Enterprise photo by Angela Schneider
	Lily, a yellow Laborador, shakes water off herself as her owner, Sara Handl, waits to throw a ball into the Livingston City swimming pool Sunday during Stafford Animal Shelter's Bark in the Park. The event, which took place in and around the Miles Park bandshell area, included Best Costume, Best Trick and swimming pool competitions.

Following are the week's top stories. This digest is updated once a week, by early Friday evening.

Published 1.23.2010

Driver sentenced for high-speed chase
By Camden Easterling, Enterprise Staff Writer

A Minnesota man will spend the next five years with the Montana Department of Corrections for his admission to leading law enforcement officers on a high-speed chase while using methamphetamine.

Chad Richard Danneman, 31, of Slayton, Minn., was sentenced Monday in Sixth Judicial District Court. Earlier this month, he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of criminal endangerment. Park County prosecutors agreed to dismiss additional felony and misdemeanor charges against him in exchange for his guilty plea to the endangerment allegation.

District Court Judge Nels Swandal on Monday ordered Danneman to spend five years with the DOC and said he would recommend state officials start him off at a lock-down drug treatment facility.

Once a person is turned over to the DOC, department staff determine where to place a person and consider options ranging from boot camp to prison.

Danneman must also pay more than $3,100 in restitution that includes costs for damage he caused to Park County Sheriff’s Office vehicles.

In May, Danneman led Park and Sweet Grass county law enforcement officials on a high-speed chase on Interstate 90 between Big Timber and Livingston. He allegedly initially drove away from Sweet Grass County Sheriff’s Office members after a Big Timber convenience store clerk complained to law enforcement that he was causing a disturbance over the store not accepting an out-of-state check.

Danneman eventually blew out his two front tires after hitting spike strips that had been set up on I-90 in Park County, local law enforcement officials have said. Danneman reportedly slowed down to 50 to 60 mph after blowing his tires but continued driving, including crossing into an oncoming lane, until deputies used their cars to box him in and force him to stop.

“I’d like to apologize to anyone whose life I put in danger that day,” Danneman said in court Monday. “I would not have done it had I not been using drugs.”

During a court appearance earlier this month, Danneman said he was under the influence of methamphetamine during the chase.

Bozeman senior care center leaves woman behind at ranch rodeo
By Camden Easterling, Enterprise Staff Writer

The Park County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an incident in which a woman with dementia allegedly was left behind at a ranch rodeo by her senior living group.

On Sunday afternoon the Sheriff’s Office received a report from Highgate Senior Living, located in Bozeman, that staff had taken some seniors to the Wilsall Ranch Rodeo, according to records at the Park County 911 Dispatch Center. Upon returning to Bozeman, staff realized a member who has dementia was left at the event, according to dispatch records.

The woman was on the bus at one point but apparently later got off the bus unbeknownst to Highgate staff, Highgate Senior Living Executive Director Michelle Baker said Monday.

Two staff members accompanied the group of 11 residents, Baker said.

A deputy found the woman less than an hour after law enforcement received the call, according to dispatch records. She was found near the perimeter of the rodeo grounds uninjured and not in distress, Baker said.

Park County Undersheriff Scott Hamilton said Monday the matter is under investigation but that he could not release additional information.

Baker said Highgate is working with the Sheriff’s Office on the investigation and that the center will review its own protocols and procedures.

“We’re definitely going to take a look at the guidelines that we follow here to do our best to make sure it doesn’t reoccur,” Baker said.

Stolen etching found in shop
By Wes Venteicher, Enterprise Staff Writer

After several household items were stolen from a storage shed on her property two years ago, Livingston resident Joan Bozlee continued searching her home and the shed for three glass etchings crafted by her father before his death, hoping she had misplaced them.

“But as time was going on, I realized they were definitely not at my residence,” Bozlee said.

Her father bequeathed the etched pieces to her and her children before he died of cancer a couple years ago.

She began perusing antique shops and stopping at the occasional garage sale to search for the etchings.

A few weeks ago, Bozlee parked after hours outside Juhnke’s Montana Junk and Antiques, on Main Street in Livingston, and saw an etched profile of an American Indian through a store window.

Bozlee returned to the store the next day and found her name written on the back of the etching. Store owner Debbie Juhnke gave her the etching.

“I’ve known Debbie for years — she was ecstatic,” Bozlee said.

Bozlee called the discovery of the etching “a fluke,” but speculates perhaps the piece was trying to find her too.

Juhnke told Bozlee she purchased the etching at a garage sale two years ago. The etching sat in the back of the store until recently, when Juhnke picked the piece up and leaned it against the front window, where Bozlee spotted it.

“One day I just grabbed it,” Juhnke said. “I don’t have any idea what possessed me.”

Finding the etching prompted Bozlee to ramp up efforts to locate the other two lost pieces.

She contacted the Livingston Police Department, and was told the matter is under investigation.

One of the lost etchings depicts a bugling elk, while the other portrays an American Indian on horseback spearing a buffalo, Bozlee said. The etchings had Bozlee’s name written on them when they were taken.

Bozlee said her father worked as a dairy manager in Deer Lodge, where she grew up, and etched as a hobby. He sold some of his work in the Deer Lodge area.

Each of the etchings took about two months for her father to complete, she said.

Contact Joan Bozlee with any information regarding the etchings at 220-0083 or joanhelenb@hotmail.com.

Man who fought with cops may go to state boot camp
By Enterprise Staff

A Bozeman man could be headed to boot camp for assaulting two Livingston police officers.

Ryan Douglas Johnson, 25, was sentenced in Sixth Judicial District Court Monday to five years with the Montana Department of Corrections, with a recommendation from District Court Judge Nels Swandal that he initially be placed in a boot camp program. DOC staff members make the final determination of what kind of program to put people in.

His time will run concurrently with a sentence he recently received for a felony criminal mischief charge in Gallatin County.

On Monday, Johnson pleaded guilty to assault on a peace officer and attempted criminal mischief, both felonies. The assault charge states that Johnson repeatedly struck two officers, according to court records.

In February, two Livingston Police Department officers pursued Johnson on foot in the area of Livingston’s B Street underpass. A person had called police after seeing Johnson trying to damage vehicles in the Montana Auto Traders parking lot at the top of the underpass, court papers state.

During the pursuit, Johnson hit both officers and was himself injured during the scuffles, according to court documents.

In court Monday, Johnson told Swandal that he was “drinking excessively” and didn’t recall why he was trying to damage vehicles in the lot.

Board gives nod to wind farm power lines near airport
By Wes Venteicher, Enterprise Staff Writer

The Joint City-County Airport Board on Tuesday conditionally approved a proposal by wind farm developers to construct power lines and other structures on private property within the Park County Airport Affected Area of Mission Field Airport.

The board gave prelimary approval to Sagebrush Energy, an alternative energy development company from Jackson, Wyo., to construct poles, lines and structures that will transmit electricity and information. The facilities would be built on part of a 14,000-foot oval radius surrounding the runway, which constitutes the Airport Affected Area.

The wind turbines themselves would be outside the Affected Area, according to the Sagebrush proposal.

Sagebrush Energy in July announced plans to develop a $50 million wind farm, with eight to 11 turbines standing about 430 feet tall to the tip of a propeller blade, on the Mission and Karell ranches. The wind farm could produce about as much energy each year as Park County uses in a year, developers have said. Some neighbors have objected to the project because they say it will spoil views, while others have supported it.

The company, still in the early stages of developing the project, has not set a date for breaking ground.

Sagebrush has not yet provided exact locations of the poles or facilities to be built. The board granted approval on the condition that Sagebrush show final plans at least 15 days prior to construction, demonstrating exact locations of facilities and compliance with airport affected area height restrictions.

The Federal Aviation Administration restricts the height of structures within Airport Affected Areas to 130 feet. Sagebrush plans to install poles averaging 60 feet tall, with a few reaching heights of up to 100 feet where the line crosses low points in the land, Sagebrush Planner Ross Keogh said during the meeting.

Other facilities, including a substation, would house controls to remotely alter the direction of the turbine propellers to collect more or less wind as needed, Sagebrush Energy Vice President Ben Ellis said. The substation would also include metering equipment to monitor the wind and a disconnect function for safety.

As they considered the Sagebrush proposal, some Airport Board members balked at the preliminary nature of the development company’s plans. Board members questioned giving Sagebrush permission for engineering before the company provided exact locations for the poles and structures to be built.

But preliminary approval of the Airport Board was not technically necessary for Sagebrush to develop engineering plans on the ranches, said Park County Planner Mike Inman at the meeting. Sagebrush needs only to comply with the height regulations of the Airport Affected Area before getting final approval for construction, Inman said.

If the wind project progresses to the point where engineering plans are completed, Ray Sundling, chairman of the board and designated enforcement officer for aviation regulations, would need to approve the plans, Inman said.

Ellis said he sought preliminary board approval in an effort to keep the project on the public record, and to prevent possible future administrative delays if the chairman or board were to adopt a strategy of repeatedly postponing a final decision.

When board members had their questions answered and concerns resolved, they voted to give conditional approval for construction of the transmission facilities.

Angling looking good on the Yellowstone River
By Wes Venteicher, Enterprise Staff Writer

Enterprise photo by Angela Schneider

Arno Laubscher, left, of South Africa, casts a line while fishing with Tom Travis, center, of Livingston and Oscar Feliu, of Chile, at Mayor's Landing, Tuesday morning.

The Yellowstone River — called fickle by many who fish it — has on the whole delivered a solid summer fishing season, Park County fishing guides said this week.

Guides reported plenty of trout to go around and expect summer fishing success to continue into the fall. And on the business side of things, bookings this season were up from last summer.

“Bookings have been up all summer,” said John Bailey of Dan Bailey Fly Shop in Livingston. “Some days we can’t even find (enough) guides.”

“Normal water conditions and much better temperatures” helped anglers pull increased numbers of brown, cutthroat and rainbow trout from the Yellowstone this summer, Bailey said.

In recent years, August fishing faltered because of droughts and heat-related restrictions, such as no-fishing zones on the river, he said.

Three years of good snow pack and ample water from runoff could also be responsible for the quality of fishing on the Yellowstone this summer, said Guide-booking Manager Doug McKnight of Anderson’s Yellowstone Angler in Livingston.

“The fishing has been good and continues to be very good,” McKnight said. “Hoppers have been good and (the fish) have been chowing down on streamers and nymphs.”

September draws a different crowd than the summer months, McKnight said. More serious anglers, people without children, retirees and “people who like less crowds” are likely to hit the river in the early fall, he said.

Compared to summer, fall fishing will be quieter during morning and good in the afternoon, said Matson Rogers, owner of Angler’s West in Emigrant. Rogers hopes for a good blue-winged olive hatch and expects good streamer fishing for brown trout.

But the weather always plays a big part in fishing on the Yellowstone, Matson said.

“On an undammed river like this, you take what Mother Nature gives you,” he said.

Good conditions have contributed to the increase in bookings because people can monitor conditions on the Internet, Bailey said.

He also credited an improving economy.

“Last year, people were still going fishing but questioned whether or not they would hire guides,” he said. “This year, they’re hiring guides.”

Plus, anglers this summer booked further in advance than they did last summer, guides said.

“September has been heavily booked around Montana since spring,” Bailey said.

Dogs kill 29 turkeys off Tana Lane
By Camden Easterling, Enterprise Staff Writer

The Park County Sheriff’s Office has detained one dog after a farmer lost his turkeys to canines Wednesday evening.

Around 8:15 p.m., law enforcement responded to a farm on Tana Lane, outside city limits on Livingston’s northeast side.

“They found 29 turkeys dead, no survivors,” Undersheriff Scott Hamilton said Thursday.

The Sheriff’s Office periodically gets calls about killing farm animals, but “29 is a higher number than I’m used to seeing,” Hamilton said.

The turkeys belonged to Mark Rehder, who runs the nonprofit organization Farms For Families that produces food and provides farming education.

Rehder said he was at the Livingston Farmers Market when a neighbor called him to say dogs were in his turkey building. The dogs apparently dug underneath the building, then killed the birds, Rehder said.

The turkeys were expensive, rare breeds he was raising as a starter group from which to breed future groups, Rehder said. He’s now lost a whole season because he can’t start a new group until next year, he said.

The dogs, though, did not bother his chickens, which he has up for sale, Rehder said.

One dog, a black Labrador mix, ran off but the other was friendly and hung around the farm until deputies arrived, Rehder said.

“That suspect dog is being detained,” Hamilton said.

A deputy took the canine to the Stafford Animal Shelter, according Park County 911 Dispatch Center records. A shelter employee on Thursday said the dog is a female, black and white mixed breed, about 1 year old.

Hamilton declined to comment on how long the dog will be detained, saying the Sheriff’s Office is investigating and will turn the matter over to the Park County Attroney’s officer for possible prosecution. He said he did not have information about where the dogs came from or to whom they belong.

Rehder said he’s frustrated with the situation and would like Park County to address animal control as a general issue, not just one specific to his loss.

“Basically it comes down to people letting their dogs run free,” he said.

Regarding his killed turkeys, Rehder said he doesn’t advocate euthanizing the perpetrators. He instead wants restitution to replace his turkeys and wants people to keep track of their dogs.

“I don’t want to be the one to say what happens to their dogs,” he said. “I just don’t want them to be on my property.”

Downtown tax could help business
By Wes Venteicher, Enterprise Staff Writer

A majority of downtown Livingston commercial property owners now support an effort to charge every downtown commercial owner annual fees to pay for improvements and promotion in the downtown area.

The owners of just over 50 percent of downtown commercial property had signed petition to support a Business Improvement District in Livingston as of Wednesday.

A 60 percent majority is needed to assess 100 percent of property owners within the proposed BID, which reaches from approximately Fifth Street to C Street and from Geyser Street to just north of the railroad tracks, according to Vision Livingston secretary Amber Fowler.

If implemented, the BID would draw about $68,000 per year, based upon a 5 cents per square foot levy every year, for 10 years.

Vision Livingston Downtown Partnership has spearheaded the effort, collecting signed petitions to present to the Livingston City Commission, which must approve the creation of the district.

The BID is designed to fund projects that would support economic development by promoting and improving downtown, Vision Livingston board members said.

Board members could not say what exactly the money would pay for because specific proposals will not be collected until the BID is formed.

“The BID will keep downtown vibrant and strong,” board member Dan Schmidt said.

Members said the money could be spent on things like snow removal, sidewalk upkeep, bike racks, trash containers, plants and benches. The money could fund grant writing for projects such as restoring historical facades, or be used to fund Livingston promotional events such as Crazy Days and Christmas Stroll.

The money would not pay for any salaried administrative positions, board members said.

Some downtown property owners who haven’t signed petitions said they would like a better description of how the money will be spent.

“My concern is execution — I haven’t seen that in the past,” said John Bailey of Dan Bailey Fly Shop.

Bailey said when he joined a street light district he knew what he would be getting — new lights — but the purpose of the BID is less clear.

John Sullivan, owner of the Livingston Enterprise and several other properties on or near South Main Street, said he had reservations concerning the BID.

“Economic development means different things to different people,” he said. “We have had those efforts in this town before and have had very little to show for the money spent on economic development.”

Responding to the criticism of vague spending intentions, Vision Livingston Secretary Amber Fowler referred to the adaptive nature of the BID.

“The reason it’s vague is we need business leaders in the community to step up — they’re going to be the ones making the decisions,” she said.

If they collect enough petitions, Vision Livingston will present a proposal to the city commission. According to Montana’s “Business Improvement District Act,” the commission approves or denies the proposal after considering any opposition.

If the commission creates the BID, a board of five to seven downtown property owners would be created.

Institutions such as Vision Livingston or the Livingston Area Chamber of Commerce could present proposals to the board each year.

Each year, this BID board would be charged with developing a budget and work plan. The commission then would consider the budget and work plan and holds a public hearing on the plan. After the hearing, the commission can modify the work plan and budget “as it considers necessary and appropriate,” according to state code.

Board members of the BID would be appointed by the city manager and approved by the city commission. Board members would be appointed for terms of four years.

Vision Livingston members referred to the success of BID programs in Bilings and Bozeman to support the Livingston effort.

The success of the BID in Billings can be measured by an increase in private investment, said the development director for the Billings BID Greg Krueger.

The Billings BID was formed in 2005, but concerted urban renewal activities began in 1998, Krueger said. Since 1998, private investment in downtown Billings has totaled $60 million, he said.

The BID ensures that if a property owner builds, the downtown area near the investment will not deteriorate, he said.

Krueger pointed to the success of BID districts nationwide. The 60 percent initial approval is often hard to get, he said. But national trends indicate 90 percent of BIDs get renewed with an approval rate of over 80 percent.

He indicated a safeguard in the 10-year program, saying business owners or the city commission could halt the program at any time.

The Billings BID works in conjunction with the Downtown Billings Association and an Urban Renewal Agency. In Livingston, the BID would accompany the Livingston Downtown Business Owners Association and the Livingston Urban Renewal Agency to improve downtown.

Recent Park High grad fires shots at intruder
By Liz Kearney, Enterprise Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of Linda Burk

Leah Roberts is shown at Deep Creek Green in this photo from summer, 2009. Roberts fired six shots at an intruder in her house near Laurel Sunday.

4-H training and experience elk hunting came in handy for Leah Roberts, a 19-year-old Park High School graduate, last weekend.

Roberts used her shooting skills Sunday to warn off an intruder in her home south of Laurel in Carbon County.

Around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Roberts was in her bathroom when she saw a man outside looking in at her, she said during a Thursday interview.

She recognized him as a man who had been to her door approximately two weeks earlier. He was driving a gray van with Texas plates, she noted at the time. He told her he had meat and seafood to give away. She refused it, but he was persistent.

“He gave off this really creepy vibe. I locked all my doors after he left,” Roberts said Thursday.

But she wasn’t in the habit of locking her doors, and didn’t keep locking them, she said.

   On Sunday Roberts had just gotten out of the shower and was wearing only a towel. She saw — out of the corner of her eye — the man outside the bathroom window, looking in at her.

They looked at each other. She ran from the room.

Roberts said she rushed to her bedroom. She grabbed the first gun in reach, her boyfriend’s .22 pump rifle. She ran out of the room at about the same time she heard the back screen door open.

“He was four or five feet into the house by that time,” Roberts said.

And he was 10 to 12 feet away from her.

“I pumped the gun once, and it seemed to startle him,” she said.

He turned and ran out the door.

   As he cleared the back fence, she shot at him twice. He kept running, dodging a little. Roberts kept him within view and kept firing.

She fired six shots altogether, but never hit him.

“I wasn’t trying to hit him,” Roberts said. “It was just my reaction: ‘I have a gun, so shoot it, and maybe he won’t come back.’”

Roberts then ran back into the house, jumped into the first clothes that came to hand, and ran to her car, barefoot. She drove to her boyfriend’s parents’ house, about 10 miles away. They took her in and calmed her down.

Roberts didn’t call the police immediately because she was afraid she’d get in trouble for shooting at the man. But she eventually called the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office.

“They told me if I had shot him outside, it could be ‘iffy,’” Roberts said. “But not if I had shot him in the kitchen.”

Carbon County Sheriff Tom Rieger said Thursday, that in light of a new Montana law, it would be “interesting” to see what, if any, legal consequences Robert would have faced had she shot the intruder.

The law, which Rieger referred to as the “Castle Doctrine,” was passed in the 2009 legislative session. The law says a person is justified in the use of force if the person believes the “force is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily harm.”

“You have a right to protect yourself and your property if someone comes into your house,” Rieger said.

If Roberts had shot him, whether she would have been prosecuted would be “up to the county attorney,” Rieger said.

The sheriff’s office is “actively investigating” the case, Rieger said. They are looking for the gray van with Texas plates. They questioned a number of vendors selling meat from their vehicles. Given what happened to the man, Rieger indicated that he didn’t expect to find the man in Carbon County.

“I don’t think he’s going to come back,” he said.

Roberts said she was upset by the experience but is getting over it. Her friends and family have helped her, she said.

As she recalled the experience, she said there were two “weird” things about it. One was that her towel never fell off. The other was that as she fired, she shot from her hip, not from her shoulder, as she usually does.

“I never shoot from my hip. Maybe I was trying to keep my towel on,” Roberts laughed.

Her mother, Linda Roberts, of Livingston, said she is proud of her daughter Leah but she’s still feeling overly protective. She texts her on her cell phone throughout the day. She reminds her to lock her doors.

   And one of the first things she did after hearing about her daughter’s experience, was to called Don and Lana Sheen, also of Livingston, to say “Thanks.”

   The Sheens were Leah’s 4-H Club Shooting Sports instructors.

City commissioner runs afoul of campaign laws
By Camden Easterling, Enterprise Staff Writer

Nearly three years after she was elected, Livingston City Commissioner Juliann Jones now faces civil penalties for violating campaign advertising regulations.

Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Dennis Unsworth earlier this month issued a conclusion on an investigation into some of Jones’ 2007 campaign materials. Unsworth this week said the delay resulted from his office’s few resources and the overwhelming number of complaints it receives from around Montana.

Unsworth’s decision states Jones omitted or failed to include complete attribution in some of her materials. For example, on materials financed by them or by their campaigns, candidates must include attributions with the name and address of the candidates or their campaigns.

Jones’ violations, such as newspaper ads that included paid for by information but lacked addresses. He also mentions buttons Jones distributed that had no attribution.

On Thursday Jones said the omissions simply were a mistake.

“I think people should respect the law,” she said. “And I didn’t realize that my address had to be on the ads or I would have put it on there.”

Based on the findings, “civil penalty action is warranted,” according to Unsworth’s statement.

Unsworth forwarded his findings to Park County Attorney Brett Linneweber for prosecution. Linneweber declined, which is the standard response from prosecutors on such requests from his office, Unsworth said.

Linneweber said Friday he opted not to pursue the matter because doing so makes his office look politically biased regardless of how it manages such a case. Plus, the state commissioner has the authority to pursue a resolution, Linneweber said.

Unsworth’s office will either take the matter to the District Court level or will work with Jones, Unsworth said. The office’s usual preferred route is resolving matters out of court, Unsworth said.

“Typically we’re able to settle something to come to a resolution,” he said.

Jones said the office had not contacted her about a next step.

Per violation, Montana law permits for a fine of $500 or up to three times the amount of the money spent on a noncompliant material, Unsworth said.

His decision lists multiple violations and cites expenditures totaling several hundred dollars, but his office hasn’t yet calculated the total Jones spent on noncompliant materials, Unsworth said.

The Park County Republican Central Committee notified Unsworth’s office of the violations in 2007.

Bill Moser, of Pray, was the committee’s secretary at the time and filed the complaint on the group’s behalf. On Thursday he said the group notified the state after receiving complaints from citizens about Jones’ violations.

Moser said her violations also included noncompliant yard signs, but Unsworth’s decision does not reference any such signs.

Moser said the complaints needed to be addressed for the sake of transparency in campaign financing. Plus, people must obey the laws and statutes must be enforced, he said.

“When you break the rules, you get your hand slapped, and maybe you get your pocketbook slapped,” Moser said.

Moser said Unsworth’s office did not cover all of the violations the committee received complaints about and the process took far too long.

“This was a 10-minute job,” he said of how long the investigation should have taken to complete.

Unsworth himself agreed the delay was lengthy but said he doesn’t have the staff to process complaints more quickly.

In his decision Unsworth wrote that though Jones’ violations “may appear minor to some observers,” the matter is an important one. And just because the race was a local one with a small budget doesn’t mean the issue should be overlooked, he wrote.

Jones’ term expires in December 2011.

Back to Top

OBITUARIES
The following obituaries appeared in The Enterprise the week of Aug. 23-27, 2010:

No current obituaries