2014: The Year That Was In Local News

January

• Has Glasgow really been sucked into some vortex that's dropped the temperatures below zero? The easy answer is no. Tanja Fransen, warning coordination meteorologist at National Weather Service Glasgow, explains that this is actually a low pressure system that came down from the North Pole and brought cold weather with it. The Arctic cold front pushed down farther south than usual, which brought colder than average temperatures to much of the nation.

• Resigning one city council seat, the mayor seat of Glasgow came with the quick raise of the hand and the swearing of an oath. Becky Erickson has now officially taken the title to mayor for the New Year. The regular city council meeting took place on Monday, Jan. 6, was packed full of friends and family to witness new positions filled.

• The Growth Policy Glasgow has developed shows that there is a lack of affordable housing in the area. Key findings in the report show that in 2010, around 85 percent of housing in Glasgow was built prior to 1976.

• Additional public input on changing to a four-day school week was received by the Nashua School Board at its regular meeting Monday, Jan. 21 in the Nashua School Library. Brenda Koessl, board chair, stated that the board would not be voting on the issue at the meeting. She commented that board members have been researching the pros and cons of a four day week, versus a five day week.

• With a deadline for Levee plans looming in the next five months, the Levee committee that was set up in December has been working to take action and set plans in order to avoid consequences. The city must have plans to take care of several deficiencies by July to bring it up to Army Corps of Engineer standards. Keeping those standards means being able to accept funds from FEMA to rebuild infrastructures and damage caused by severe flood. If the list of items isn't taken care of, it could mean taxpayers would have to carry flood insurance. Due to several encroachments from the Levee onto property owners, the committee is thinking about proposing to move 1,875 feet of the Levee over and relocate an access road by 538 feet.

February

• With several changes in the healthcare industry, community members showed their concern with possible changes at the Valley County Health Department. The meeting took place after discussion on possible changes at the county health department was brought up. The previous director of health department, Vicky Bell, left her position after nearly three decades in service. When Valley County Commissioner Bruce Peterson started to look into what other counties paid their employees, he found that services provided and the way county health departments were set up varied. He began to look into other ways Valley County could run their health department.

• The truth is that Valley County has seen its share of drug issues. Some of those drug issues have increased from the influence of the Bakken. The oil fields have brought hundreds of workers that have flooded Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota.

• It's a chicken or the egg question. Which came first? Do drug users develop mental problems or do drug users use drugs to deal with their mental problems? The simple answer from most law enforcement, mental health service workers and chemical dependency counselors is both.

• Another two names have been added to the race for Valley County Commissioner District 1. Russell Dahl filed for the seat last week, and Paul Tweten filed to run on Friday. Both are running against Dan Carr. Commissioner Dave Pippin announced at the end of last year that he would not be running again for his position.

• While the city of Glasgow has finished the updated to the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), it now is looking at possible future improvements to the city's Water Treatment Plant (WTP). The city and the water department staff have been collection data and information requested by Morrison-Maierle to prep for the PER. The assessment will give a clear idea on what the water department might be looking at for updates and repairs on a WTP that has parts dating back to the early 1960s.

• Glasgow seniors had a chance to meet last week with U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and Sen. John Walsh. The two passed through Glasgow while visiting with agencies and citizens during their "listening" tour.

March

• Valley County Refuse Board is facing a little pressure after discovering that T&R Trucking, which picks up trash in the county, hadn't been billed for nine months.

• Statistics in Valley County show a startling jump in the last six years in the number of cases involving children being placed in temporary care when drugs are involved. The cases for February 2009 show five involved with drugs out of 12 for the month. Last month, February 2014, that number climbed to 26 cases involved with drugs, out of 42.

• Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell visited the facility (Assiniboine and Sioux Rural Water Supply System) with Sen. Jon Tester at the end of several meetings with Fort Peck Tribes and other tribes in Montana. The tour with tribes was to help Jewell learn what tribal leaders needed, and Tester brought her to visit the water treatment plant to show how well federal funds were spent.

• Anger and frustration were in the air as members of the Glasgow wrestling community voiced their concerns over the temporary reduction in size of the high school wrestling room. The reduction, due to lack of storage as Glasgow High School continues its construction process, caught many parents, wrestlers and supporters off guard as they showed up in full force and packed the room at Wednesday's school board meeting to make sure their concerns were heard.

• A few last minute filings for the county justice of peace added up to six candidates for the position. Christine Gamas, Dave Gorton, Christina Hillman, Ronald Kulczyk, David McLean and Mary Strand will be in the race. After primaries in June, it will only be up to two candidates on the final ballot.

• A large crowd gathered in the cold wind around a mound of dirt at Irle School on Monday, March 24. Student, teachers and school board members shivered in the cold, along with Montana School Superintendent Denise Juneau for a special groundbreaking ceremony. Juneau told the children and others in the crowd that out of 851 schools in the state, Irle Elementary was the only school being built for their community.

• While controversial to some of the parents and families involved, the final vote for a four-day school week came in on Tuesday, March 18. The school board approved the schedule to begin the next year in a 4-1 vote.

April

• Steven Page, part of the Northeastern Montana Veteran Memorial organization, explained that the group is nearing the $400,000 mark. They started with a goal of $300,000 to be raised before the Memorial Day groundbreaking but he said they've been progressively raising the bar. The group started raising funds in November, only five months ago.

• It's a big number, maybe a tough one to swallow. The number is an estimated $7,566,100. That is what Morrison-Mairle Inc. proposed for all the improvements at the water treatment plant in Glasgow.

• NorthWestern has been looking at purchasing 11 hydroelectric units to bring more stability to its power grid. The purchase comes with a $900 million price tag, which would affect the rates for current users. The proposed rates would raise around 8.9 percent as early as Jan. 2015.

• While the news has been heard nationwide, Glasgow heard some of it from Bud Anderson, an independent contractor with TransCanada who works for Western Energy Planning and has been working on the Keystone XL Pipeline project. Glasgow and Valley County are in a position where the pipeline would directly affect the economy and services in the surrounding area. Benefits of the project have been put on hold as the Department of State has sent out a memorandum requesting for more time to allow federal agencies to review the route and as the Nebraska courts decide if state law will allow the pipeline through the state.

• In the month of April, at the Big Dry Angus Ranch bull sale, the McRaes of Jordan, sold a bull at possibly one of the highest prices ever seen locally. The top bull brought in $16,000. The top 10 bulls averaged at $9,825. The average for heifers was $1,410.

• The Milk River Activity Center broke ground for an additional building on Monday, April 28. The $500,000 project has been in planning for over a year.

May

• The city council received the final draft of the System Wide Infrastructure Framework (SWIF) plan and approved sending it to the Army Corps of Engineers at the city council meeting on Monday, April 21. The hope is to have the plan officially approved by the July deadline.

• Valley County had a busy school election as four out of six school districts held elections. The unofficial counts came in on Tuesday, May 6.

• A generous gift that came to the museum from the estate of Lee Niedringhaus a few years ago has allowed the museum to expand. He left $400,000 to the museum in his passing. Mary Helland said that he held a lot of respect for the local museum and had even presented history a few times in the past.

• Residents from Nashua to Fort Peck might have received a knock on the door recently. This is because workers from the state Department of Transportation are preparing for a project that's been in planning for nearly a decade – in their front yard. Shane Mintz, administrator of the Glendive District of DOT, explained that the project is in the acquisition and appraisal stage. They are buying land from owners along Highway 117 to help widen and straighten out the road next summer. The construction is part of a federal aid project expected to cost around $15 million.

• While Congressman Steve Daines stopped in several towns in Northeastern Montana to focus on economics and energy, he focused half of his visit to Glasgow on the city's Levee issue. He arrived for an hour in Glasgow on Friday, May 16.

• At the March 17 city council meeting the committee reported to the council that issues with a section of Highland Cemetery that was never supposed to have standing headstones had more than 40 of them standing. The city ordinance was not followed as family members buried their loved ones next to flat stones.

• A celebration of a new memorial was also a time to salute the fallen. Some 800 people gathered at the Fort Peck Theatre on Monday, May 26, to listen to the speakers, give honor to the fallen and celebrate the soon-to-be Northeast Montana Veterans Memorial Park. The event brought speakers Navy SEAL Robert O'Neill, former Gov. Marc Racicot, Maj. Gen. Matthew Quinn and attorney Clifford Edwards, who read a letter from Tom Brokaw.

June

• Absentee ballots were counted and voters headed to the polls on June 3 for primaries. Two major local races were decided on who would continue onto the main vote in November.

• A decision made by a judge late last week could make an impact for St. Marie Development Corporation of MT. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ralph B. Kirscher ruled Thursday, June 5, that the filing for bankruptcy would be dismissed for various reasons.

• Local VFW Post 3107 member Art Widhalm was elected and sworn in as the Montana State Commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars at its 92nd annual convention in Great Falls on Sunday, June 15.

• The Courier won four awards in the 2013 Montana Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Contest in Butte last weekend, including publisher Jim Orr's first place showing for best headline writing in Division 2. Also winning for The Courier were retired editor Samar Fay with second place for best feature story, news reporter Bonnie Davidson with third place for best feature story, and Orr with third place for best sports story.