Celebrate responsibly: Keep our roadways safe

A pair of heartbreaking vehicle crashes last week near Bigfork devastated two local families and sent ripples throughout the community.

On Dec. 1, a suspected DUI driver allegedly attempted to pass in a no-passing zone on Montana 83 and collided head-on with vehicle carrying Kalispell residents Teressa Brandt, her daughter Ashytn and her fiance Wyatt Potts. 

Potts, 33, tragically died in the crash, and Teressa and 15-year-old Ashytn were seriously injured. Teressa, a mother of three children, has been in a coma since the accident, according to a GoFundMe account set up to benefit the victims, having suffered a traumatic brain injury among other major injuries.