[news]
WEEK IN REVIEW
VIEWFINDER
by Tommy Martino
Wednesday, June 5 The Missoula City Council continues a discussion about preserving the city’s aging urban forest. The next step, council members say, is for volunteers to inventory area trees, thereby gauging health and location.
Thursday, June 6 Glacier National Park rangers rescue a 23year-old man who, after falling out of a raft, is stranded on a rock in the middle of Upper McDonald Creek. The man is uninjured but is cited for boating in an area that’s been closed to protect nesting harlequin ducks.
Friday, June 7 A .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol is stolen from a car parked at the National Guard Armory near the Wye. The Missoula Sheriff’s Department asks individuals with information about the Springfield Armory XD-S to call Crime Stoppers.
Saturday, June 8 After chilly weather delays Splash Montana’s season opening for more than two weeks, Missoula’s water park, featuring three water slides and a 50-meter lap pool, officially welcomes visitors to mark summer’s unofficial start.
Sunday, June 9 Sunday Streets Missoula closes off a large stretch of the Westside to vehicles, making room for roadway activities, including a massive version of the board game Settlers of Catan, mini folf and on-site pet adoptions. The event aims to encourage non-motorized transportation.
Monday, June 10 Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg tells those gathered to hear him speak during this month’s City Club Luncheon that the federal government should focus on sexual assault in its own ranks rather than attempting to bully Missoula law enforcement.
Tuesday, June 11 The Missoula County Sheriff’s Department stages an “active shooter” crime scene at Bonner School. County-provided training literature explains that in light of an “alarming rate” of school shootings, they hope to “maximize the initial efforts of educators and staff to afford the best chance of survival.”
Warm spring weather beckoned many boaters, like kayaker Tom Perry, to Brennan's Wave on the Clark Fork river Sunday afternoon.
Electricity
Criminal justice
The shooter next door John Moffatt never thought he would ever live so close to the man who shot him at a Lewistown high school almost 30 years ago. On Dec. 4, 1986, Kristofer Hans shot and killed Henrietta Smith, a teacher at Fergus High School, and wounded Moffatt. Hans, who was 14 years old at the time, was sentenced to more than 200 years in prison. It was the longest sentence ever handed down in Fergus County. Since Hans’ conviction and Moffatt’s physical recovery from being shot in the abdomen that day, the two have taken long but separate journeys. Moffatt and his family took one of forgiveness. Hans recently made significant steps of his own when the Montana Board of Parole and Pardons granted him the opportunity to participate in a series of work-release programs that may eventually lead him to freedom in 2015. Moffatt says that in the latest parole hearing, he decided he would accept whatever outcome the board handed down. He was, however, caught off guard when Fern Johnson, executive director of the Montana Board
[6] Missoula Independent • June 13 – June 20 , 2013
of Parole and Pardons, told him that Hans had been accepted at the Missoula Prerelease Center, barely a mile away from where the Moffatts now live. Johnson says that Hans could be placed in another prerelease facility, but she was not aware of any that had accepted him. Moffatt says he feels that Hans deserves his chance at rehabilitation and, eventually, a return to society. But Moffatt hadn’t considered the situation of living so close to him. “I can’t say there’s not a little bit of unease,” Moffatt says. Moffatt’s wife, Maggie, says she would prefer to see him placed in another facility further away. When Hans eventually qualifies for leave passes from the prerelease center, she adds, the possibility of accidentally running into him somewhere in Missoula is a disturbing notion. “He knows we’re here,” Maggie says. “I want him to be successful, but there is that fear too.” As of press time, Hans was still in Deer Lodge, awaiting completion of the final administrative steps toward prerelease. Mike Gerrity
Utility accused of unsafe work In May 2010, former Missoula Electric Cooperative employee Jon Cruson was dismayed when he discovered allegedly substandard cable trenches and meter connections that violated safety standards at an MEC installation project for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks in Placid Lake. “It’s a serious issue,” says Cruson’s Missoula attorney David Berkoff. “Nobody likes to be placed in that situation.” According to MEC operating reports, the Missoulabased utility last year generated more than $19 million in energy sales across seven counties in Montana and Idaho. On June 6, Cruson filed a lawsuit against MEC alleging the company routinely violates state and federal electrical codes by allowing unqualified staffers to perform tasks. According to the suit, MEC was “motivated in part by defendants’ desire to reduce costs, workload, or it was done out of pure laziness.” The lawsuit contends that MEC hired Cruson in 2001 as a master electrician, a position that under Montana law prohibits him from allowing anyone else to per-