2016 in review
JANUARY
• Brian Zimmerman, the highest vote recipient in the 2015 Libby City Council election, took his seat at the council’s first meeting of the year Monday evening in Libby. Current council members Peggy Williams and Allen Olsen were also sworn in for new terms, as was councilwoman Dejon Raines to complete the remaining two years of former councilwoman Robin Benson’s term.
• South Lincoln County’s first baby of the year was born nearly seven hours into the new year to Ryan and Heather Fincher of Libby.
• Lincoln County’s Emergency Management Agency is preparing a reimbursement request to the state, asking for more roughly $152,000 in payments for costs incurred as a result of the Dec. 9, 2015, flooding events throughout Lincoln County.
• A lawsuit alleges local business WRT II Inc., also known as Wildlife Recapture Taxidermy owe Createk at least $1.2 million in damages for failing to honor the terms of a January, 2015, contract between the parties.
• The Montana Association of Elementary and Middle School Principals (MAEMSP) named Libby Elementary School principal Ron Goodman the Principal of the Year.
• The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners has called upon the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to issue its Record of Decision and the necessary permits for the Montanore Mine.
• The Libby, Eureka and Troy school districts are working together to open a joint vocational education center, offering welding and automotive shop classes to students beginning in the fall of 2016.
FEBRUARY
• Cathy Burrell was presented with the 2015 Kootenai Kiwanis Volunteer of the Year Award for her dedication to the Koats-4-Kids Program and the Libby Community.
• The Alliance for the Wild Rockies filed a suit in federal district court challenging the decision of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to not upgrade the status of the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem (CYE) grizzly bears from threatened to endangered.
• The Troy Police Department is now cruising their city in style, thanks to the efforts of City Clerk Tracy Rebo, who pursued a grant for the purchase of three new police vehicles.
• Troy Police Officer Chris Pape was promoted and named the first-ever sergeant in the Troy Police Department.
• Three separate car accidents were reported around Libby on Feb. 29 , keeping law enforcement and emergency crews busy throughout the day.
• The United States Environmental Protection Agency last week sent a mailer to south Lincoln County residents providing updates about the agency’s plans to complete remediation efforts on the Libby Asbestos Superfund site.
• The Lady Loggers went to Kalispell hoping to secure a spot in the state basketball tournament, but fell short.
• The Lady Trojans traveled to Kalispell over the weekend for the divisional basketball tournament. Despite going two-and-out against Bigfork and Florence, head coach Justin Young labeled the season a success for his team.
• The Trojans had a rough two games at the divisional tournament in Kalispell over the weekend, falling to Florence in the first round and then dropping to Thompson Falls in Friday’s loser-out game.
• About two dozen area residents gathered at Libby’s Heritage Museum Sunday afternoon to witness the dedication of the archives to Mary and Larry Hebenstreit, the husband and wife volunteer team who were instrumental in modernizing and preserving the museum’s archives.
MARCH
• The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved Resolution 963, a resolution of intent to move forward with the annexation of the Cabinet View area into the Lincoln County Rural Fire District.
• Representatives of Revett Silver and its parent company, Hecla Mining, presented information about the proposed Rock Creek Mine and the related Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to standing-room-only crowds in Noxon, Thompson Falls and Libby.
• The Lincoln County Landfill started making significant changes designed to help extend the landfill’s life beyond the eight years anticipated to be left before the current site is full.
• Logger freshman Ryggs Johnston and senior Jonny Cielak were named to the All-Conference first team, with junior Erik Lauer earning second team honors. For the Lady Loggers, freshman Jayden Winslow and junior Abby Ennenga were named to the second team, with sophomore Shannon Reny earning first team All-Conference and All-State recognition.
• Three Troy students were honored for their performance during the 2015-2016 high school basketball season. Sean Opland and Aurora Becquart were named to the District 7-B All-Conference second team, while Allie Coldwell earned first team honors.
• Residents of south Lincoln County can now pick up a new station on the local FM airwaves, as the Seventh Day Adventist Church is now carrying the Christian Broadcasting Network on a newly-installed local tower.
• Effective March 28, Undersheriff Brent Faulkner turned over his responsibilities to Detective Brandon Huff and returned to patrol duty.
APRIL
• The Greenchain Wrestling Club traveled to Kalispell for the state youth wrestling tournament last weekend, emerging victorious for the second straight year.
• A new gym with an old-fashioned style opened in Libby April 1. Matthew Backen has opened the Libby Gym on the corner of Fifth Street and Mineral Avenue.
• The Libby Youth Center will officially open its doors at 3 p.m. on Friday, April 15, providing a safe environment for Libby’s youth to relax, study and just enjoy each other’s company.
• At the April 4, 2016, meeting of the Libby City Council, the council voted to approve a contract with Flathead Electric Cooperative Inc., which will enable the city to generate electricity and sell it to the cooperative to offset some of the city’s metered electricity usage.
• A movement has begun to formally initiate a recall action against Libby Mayor Doug Roll.
• The Troy City Council on April 18 appointed Allen Dye as the new interim City Police Chief.
MAY
• City Attorney David Tennant resigned during the May 2 meeting after the public and council questioned his knowledge of the pending state complaint prior to being sworn in as the city’s legal adviser.
• More than 400 Libby children turned out for Opening Day, as the Little Leaguers officially opened the 2016 Libby Youth Baseball and Softball Association season.
• As the Environmental Protection Agency prepares for the final phase of cleanup for most of the Libby Asbestos Superfund Site, plans are also starting to move forward with the last remaining area. Operable Unit 3, as the former W.R. Grace and Company vermiculite mine site is now known, is the last area to undergo a feasibility study and plans are in place to begin that study this summer.
• Libby and Troy public schools made Montana history last week, when the state Board of Public Education approved the schools’ charter program application for combined vocational education.
• Hecla Mining Company and Mines Management Inc. announced a merger agreement May 24.
• The Loggers rolled down Mineral Avenue and celebrated a dominating performance at the state tennis meet. Libby’s boys secured the state title and the girls brought home the second place trophy.
JUNE
• Hecla Mining Co. has announced a nearly $30 million agreement to purchase Mines Management Inc., and with it the Montanore Mine in Lincoln County. The agreement is pending Mines Management shareholder approval and other financial conditions.
• Lincoln County’s Board of Commissioners acted improperly in 2009 when they placed a ballot question before the voters to make Lincoln County’s elections non-partisan, according to the Lincoln County Government Review Commission. The commission, created by Lincoln County’s voters in 2014, presented their findings to a crowd of about 30 people in Libby last week.
• Tennis Coach Kyle Hannah won the state-wide Special Sports Coach of the Year award.
• Taylor Riggles, 20, and Kraig Nelson, 21, are the 2016 Bull and Bullette of the Woods champions.
JULY
• The founders of The Montanian, one of Libby’s three local newspapers, announced on Tuesday their departure from the publication after 27 years on Mineral Avenue.
• A Justin Barnes, Libby native, and his scooter gang rode across the country for a documentary and to raise awareness for children in distress.
• The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday released an action plan on July 15 outlining the interagency measures to be taken if a forest fire erupts through the former vermiculite mine site.
• On July 14, 15 and 16, the 59th Lincoln County Junior Fair commenced with exhibits, livestock and a parade.
• At least 75 campers arrived at the Fawn Creek Campground on Friday for the Two Rivers Rendezvous.
• City officials, state and federal departments, and a handful of Libby residents gathered at the Flower Creek Dam Wednesday for the official dedication of the project completed in spring.
• The Libby Loggers baseball team concluded their season Friday with a 15-5 defeat at the hands of the Mission Valley Mariners in the consolation bracket of the Western A American Legion Baseball tournament in Florence.
AUGUST
• Nearly 120 animals, including dogs, donkeys and birds, were removed from a suspected puppy mill near Libby.
• Cliff Auge, 54, of Libby, was caught in a dirt-bank slide Sunday near the entrance of an old mine in the Granite Lake area. Emergency crews spent five hours using heavy equipment to recover Auge, who did not survive the collapse.
• Approximately 30 people came from near and far this weekend to race and watch remote-controlled cars on the Snowshoe Speedway.
• This Friday, the Troy Trojans’ will begin its fall season with brand-new football coach, Kody Hoffman, at the reins.
• Libby’s six-member city council on Monday fell to five after a recently appointed member Dejon Raines bowed out of her seat.
• Hundreds gathered for dancing, singing and blues at the Riverfront Blues Festival, along with celebrating the musically-talented youth in the Kootenai Valley.
• On the morning before the second day of the Riverfront Blues Festival, a crowd of 101 bicyclists gathered in front of the Libby Dam for the 6th annual Le Tour de Koocanusa.
• After over 20 years, the hosts of Pasture Pickin’, a twice-a-year, week-long bluegrass gathering, are passing on the torch.
• More than 450 cars showed up last weekend for the 55th annual Ignite the Nites car show.
• During the last 15 years, substantial evidence has shown a strong link between Libby amphibole asbestos and higher risks of autoimmune diseases and disorders, the Center for Asbestos Related Disease announced on Aug. 15.
• The effort to recall Libby Mayor Doug Roll is back in motion after a district judge filed an order to delay an injunction on the recall until Roll files a $25,000 bond required of anyone who files an injunction.
• U.S. Senator Steve Daines, R-Mont., hosted a roundtable discussion on Thursday at the Lincoln County commissioners meeting room that focused on the local economy and the hopeful future envisioned by the stakeholders in attendance.
• Approximately 100 people gathered at the Libby Elementary School amphitheatre on Monday to witness William Shakespeare’s Richard III.
• On Aug. 10, the Outdoor Writers Association of America announced Titus, of Troy, as the winner of the 2016 Excellence in Craft Award, a note of lifetime achievement for his work in outdoor conservation films, writing and editing.
• A District judge on Monday sentenced Michael Ilk, a 41-year-old Calgary man, to life in prison without parole for a shooting incident that happened near Eureka in 2015.
SEPTEMBER
• While Libby high school students loaded the bleachers last week to cheer on the football team, they also broadcast their allegiance to a recently formed posse: Team Kiye.
• After years of conflict in local government and less than a week after a judge ended a recall effort against him, Libby Mayor Doug Roll resigned. Roll and council member Barb Desch both submitted letters of resignation to the City Council, marking three resignations from the City Council in a month’s span.
• The Libby City Council on Tuesday appointed Gary Beach as the new member to fill the remaining term left behind by former council member Dejon Raines last month.
• The 2016 Nordicfest saw the community’s best craftwork, themed foods and the classic parade, which featured both Nordic trolls and the yetis of Whitefish’s Winter Carnival.
• This Sept. 11 marked the 15th anniversary of the attacks in New York, Washington D.C. and Shanksville, Pa. and people across the country paid their respects to those who died in the attacks. Of those to pay respects were the Troy and Troy Rural Volunteer Fire Department and the Libby Christian Church.
• Nearly 300 fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students spent part of the afternoon hauling wood from the woods nearby to be auctioned off in October. The auction benefited two Libby students, Kiye Jenkins and Katherine Lind, who were diagnosed this year with stage four Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
• After a little over a year, Libby Chief of Police Terry Watson will be officially turning in his badge for the last time in January.
• The residents of Troy are revisiting discussions on whether or not to keep the Troy Area Dispatch.
• The federal grant that funds the Lincoln County Asbestos Resource Program was on temporary hold while the Environmental Protection Agency evaluates the legality of past grant spending.
• Hecla officially acquired Mines Management and the Montanore Project on Sept. 13 with approval from Mines Management shareholders.
• The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office is looked to link hundreds of items, estimated to be worth more than $20,000, from a recent seizure to cases involving burglarized storage units, properties and homes.
• By a 5-0 vote, Council President Brent Teske was appointed to replace Doug Roll, who recently resigned following a failed recall effort. That followed on the heels of a 3-1 vote to name Kristin Smith to the governing body.
OCTOBER
• D.J. Rounsville, 39, of Libby, pleaded guilty to one count of felony stalking for a leaving a threatening phone message on Lincoln County Commissioner candidate Jerry Bennett’s answering machine when a protective order was in place.
• A man was found on the railroad dead after Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad officials notified the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office of a possible deceased person in the Wolf Creek area.
• The Lincoln County Attorney’s Office on Friday, Oct. 7, charged 42-year-old Libby resident Trevor Mercier with deliberate homicide in the death of 30-year-old Sheena Devine.
• Matt Cuffe, a Libby native and partner in Worden Thane, a Missoula law firm, and William Managhan, a public defender based out of Kalispell whose relatives own businesses in Lincoln County, including a furniture store and gravel pit, are hoping to replace current Judge James Wheelis in January.
• With losses to Polson and Whitefish, the Lady Loggers soccer team finished with a record of 0-12.
• The Libby School District is debating whether to move up from Class B to Class A for high school sports.
• Economic concerns and economic development were the topics during a forum with U.S. Sen. Jon Tester at Cabinet Mountain Brewery in Libby on Wednesday afternoon.
• Lincoln County’s clerk and recorder Robin Benson challenged a state law that bars nonpartisan candidates from campaigning as Republicans or Democrats.
• Libby City Council chose Janelle Campbell to fill the seat left vacant when Brent Teske was named mayor on Sept. 28.
• The superintendent of Troy Public Schools and Troy High School principal was honored with The Educational Leadership Excellence Award.
• Although they don’t have any seniors, the Libby Lady Loggers were crowned district champs.
• Then the Libby ladies volleyball team defeated their cross-county rivals in three games, 25-20, 25-18 and 25-21.
• The Libby man charged with deliberate homicide in the death of 30-year-old Sheena Devine was in court on Monday. Trevor Joseph Mercier, 42, pleaded not guilty to the charge and requested a jury trial. The charge carries a sentence of 10 to 100 years in prison if convicted. An omnibus hearing was scheduled for Dec. 19 at 9:30 a.m.
NOVEMBER
• The McCormick Fire District northwest of Troy near the Idaho line is struggling to move forward in the face of a potential recall of three of its board members.
• Around 80 percent of students from each school sent out college applications from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4, and most of the remaining percentage are either enlisted in the military or have a plan of their own.
• At 2:30 a.m. on Nov. 9, results of the Lincoln County elections came in. Matthew Cuffe defeated William Managhan for District Court Judge, Steve Gunderson defeated Steve Haarstick for District 1 State Representative, Mike Cuffe defeated David McGarry for District 2 State Representative, Tricia Brooks defeated Cyndi Miller for Clerk of District Court and Jerry Bennett defeated Rhoda Cargill for County Commissioner District 2.
• A self-inflicted, accidental shooting over the weekend led to the death of James Metts, 56.
• A sudden rise in felonies, break-ins and violent crimes has the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office perplexed and busy.
• After a tremendous season, some of the Libby Lady Logger volleyball players were placed on the District 7B All State Teams, an honor that comes once a year for athletes.
• Brooklyn Rainer, a junior, and Mehki Sykes, a sophomore, were selected by the conference based on their skill and presence on the court. Rainer, Sykes and Jayden Winslow, a sophomore, were selected for the First Team All Conference and Emma Gruber, a sophomore, was selected for the Second Team All Conference.
• The free electronic waste program at Kootenai Disposal will be discontinued in a few weeks.
DECEMBER
• Susan Farmer celebrated her last day of work on Thursday as Lincoln County Clerk of Court and Public Administrator.
• According to a press release issued by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Trevor Applegate, a Bonners Ferry, Idaho man, reportedly went missing at 5:20 p.m. on Dec. 6 after a witness reported seeing him being swept downstream near the Kootenai River Falls.
• While the Libby Christmas tree lighting didn’t go as expected, parents and their kids overlooked the technical difficulties for a chance to have fun.
• Lincoln County officially purchased a property in Troy for the county road department to expand.
• It’s official: Northwest Montana will supply an extra member to the Treasure State’s delegation in Washington, D.C., next Christmas.
• The State B Boys Tennis Champs 2016 flag, the only one of it’s kind on the wall of the Loggers’ gym, was unveiled.