Bar manager awaits 17-day stint in county jail
Days before her sentencing, Diane Hayes Pickavance wrote to Justice of the Peace David Ortley that she deserved to be punished, but she asked for leniency.
The Bigfork bar manager — sentenced June 4 for allowing alcohol sales after hours to a man who later crashed into and killed a Montana Highway Patrol trooper — now is on house arrest awaiting a 17-day stay in the Flathead County Detention Center.
Pickavance, manager of Pick’s Bowling Center, pleaded guilty Oct. 8 to violating Ortley’s original sentence that called for six months of jail time with all but 10 days suspended.
Less than a month after the June sentence, a Flathead County Sheriff’s deputy saw Pickavance drinking alcohol at an area bar. A breathalyzer test showed a blood-alcohol level of 0.174, enough to prove she had violated a condition of her sentence.
The Flathead County Attorney’s Office subsequently filed a petition to revoke the suspended sentence, landing Pickavance in front of Ortley once more.
On Friday, Ortley delivered a six-month sentence, suspended all but 40 days and gave her credit for 11 days she served in the county jail following her arrest.
She will spend 12 days on house arrest and the remaining 17 in jail, according to the sentence, which followed closely with the recommendations in a plea agreement signed by Pickavance.
The sentence will be served concurrently with two others of the same length for issuing a bad check and driving with a suspended license, Ortley said.
Ortley also ordered her to serve 100 hours of community service with the Montana Department of Revenue assisting in the education of alcohol providers. She is not allowed to be in a bar or place where alcohol is the main item of sale, Ortley said.
Pickavance, along with her mother, Lou Pickavance, and brother David Pickavance, wrote letters to Ortley asking for leniency Oct. 4. She said she has two teenage boys to raise and currently is in rehab.
“The first thing I told my family after my last arrest is that it was a blessing in disguise,” Diane Pickavance wrote. “And I truly believe that. I was out of control and I now see that.”
Pickavance wrote that she had not consumed alcohol since June 26, the day of her last arrest. She currently is fitted with an alcohol-monitoring anklet and said that she has gone through a chemical dependency evaluation.
She also testified that the bowling alley’s bar no longer serves shots of liquor and she no longer takes part in providing alcohol to patrons.
According to court documents, Pickavance allowed bartender Nathan Hale to sell alcohol after hours at the bowling center to fellow employee Travis Vandersloot and others on March 23, 2009.
Vandersloot later crashed his vehicle into Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Michael Haynes’ patrol car on U.S. 93, killing them both.
Court records show Pickavance was drinking with Hale and Vandersloot until after 2 a.m.