The Silver State Post of Deer Lodge reports a new south wing of the off-site prison work dorm should be open by mid-January, in part to restrict the flow of offenders through prison gates.
“You've got a large group of offenders going in and out of the prison every day to work. That creates a security issue and a contraband issue,” Bob Anez, spokesman for the Department of Corrections, told the Silver State's Mark Eisenbeil.
“It's a lot smarter to introduce (offenders) to a greater level of freedom gradually,” he said.
The Department of Corrections will be asking for $4.8 million at the upcoming legislative session to maintain the expanded dorm through the 2011 budget year. The construction was already funded by the 2007 Legislature, which approved $2.5 million for the project. Anez said so far it looks like that should cover it.
Thompson Falls seeks solution to dog problems
Some Thompson Falls residents say they are being dogged by, well, dogs.
“I pay my taxes and I'm scared to go out in my yard,” Dorothy Frank told the Thompson Falls City Council, according to the Sanders County Ledger.
“We have a dog problem,” Lorraine Morrison said at the council meeting. “There are loose dogs all over town, especially at night.”
Helen Johnson and Laurie Brass said they also had frightening encounters with dogs in the community.
Morrison suggested the council consider hiring a dog catcher, more strictly enforce the town's leash law, and raise and enforce fines for loose dogs.
Mayor Louis LaRock said the city's police department has been vigilant in responding to complaints about dogs, and that a week rarely goes by when city court doesn't address a citation issued for a dog-related offense.
Council member Wade Nelson said the council had reviewed the dog ordinance within the last two years, the Ledger reported, stiffening fines for unlicensed dogs and raising fees for licensing the animals.
“We should not have to stay in our homes because we're afraid to go outside and get bitten,” Frank told the council.
The council said it would schedule a public hearing with the public relations committee of the council to get input on possible solutions.
Polson party introduces students to pen pals
Fourth-graders at Polson's Linderman School got to meet the adult pen pals they've been exchanging letters with for several months at a Christmas party.
The Valley Journal reports that the program is both fun and beneficial to all involved.
The adults are elementary education majors at Salish Kootenai College in nearby Pablo, and use the letters from the kids to understand the writing skills of fourth-graders in a class taught by Cynthia Davey.
“Fourth grade is the best grade for what we need to do,” Davey told Journal reporter Kelly Moore. “I mean, they're writing these letters for fun, but they have no idea that when we get them we're totally breaking them down and analyzing them.”
For Linderman teacher Ian Donovan, meantime, it's a much-needed chance to get his students to put pen to paper.
“It's important for kids to develop writing skills,” Donovan said. “With all the technology we have today, there isn't a lot of writing emphasis.”
Davey and Donovan have been running the pen-pal program for four years.
Kids keep learning while asbestos monitors work
Generators buzzed in school halls in Libby last week, sucking air into asbestos monitoring systems as students walked past or sat at desks nearby.
Samples were taken over two days at 10 locations in five schools, the Western News' Brandon Roberts reported. At least one community member wanted to know why it had to be done with school in session.
“We want the children in, we want real life data of what's going on in the schools,” Mike Cirian, Libby project manager for the Environmental Protection Agency, told the Community Advisory Group. “We have done air monitoring in the past and now is a (good time to) go back and check to see that it is staying protected.”
Clinton Maynard, a former member of the Community Advisory Group, insisted the tests were activity-based sampling.
“We are using the kids to create the environment so that these monitors can do their work,” Maynard said.
Schools superintendent Kirby Maki said he thought it was appropriate to test while students were in school.
“There was noise, a bit distracting in the classroom,” Maki said. “But the ultimate good of knowing the air quality in the buildings far outweighs the two-day distraction.”
Results from the tests should be known in three to five weeks, Roberts reported.
Weeklies Reader is compiled by reporters Vince Devlin and Kim Briggeman.
Editor's note: Each week, the Missoulian provides readers with a sampling of news gleaned from weekly newspapers around western Montana.
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