Area briefs
Meeting to discuss
asbestos issues
Libby’s Community Action and Technical Advisory Groups involved in aiding the community in asbestos issues, will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Lincoln County branch of Flathead Valley Community College.
Among the topics to be discussed will be the role of asbestos management after the Environmental Protection Agency leaves.
The public is welcome to attend.
Bronson killer’s
conviction upheld
The Montana Supreme Court on Friday upheld the conviction of a Stevensville woman who was found guilty of the hit-and-run death of a Troy native who was a pedestrian in East Missoula in early 2008.
Katie Garding, 27, was sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2011 for hitting and killing 25-year-old Bronson Parsons as he walked with a friend along Montana Highway 200 in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2008.
Seeking a new trial in the case, Garding argued that her public defender had not been allowed to properly cross-examine her boyfriend, James Bordeaux, about his testimony and whether it was offered in exchange for a reduced sentence in a separate burglary charge he was facing.
Rejecting that claim, the Supreme Court found that Garding’s public defender had been given “sufficiently wide latitude” when cross-examining Bordeaux, and it found no evidence that his plea agreement had injured the trial.
Ski club rental
is Saturday
The Kootenai Cross-Country Ski Club will hold its annual rental day from 9 a.m. until noon Saturday, Dec. 7, in the music wing of the elementary school.
The cost remains the same: $35 for the first package and $30 for the other family members. Of those amounts, $10 per individual rental is a refundable deposit.
It is imperative for the person for whom the equipment is intended to be present so the fit is appropriate, especially for the ski boots.
Billings youth
shot in the chest
BILLINGS — Police in Billings say a juvenile male received a gunshot wound to the chest with a .22-caliber bullet on Sunday morning and that another juvenile male has been taken into custody.
Police tell the Billings Gazette the shooting occurred about 2:30 a.m. near an apartment complex and the victim was transported to the Billings Clinic where he was listed in stable condition.
Police say the second juvenile is being held by Youth Services and faces criminal endangerment and assault with a weapon charges.
Montana appeals
rape sentence
HELENA — The Montana attorney general’s office on Friday asked the state Supreme Court to throw out a 30-day sentence given to a teacher who raped a 14-year-old girl, saying the punishment was illegally lenient.
The state formally filed its arguments in the appeal of the highly criticized sentence for Stacey Rambold, who was released from Montana State Prison in September.
District Judge G. Todd Baugh sparked outrage when he commented in August that victim Cherice Moralez was “older than her chronological age.” Moralez killed herself before the case went to trial.