22 issue
from page 2
menting campus-specific security and safety policies is “germane and necessary” to the board exercising constitutional authority. As McKinnon wrote, “while the mission of the Board is education, the reality is that campus safety and security is an integral responsibility of the Board and its mission.”
Kyler Nerison, a spokesperson for Knudsen’s office, criticized the supreme court’s decision in an emailed statement Wednesday.
“House Bill 102 was an historic expansion of Montanans’ rights and their ability to defend themselves,” Nerison wrote. “As the court notes in its opinion, being sheltered within a ‘gun-free zone’ hasn’t prevented students from being murdered on university campuses in Montana. The Montana Supreme Court’s decision today relegates university students and employees to second-class citizens, putting their rights and safety at the whims of an unelected governmental body that now has veto power over state laws it disagrees with.”
The court’s opinion cited two previous cases involving on-campus gun deaths in Montana: the 1990 killing of two students in a Montana State University dorm and a 1990 shooting at Helena’s private Carroll College that resulted in the death of one campus employee.
Asked whether Knudsen intends to appeal Wednesday’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, Nerison wrote that his office is “considering our options.” As for the legislative branch, Berglee said he doesn’t see that the court “left any open area for the Legislature to be involved in this conversation.”
vj
Stories by Jeff Smith of Anderson Broadcasting for the Valley Journal
Cox pleads not guilty to rape
POLSON — A Charlo man is accused of offering a hitchhiker a ride from Ronan to St. Ignatius and raping her during the trip. Louis Allen Cox, 29, entered a plea of not guilty at District Court in Polson on June 30 to one count of sexual intercourse without consent.
According to court records, on Sept. 11, 2021, St. Ignatius Police Officer Jessie Girsch responded to a gas station in St. Ignatius on a report of a woman that had possibly been raped. At the scene a Jane Doe reported that she was hitchhiking from Ronan to St. Ignatius when she was allegedly picked up by a man driving a black truck that had the logo “plow-3” on the side. She said once she got in the truck the driver turned onto a gravel road, possibly Lake McDonald Road, then stopped and allegedly raped her. She indicated that he also choked her during the alleged assault. When the alleged assault was over Jane Doe was dropped off at the gas station. Jane Doe alerted the station’s cashier prompting the call to police. Officer Girsch observed marks on Jane Doe’s neck. She described the suspect as being approximately 30 years old. Doe agreed to a forensic interview which was conducted by investigators in Missoula that specialize in sexual assaults.
Meanwhile, Lake County Sheriff’s and St. Ignatius Police were able to identify Cox as the registered owner of the suspect’s truck. The truck with the “plow3” logo was located in Charlo along with Cox. When questioned by law enforcement Cox admitted to giving Jane Doe a
ride to St. Ignatius and dropping her off at the gas station, but denied assaulting her. Cox did agree to a DNA testing. The DNA match was far enough over being one in a trillion that charges were filed against Cox. Judge Karen Townsend set a trial date of Sept. 26. Judge Karen Townsend was Louis Cox brought in, after three years of retirement, to fill in for Judge Deborah “Kim” Christopher. Judge Townsend indicated in court that Judge Christopher is expected to return to the bench July 18. Judge Townsend’s last day on the bench is expected to be July 14.
Moore sentenced for negligent homicide Blair pleads not guilty to felony assault
POLSON — A Marion woman convicted of causing a fatal crash in a stolen car was sentenced at District Court in Polson on June 30 to a total of 18 years in the Montana State Women’s prison with 10 years suspended. Lease Sierra Moore, 19, entered a plea of guilty on April 7 to felony negligent homicide and no contest to felony theft. Moore received 15 years prison for the negligent homicide charge with 10 suspended, and a straight three years for the theft charge. The guilty plea was entered before Judge John Larson who appeared remotely from Missoula.
According to court records, on September 30, 2020, emergency services were paged out to the report of a fatal car wreck along U. S. Highway 93 in Pablo. Several witnesses at the scene told investigators that they saw a small white car pass them at a high rate of speed while weaving through traffic. The white car was seen running a red light at the intersection with Clairmont Road before hitting a vehicle that was turning onto U. S. Highway 93. That vehicle was hit with such force that its driver was thrown out. The driver was transported to St. Patricks’ Hospital in Missoula where she later died. The driver of the white car was identified as Moore. The white car she was driving was a 2001 Oldsmobile Alero. It had been reported stolen from the parking lot of The Blue and White Motel in Kalispell early that morning.
An investigation of the scene showed the Alero left a skid mark that measured 172 feet long. Internal data of the Alero showed it was traveling 98 miles per hour prior to breaking and was likely traveling about 65 miles per hour at the time of impact. The data corroborated witness accounts of the crash.
Clothing worn by Moore matched the clothing of the suspect seen in video surveillance at The Blue and White Motel stealing that car.
Judge John Larson, appearing again remotely from Missoula, gave Moore credit for already serving 346 days in custody.
POLSON — A Columbia Falls man is accused of pistol-whipping another man in Ferndale. Brian Eugene Blair, 48, entered a plea of not guilty at District Court in Polson on June 30 to felony assault with a weapon.
According to charging documents, on June 2 Lake County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of an assault. The alleged victim, identified as John
Doe, told the deputies that Blair struck him in the head with a pistol and aimed it at him after the two could not agree on the rules of a dice game the men were playing. John Doe went on to state that Blair had him on the ground and would kick him while pointing the gun at him. Doe explained that Blair would ask Doe questions and Brian Blair if Blair didn’t like how he answered the question he would kick him again. John Doe also told the deputies that Blair seemed paranoid about surveillance cameras in the area. Blair wanted
see page 8
from page 7
John Doe to walk to the neighbors and confront them about their cameras. John Doe said he took off running at that point and escaped to the neighbors. Blair did not pursue John Doe. Deputies observed a laceration on the victim’s head and that his lip was swollen. They also observed blood in the area of the entryway of the neighbors building. When the deputies located Blair, he seemed intoxicated. Blair gave a limited statement to the deputies and claimed that John Doe made a sexual pass at him. Blair generally denied the incident occurred in the manner described by Doe. Blair also claimed that his firearm was missing.
Judge Karen Townsend set a trial date of Sept. 26.
New hire and retirements
POLSON — James Lapotka has been sworn in as the top prosecutor of Lake County. Former Lake County Attorney Steve Eschenbacher’s last day was June 30. Lapotka was sworn-in as the new Lake County Attorney that afternoon by District Judge Molly Owen.
Also retiring this week was Barbara Marshall. Marshall’s last day was June 29 after serving nearly 41 years as a court reporter for the 20th Judicial District made up of Lake and Sander’s Counties. And longtime detention officer with the Lake County Sheriff’s office, Dane Heckle had his last day of service to the county on July 1st. Congratulations and good luck on your new adventures. vj
By Taylor Davison Valley Journal
POLSON — Providence medical centers in Polson and Missoula have both received awards this year for environmental excellence from the national organization Practice Greenhealth.
According to their website, Practice Greenhealth is the leading membership and networking organization for sustainable health care, delivering environmental solutions to more than 1,400 hospitals and health systems in the U.S.
Of those 1,400 hospitals, Providence St. Joseph’s Medical Center received the Greenhealth Partner for Change Award, recognizing them for superior performance in environmental sustainability; an award they’ve won for the last two years.
In order to receive awards, explained St. Joseph’s Emergency Management Supervisor Aaron Wilson, an extensive application must be undergone involving months of data collection, stories and examples in 12 different categories. One benefit of this, he said, was that it allows them to track their data from year to year and compare themselves with different organizations throughout the country. “It lets us see how we’re doing in comparison and look at best practices. It’s been really beneficial for us in a lot of ways,” Wilson said.
In recent years, through participation in this program, St. Joseph’s has been able to significantly reduce their energy consumption in several ways. Since 2018, Wilson said they’ve reduced their paper usage by 50%, which comes out to a little over 1.4 tons of paper saved per year. They were able to achieve this primarily through education, as well as integrating double sided printers and going digital as much as possible within their institution.
Providence St. Patrick’s RN Sustainability Program Manager Sarah E. Johnson agreed that education was key in success. St. Patrick’s was able to win three Practice Greenhealth awards this year in leadership, waste, and climate, making it one of the top 25 medical organizations in the country for environmental performance.
“To make improvements, start small by educating the staff. The links between climate change and health, health care, and environmental stewardships are all a good base level of education,” Johnson explained. “Sign on with Practice Greenhealth and you can get the resources to do that education and find out what it means to have an environmental stewardship program. From there you can really take a deep dive.”
Another step taken at St. Joseph’s was LED light conversion throughout the hospital, which Wilson described as almost aggressive in some areas. The hospital started with exterior lights and certain sections of the hospital, before replacing other lights simply as they went out.
Finally, a huge energy saving measure was taken simply by improving the efficiency of an existing air handler system. Following installation problems the air handler system ran at maximum capacity for years. Wilson said work was done to improve air flow and it has saved them around $13,000 this past year and improved their energy consumption exponentially.
“We’re proud of the award,” Wilson stated. “We’ll continue to participate in Practice Greenhealth, I think it’s definitely worthwhile to keep track of this information.”
St. Patrick’s Executive Director of Environmental Stewardship and PhD Beth Schenk outlined some of the framework used by Providence medical centers in order to succeed, inviting other medical organizations to do the same. “We use what we call the W.E.A.C.T. framework. This pulls all the aspects a little bit tighter so we can think in bigger buckets,” Schenk said.
The W stands for Waste. As there’s so much waste in healthcare, Schenk explained and a lot can be accomplished with basic recycling and composting, along with trying to avoid single use plastics. The E is for Energy and water, which Schenk describes as a great place to focus as a large amount of greenhouse gasses come from energy, making efficiency all the more important. A is for agriculture and food, with a focus on reducing food waste and decreasing the carbon intensity of meals. C is for chemicals, and while Schenk explains for climate change they really focus on anesthetic agents and nitrous oxide, they also pay attention to “chemicals of concern” that staff and patients are exposed to. Finally, T stands for transportation, where Providence focuses on the efficiency of their fleet vehicles, commutes for staff and patients, and minimizing business travel.
“Providence actually has a goal to be carbon-negative by 2030,” Wilson said, “so this is helping us tremendously in that effort.”
SUMMER GODDARD / VALLEY JOURNAL
Tester, Daines, Rosendale announce reopening of Yellowstone‘s north loop Elk management advisory group to
93% of the park roads open, alternating license plate system suspended
News from the U.S. Congress
Montana — Following continued efforts from Senators Tester and Daines and Congressman Matt Rosendale, the National Park Service announced on June 30 that Yellowstone National Park’s north loop was reopened on Saturday, July 2, effectively opening 93% of roads in the park. The recently implemented Alternating License Plate System (ALPS), which limited traffic in the park, will also be suspended.
“With the reopening of the Yellowstone’s north loop, Montana’s gateway communities are open for business,” said the Montana delegation. “We appreciate the swift work of the Department of Interior and the National Park Service to reopen the park, and we look forward to continuing to work together to spur activity in gateway communities as we recover from recent flooding. This is a great step towards rebuilding, and will provide a needed boost to economies in southwest Montana.”
The Department of Interior announced that Yellowstone National Park’s north loop officially reopened on Saturday, July 2, effectively opening 93% of roads in the park. In addition to roads in the south loop, visitors will now be able to access: Norris Junction to Mammoth Hot Springs; Mammoth Hot Springs to Tower-Roosevelt; and Tower-Roosevelt to Canyon Junction (Dunraven Pass). Visitors can access the south and north loops via the East Entrance (Cody, Wyoming), West Entrance (West Yellowstone, Montana), and South Entrance (Grand Teton/Jackson, Wyoming). Additionally, the park will also be suspending ALPS, opening the park to full visitor capacity.
The North Entrance Road (Gardiner, Montana to Mammoth Hot Springs) and Northeast Entrance Road (Cooke City/Silver Gate, Montana to Tower-Roosevelt) remain closed to visitor vehicular traffic while temporary repairs are completed. Visitors may access the park on foot through these entrances in order to recreate (fish and hike) in areas not identified as closed, and the park will evaluate authorizing bicycle use through these entrances up to damaged road sections in the near future.
meet July 7
News from MT Fish, Wildlife & Parks
HELENA — The Elk Management Citizen Advisory Group will meet via Zoom on July 7 from noon to 5 p.m. The meeting will be streamed on the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks website.
Anyone interested in offering comment during the public comment portion of the meeting must register on the FWP website by noon on July 6.
The group is composed of 12 citizens, selected by FWP, who represent a broad range of viewpoints and experience. The group is tasked with developing a set of recommendations to address elk management issues and improve relationships among stakeholders.
The group’s recommendations will be presented to FWP Director Hank Worsech by July 31.
For more information about the advisory group and to watch the July 7 meeting, go to: https://fwp.mt.gov/ aboutfwp/elk-management-citizen-advisory-group.
HATE YOUR CPAP?
Offering alternative sleep apnea treatments.
PPO Insurance Accepted
Call us today to schedule your complimentary consultation 1-406-883-5544
102 1st Ave East • Polson Proud Community Partner
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” - Winston Churchill
Attention Realtors: Consider having your title work done by a locally owned and operated company dedicated to serving both our clients and our community. Fidelity Title Agency proudly supports our local schools, civic organizations and charities.
We appreciate the opportunity to serve you and your clients!
Fidelity
Title Agency of Lake County
402 First Street East • Suite 101 Polson, Montana 59860 (406) 883-6051
info@lclandco.com
