Longtime district court judge fondly remembered

POLSON — A celebrated lawyer and efficient, no-frills judge of the 20th Judicial District for 29 years, C.B. McNeil died April 20 at age 80. His life was celebrated at Polson’s Linderman Gymnasium on Saturday, April 29. 

Judge James A. Manley, who was appointed to replace McNeil in October 2013, described him last week as “something of a giant.” 

“When I heard (of his passing), it’s like Polson isn’t the same town because he took up such a big space here for so long,” he said.

Manley, who had a law practice in town for nearly 35 years, recalls getting a text from an unknown source in 2013 that said, “I want you to succeed me.” 

“I didn’t know who it was from. I was shocked because I didn’t know he knew how to text because he said he didn’t know how to turn on a computer,” Manley said, referring to McNeil. 

Manley said he considered it an honor, and he was elected in his own right in 2014.

He called McNeil “just a poor kid from Anaconda that for all his success and accomplishments never really changed.” 

Manley noted that McNeil was proud of his participation in the state Constitutional Convention of 1972, which resulted in a new Constitution that replaced one adopted in 1889 when Montana became a state. 

“He used to say he was the most conservative member of the convention,” Manley said, adding that McNeil worked on it with liberal Butte attorney Mick McKeon, who also grew up in Anaconda.

McNeil was well-known for his efficiency. 

“Most civil attorneys liked him because he got orders out quickly,” Manley said, adding that McNeil would issue them within 10 days as a matter of course. Less than 30 days is the standard for most judges, but some complicated civil cases take 2-3 months, Manley said.  

‘Small town lawyer’

Attorney John A. Mercer, who started working at the Turnage-McNeil law firm in 1979, called McNeil “a small town lawyer. He solved disputes between people without going to court. He had a booming voice and an incredible physical presence. His clients had so much respect for him. He saved many marriages,” Mercer said. “He dealt with just about anything that came in the door.”

McNeil was as much a good counselor as he was a lawyer, Mercer said, adding that McNeil was highly respected for his intellect and decisiveness.

“He set a certain standard that’s extremely efficient. People were jealous of the way things were done in Judge McNeil’s court,” Mercer said. 

Mercer ran for the state House in 1984 and appeared on the ballot with his business partners Jean Turnage and McNeil. Turnage, who had served in the state Legislature for 22 years, was running for chief justice of the state Supreme Court, while McNeil was running to be judge of the newly-created 20th Judicial District. All three won, and Mercer credits his victory on his association with Turnage and McNeil. 

Mercer also credits McNeil for some of Turnage’s success because McNeil covered their law office when Turnage was attending legislative sessions from 1966-84. 

McNeil was always the life of the office, Mercer said, adding that “he always treated me like I was a member of his family.” 

‘Bigger than life’    

Judge Kim Christopher’s earliest memories of McNeil were as a child. 

Her parents, Dick and Keenie Christopher, had the Harbor Pharmacy on Main Street, which was separated from the Turnage and McNeil law firm by an alley. 

“He was bigger than life and had a voice louder than anything I’d ever heard   and it would fill the alley,” she said. “It was almost scary because I was little and he was big.” 

Christopher’s mother and McNeil’s wife, JoAnn, were sorority sisters in college and Christopher went to school with the McNeils’ children, Chuck and Jolie. 

She served as Lake County attorney from 1995-2000 and was elected as the 20th Judicial District’s second judge in 2000. She called McNeil her mentor on the court. 

“He felt that justice delayed is justice denied,” she said. “He was a good judge to stand in front of, and you knew that he knew what the law was and he would follow it. He knew how to maintain decorum in the courtroom,” she said. “His mere presence was enough.” 

McNeil was “most proud of his partnership with Jean Turnage,” she said, referring to the late Supreme Court justice, St. Ignatius native and tribal member, who died Sept. 27, 2015 at age 89. 

Christopher said McNeil hand wrote all of his decisions, and Manley said many of them were “no frills.” 

McNeil coached baseball and was an avid wildlife photographer, skier and hunter. A number of his wildlife photos adorn the interior walls between the courtroom that bears his name and the judges’ offices. 

Another Anaconda native, Ed McLean, called McNeil a dear friend. 

“He was very plain spoken and got right to the quick of things,” McLean said, adding McNeil had a deep love for the law, but the most important thing in his life was his family. 

http://www.valleyjournal.net/Article/17553/Longtime-district-court-judge-fondly-remembered

Rep. Hertz reflects on state budget, session

POLSON – State Rep. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, took time to reflect last week on the recent biennial legislative session, and said he plans to run for speaker of the House if he’s re-elected in 2018.

Hertz made the comments before a Pachyderm Club meeting on Friday, May 12.

Much of his talk centered around the biennial budget, which went up sixtenths of one percent from the current one.

This is the first budget he’s voted for, Hertz said, noting he voted against previous budgets in 2013 and 2015 that represented increases of 6.95 and 6.9 percent.

Hertz, who as speaker pro tem is the third-ranking Republican in the House, said he was part of a group of some 15 legislators from the House and Senate and governor’s office who negotiated the budget.

“The last two weeks I learned a lot about the budget,” he said, adding that he ruffled a few feathers because he objected to last-minute amendments by some because they hadn’t been subject to a public hearing.

Hertz thinks there is a 60-percent chance the Legislature will be called into a special session in the late fall due to a cash shortage. As of May 10, the state had $181 million in cash, he said, noting that it needs a cushion of around $200 million in cash flow to pay the bills.

This year the Legislature approved SB 261, which creates a budget stabilization fund that can be accessed during revenue shortfalls. Until it is funded, the state’s Budget Director Dan Villa can pull money from the fire fund, which was created by the Legislature in 2013 as a reserve to pay for fighting fires. Some $78 million is in the fire fund, Hertz said, adding that Villa has to make $2 in cuts for every dollar he pulls from it. Once the budget stabilization fund gets funded, assuming the governor signs it, Villa will be required to cut $1 for every $2 he takes out, the opposite ratio used for the fire fund. The bill calls for any excess revenue beyond the expected $15 million to be split between the general and budget stabilization funds.

Hertz was against efforts to pass bonding for infrastructure projects, and noted the Legislature hasn’t approved bonding since 2005.

A nearly $80 million bonding proposal would have resulted in the state paying $40 million in interest charges over 20 years, he said.

He was more supportive of $16.3 million in bonding for K-12 school facilities than he was for most of the other proposed projects.

Hertz’s property tax relief bill, HB 558, passed the House 61-37 and the Senate 37-13 but failed to advance before the Legislature adjourned.

http://www.valleyjournal.net/Article/17642/Rep-Hertz-reflects-on-state-budget-session

Human trafficking awareness urged

POLSON – As a victim of child sexual abuse, Grace Manchala has a heart for child victims of sex trafficking. 

Manchala spoke about her passion to shed light on the problem before the Lake County Pachyderm Club on Friday, May 26. 

Growing up in India, Manchala suffered from abuse from a relative and later married a man who ran escort services that used women ages 17-25, she said. 

So she divorced him, even though she had a young daughter at the time. “The Holy Spirit said I needed to get out. God said, ‘I’m going to be your provider’,” she said, so she took a “step of faith,” applied for the Youth with A Mission program and was accepted. 

“So much healing happened in my life. I’ve been with (YWAM) since 1993,” said Manchala, who later married YWAM Minister Raju Manchala. 

“My passion is to see we have new laws to protect our girls, boys and women who are vulnerable to the traffickers,” Grace said, noting that victims are not just used for sex but also for labor and their organs. 

Sex trafficking has come to Northwest Montana, she said, citing one example of a 9-year-old girl she met who had been plagued by evil spirits, was cutting herself and bulimic. The girl had been gang raped so she had trouble being in fellowship with people, Grace said. 

In an effort to combat such violence, the Manchalas held a five-hour training in Kalispell recently that involved 42 law enforcement officers and five chaplains. They will host a similar sex trafficking awareness seminar from 6-9 p.m. on Monday, June 12, at Polson High School.

The event will include presentations by Sgt. Jeanne Parker of the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office and Det. Guy Baker of the Missoula Police Department. It’s free and open to the public. 

Grace’s efforts have resulted in Montana’s Legislature passing two new laws in 2013: one that criminalizes the transport of people across state lines for sexual activity and another that makes it a crime to subject a child to sexual servitude. 

“Human trafficking is a very invisible crime and people don’t talk about it,” Grace said, adding that it takes time to see the results of new laws. 

Sometimes law enforcement officers aren’t able to prosecute because the girls won’t talk, Raju said. Law enforcement officers need to be trained how to investigate such crimes, he added. Teachers and healthcare workers also need to be trained to recognize the abuse, Grace said, adding that clues may include girls not being dressed properly for the weather or having different kinds of hairstyles, tattoos or heavy makeup. 

There are 300 homeless children in the Flathead area, Raju said. “Within 72 hours of children leaving their home they are approached for sexual activity,” he said. 

When one sees a child sex trafficking victim, she often will be smiling and “have a very good face,” Grace said. “You have to talk to them for a half hour before you recognize the signs.”

Referring to what she calls a $32 billion worldwide industry, Grace said many victims are not willing to come forward because of language barriers and fears of homelessness, isolation and joblessness. 

“The average age of girls forced into sexual slavery is 12, and they are out by age 18,” Grace said, but some are as young as 5 when they are trafficked. Oftentimes they are used for labor or have their organs harvested when their sexual slavery ends.

The U.S. is involved in the sex trafficking industry “because we have the money to pay,” she said. Natives of over 35 countries have been enslaved in the U.S. Typically it occurs in large cities or at vacation destinations. Half of them are children, she said. 

Traffickers prey on runaways, children and women from broken backgrounds, she said, adding that less than 2 percent are ever found again by their loved ones. 

Although such odds may seem daunting, Grace talks about making a difference “one pebble at a time.” 

In the next Legislative session in 2019, her goal is to require training for law enforcement and teachers on how to recognize or investigate sex trafficking, she said. A bill that was considered this year failed after labor unions opposed it, she said. 

For more information, call 406-885-0292 or go online at: gloryforashes.org. 

Donations can be sent to: Grace Manchala, 501 Blacktail Road, Lakeside, MT 59922.

http://www.valleyjournal.net/Article/17770/Human-trafficking-awareness-urged

Adelos receives $2.5M contract to develop intrusion detection technology

POLSON — A world class technology company is moving forward in Lake County.

Adelos, a subsidiary of S&K Technologies Inc., received a two-year $2.5 million security contract with the U.S. Air Force following a competitive bid process last year. 

According to chief executive officer Scott Colton, Adelos was one of 8,900 companies that submitted proposals to the U.S. Air Force’s Rapid Innovation Fund research and development program. Adelos was one of nine companies selected. 

The five-employee company builds fiber optic sensor systems. The current project will provide an acoustic sensor that uses sound waves to identify drones or other aircraft, people walking or tunneling activity, for example.

Adelos is using and expanding on technology developed by the U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, Rhode Island, said Alex Philp, Adelos’ chief technology officer who founded the company in 2006.

The contract calls for delivery of one unit at an Air Force base in the spring of 2018. The fiber optic sensor will provide the Air Force with unprecedented situational awareness and an early warning/intrusion detection capability at its intercontinental ballistic missile launch facilities. 

“This sensor is unique,” Philp said, noting it can detect activity in the air, on the ground and under the ground simultaneously. “We can determine where it is, when it is occurring and what it is,” he said. 

The unit, which was manufactured by S&K Electronics in Pablo, consists of a laser in the bottom and electrical optic machinery in the top. 

In expanding the technology, Adelos is competing mainly against companies in Israel and Great Britain, Philp said. 

“We’re the only company in Montana doing anything as remotely sophisticated as the technology in these boxes,” he said. 

The current contract is the third iteration of the project, with predecessors installed at the Idaho National Laboratory and the U.S. Navy facility in Keyport, Washington, Colton said in a press release. 

He notes that Adelos technology has other applications too, including the oil and natural gas industry where a sensor can be deployed inside a well with a fiber optic cable to provide information on changes in oil, gas or water pressures. 

Adelos is 87-percent owned by S&K Technologies, which is wholly owned by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. The company now known as Adelos was founded in Missoula in 2006 as TerraEchos. S&K Technologies purchased it in 2009, renamed the company Adelos and relocated it to Polson in 2012. 

S&K Technologies, which was founded in 1999, also owns S&K Aerospace, S&K Global Solutions, S&K Engineering and Research and S&K Logistics Services. 

The S&K family of companies has offices in nine states, the District of Columbia and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It has strategic partnerships with a variety of companies, including Booz Allen Hamilton, General Dynamics, Boeing Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, Raytheon, AT&T, Honeywell and ALCOA. 

S&K Technologies, which employs over 400 people, totaled over $350 million sales and paid nearly $30 million in annual dividends to the CSKT’s Tribal Council since its inception, according to a press release. 

Adelos is located at 145 Southlake Crest on a hill in the Ridgewater development in Polson. 

S&K Technologies in located in St. Ignatius. 

http://www.valleyjournal.net/Article/17784/Adelos-receives-2-5M-contract-to-develop-intrusion-detection-technology

Governor signs Real ID law

POLSON – A law creating enhanced driver’s licenses that would allow Montanans to board an airplane and enter federal facilities has been signed into law.

Gov. Steve Bullock signed SB 366 on May 25 after it passed the Senate 33-16 and the House 83- 17.

The bill brings the state into compliance with the federal Real ID law that was passed in 2005 in large part due to four of the 19 9-11 terrorists who used driver’s licenses to board planes.

The Real ID Act sets documentation standards for each state to follow in order to verify the identity and citizenship status of applicants for driver’s licenses and non-driver IDs. There are data requirements that must be met as well, including requiring that state computers contain facial recognition technology, for example. A Real ID-compliant driver’s license may not look different than a regular one, but may be differentiated by a star in the top righthand corner, according to minnesota.cbslocal.com.

A person paying for an enhanced driver’s license would pay an extra $25 or $50, depending on when they apply. It’s $25 during regular renewal periods or $50 if one wants to get a Real ID early or not in their regular renewal period.

The extra fees would fund the equipment and staffing necessary for implementation of the law.

The law authorizes the state Department of Justice to borrow up to $4.6 million to finance implementation costs, which could be paid over 10 years.

Those who want to fly as of Jan. 22, 2018 will need a Real ID-compliant driver’s license or passport. A similar requirement to enter federal facilities began on Jan. 30, although federal courthouses reportedly have allowed exceptions.

According to reports, Bullock has said he plans to ask the federal Department of Homeland Security for two extensions to comply with the Real ID law. The extensions would give the state more time to issue Real ID-compliant driver’s licenses. State residents will still be able to get a non-compliant driver’s license.

Montana had fought compliance with the federal law for years due to concerns over privacy of personal information, costs and states’ rights.

http://www.valleyjournal.net/Article/17817/Governor-signs-Real-ID-law

Father, son share stage at Aber Day Reunion

POLSON – Sam Riddle grew up in New York City, but Montana is in his blood. 

Riddle, who performed with his father Steve at last Saturday’s Aber Day Reunion concert at the Regatta Shoreline Amphitheater, was born in Missoula but spent the first 13 years of his life in New York. 

The Riddles summered in Polson, however, and that never left Sam. 

“We’re definitely Montana boys,” Steve said, noting he and his wife Mary Ann have a cabin on the lake in Polson.  

“When I was in New York City, people thought I was ‘super country,’” Sam said. “When I was in Montana, everybody thought I was from ‘the hood.’” 

Steve, who helped found the Mission Mountain Wood Band in 1971, said the family, including his wife, the former Mary Ann McKenzie, “went elsewhere chasing the dream.” 

She worked on playwright Neil Simon’s production team and Steve was acting or playing bass guitar “every night” and playing at Bluegrass festivals frequently on weekends until the family moved back to Montana when Sam was a teenager. 

“I was exposed to more than usual,” Sam said, reflecting on his life.

Mission Mountain Wood Band, M2WB as they like to be called, played at the Aber Day Keggers that were held in Missoula from 1972-79. Last weekend’s reunion concert commemorated the former annual event that served as a fundraiser for the University of Montana library. 

But the Aber Day Kegger Reunion created memories of its own. 

It will be forever etched in the minds of Sam and Steve and probably many others as well.

Sponsored by Anderson Broadcasting and Missoula Liquid Assets LLC, the event was a surprise to Steve when he heard about it. 

“We’ve talked about it for a long time,” he said. “It never really dawned on us that it would happen in Polson. This is a wonderful moment in time.” 

When asked what his mother thought about it, Sam said, “She just cries. Any excuse for me to come home is great.” 

Sam, who played basketball at Hellgate High School and the University of Montana and had designs on a pro career, was headed to Omaha to meet with a Missoula buddy who played at Sentinel High when the direction of his life took a turn. 

Sam had played pro ball in Puerto Rico and was headed to Omaha to talk to J.R. Casillas about his options in Europe. 

Casillas, who was going to law school at the time, and Sam went out to Harrah’s Casino one night and Sam ended up playing the piano. He remembered “everyone was throwing me $20s and giving me shots.” 

After a short time in Omaha, a man from Las Vegas spotted Sam and the next week he was playing piano on The Strip. 

“I ended up playing every major casino in upscale lounges,” he said. “I looked like I was 16. People were fascinated.” 

That was 2006. 

He was there for several years playing Frank Sinatra standards, Billy Joel songs and the like but wasn’t fulfilled. 

“I was making so much money ... but what was I doing? I felt like I was supposed to do something that was way bigger. It just hit me one day: write songs about what I know and get out from behind the piano and perform. I wanted to represent my dad and Montana.”

He decided to put on his cowboy hat and boots and put a band together. 

Sam said his country band took off “like a rocket” and was headlining 4-5 casinos a week. 

“Within a month I had every gig in town,” he said. “It took over the country scene immediately.”

He was living the dream at that time, but to him he was just “on the way.” 

“I didn’t want to be confined to Vegas,” he said. 

Sam still plays Vegas, but he also takes his band across the country. 

He signed up with a management firm from Los Angeles in 2014 and plans to release a deluxe EP, or extended play record, at the end of the summer and an album by year’s end. 

At age 66, Steve understands that his son is “on the way.” M2WB played with The Band, the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers back in the day. 

M2WB played its country rock and bluegrass until 1982 and then took a 10-year hiatus, starting up again in 1992. Now they do six shows a summer, but Steve stays busy also playing with Singing Sons of Beaches, a “campfire folk” band based out of Polson. 

“It’s funny how these things creep up on you,” Steve said, referring to last week’s event. 

“It’s nerve wracking and very humbling to have something like this happen,” Sam said. “I dreamed about the Mission Mountain Wood Band opening for me at the stadium in Missoula. This is better,” he said. 

People that he met in Vegas and other places “are coming here from all over the world for this,” Sam said. 

Yes, folks. He’s on his way.

http://www.valleyjournal.net/Article/18190/Father-son-share-stage-at-Aber-Day-Reunion

Amphibious planes pose dilemma in anti-AIS effort

POLSON – As the battle to prevent aquatic invasive species moves forward, what to do about sea planes may be the next issue on the horizon. 

Sea planes, or those that only land or take off on water, pose a particular problem: how to regulate them? 

“We’re trying to figure it out,” said Caryn Miske, executive director of the Flathead Basin Commission. “They certainly represent a risk to our waters.”

She noted that mussels can release their bissell threads and colonize a body of water fairly easily. 

Words such as “an impossible dilemma” and “difficult at best to deal with” are some of those she used when discussing the issue of sea planes recently. 

Such a plane can take off from anywhere in the country and land at Flathead Lake without any inspection, although it’s required. The owner of a plane taking off from out of state may not even know about Montana’s regulations. 

Local sea planes aren’t necessarily as much of an issue because locals tend to know about the threat.

Rick Stapleton is such an owner. Stapleton, who lives on Flathead Lake at Dayton, said he is one of some 24 locals who own sea planes, which he called float planes. 

He said these owners are mechanically inclined and tend to be responsible because they have to inspect their planes prior to takeoff. 

He said the number of these planes is “such a small percentage of what’s going on,” however he believes pilots should know about the state’s inspection requirements before landing on Flathead Lake. 

Miske said no one really knows how many of such planes land on Flathead Lake during the year, postulating it could be 20, 30, 40 or 50. Nonetheless she said they present a significant risk to the lake. 

The Flathead Basin Commission will begin considering what to do about sea planes in the near future. The group will meet again on Sept. 27. 

Miske said she wonders if the FBC can make a distinction between resident and non-resident planes when imposing regulations within the Flathead Basin, which basically represents Flathead and Lake counties with a small portion of Missoula County in the Seeley Lake area. A state law that was passed earlier this year (HB622) gave the FBC the authority to regulate the waters in the Flathead Basin. (The CSKT regulates waters located within the Flathead Reservation.) 

“We have no recommended course of action yet,” Miske said. “We would like to visit with sea plane owners.” 

Eric Hanson, the CSKT’s aquatic invasive species coordinator, noted that Colorado banned sea planes in its fight against AIS, but Miske said it’s too early in the process to say whether a ban would be implemented in the Flathead Basin. 

Joe Lorenzen is a Lake Havasu City, Arizona, businessman who operates an amphibious motorized glider from the Polson Airport during the summer. His glider can land or take off from water or land, so it’s a little bit different than a sea plane. Lorenzen said an employee of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks came to Polson and spent three hours inspecting his plane prior to approval this year. 

However, Stapleton said a CSKT inspector gave him an approval sticker for his sea plane after only viewing a photo of the plane. 

Tom McDonald, director of the CSKT’s Fish, Wildlife, Recreation and Conservation Department, said he wasn’t familiar with Stapleton’s sea plane, but said if the owner doesn’t have a trailer then it possibly could’ve been approved for inspection by use of a photo if it is permanently docked on the water. Normally, a sea plane could be inspected at the CSKT office at 406 Sixth Ave. E. if the owner can transport it on a trailer, he said. 

Nine boats with mussels

Hanson said that inspectors across the state have found nine boats with mussels this year, including two in Browning and one at the Jesco Marine and Power Sports station in Kalispell.

Lorenzen, a Shelby native, moved to Lake Havasu City in 2007. AIS prevention efforts there didn’t work because they started too late, he said. Lake Havasu City began trying to prevent mussels in 2005 due to their presence in Lake Mead on the Nevada/Arizona border. 

He said boat owners on Lake Havasu get an inch of mussels built up on the props and outdrives in the lower units of the boats. 

“They have to take ‘em out twice a year to scrape and clean to keep the cooling systems functioning properly,” he said. 

http://www.valleyjournal.net/Article/18221/Amphibious-planes-pose-dilemma-in-anti-AIS-effort