Area Briefs

Libby fine artists

meet this Thursday

Libby Fine Arts, Inc., will meet at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23, at Treasure Manor.

This meeting will be for painting and sharing creative ideas and information with fellow artists.  

Anyone interested in fine art is welcome to attend.  

For more information please call 293-9282 or 293-5186.

Father charged

after spanking child

HELENA — A 39-year-old Montana man who police say spanked his 11-year-old daughter with a paddle has been charged with felony assault with a weapon and felony tampering with evidence.

The Independent Record in a story on Saturday reports the man was taken into custody Thursday.

Authorities say the man and his wife adopted the girl on Jan. 9, and that the girl suffers from a history of physical and sexual abuse.

The man told police the girl misbehaved at a party so he decided to take her home. He says she started hitting and kicking him.

Police say the man admitted holding the girl down and spanking her 10 times.

The girl told her therapist about the beating. A medical exam found bruising on both sides of her buttocks and on her left ribs.

Court: Bloggers

have protections

GRANTS PASS, Ore.  — A federal appeals court ruled Friday that bloggers and the public have the same First Amendment protections as journalists when sued for defamation: If the issue is of public concern, plaintiffs have to prove negligence to win damages.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a new trial in a defamation lawsuit brought by an Oregon bankruptcy trustee against a Montana blogger who wrote online that the court-appointed trustee criminally mishandled a bankruptcy case.

The appeals court ruled that the trustee was not a public figure, which could have invoked an even higher standard of showing the writer acted with malice, but the issue was of public concern, so the negligence standard applied.

Gregg Leslie of the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press said the ruling affirms what many have long argued: Standards set by a 1974 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Gertz v. Robert Welch Inc., apply to everyone, not just journalists.

Crystal L. Cox, a blogger from Eureka, Mont., now living in Port Townshend, Wash., was sued for defamation by Bend, Ore., attorney Kevin Padrick and his company, Obsidian Finance Group LLC, after she made posts on several websites she created accusing them of fraud, corruption, money-laundering and other illegal activities.

The appeals court noted Padrick and Obsidian were hired by Summit Accommodators to advise them before filing for bankruptcy, and that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court later appointed Padrick trustee in the Chapter 11 case. The court added that Summit had defrauded investors in its real estate operations through a Ponzi scheme.