A Year in Review, Part 4

Join The Western News in taking a look back at the biggest stories of 2021, a year that won’t soon be forgotten.

Oct. 1

Drive thru testing makes comeback

The Center for Asbestos Related Disease resumed drive thru testing for COVID-19 at its East Third Street clinic.

Open four days a week, the testing site was available to all. Employees just asked that participants schedule their test ahead of time.

The resumption of testing services came as the delta variant burned through Lincoln County. The bulk of the region’s pandemic dead succumbed to the disease in the weeks after delta was deemed the most prominent strain of the coronavirus in the country.

Oct. 4

Sikes named city administrator

Following the departure of Jim Hammons, Libby City Council tapped Samuel Sikes to serve as city administrator, but not without hue and cry.

Mayor Peggy Williams put forward Sikes, who previously worked as Libby’s clerk and treasurer, to replace Hammons, but ran into opposition from rival mayoral candidate and City Councilor Hugh Taylor. The city councilor argued that because a line on the special meeting’s agenda listed it as closed for personnel issues the public was effectively deterred from attending.

City Attorney Dean Chisholm said the line was added to the standard text adorning every city council agenda in the event councilors needed to go into closed session to discuss Sikes’ employment history. Still, Taylor left the meeting in protest.

The remaining city councilors voted 4-1 to show their support of Sikes’ appointment.

Under Libby’s charter, appointing a city administrator is under the sole discretion of the mayor. Williams opted to create a hiring committee and give city councilors a chance to weigh in on her choice of Sikes.

Oct. 13

Commissioners back Forest Service in suit

County commissioners backed the U.S. Forest Service in new litigation surrounding the Ripley Project by signing onto the suit as an intervenor.

The move put the county in league with the American Resource Forest Council and Kootenai Forest Stakeholders Association and against the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, which spearheaded the suit. The project, which covers an area that local officials have identified as a wildland urban interface, calls for 10,854 acres of timber harvest, 1,544 acres of non-commercial treatment and 148 acres of old growth treatment.

Opponents argue the project could adversely affect the local grizzly bear population. Proponents say the project will help prevent a potentially disastrous future wildfire.

Oct. 28

Conservation easement

The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission approved the proposed Kootenai Forestlands Phase II Conservation Easement, setting aside nearly 30,000 acres of timberlands south and east of Libby.

Stimson Lumber Co. owns the land and had backed the effort to secure it from future development. Company representatives helped publicize the easement during a public meeting in Libby earlier in the year.

“We feel the easement is good for wildlife, it's good for the people and visitors of Montana and it's good for the Libby and Lincoln County community,” said Ken McDonald, administrator of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ wildlife division, while speaking before the commission.

To pay for the easement, state officials received about $470,000 from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, $50,000 from the Montana Fish and Wildlife Conservation Trust and $6 million from the U.S. Forest Service Forest Legacy Program.

Oct. 29

Carvey reaffirmed

Taking a second vote — this time after allowing for public comment — the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners again backed Dr. Dianna Carvey for an at-large seat on the health board.

Carvey, a physician from the Eureka area, drew equal parts praise and criticism from residents. She beat out Libby’s Dr. Gregory Rice to fill the vacancy created by the death of Dr. Sara Mertes on the board.

Following their decision, commissioners said Rice’s views on abortion and pandemic measures precluded him from earning their support.

The decision to appoint Carvey to the board also swung the geographical balance of the panel northward. Though the seat was advertised with a south county resident in mind, county commissioners said unless that preference was enshrined in board bylaws, they saw no reason to make geography a major factor. That represented an about-face from earlier in 2020, when geographic considerations were ostensibly the reason to create a north Lincoln County at-large seat, now held by Patricia Kincheloe.

Nov. 2

Election 2021

Libby voters broadly favored incumbents at the polls while their counterparts in Troy sought a new direction for the small city.

Mayor Peggy Williams, appointed to the post in late summer, edged out rival City Councilor Hugh Taylor. As for the three seats up for grabs on city council, incumbents Gary Beach and Kristin Smith cruised to reelection.

Newcomer Melissa Berke joined them on city council with 373 votes. Incumbent Rob Dufficy lost his reelection bid. Zach McNew, who was appointed to fill Williams’ vacant seat earlier in the year, but remained on the ballot, fell short of securing a full term. Former City Councilor Darrel “DC” Orr rounded out the candidates, securing just 176 votes.

In Troy, voters had the option of incumbent Dallas Carr or City Councilor Chuck Ekstedt for mayor. Ekstedt earned 169 votes to Carr’s 146. Owing to a dearth of candidates, the two city council seats up for grabs in Troy were filled by acclamation.

Nov. 8

Border reopens

Anticipation was high in Eureka — and across Lincoln County — ahead of the reopening of the U.S.-Canada border more than a year after it closed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the region had soldiered on economically, business owners in the northern portion of the county reported struggling with the loss of traditional cross-border travel.

“We’ve been able to see a difference definitely with the border being closed,” said Stephanie Rice, who manages Cafe Jax in Eureka. “We still have people traveling but that border keeps us going in the summertime and through the winter.”

Though the drop in travel restrictions was welcome, testing and vaccination requirements still presented a challenge. To cross the border, visitors needed proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test.

Nov. 8

In the weed(s)

Libby City Council’s ordinance committee met to begin the process of ironing out the municipality’s rules for recreational marijuana sales.

Because retail pot sales are limited to existing medical dispensaries for the first 18 months of legalization, which went into effect Jan. 1, City Councilor Kristin Smith noted that the three-member panel had some breathing room before putting forward a local ordinance.

Much of the discussion has focused on limiting the number of retail storefronts in Libby, likely by requiring that outlets be a certain distance from each other, and preventing grow operations from taking roots within city limits.

The trio also plans on recommending the full city council push the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners to pursue a 3 percent local tax on recreational marijuana sales.

Nov. 17

Duck debate

City councilors in Troy inched ever closer to permitting the owning of Muscovy ducks within the municipality.

Officials began debating the city’s stance on ducks after a new arrival noted that municipal code allowed residents to own up to five chickens, but no ducks. Ilona Eubank asked city councilors to consider an exception for Muscovy ducks, a breed known for quality eggs and meat.

After a discussion that stretched over several meetings, city councilors agreed to crack open the city’s ordinance and consider tweaking the rules to allow residents to own up to five chickens or ducks. Drakes would remained banned under the proposed language.

Nov. 20

Hugging the hospital

Dozens of residents circled Cabinet Peaks Medical Center in a symbolic hug, showing their support for the county’s health care providers.

Karen Disney, pastor of the Libby United Methodist Church, said she conceived the idea while trying to think of a way to give thanks to medical professionals for their work during the pandemic.

“I was just trying to think of something not expensive but fun that would bring the community together,” she said.

Dec. 1

Not guilty

A jury found former City Councilor Darrel “DC” Orr not guilty of assault with a weapon or, in the alternative, criminal endangerment after a short trial in Lincoln County District Court.

Orr stood accused of driving dangerously close to a Montana Sky employee during a property dispute in May. Orr and the three witnesses called to the stand offered differing accounts of the incident, with Orr testifying that he drove at a low rate of speed and gave the employee a wide berth.

It was the second time Orr has faced charges connected to his driving. In 2012, he was found guilty of careless driving after buzzing a man performing remediation work not far from the scene of the 2021 incident.

The jury reached a verdict nearly a month after Orr lost a bid for one of three seats on Libby City Council, placing dead last among the six candidates on the ballot. Orr claimed the charges were political in nature, though he filed his paperwork to run for city council after his arrest.

Dec. 6

Elks Lodge to see rebirth

City councilors in Libby gave the green light to a machine shop outfit looking to move into the former Elks Lodge on West Fourth Street.

In a unanimous vote, city councilors approved a conditional use permit for the project. The shop, which will use computer numerical control machining, would produce mostly automotive parts, officials said at the public hearing.

The building has sat empty since 2019, when the fraternal order could no longer field a slate of officers.