Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana
Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 118
JANUARY 13, 1999 The Whitehall Town Council voted unanimously on January 11th to purchase a 1998 Ford demonstration model ambulance for $66,730, and the vehicle was expected to be in Whitehall within a couple of weeks. A new adult education class titled Basics of Financial Investing was being offered by the Whitehall school system, and class participants would learn about IRAs, stocks, financial strategies, and other topics from Randy Simkins, an investment representative with Edward Jones in Bu...
JANUARY 6, 1999 The Whitehall Town Council, worried about liability exposure and possible court-imposed fees and damages, voted during a special council meeting on Monday, January 4, 1999, to both approve funding a legal defense for council member Ron Robertson and seek a legal clarification on whether or not the Town is legally obligated to fund Robertson's legal defense. Robertson, who serves as public works director for Whitehall, was also a town council member; a recent order by Montana...
DECEMBER 23, 1998 The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) continued to internally process possible permit violations and water quality violations against Golden Sunlight Mine, but fines would not be calculated or agreed upon until the end of January 1999. In the meantime, Golden Sunlight reported that its remediation efforts had successfully identified and contained contamination from an apparent leak at a tailings impoundment site within Golden Sunlight property. The Whitehall...
DECEMBER 16, 1998 A Monday, December 14 revote by the Whitehall Town Council on the decision to challenge a Montana Attorney General opinion produced the same results but cleared up any legal uncertainty about the matter. Five members of the council - council member Ron Robertson abstained - voted to again direct Whitehall Town Attorney Jack Morris to petition the Montana Supreme Court to review an attorney general opinion that essentially held that it was "incompatible" for municipal employees...
DECEMBER 2, 1998 The Whitehall Town Council vote on November 30 to direct the town attorney to challenge a Montana Attorney General opinion was apparently illegally conducted because the council failed to obtain a majority vote to approve the motion. The dilemma was this: the vote itself was on a matter dealing with conflict of interest, and three members of the council abstained from voting because they could have had a conflict of interest on the issue voted upon. Montana state law requires a...
DECEMBER 2, 1998 Jessica Brower of Whitehall was one of seven Montana State University-Bozeman students to present a poster explaining her research at this year's National Collegiate Honors Council conference in Chicago. Georgiana Andersen of Dillon and Doreen McDowell of Cardwell were two of the honorees at the annual Cardwell School Thanksgiving Meal for area senior citizens, held at noon on November 25 in the Cardwell School gym. Whitehall area homeschoolers presented two plays during the...
NOVEMBER 25, 1998 The Placer Dome Executive Council voted on November 18 to approve the proposed Golden Sunlight Mine 1999 operating plan, a move which would keep the mine open and 208 mine workers employed. A special meeting of the Whitehall Town Council has been called for November 30 to discuss the purchase of a new town ambulance and to discuss the Montana Attorney General's opinion regarding town employees serving on town councils. The Whitehall ambulance had been disabled off and on for...
NOVEMBER 18, 1998 The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) was considering assessing Golden Sunlight Mine fines for four separate violations stemming from a cyanide leak reported in August. Four major road construction projects were slated for the Whitehall-Jefferson Valley area in 1999, two more were scheduled for 2000, and up to eight more projects were proposed for the next decade. Volunteer work crews from Baptist churches in Billings, Three Forks, Dillon, and Butte helped...
NOVEMBER 4, 1998: Jefferson County voters elected Jim Quinlan as their new Jefferson County Sheriff, sent Whitehall resident Rick Dale to the Montana State Legislature, and retained Valerie Wilson as Jefferson County Attorney in the November 3 general election. Gayle Sacry, M.D., a family physician from Whitehall, was honored for 30 years of membership in the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). The AAFP, founded in 1947, was instrumental in establishing the medical specialty of family...
OCTOBER 28, 1998 Improved communication between town employees and town elected officials, and a clearer delineation of duties and responsibilities were two of the suggestions for improved town council productivity discussed during a special Whitehall Town Council meeting on October 20. For the past few years, through two different town administrations, relationships and the working environment among the mayor, council, and employees had been strained, and at times close to volatile. The...
OCTOBER 21, 1998 An apparent cyanide leak from an impoundment pond liner caused groundwater quality violations at Golden Sunlight Mine, and the mine was under investigation by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Golden Sunlight first detected the cyanide in a monitoring well on August 3. At the Whitehall Town Council meeting on October 13, the council voted unanimously to approve initial changes to the town water sprinkling ordinance. The former Whitehall sprinkler ordinance...
OCTOBER 14, 1998 Dan Reum, Whitehall Elementary School educator since 1969 and elementary school principal since 1991, was resigning. Reum was also the athletic director of the Whitehall School District. Reum said that in 1995 he traveled to the Philippines for his son's wedding and had an interest in working overseas. He also had an interest in working in Alaska, where another son resides. The Tri-County Retired and Senior Volunteer Program at Rocky Mountain Development Council received an...
October 7, 1998 After hearing 17 different witnesses during the October 5-6 trial, a Jefferson County jury found Jason Marker guilty of aggravated assault by accountability for his role in the January 2, 1998, Mint Bar incident, but reached no verdict on two counts of misdemeanor assault. Marker, 22, was charged with aggravated assault for kicking Bill Arnold in the head. Arnold suffered a broken nose, broken cheek, broken eye socket, and broken jaw during a violent incident that occurred close...
SEPTEMBER 30, 1998 The Parent-Teacher Hotline came to Whitehall, which meant parents and community members could dial up school information at any time with a simple local telephone call. The Whitehall Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) spearheaded the effort to bring the hotline to Whitehall schools, and about 65 specific four-digit access numbers were provided for Whitehall parents. Last Monday, 40 Jefferson County residents made the long drive to the Sweetgrass border crossing to...
SEPTEMBER 16, 1998 Construction began on an expansion project that would nearly double the size of the Whitehall Post Office. The 1,978-foot expansion would extend the post office west, through the back parking lot toward the Whitehall Medical Clinic. The post office would grow from 954 boxes for rent to 1,360. The post office was also redesigned with two entryways located on the north side of the building with access to the front counter, which would be located in the southeast corner of the...
SEPTEMBER 9, 1998 Smoldering cottonwood tree limbs erupted into a full blaze at the Whitehall dump on Tuesday, September 1 and county officials were considering a range of options to prevent a repeat incident. Moist cool air and scattered rain showers on Labor Day dampened the emergency fire threat in southwestern Montana, and crews at the Bear Gulch fire south of Whitehall were pulled off the fire on September 6th. Augie Brower and Jackson Truckle were selected to perform at the 1998 Montana...
SEPTEMBER 2, 1998 A lightning-strike fire near the Jefferson River shortly before midnight on Saturday night, August 29 burned approximately 160 acres, forced a one-day closure of Lewis & Clark Caverns, and took the collective efforts of close to 150 firefighters to control. Linda Williams, information officer for the Greer Gulch Fire, said the fire started about 11:30 PM on private land, about 1.25 miles northeast of Highway 2 and the Lewis & Clark State Park Campground. Tony Nix of Whitehall...
AUGUST 26, 1998 A settlement was reached mid-trial in Montana District Court on Monday, August 24, and resulted in a change of plea for the youth accused of setting fire to the railroad depot in Whitehall and financial reimbursement to depot owner Steve Warmoth. The agreement apparently negotiated by District Court Judge Frank Davis stipulated that Christopher Lerman, 14, and his parents make a $3,000 restitution to Warmoth for personal property loss and cleanup costs associated with the fire....
August 19, 1998 Two suspects were charged with burglary in connection with the break-in of Jefferson River Auto Repair on January 16, 1998. Alan Wehner, who according to Jefferson County Attorney Valerie Wilson was also charged with burglary in Madison County, and Bryan Buchholz, who was being held in North Dakota on other charges, were both charged on August 11. Wehner was charged with burglary by accountability, a felony, theft (possession of stolen property), and a misdemeanor. Buchholz was...
August 12, 1998 An August 31, 1998, District Court date was set at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Boulder for Christopher Lerman, the youth charged in the Whitehall Railroad Depot fire. Lerman, 14, was charged with felony negligent arson and misdemeanor trespass in the wake of the March 24 fire that razed the historic depot near Legion Avenue in Whitehall. Bill Dietz arrived in Whitehall in late July and assumed his new duties as principal of Whitehall High School on August 1. Dietz had...
AUGUST 8, 1998 Jefferson Valley Baptist Church officials reached a settlement with Safeco Insurance Company, and made a decision to rebuild the Jefferson Valley Baptist Church - and modify the building design - at its present site on the west end of Whitehall off Highway 2. They came to the decision based on the fact that there was too much damage to simply remodel. Terry Kostelecky, foreman for the Dumar Construction crew worked on erecting the new Whitehall water tank on August 3. The new...
JULY 29, 1998 Area rodeo fans were treated to back-to-back nights of outstanding action during the 1998 Frontier Days NRA Rodeo at the Whitehall Rodeo Grounds on July 24-25. Some of the top-ranked Northern Rodeo Association competitors participated in the Whitehall rodeo, and cowboys and cowgirls from throughout Montana rode and roped their way into prize money. The 1998 Frontier Days Rodeo was a true Whitehall production: Lillian Rodeo in Whitehall organized the event and provided stock, Brady...
JULY 22, 1998 Construction was underway on a 7,600-square-foot assisted living facility in Whitehall, and it was planned for the facility to be ready for occupancy as early as January 1999. Dr. Gayle and Kathryn Sacry of Whitehall were developing Meadowlark Manor, a 13-unit assisted living facility just west of the Whitehall town limits, next to the Sacry residence. Through Meadowlark Manor, the Sacrys hoped more people who might be forced to move away due to health issues would have the opportunity to remain in Whitehall. The Montana...
JULY 15, 1998 The suspect in the Jefferson Valley Baptist Church fire was charged with two counts of felony arson in Montana District Court on July 14 and was expected to undergo a psychiatric evaluation before a trial date would be scheduled. Golden Sunlight Mine announced on July 9 that it received formal approval from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to expand current operations, extending the mine’s expected life by seven years. Christopher Lerman, a 14-year-old Whitehall youth, pled “not true” to felony arson charges stemm...
JULY 1, 1998 Road construction crews resurfaced the I-90 interstate, and the benefits of the resurfacing extended far beyond the four lanes of I-90. After the top layer - millings - were stripped off, they were being hauled in and around Whitehall to improve five area roads. The millings were spread on Piedmont Road (about 1.1 miles), Yellowstone Trail (1 mile), Kelly Road (.3 mile), First St. extension (.5 mile), and the entirety of Pipestone Road. After the millings were stripped off the interstate, they were hauled to where they were dumped...
