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women have put off a gynecologic or birth control visit in the past year to save money, and the same proportion reported having a harder time paying for birth control than they did in the past. The trend has led Planned Parenthood Federation of America to merge seven locations around the country with others. The number of outright closures was unavailable as of press time. Cogswell says the Kalispell clinic, which opened four years ago during the Flathead Valley’s economic and population boom, saw about 1,500 patients last year, compared to the more than 5,000 patients the Missoula clinic sees annually. Three of the clinic’s four staffers will lose their jobs. The clinic manager will be employed at the Missoula location following the closing. In the meantime, the Kalispell clinic’s goal, Cogswell says, will be to refer its patients to appropriate providers. She expects many will find care at the Flathead Community Health Center, a federally funded facility similar to Missoula’s Partnership Health Center. Its success, in fact, and the success of other health clinics like it, have contributed to Planned Parenthood’s closures and consolidations nationwide, Cogswell says. Matthew Frank
Economy
Tourism tax in trouble Local hoteliers are working to thwart an attempt by the Missoula Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) to tack a 75-cent-pernight room charge onto stays within city limits. “I think it’s way too much,” says John Burns, owner of the Clark Fork Inn. “It will hurt everyone’s business.” The 2007 Montana Legislature opened the door for cities to create tourism improvement districts. Since then, Billings, Bozeman, Great Falls and Helena have created their own, using money from the tax on new marketing campaigns to lure travelers. According to Missoula CVB Executive Director Barbara Neilan, the estimated $500,000 raised annually in Missoula would pay for promotional materials and sales staff to push tourism amenities. So far, the Missoula Area Economic Development Council and some hotels, including the Best Western Grant Creek Inn, have voiced support for the tax in recent
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Ochenski
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City Council meetings. “The idea is to generate new moneys for Missoula, overall,” Neilan says. But budget motel owners argue the fee would affect them disproportionately, jacking up their per-room charge as much as 3 percent on top of a statewide 7-percent bed tax. They
argue pricier competitors would barely see a blip. “I think they should make it more equitable,” says Al Arneson, owner of the Quality Inn Econo Lodge in Missoula. Critics argue increased paperwork would also force business owners to perform additional administrative tasks, potentially ratcheting costs up even further. As it stands, Missoula City Clerk Marty Rehbein reports that more than half of local hoteliers protest the tourism district, enough to meet a statutory requirement to halt the process. But the tax can’t officially be derailed until the Missoula City Council revisits the issue during a yet-to-be scheduled meeting. That means hoteliers still have time to change their minds—and Neilan hasn’t given up the fight. “Never say die,” she says. Neilan says Missoula CVB is now examining ways to find consensus, including a possible sliding fee rather that a flat room charge. “We are trying very hard to find an answer,” she says. Jessica Mayrer
Agenda
News Quirks
Recreation
ATVs blocked in BTM A group of snowmobilers, motorcyclists and ATV riders filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service two weeks ago, claiming a travel plan that prohibits motorized use in the Badger-Two Medicine (BTM) area adjacent to Glacier National Park infringes on the Blackfeet tribe’s right to use the land—even though the tribe supports the plan. The plaintiffs, including seven individuals and three motorized use organizations, argue that the plan violates Blackfeet tribal members’ rights by denying them access to land guaranteed to them under an 1895 treaty, and violates all of their rights by enacting a recreation ban “that can only be enforced against non-Blackfeet Tribal members on the basis of race.” In March, the Lewis and Clark National Forest released its travel plan for the 129,520-acre area. Forest Supervisor Leslie “Spike” Thompson closed 182 of its 189 miles of trails to all motorized vehicles, citing the cultural and spiritual significance of the area to the Blackfeet tribe. The tribe owned the land until 1896, when it sold 800,000 acres of its reservation to the U.S. government for $1.5 million— land that today makes up part of Glacier National Park and the BTM. But the treaty preserved the tribe’s rights to use the land for purposes such as timber extraction, hunting and fishing. With that history in mind, the Forest Service worked with the tribal government to incorporate its interests into the travel plan. It wasn’t only the tribe, though, that sought non-motorized use. The proposed plan drew 35,500 public comments, and Thompson says the consensus was clear. “The majority, by far, supported pretty much non-motorized use across the Rocky Mountain Ranger District,” he says. Depending on how the U.S. District Court in Great Falls decides, Blackfeet Tribal Business Council Chairman Willie Sharp says it could set a precedent within the state. “When we get [a ruling],” he says, “it’s going to affect every other Montana tribe and their cultural access.”
BY THE NUMBERS
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Record low temperature set in Missoula Oct. 12, breaking the 2002 record of 22 degrees.
etc. Flathead County prosecutors ended a prolonged, courtimposed silence last week and finally filed charges of criminal endangerment and two counts of negligent vehicular assault against state Sen. Greg Barkus, R-Kalispell. For those adrift at sea the past six weeks, the charges come after Barkus crashed his boat Aug. 27 into the rocky shore of Wayfarers State Park, injuring all five aboard, including U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg. A Rehberg staffer and University of Montana alumnus, Dustin Frost, sustained a severe brain injury that kept him in a coma for 10 days. According to the charges, Barkus’ boat was not equipped with proper lighting, was traveling approximately 40 mph, and Barkus’ blood alcohol content nearly two hours after the crash registered .16, or twice the legal limit. Right about now, Barkus might be feeling a little anchorless, hunkered down in his Kalispell home awaiting his Oct. 26 arraignment. But Barkus is hardly alone. In fact, he’s only one of an alarming number of elected officials accused of boozing and driving each year in the United States. Take Tennessee Rep. Rob Briley, who had his 2007 arrest posted on YouTube. The chairman of the state’s House Judiciary Committee took police on a 100-mile chase before stopping his rig and finishing his drink at gunpoint, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. Then there’s New Hampshire Sen. William Denley, who resigned this year after his third drunk driving arrest, according to news reports. Those following Barkus’ history may remember that Lake County officers charged him in 2004 with driving under the influence—a charge later reduced to reckless driving—after pulling over his white Corvette going nearly 20 mph over the speed limit. Regardless, Barkus told the Associated Press last week that he planned to finish out his term. Another instructive example comes from closer to home. Officers caught then-Montana Rep. Scott Boggio, R-Red Lodge, driving over a curb one Saturday night in 2007. Boggio blew a .14. Boggio’s passenger, Elsie Arntzen, a Republican legislator from Billings and a member of the Yellowstone County DUI Task Force, said she had no idea Boggio was toasted—just as Rehberg claimed he thought Barkus was sober the night of his accident. But more important with the Boggio example, the state legislator issued a public apology for his actions. Barkus has yet to express any remorse for what he did on Aug. 27. Despite evidence to the contrary, Barkus maintains he wasn’t sloshed that night, and his attorney says the blood alcohol reading is flat-out wrong. Let the courts decide that, but we’d like to at least hear Barkus acknowledge some accountability for launching his boat onto the shore and putting his passengers in harm’s way.
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Missoula Independent
Page 7 October 15–October 22, 2009