Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Page One News at a Glance

Local surgeon completes medical mission in Haiti

Commissioners support business development plans

Hamilton adopts emergency zoning for medical marijuana dispensaries

Victor man charged with animal cruelty

Stock Farm requests annexation

Georgia men sentenced for animal cruelty

Local surgeon completes medical mission in Haiti

Dr. Luke Channer, a general surgeon at Daly Hospital, and his mother, a retired nurse, left Missoula on February 7 bound for Haiti. Their travels took them through the Bahamas and the next day they caught a private volunteer supply plane into Les Cayes, Haiti and landed at 11 a.m.

By 1 p.m. that same day Dr. Channer was making the rounds on patients and performing surgery. He relieved a US surgeon who had been there for three weeks. The hospital had 80 patients, all of whom were injured in the January 12th earthquake. The hospital is 130 miles from Port au Prince in the south peninsula. There was no damage in the area where the hospital was located. 

Dr. Channer worked closely with a Haitian doctor who also acted as his interpreter. In addition, he worked with an ER physician from Ohio. All the patients had amputations or wounds which needed debriding of dead tissue until they could be skin grafted. The patients had to be completely healed before they could be discharged because of the lack of basic necessities at home or homes at all.

Pain medication was limited but Haitians are resilient people. There was limited but adequate anesthesia for the surgeries performed. The work days were a minimum of 12 hours long and could have easily been 24 hours a day based on the need. Dr. Channer found the hospital to be crowded but clean. At night the hospital floors were covered with relatives of patients sleeping on sheets. The hospital had a limited selection of antibiotics but with adequate doses. The biggest need is physical therapy and crutches at this hospital. 

Dr. Channer’s accommodations were very good, including food, running cold water, and 24-hr electricity. The weather temperature was in the 80s during the day with high humidity. Dr. Channer only left the hospital complex once so he didn't get to see as much of Haiti during this visit. He found the people very grateful for their care and very pro-US. Everyone in Haiti is affected by the earthquake and all areas of Haiti have been stretched thin because so many people migrated to relatives for food and shelter. 

Dr. Channer met a number of United States medical personnel. One orthopedic surgeon showed him photos of a Haitian woman with an upper arm amputation that he performed. After four days in the rubble, the woman's arm was dead from the weight of the rubble. She took a sharp rock and cut through the now dead tissue and cracked her humerus, setting her free.

Dr. Channer came away impressed with the inner strength of the Haitian people. “They are very proud people and always try to dress nicely even if they live in a shack,” said Dr. Channer. “It was a rewarding trip for me personally and I am planning on going back. I have also been overwhelmed with the outpouring of support of Americans for the Haitian people.”

On Thursday, March 11 at 12:15 p.m. in Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital conference rooms B and C, Dr. Luke Channer will share his personal experiences and photos from his travels. All are invited.

Commissioners support business development plans

By Michael Howell

In the past three months the Ravalli County Commissioners have written letters of support for three different business ventures, all of which are eyeing land in the Darby area for development. And all of them are looking for federal aid in one form or another to kick things off.

The most recent letter of support went out February 10, for the Aqua Blue Pool and Spa Economic Development Project. It is a private company aiming to develop a manufacturing plant, sales and shipping point for spas on twenty acres of land south of Darby.

The other two ventures are non-profit corporations. On February 1, the Commissioners agreed to support the Bitterroot Pellet Mill, a proposed non-profit wood pellet manufacturing company that is looking to cooperate with the third company to be endorsed by the commissioners, the South Valley Event Center. The proposed event center, to be located on old Darby Lumber mill site grounds north of Darby, was the first in this spate of recommendations, having been endorsed by the County Commissioners last December. One proposal involves both companies sharing the old mill site.

AQUA BLUE POOL & SPA

The Aqua Blue Pool and Spa Economic Development Project is, according to the County Commissioners’ letter of endorsement, a consortium of private entrepreneurs, Chris Bigley, Ron Williamson and Jon Skousen, each owning an established small business, who have “pooled their collective business strengths to generate a business expansion strategy that will benefit them and the Darby community.”

The project is projected to generate 25 new jobs within the first year and after four years up to 150 jobs. It has gained the support of both Darby Mayor Rick Scheele and the Darby Town Council.

Consultant to company Marty Birkeneder, of Creative Solutions & Consulting, told the commissioners that the full project was projected to cost about $3.7 million. She said that the business was going to put up $2.1 million of its own and look for federal funding for the rest. The commissioners’ letter of support will be used to garner federal funding through Montana’s congressional delegation in the form of stimulus funds or as earmarks on financial legislation.

The company’s detailed business plan has been slow to emerge due to concerns about privacy and ownership, according to Birkeneder. The company wants to use the federal funds to purchase 20 acres of property at the old Stoltze Conner Lumber mill site south of Darby.

An innovative part of their plan, according to the commissioners’ endorsement letter, involves establishing the first pool and spa technician and contractor certification program in the Western United States. The program would include paid internships ranging from water chemistry to full pool construction contractor. The owners plan to collaborate with the State of Montana, the University of Montana School of Technology and eventually with Trapper Creek Jobs Corps.

BITTERROOT PELLET MILL

A few weeks prior to endorsing the pool and spa company, the Commissioners gave their blessing in a similar fashion, on February 1, to the Bitterroot Pellet Mill (BPM), a proposed venture by partners Steve Marshall and Bob Vanderbyl to establish a non-profit wood pellet manufacturing business.

The Commissioners state in their letter of support that the BPM has been designed to function as a not-for-profit pellet production plant that will eventually provide between 40 and 50 full-time, living wage jobs. It is also estimated that the BPM would produce an additional 50 to 60 related jobs locally.

The mill would produce high quality wood pellet fuel from excess bio-mass from local forests. All harvested bio-mass will be utilized in its entirety, leaving zero waste, and imposing no negative impact on the local environment, it states in the letter.

The non-profit company also offers to deposit a significant portion of any profits into the BPM Grants, Endowments and Scholarship Program, making the funds available to eligible applicants throughout the valley.

According to BPM Project Manager Steve Marshall, the pellet mill’s bio-generating plant will produce electricity that will produce electrical credits that can be used to offset power bills at local schools.

According to information on the company’s website, www.bitterrootpellet.com, it plans to offer area woodcutters the opportunity to “barter” harvested small diameter logs appropriate for pellet production in exchange for bags of woodstove pellets for their family’s personal use. The company claims this will encourage families and/or businesses that historically harvest firewood for burning in conventional wood stoves to convert to pellet stoves in an effort to improve our air quality, while they continue to offset their heating costs by harvesting wood.

The company also plans to collaborate with local pellet stove vendors to reduce the purchase price of pellet stoves for those individuals participating in the “barter” program and buyers who do not wish to barter but agree to contract to purchase a set amount of wood stove pellets from BPM in the future. BPM will “gift” pellets to families and other residents using pellet stoves (nursing homes, schools, etc.) in need of heating assistance due to financial hardship (low income, unemployment, illness, handicap or other hardship) via a simple application and confidential screening process.

Although the company website states that it is looking to locate in Victor at the junction of Highway 93 and Bell Crossing Road, Project Manager Steve Marshall said that they were also looking at property north of Stevensville on the Eastside Highway, as well as looking at the opportunity of joining with the South Valley Event Center and locating on land at the old mill site north of Darby.

Marshall called the SVEC a great idea and said that the old mill site north of Darby would be a good site for a pellet mill.

Marshall expects facility construction and start up costs to total about $4.5 million and is currently seeking a SBA backed bank loan to fund the effort as well as whatever grants may be available. It is anticipated that the mill will produce approximately 12,000 tons of pellets during the first year of operation, 28,000 tons during the second year, and 32,000 tons the third year, with an estimated $6 million in gross sales. The mill will run 24/7, utilizing a day-shift, swing-shift, and graveyard shift structure to keep the mill in full operation as much as possible, scheduling periodic maintenance, cleaning, and repair periods during those shifts during which production will be suspended.

SOUTH VALLEY EVENT CENTER

On December 23, 2009, the Commissioners endorsed the South Valley Events Center (SVEC). That community-oriented effort is aimed at establishing an event center that can serve as an indoor/outdoor sports and recreation complex.

Besides serving as a youth-oriented community sports facility, the Commissioners state that the SVEC has the potential to serve as a venue for other community events as well, including RV and boat shows, horse shows, and rodeos. They note that additionally the SVEC is designed to accommodate wildland fire operations for the U.S. Forest Service, and can serve as an emergency shelter during natural disasters.

The Commissioners note that the Darby, Conner and Sula areas “have suffered a devastating and very likely permanent economic downturn in the past decade with the loss of the timber industry. Only recently have south valley citizens come together to design a new economy by capitalizing on the area’s natural beauty, growth in the tourism industry and community cohesiveness.”

The Commissioners end by noting they believe that the South Valley Event Center “will grow over time and attract new lodging places, restaurants, and other tourist related businesses…”

Spearheading the establishment of the SVEC is Cal Ruark of Darby.

“We are still moving forward,” Ruark said of the SVEC.

Ruark is currently “jumping through the hoops” to get the Bonneville Power Administration and the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to approve his development plans on the contaminated land of the old mill site.

Ruark is looking at raising private funds to finance the event center. It will run as a non-profit which is one of the requirements for benefiting from the Brownfield Funds, a federal program for cleaning up designated environmentally contaminated lands.

He said that certain foreclosure proceedings would have to be completed by the company that holds the mortgage to the property, German Enterprises. Ruark said that once that takes place and the property goes up for auction at a sheriff’s sale, he will be in the best position to acquire the land since he will be ready to submit the permit application to do the required restoration.

A 10,000-square-foot facility is planned at the cost of about $8 million. It will include a large multipurpose room, two gyms, and three floors of office space, a formal meeting room and an outdoor arena.

“We are not looking for federal stimulus funds,” said Ruark. He said that if the land could be obtained and the design cleared by BPA and DEQ, that he was confident he could raise the private funding for the event center.

Despite the lack of a facility, according to its website, South Valley Event Center, Inc. has already scheduled two events for this spring and summer. A concert is planned on May 22, 2010 with four live bands to be held at the Darby Logger Days site. An Elite Bull Connection is planned for July 16. It will be a night of bull riding, music, food and fun, where visitors can watch the Elite Professional Bull Riders face off with the top bucking bulls from Priest Creek/Holter/Hale Bucking Bulls.

Hamilton adopts emergency zoning for medical marijuana dispensaries

By Michael Howell

The City Council unanimously adopted an Interim Zoning Ordinance imposing restrictions upon the location, opening, operation, and licensing of any establishments that grow, sell, or distribute medical marijuana and directing the study of new proposed ordinances to regulate such establishments.

Under the interim zone, which will last for six months, medical marijuana dispensaries can only be located in B-1, B-2, CM and MI (Manufacturing/Industrial) zones within the city limits. According to Special Projects Director Dennis Stranger, who helped City Attorney Ken Bell draft the ordinance, the B-2 zone is a business district located along Highway 93 through town. The core downtown area is a B-1 business district. The area immediately north of downtown is also zoned B-1 and a few other small districts are scattered around town. Stranger said that there are only a few small Commercial Manufacturing (CM) districts on the east side of town including the RCEDA Entrepreneurship Center. He said there are no existing MI zones in the city yet. It was decided at a Committee of the Whole meeting last week to strip PS districts, zoned for professional services, from the allowable zones for medical marijuana dispensaries.

A retired military commander spoke up, saying that he had to deal with marijuana use in the military and recognized the potential for abuse, but he also had a grandmother who died of stomach cancer and may have benefited from the anti-nausea effects of marijuana. He suggested that it be dealt with as a prescription drug and controlled in the same fashion through existing pharmacies.

The owner of a medical marijuana dispensary just outside the city limits wondered how the ordinance would affect current caregivers who live in the city in other zones and provide marijuana to a small number of patients.

Stranger said that the Interim Zoning Ordinance would not affect any caregivers currently operating. He said they would be grandfathered in. He also noted that any person living anywhere in town would still be allowed to grow marijuana for their own personal use under the ordinance.

Councilor Al Mitchell, who missed the Committee of the Whole meeting in which the council considered the ordinance, said that he would have preferred a moratorium until some control measures could be devised but called the ordinance the best bet at this point in time.

Councilor Joe Petrusaitis said that the community really needed to address the problem of abuse of all kinds of legal drugs such as alcohol and painkillers.

The Interim Zoning Ordinance was passed unanimously.

Victor man charged with animal cruelty

By Michael Howell

A Victor man, Gary Mazade, has been charged in Justice Court with two counts of cruelty to animals after shooting two dogs on his property last December 15, 2009. One dog, a Treeing Walker Hound named Tracker, died on the spot. His companion, another hunting hound named Ruby, was wounded by a gunshot wound to the neck and is recovering.

The hounds, owned by Victor resident Bob Kubiak, were set loose in the area to track a mountain lion that had been seen in the neighborhood and killed at least one dog on the owner’s front porch.

According to filing documents in the case, Kubiak, accompanied by licensed hunter Jeff Shively, had let the dogs loose about 9:30 in the morning in the vicinity of Mazade’s property. Kubiak claims to have gotten permission to hunt the lion from most landowners in the area, but had not gotten permission from Mazade. About five minutes after releasing the dogs the men heard gunshots from the direction the dogs had taken. The men stopped at a no trespassing sign on Mazade’s property.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, the men spoke with Mazade, asking if he had shot the dogs. They told the investigating officer that Mazade had answered saying, “I don’t hunt. I don’t even own a gun.”

After being rebuffed by Mazade, the men made their way to the other side of the property and discovered bloody dog prints on the fence line along with the tracks of a four-wheeler.

Kubiak later located the dog Ruby, using the radio collar she wore, about three miles from where the dogs had last been seen. The dog had been shot in the neck and was taken to a veterinary clinic for treatment.

According to the court documents, Mazade was interviewed by investigating officers on December 23. They claim Mazade said that on the day in question he had seen some deer from his shop window running in a strange manner, as though being chased. He then saw the hounds chasing the deer and “sprang into action.” He grabbed a rifle and hopped on his four-wheeler and drove to where he last saw the dogs. He then shot at the dogs from about 50 yards away. He saw one dog drop immediately and followed the other dog to his property line.

Mazade claimed at the time that the only reason he shot the dogs was because they were chasing deer. He further stated he was not at will to disclose what caliber rifle he was shooting because he did not want to implicate himself.

According to Deputy County Attorney Angela Wetzsteon, who filed the charges, state law allows a landowner to shoot a dog caught in the act of chasing or attacking livestock, it does not allow the shooting of dogs that are chasing wildlife. The two counts of cruelty to animals are misdemeanors. If convicted, Mazade could face fines not to exceed $1,000 and imprisonment not to exceed one year.

Kubiak said in an earlier interview that his dog Tracker was a breeding male that had a value of several thousand dollars.

Stock Farm requests annexation

By Michael Howell

The City of Hamilton has received a petition for annexation from the owners of the Bitterroot Stock Farm. Francis Bessenyey, one of the owners, has designated Peter Van Tuyn as her representative in the annexation application process.

The request is to annex about 290 acres of land located south of the Daly Mansion and bordered by Old Corvallis Road, Fairgrounds Road and the Eastside Highway.

Van Tuyn said that the land in question was not under contract at the moment and that no definite plans exist for development of the area. The land is currently in agricultural use. The application states that a zoning request will be made at the time that any development is proposed for the area. The petitioners have waived the right to a vote on the annexation in the next primary or general election.

Dennis Stranger, Special Projects Director for the City, said on Monday that his office had not had a chance yet to review the application. He said that some legal questions might have to be addressed concerning the annexation of agricultural land into the city or more definite plans for development would have to be forthcoming to give the city some basic idea of the extent of services it would be committing itself to by annexing the property.

Georgia men sentenced for animal cruelty

By Michael Howell

Two men from Georgia, recently convicted of cruelty to animals for abusing horses they had taken into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness area in 2008, were sentenced to hefty fines and costs as well as jail time by Ravalli County District Court Judge Jeffrey Langton last Wednesday.

Craig Heydon, 72, and his son Curtis, 38, were first convicted of animal cruelty charges in Justice Court last year. That conviction was appealed to District Court and the two men were found guilty for a second time by a jury that deliberated for about three hours.

The men took newly purchased horses into the wilderness area on a two-month pack trip that turned into a nightmare for the horses, who were underfed, burdened with homemade pack saddles, and over-worked. The abuse came to light when one of the horses was found abandoned along the trail tied to a log, malnourished, with bug bitten open sores, unable to get on its feet.

The men were ordered to pay over $11,500 for horse care following the confiscation of the horses, about $10,000 each for the cost of their confinement, and about $3,000 each in court costs. They were each also sentenced to serve 6 months in jail.