Two males whose car ran out of gas a mile from the turnoff to Hot Springs last week finally got the ride they were looking for.
But it came in the back of a police car.
The first reported seeing only one man with the stalled car.
“I pulled over to help him,” Geri Larson, who was on her way to work at Evergreen Hot Springs, told the Clark Fork Valley Press. “He asked me where I was going, he told me to ‘get out of the (expletive deleted) car' and then pulled a gun and had it six inches away from my head.”
Instead, Larson stepped on the gas and sped away.
“I expected the gun to go off when I was driving away,” Larson told reporter Jamie Doran, “but nothing happened. So that was a huge relief.”
Another woman who stopped later reported a similar incident. She, too, sped away from the would-be carjacker.
Officers arrested an adult and a juvenile at the scene, and charged the juvenile who allegedly brandished the gun with two felonies, for armed robbery.
“The two were quite intoxicated and their car quit running about a mile from the Y Quik Stop at around 3 or 4 in the morning,” Sanders County Undersheriff Rube Wrightsman told the Valley Press. “They were trying to flag down cars (by) standing in the middle of the road.”
Deer Lodge casino must take down palms
A casino on the north end of Deer Lodge has until mid-November to remove 25 pink, green and yellow artificial palm trees near Interstate 90.
The Silver State Post said District Judge Ray Dayton handed down the ruling Oct. 17. The Powell County Planning Board nixed the Happy Endings Casino's plan to erect the trees last September. But casino management went ahead and put them up, maintaining the board didn't have jurisdiction over changes to the property, formerly the Country Village convenience store, because there weren't enough changes to warrant it.
In his written order, Dayton chastised the casino's father-son ownership of John and Justin Dehler for going ahead with a toned-down version of its tree plan without the board's approval.
The judge also took the Dehlers to task for appealing the matter to his court first rather than to the county board of adjustments, where planning board decisions are supposed to be appealed.
“Had (casino management) sought its remedy according to law rather than proceeding in contravention of it, the court would be limited to a determination of whether the board of adjustment's decision constituted an abuse of discretion,” Dayton wrote.
“Certainly, the decision of the planning board cannot be subjected to stricter scrutiny by the respondent's failing or refusing to follow the law.”
Used furniture funds Hamilton shelter
Save a dog. Buy a sofa.
That in a nutshell is Cindy Kincheloe's “A Forever Home” in Hamilton. The used furniture store on First Street has been a fundraiser for the Bitter Root Humane Association for the past 15 months or so, reports Michael Howell of the Bitterroot Star.
The humane association funded the store, which was paid for after just four months. Now it regularly nets $1,000 a month for the animal shelter.
“It has been way more successful than I thought it would be,” said Kincheloe, who works with five volunteers. She refurbishes much of the furniture herself, in a work room at the back of the shop.
Kincheloe has worked for the shelter for 15 years. She once ran her own furniture and refinishing business at the same time. She and Cathee Watson-Smith, a board member for the humane association, hatched the idea of a store to raise money for the shelter.
Kincheloe attended garage sales, auctions and estate sales to stock the store, which opened its doors July 9, 2007. The idea is to provide the community with furniture and antiques that retirees, students and young couples can afford.
“We only put quality furniture in the store,” Kincheloe told Howell. “We don't carry washers and dryers and things like that.”
There's nothing for more than $500 and the prices are negotiable, she said. The longest any item has remained in the store before being sold is 45 days.
Polson to restart city manager search
Polson's hunt for a new city manager was restarted no sooner than it was over.
Paul Poczobut Jr., who verbally accepted an offer to become Polson's city manager, turned around and accepted a similar position in Orland, Calif.
When Polson then offered the job to its other finalist and No. 2 choice, Larry Stoever rejected it as a matter of principle. After being passed over for the Polson post, Stoever said he had accepted another position in Michigan.
Mayor Lou Marchello told the Lake County Leader he felt Poczobut had been dishonest with the search committee by not telling its members he had applied for other jobs.
For his part, Poczobut told the Orland Press Register that the California community provided both a better offer and warmer weather than Polson.
“Orland had the nice climate, some nice growth going and seemed the perfect place to be,” he said, adding that its proximity to San Francisco and Sacramento helped, too, because his wife Suzy likes to shop.
Poczobut has been a city administrator in Taylor, Ariz., for two years.
Polson's search committee will return to its original list of 27 applicants. Marchello told Leader reporter Mike Cast that this time, the city will not turn down other candidates until they have a signed written agreement with a new city manager.
Weeklies Reader is compiled by reporters Vince Devlin and Kim Briggeman.
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