[news]
WEEK IN REVIEW
VIEWFINDER
by Cathrine L. Walters
Wednesday, June 26 Suspects break into the Missoula Bible Church on Highway 10 West and steal tools, bolt cutters and, according to law enforcement, “various engine fluids.” The items are loaded into a van that’s also stolen.
Thursday, June 27 State Insurance Commissioner Monica Lindeen approves the acquisition of Montana’s largest private insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield, to Illinois-based Health Care Services. Lindeen says the deal will help keep premiums down.
Friday, June 28 Missoula County deputy Jonathan Stineford shoots a suspect outside a Toole Avenue casino. Law enforcement says the suspect, Harry Louis Steven VanPelt, 37, is noncompliant and appears to be reaching for something before Stineford fires.
Saturday, June 29 Kettlehouse and the Top Hat pull off a doozy of an evening: five courses of Top Hat menu items prepared by head chef Erin Crobar and paired with different brews. Kettlehouse’s Al Pils says the two businesses hope to make the event a regular thing.
Sunday, June 30 Rising temperatures are blamed for a power outage that affects roughly 4,000 people in the Linda Vista and Whitaker Drive areas on Missoula’s Southside. NorthWestern Energy says it’s adjusted its equipment to prevent future outages.
Monday, July 1 Missoula officials decide to skip a primary election and instead proceed directly to the November 5 citywide vote. Officials cite a desire to get to know candidates seeking office and avoid the roughly $70,000 cost of holding a primary.
Tuesday, July 2 Two women allegedly assault a man who confronts them at a Frenchtown home about harassing his girlfriend. Deputies say they arrive to find the women caring for two babies and with blood alcohol concentrations more than three times the legal driving limit.
A Bell model 206L-3 firefighting helicopter crashed into the Clark Fork Friday afternoon while its pilot was trying to earn his recertification with the U.S. Forest Service. Neither the pilot nor the other passenger suffered any serious injuries in the incident.
Glacier
Filling the gaps With Glacier National Park facing a $682,000 budget reduction for 2013, one of the park’s nonprofit partners has stepped up efforts this year to execute a slate of projects that could help fill in the gaps created by sequestration. The Glacier National Park Conservancy has already raised roughly $300,000 to fund several new undertakings including replacing the Hidden Lake outhouse and monitoring sensitive golden eagle and black swift populations. In late June, the organization announced its latest major donation: $50,000 from the Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railway Foundation. Jane Ratzlaff, executive director of outreach for the park, says this year’s projects are “very different than what we’ve seen in the past.” “We would never have done outhouses in the past,” Ratzlaff says. “We did, for the first year ever, help plow the road. So there’s definitely projects that are not as historically just visitor oriented.” Sequestration hit the nation’s park system hard this year. Officials at Glacier feared that cuts to the
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budget would hamper efforts to plow snow and cause the park to open two weeks late. Public Affairs Officer Denise Germann says the GNPC’s greatest contribution to sequester-related setbacks this year was a commitment of up to $10,000 to fund overtime for plowing crews on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. “As a routine matter, they don’t help us with basebudget issues or base-budget funding,” Germann says. “But in this particular case, it’s a one-time incident.” Not all of the GNPC’s projects this year are looking to fill immediate funding needs, however. Ratzlaff says the park had an eye to cost-saving in the long term when it submitted a list of priority projects for the nonprofit’s consideration this year. As a result, GNPC will be funding an upgrade to the printer used to produce interpretive signs throughout the park. Ratzlaff adds that, this year in particular, finding donors hasn’t been a problem. “Donors are stepping up very nicely this year, because they do realize the park has to tighten their belt and yet they want to see those trails open, they want to see the interp programs happening,” Ratzlaff says. “Our visitors still want those services, so they understand that they may just have to play a bigger role.” Alex Sakariassen
Missoula’s New Urban Bohemian Home Store
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[6] Missoula Independent • July 4 – July 11 , 2013
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Politics
Beating Brian In late May, former state Sen. Ryan Zinke teased a bid for higher office in 2014. The news wasn’t particularly shocking. Montana politicos were lining up fast after Sen. Max Baucus announced his plans for retirement, and Zinke, a Republican from Whitefish, had already hinted that he might run against Baucus before anyone knew the seat would be open. But then Zinke’s acknowledgment that “I always stand ready to serve” was touted on the website for Special Operations for America, the super PAC that Zinke chairs. And curiously enough, SOFA had recently changed its committee status with the Federal Election Commission, reflecting an intent to support or oppose only a single candidate for federal office. SOFA’s status change prompted a letter from the FEC in late May requesting information on the candidate the organization intended to target. SOFA Treasurer Scott Hommel says the switch was little more than a clerical error, and records show the group amended its status this week. But Zinke, the Seal Team Six veteran who lost the 2012 Republican primary for lieutenant governor alongside Neil Livingstone, confirmed