[news]
WEEK IN REVIEW
VIEWFINDER
by Cathrine L. Walters
Wednesday, November 6 After weeks of speculation surrounding his potential candidacy, freshman Republican Rep. Steve Daines announces that he’ll run in 2014 to replace outgoing Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, who’s retiring after six terms in office.
Thursday, November 7 Former Tot Town Daycare Center owner Melanie Hoke pleads no contest to failing to report child abuse. The charges stem from a July 2012 incident during which Tot Town staffers left a 4-year-old boy unattended in a van for two hours while they watched a movie.
Friday, November 8 Missoula Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Jenks is sworn in to serve her four-year term. Jenks, the incumbent, beat Missoula attorney Mark McLaverty by 630 votes in the recent citywide election.
Saturday, November 9 Stephen Wayne Farley, 51, allegedly kicks three Missoula County Sheriff’s Office deputies who are trying to take him into custody after he’s caught speeding on Highway 10. Law enforcement says Farley refused a Breathalyzer test, tossed a pot pipe out his car window and attempted to take one officer’s gun.
Sunday, November 10 Two suspects wearing black ski masks rob the Quality Inn & Suites on North Reserve Street. The duo ties up a hotel employee at knifepoint and leaves the clerk in a closet before taking off with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Monday, November 11 Dozens attend a special meeting held by the Billings School District to deliberate a parent’s request to remove The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie from a required reading list. The majority of the attendees defend Alexie’s book.
Tuesday, November 12 Montana State University’s Renne Library receives a manuscript handwritten by a mining engineer exploring the Montana Territory in 1869. The text contains the earliest known written description of what would later become Yellowstone National Park.
U.S. Army Spc. Veronica Alfaro, an Iraq war veteran, fixes Garrett Dutton’s hair moments before the 32nd annual veteran remembrance ceremony at the Missoula County Courthouse on Nov. 11. The four volunteers stood at attention throughout the ceremony wearing historic uniforms.
Labor
Electrician calls work unsafe On Oct. 30, a former Missoula Electrical Cooperative employee filed a complaint with the Montana Department of Labor alleging that the electricity provider, which serves seven counties and last year generated $19.5 million in revenue, has routinely performed substandard work, potentially endangering MEC customers and employees. According to the complaint filed by former MEC Master Electrician Jon Cruson, who worked for the cooperative for 12 years, MEC in 2010 began regularly directing insufficiently trained employees to perform tasks required by law to be conducted by a master electrician. Cruson alleges that using linemen, rather than the more experienced master electrician, made for dangerous conditions. For example, linemen replaced 100amp “meter loops,” or service connections, with 200-amp conduits, despite limitations on residential electrical loads. As Cruson explained in an email to the Independent, “This means that if more than 100 amps of load are applied to that wire, it would overheat and
[6] Missoula Independent • November 14–November 21, 2013
burn up. (It could) potentially start a fire and burn the structure down ...” Because Cruson was the master electrician, the alleged legal and safety violations jeopardized his license and left him vulnerable to criminal and civil penalties. In the DOL complaint and in a civil lawsuit filed last summer, Cruson says that he made repeated attempts during a three-year period to draw attention to MEC practices. However, as Cruson’s Missoula attorney David Berkoff says, “He was basically told to go stand in a corner.” In response, MEC attorney David B. Cotner denies that the company performed unsafe or unlawful work. “There are no risk issues that exist,” Cotner says, adding that he’s confident the cooperative will be cleared through ongoing legal proceedings. “We are a believer that the system can flesh out all of the facts and the truth and get to the appropriate resolution of all issues.” MEC is asking the court to dismiss the complaint and to cover its attorney fees, arguing in a July court filing that, “The Co-op’s actions were not reckless, wanton, fraudulent or malicious ...” Cruson says that he was forced to resign from his position to ensure that his electrical license remain in good standing. He’s asking the DOL to investigate the
cooperative and also refer the case to the Missoula County Attorney’s Office for prosecution. If MEC management is found to have violated the law, at least two officials could face penalties of six months in prison and a $1,000 fine. Jessica Mayrer
Infrastructure
Montana Contractors peeved The Montana Contractors’ Association is calling upon Missoula officials to shelve their planned purchase of a new asphalt paver—a roughly $250,000 expense— until the city demonstrates that it can perform infrastructure projects more efficiently than private enterprise. “They have yet to produce one shred of data or analysis,” says Cary Hegreberg, executive director of the Montana Contractors’ Association, which represents roughly 300 members. “That’s what we’re asking for.” On Oct. 22, Hegreberg wrote a sharply worded letter to Missoula Mayor John Engen that cited the city’s paving last summer of the Rattlesnake/University Crossing Trail, better known as RUX, as one example of a