Crane hearing scheduled Monday

Allan Payne, the attorney for the Lincoln County Port Authority, will be in a Virginia City courtroom on Monday for a preliminary injunction hearing that is yet another step in determining ownership of the overhead lift cranes in the Stinger Welding, Inc., building.

“This is a multiple-step process,” said Payne, a Libby native who practices law in Helena. “What (Monday’s) hearing will determine is who gets to hold onto the cranes until ownership is determined, and this is very important.”

Last week, employees of Steel Girder, Inc., removed a 25-ton crane, one of seven in the building, and took it to Stinger Welding’s parent plant in Coolidge, Ariz.

Last Friday, Payne obtained a preliminary injunction that temporarily prohibited the removal of any subsequent cranes from the building located on Port Authority property. Steel Girder, Inc., is a company owned by Tommy Fisher, the CEO of Fisher Sand & Gravel, a Dickinson, N.D., company that invested heavily in Stinger Welding.

During bankruptcy proceedings in March, the cranes were declared separate assets from the assets that the trustees in the bankruptcy proceeding is authorized to liquidagte.

The cranes were purchased with economic development grants from the state of Montana through Lincoln County. The injunction allows for a judge to determine ownership, even temporarily, as the Lincoln County case against Stinger moves forward.

Lincoln County Sheriff Roby Bowe said Thursday he was summoned to the Stinger building at 3:44 p.m., Wednesday Oct. 16, about 11 hours after the crane was removed.

Calls to Fisher Sand & Gravel for comment were not returned.