Top local stories of 2011

2011 was a year of extremes and unusual events.

Extreme weather set the tone for the first half of the year and beyond; extremely divergent viewpoints led to a clash of ideas over a statue on Big Mountain; extremely high unemployment was the benchmark for another difficult economic year.

Those were three of the top stories of 2011.

Rounding out the top five news stories were the trial and conviction of Justine Winter for murder and the protracted follow-up to an assault incident on a high school football bus.

These top stories are reprised below.

The snow that wouldn't go

Weather-wise, 2011 was an odd year indeed in Northwest Montana, one with heavy snow and record low temperatures that lasted well into early summer and high flooding potential that never transpired in the Flathead, at least.

A telltale sign of the collective conditions was the latest-ever opening of Glacier National Park's Going-to-the-Sun Road at Logan Pass on July 13.

Previously, the latest opening was on July 10, 1943, a year when the park was short-staffed because of World War II.

Even with their modern equipment, park road crews got no help from nature as unseasonably cool weather hindered melting of deep snow on the road.

By early June, the Flathead River Basin still had a mountain snowpack that was 126 percent higher than the long-term average. As late as June 10, automated snow sites were recording stunning snow water equivalent measurements, such as 70 inches (in 134 inches of snow) on the Swan Crest's Noisy Basin.

But National Weather Service officials were more concerned about low-elevation snow accumulations that were persisting much later than normal, presenting flood risks mostly on small streams.

What may have prevented more damaging flooding was the delayed runoff of snow water from higher elevations.

That was primarily due to record low temperatures from April through most of June - the coldest since 1975 across the Northern Rockies.

"Records were set at Missoula, Kalispell and Butte each for the fewest number of days above 70 (degrees) and for the lowest average high temperatures," the National Weather Service reported.

In Kalispell, an average temperature of 57.6 degrees from April 1 through June 20 surpassed a previous record for the same period set in 1955.

The inevitable although delayed runoff from mountain snowpack still caused plenty of problems.

Although there was minor flooding on areas such as the Stillwater River and Ashley Creek, however, major river flooding was avoided.

The deluge of mountain water caused other types of flooding. The causeway at Echo Lake, for instance, was closed on June 27 because it was covered in about 18 inches of water.

The causeway remained closed for six months until the lake receded enough for it to be reopened on Dec. 8.

- Jim Mann

A statue of contention

It's a subtle, out-of-the-way fixture on the Big Mountain that has been a surprise to some passing skiers for nearly six decades, yet the statue of Jesus Christ on federal land became a big issue in 2011.

It started when the Flathead National Forest decided in August not to grant a 10-year renewal of a lease for a 25-by-25-foot parcel of national forest land where the statue has stood since 1954.

The decision was largely based on the advice of the Forest Service's Office of General Counsel and legal precedent.

"The Supreme Court has held that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the government from promoting or affiliating with any religious doctrine or organization," stated the decision from Flathead Forest Supervisor Chip Weber.

The decision prompted an outpouring of opposition, and Montana Rep. Denny Rehberg weighed in on behalf of the local Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization that has held the lease and maintained the statue since it was put up.

The group contends that the statue is a memorial to Montana's World War II veterans and a landmark of local historic significance.

In October, Weber rescinded his decision in order to allow for additional review of information suggesting that the site might qualify for a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

In response to an inquiry from the Flathead Forest, the Montana State Historic Preservation Office said the statue "is a local landmark that skiers recognize, and it is a historic part of the resort."

By December, the Flathead Forest had received 95,000 comments regarding the reconsideration of extending the lease, the vast majority of them favoring the extension. About 70,000 comments came from online supporters for a letter that was submitted to the Forest Service by the American Center for Law and Justice, while another 10,000 comments were collected on Rehberg's congressional website.

But there was still opposition to the statue remaining on federal land, led by a Wisconsin-based group called the Freedom From Religion Foundation and a newly formed local group called the Flathead Area Secular Humanist Association.

"This has been an illegal display. The lease never should have happened," said a spokeswoman for the Wisconsin group. "Just because the violation is long lasting doesn't make it historic. It makes it historically bad. It makes it worse. It makes all the more reason to get rid of it."

The likelihood of future litigation if the lease were renewed prompted Rehberg to consider an alternative solution - legislation that would clear the way for Whitefish Mountain Resort to swap a similar sized parcel of land on the mountain for the federal statue site.

"In the face of public outcry from all corners of the country, reasonable people are interested in finding a workable solution," Rehberg said. "Unfortunately, such a solution may require legislation and that takes time."

That legislation was introduced but it has yet to advance in Congress. Meanwhile, Flathead Forest officials are now reviewing the public comments that were received in preparation for a new decision on the lease that is expected by late January or early February.

Toward the end of the year, Ian Cameron of the Flathead Area Secular Humanist Association presented new evidence he said proved that the statue was intended as a shrine and not a war memorial. (See the letter from Ian Cameron, page C7, at the end of this article.)

- Jim Mann

Jobless rate remains high

With unemployment stubbornly at double digits and the local construction industry still stalled, 2011 was a year of continued economic challenges for Flathead County residents and businesses.

The year began with an all-time high unemployment rate of 14.1 percent in January, and by November the jobless rate had improved to 10.6 percent. Hundreds of local workers either left the Flathead or are commuting across the state for oil-field jobs in North Dakota and Eastern Montana.

Health care led the way in the local hiring arena.

Flathead Valley Community College launched five new programs to train workers for high-demand jobs in biotechnology, emergency management, health information technology, patient relations and health-care office management.

Medical tourism drove some of the growth in the local health-care industry, as more and more Canadians traveled to the Flathead for medical procedures.

Tighter regulations in the financial lending process made it more difficult in 2011 for consumers to refinance their homes or get a mortgage.

Local bankers said the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act - sweeping legislation aimed at reforming the financial industry - was partly to blame for stiffer requirements that have trickled down to smaller banks.

Rick McCann, a staff economist for First Interstate Bank, said one of the biggest reasons the recession doesn't feel like it's over is that consumer confidence has not yet recovered. At an economic outlook forum in October, he cautioned those in the financial industry to temper their expectation of when things will return to normal.

Tougher financial regulations didn't do the construction industry any favors. The volume of residential sales dipped slightly in 2011. For the period from January through November, 946 residential sales were made, compared to 956 for the same period in 2010, according to a monthly market trends update by Kalispell appraiser Jim Kelley.

The average price of homes in Flathead County continued to drop, to $253,410 from $268,759 in 2010. That compares to an average price of $357,000 in 2007.

Of the residential sales made through November 2011, 312 were bank-owned properties; 78 were short sales.

In the business arena, firearms manufacturing showed encouraging growth in 2011. PROOF Research Inc. is building a new firearms research and manufacturing facility near Columbia Falls to produce high-end weapons. And at year's end, NEMO Arms Inc. bought SI Defense and formed a joint venture with Sonju Industrial of Kalispell for the design, manufacturing and sales of firearms.

Montana Firearms Group and the Montana Rifleman, sister companies in Kalispell, are manufacturing more than 100,000 gun barrels and 10,000 actions annually. Their American Standard Rifle was named "Best of the Best" new rifles on the market by Field and Stream magazine.

- Lynnette Hintze

Driving deaths earn woman 15-year term

On June 4, Justine Winter of Evergreen graduated with honors from Glacier High School.

Two days later she was sentenced to 15 years in prison for two counts of deliberate homicide.

The sentencing capped a long legal drama that began on March 19, 2009, when Winter smashed her car into a vehicle on U.S. 93 north of Kalispell, killing a pregnant Erin Thompson, 35, of Columbia Falls and her 13-year-old son, Caden Odell.

Winter, 16 at the time, eventually was charged in adult court with two counts of deliberate homicide after it was determined she had been texting her boyfriend just minutes before the crash, making references to killing herself.

Thompson's vehicle had been traveling at roughly 30 miles per hour while Winter's vehicle had been traveling at about 85 mph.

In response to the charges, Winter filed a lawsuit against Thompson's estate and the contractors and construction company who were working on that stretch of highway, arguing it was Thompson who had crossed the center line.

A jury disagreed with that scenario: After a two-week trial, Winter was convicted on Feb. 3 of both charges. The lawsuit was dropped after the conviction.

She was sentenced June 6 to 15 years in prison with the requirement that she serve at least half that time before becoming eligible for parole.

While incarcerated in the Montana Women's Prison in Billings, Winter has been the focus of television specials on ABC's "20/20" and NBC's "Dateline."

- Jesse Davis

Bus assaults lead to charges

Three boys have been charged with misdemeanor assault and one has admitted guilt for a Sept. 12 incident on a Glacier High School freshman football bus.

On the bus ride back from a victory in Missoula, several players forced at least four teammates to the back of the bus, held them down and assaulted them.

A total of six players were suspended from school and kicked off the team. A volunteer with the team also stepped down and freshman linebacker coach/defensive coordinator Ross Darner resigned.

In addition to being forcibly restrained, some of the victims were punched in the groin and poked in the anus with a finger.

A Kalispell Police investigation recommended sexual assault charges against two of the youths; the Flathead County Attorney's Office filed simple misdemeanor assault charges.

Logan Jones, 15, admitted his guilt at a Nov. 25 court hearing.

Jones admitted covering the victims' mouths so they couldn't call for help, threatening them that it would be worse for them later if they struggled, punching them in the groin and poking them through their pants.

Jones was the only player expelled from Glacier High School, and his expulsion was only for the duration of the first quarter of classes. A lawsuit filed to prevent him from returning to school was dropped when he transferred to a different school.

Charles Calobeer, 15, was charged with misdemeanor assault at the same time as Jones. In late November, the same charge was brought against a third player, 15-year-old Truman Pisk.

Calobeer and Pisk have denied the charges.

Jones' disposition hearing, the youth court equivalent of a sentencing, is scheduled for Jan. 6. The next court hearings for Calobeer and Pisk are scheduled for Jan. 18.

The Glacier freshman team went on to have a undefeated football season.

- Jesse Davis