Local news in brief

By Chronicle Staff

Bozeman bank robber sentenced

A Bozeman man who pleaded guilty to a felony charge of bank robbery in August was sentenced Tuesday in Gallatin County District Court.

Judge Holly Brown agreed with Deputy County Attorney Todd Whipple and sentenced Terrence Fox, 31, to 10 years in prison, Whipple said Tuesday.

Fox admitted in late July to entering First Interstate Bank at 202 W. Main St. in February, approaching a teller and handing over a handwritten note demanding money. According to court documents, the note, written on a bank deposit slip, stated, “Money now no alarm no dye or I will be violent.”

The teller handed over an undisclosed amount of money and, officers said, Fox fled on foot but was quickly detained. During a police interview, they found a large sum of cash and a threatening note on Fox, court records stated.

Bank robberies are usually tried in federal courts but because no weapon was involved, it was resolved through the state justice system.

Whipple said Brown, in her sentencing statement, echoed his assertion that because people have trust in banks, a robbery damages that trust and potentially their business.

“Everybody knows that when you rob a bank, you go to jail,” he said.

Woodworking shop destroyed in fire

The fire that leveled an Amsterdam Road woodworking business might have been smoldering for hours before it was detected, fire officials said, a fact that likely worked against firefighting efforts.

The blaze, which destroyed the shop of Nellis Custom Woodworks, might have been sparked in a sawdust evacuation system. An employee discovered the blaze and called firefighters around 5 p.m. Friday, Central Valley Fire Assistant Chief Brian Crandell said.

Firefighters from Amsterdam, Manhattan and Central Valley Fire Departments fought the flames in the building, which is a converted potato cellar, Crandell said.

Amsterdam Fire did a “remarkable job keeping that fire contained to that building,” he said. “They sent two crews in there - a crew from Amsterdam and a crew from Manhattan - but they were not able to get all the fire.”

Despite having ample water to battle the blaze for five or six hours, the fire had a “great big head start,” Crandell said.

Space between a false wall and the outside wall ran the entire 100-foot length of the building, making suppression efforts difficult.

“It was a very challenging outcome even though firefighters fought it from the inside for an extended period,” Crandell said. “There was so much fire in so many places; they weren’t able to stop it.”

County creates gravel pit task force

Gallatin County Commissioners created a seven-member gravel-pit task force Tuesday, with membership to be selected from business, neighborhood and environmental interests. The group’s mission is to hash out long- and short-term solutions to gravel gridlock.

When commissioners adopted an interim zoning ordinance stalling gravel operations in May, they pledged to develop a task force to identify and solve underlying problems. Commission Chairman Bill Murdock said the group will work to balance business interests with those of neighboring communities.

Task force members will use “common-sense, good-neighbor policy,” to identify challenges and create strategies, Murdock said. The plan is to alleviate conflict by recommending reasonable regulations.

County planner Greg Sullivan said the task force will have no regulatory authority, but will advise county and state officials.

In addition to the well-publicized clashes between Belgrade residents and gravel-operators, other areas in Montana are struggling with similar attempts to balance gravel business interests with community needs, said Commissioner Steve White.

“What we’re doing here, I think, could become a model for other communities,” White said.

Gallatin County commissioners will select the task force members. Those who wish to serve should submit applications to the commission by Sept. 26, at noon.

“As soon as they’re appointed, they’re off and running in the beginning of October,” Sullivan said.

Only 1 Belgrade school hits federal benchmark

All of Belgrade Schools save for Ridge View Elementary failed to make federal benchmarks established by the No Child Left Behind Act over the last year, according to a report issued last week.

The goal of the act is to bring students to 100 percent proficiency in reading and math by 2014. Last school year marked the start of increased benchmarks, State School Superintendent Linda McCulloch said. The bar was raised 17 percent for math testing and 9 percent for reading testing. The new hurdle tripped up school districts statewide, McCulloch said. In the past two years, 90 percent of Montana schools met the requirements, but in the 2008 school year, that number dropped to 72 percent.

The Belgrade School Board along with district administrators will meet Thursday to discuss the scores and a plan of action, Superintendent Herb Benz said.

“To some extent, what it means is the things that we have been doing really well with our faculty and our students aren’t necessarily measured by the (tests),” he said. “We’ve been reluctant to change everything because of the (tests) but, obviously, we are going to have to change some of what we are doing to focus on the testing rather than what we thought professionally was more important.”

Schools that fail to meet AYP are placed on a watch list, McCulloch said, and have two years to make the grade before requirements like tutoring begin to kick in. Despite the drops around the state, Montana schools have annually raised test scores.

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