Top 10 Local stories for 2008

By Chronicle Staff

No. 1: Presidential candidates battle for Big Sky

For the first time in modern political history, Montana voters were actively courted by the presidential candidates in 2008, and even Bozeman got its share of adoration during the heated primary race between Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

The two presidential hopefuls first set down in the Big Sky state in April, making their pitch to ecstatic Democrats in Butte and Missoula. To the surprise of many, visits to the last state to vote in the 2008 Democratic primary did not stop there, and Bozeman was put on the itineraries of Obama and former President Bill Clinton.

Obama came to town on May 19, packing the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse with 7,000 supporters plus the national press corp. Bill Clinton, speaking on behalf of his wife, came shortly after, making his pitch to a markedly smaller crowd.

After Obama won the Democratic nomination, he campaigned in Montana again, but not in Bozeman. Still, the campaign was active in the Gallatin Valley, as Obama spent lots of money and resources in an attempt to turn this red state blue.

Republican Sen. John McCain won Montana in November regardless, but Gallatin County went for Obama, as did the national as a whole.

Montana Republicans, too, had a higher profile than usual during the primary, thanks to their creation of a caucus held on Feb. 4, four months before the Montana primary. While no Republican candidates visited the state before the caucus, many surrogates did, and Mitt Romney won the state in the GOP caucus.

- Daniel Person

No. 2 Economy hits hard times

In 2008, the Bozeman area’s economy took its biggest hits since Sept. 11.

The housing construction boom that had fueled Bozeman and Big Sky’s high-octane growth stalled and then seemed to hit a brick wall.

Home prices, which had zoomed up for years, dropped at least 5 percent.

The Yellowstone Club, a private resort at Big Sky for millionaires and billionaires -- both a symbol of the new Gilded Age’s excesses and an economic engine for Gallatin County n filed for bankruptcy in November. Edra Blixseth, who won control of the club from her estranged husband Tim Blixseth in a divorce battle, got a last-minute loan that saved the resort from being shut down this winter.

Limited layoffs were announced at the Yellowstone Club, Moonlight Basin, PrintingForLess, Yellowstone JetCenter, the Chronicle and the Museum of the Rockies. Stillwater Mining Co. announced the biggest layoffs in the region, saying it would permanently cut 320 workers.

Bankruptcies were filed by several chains with outlets in Bozeman, including Linens‘n’Things, Corral West and Bennigan’s restaurant.

The city of Bozeman issued building permits for only 242 new housing units in the first 11 months of 2008 -- the lowest number in 17 years.

Downtown Bozeman lost high-end clothing, furniture and baking shops. The Army-Navy store held a “going out of business” sale.

The number of job-seekers quadrupled at the Bozeman Job Service, while job openings shrank.

“I used to think Bozeman wouldn’t be affected, I thought we lived in a little bubble here,” Judy Callisto, Job Service supervisor, said. Now she, like many others, realizes that idea was wrong. “We have been touched, and in a big way.”

- Gail Schontzler

No. 3: Gas prices through the roof, SUV sales through the floor

With gas prices soaring to a statewide average of $4.20 per gallon in mid-July, more people in Bozeman took to commuting on bicycles and Streamline buses. And although fuel prices dipped to a nearly five-year average low of $1.66 per gallon nationwide, the high prices may have fundamentally changed the way people use gasoline-powered vehicles.

The state average price for regular gasoline as of late December is $1.54 per gallon and diesel is running $2.32 per gallon (down from a high of $4.21 per gallon).

As Bozeman’s free bus system celebrated its two-year anniversary in August, GALAVAN/Streamline director Lee Hazelbaker said 140,461 riders took the bus in the second year n almost doubling its riders over the previous year.

Gas prices and a faltering economy also challenged car dealerships nationwide with financing proving elusive even for those with the hardiest of credit scores. Auto dealers across Bozeman saw sales drop by up to as much as 50 percent from last year, one local dealer said in October.

But the gas crunch was a boon to some automobile dealers.

Eco Auto Inc., a regional supplier of electric vehicles for Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota and Idaho, saw a sales boost this year over last. CEO Ron Gompertz told the Chronicle in June that they’d sold about 25 electric vehicles - more than three times the previous year’s sales.

And although sales of hybrid vehicles were up, consumers who could obtain loans and were looking to buy more environmental- and budget-friendly vehicles were frustrated by long waiting lists to buy hybrid vehicles. In June, 21 people were on a waiting list at Ressler Motors to buy a Toyota Prius - a three-month wait, Billy Mills, the dealership’s sales manager said at the time.

- Jodi Hausen

No. 4: Third time’s the charm for Gallatin County jail bond

After three tries, advocates for a new Gallatin County Detention Center finally got their wish when 53 percent of voters casting ballots in the November general election gave the thumbs up to a $32 million bond to construct the new 160-bed facility.

In 2002, an $18.3 million bond for a 144-bed facility was resoundingly rejected 3 to 1 by Gallatin County voters and a $20 million bond in 2005 also failed, although by a slimmer margin.

Sheriff Jim Cashell had repeatedly said that the current jail, located next to the Law and Justice Center off South 19th Avenue, was antiquated when it was built in 1981. The building has been plagued with issues from the start, including problems with locks, heating and air-conditioning and lack of space. It was constructed to house up to 39 inmates, but rapid population growth in the county led to chronic overcrowding, forcing Gallatin County to transport inmates to Broadwater County’s jail or house two or three inmates in cells designed for one.

Opponents of the bond issue had said the plan was too expensive and expansive, but did not deny the need for a new facility.

And despite a faltering economy, county officials convinced voters that an average of less than $40 on their annual tax bill was a small price to pay for a new jail.

Construction of the new facility, which will be built behind the current jail, is expected to begin in early 2009 with a completion date tentatively set for the end of 2010.

- Jodi Hausen

No. 5 Ex-MSU athletes sent to prison for cocaine-related murder

One of the most shocking crimes in Bozeman history came to a close in 2008 when two former Montana State University athletes were sentenced to long prison terms for the brutal 2006 murder of a suspected cocaine dealer.

It was an unsatisfying end. The two defendants, Branden Miller and James Lebrum, each claimed the other actually shot Jason Wright. As District Judge Mike Salvagni said at sentencing, the truth may never be known.

What is known is that the pair started out to rob Wright, who ended up being kidnapped, driven to Huffine Lane and shot several times in a field.

The 24-year-old Miller, a former basketball player, pleaded guilty to deliberate homicide and evidence tampering. In May, Salvagni sentenced him to 125 years in prison, calling the crimes “too horrific to be deserving of a second chance.” Miller owned the murder weapon, and his fingerprints were on it.

Lebrum, 24, an ex-football player, pleaded guilty to robbery and was sentenced to 50 years for the Wright case and for beating a man in a pick-up basketball game.

Prosecutor Marty Lambert said Miller had wanted to be part of a cocaine ring with other former MSU athletes, and once admitted he’d shot Wright because he had seen Miller’s face.

Demetrius Williams, 25, an ex-football player, was called the kingpin of the drug ring, which brought 26 pounds of cocaine into Bozeman from 2005 to 2007 and included seven former MSU athletes. Williams was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

In the wake of the scandal, MSU, which had fired its football coach in 2007, sought an internal review that in 2008 recommended several changes, the first being that MSU recruit athletes who could actually make it as students.

- Gail Schontzler

No. 6: Hail takes out crops, gardens, but provides economic boost for others

Thunderstorms pounded Bozeman with golf-ball-size hail in July, decimating gardens, but also providing an economic boon for roofers, auto-repair specialists and insurance agents.

Two July 22 hailstorms, which came with 85 mph winds, knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses in Gallatin and Madison counties, downed countless tree limbs and a few trees and caused minor flooding throughout the area.

So much water fell in such a short time that the Bozeman’s streets were flooded at many intersections. In its aftermath, the storm left streets and cars covered with wet, green leaves.

While there were no reports of injuries, farmers’ crops, along with flower and vegetable gardens, were destroyed, a disappointing blow after what had been an encouraging start to the growing season. Many farmers did not have hail insurance and the loss was exacerbated by rising fuel and fertilizer costs.

Towne’s Harvest, a community-supported agricultural program run by Montana State University students and faculty, struggled to meet its goals to provide a steady supply of healthy, locally grown food to area food banks.

Falling branches during the storm took out vehicle windshields, sunroofs and home windows all over town. And auto-repairers, roofers and insurance agents had months of work lined up as a result.

The state’s largest insurer, State Farm, had processed about 700 claims for homeowners by mid-August, a company representative reported.

- Amanda Ricker

No. 7: Yellowstone winter-use debate heats up, again

For those concerned about how Yellowstone National Park should be enjoyed in the winter, it’s been a year of dueling judicial decisions from judges in Wyoming and Washington, D.C.

Largely as a result of competing judicial decisions, Yellowstone officials announced three different caps this year on the number of snowmobiles allowed to enter the park.

The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, a Bozeman-based environmental group, filed the latest lawsuit challenging Yellowstone’s winter-use plan this month, aiming to curb snowmobile traffic in the park, which it claims, harms wildlife and damages the environment.

But West Yellowstone snowmobile operators question that logic and find themselves perpetually frustrated by the yo-yoing snowmobile caps.

“The GYC is killing us with death by a thousand cuts," snowmobile operator Pat Povah of the Deep Well Ranch said in November.

But conservation groups maintain that the National Park Service’s own science stated that this year’s cap, 720 snowmobiles, was too high, and that there are other, more environmentally responsible ways to enjoy the nation’s oldest park during the winter season.

And Amy McNamara of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition said taking aim at her organization doesn’t take into account the depth of concern held by the American public.

"This is not GYC raising a stink. This is the American public caring," McNamara said.

The cap is set for this year, but there’s little doubt the discussion will continue well into the next year and beyond.

- Jessica Mahrer

No. 8: Livingston bridge nearly collapses

Livingston’s Ninth Street Island Bridge nearly collapsed during the summer of 2008, after sinking into the fast-moving floodwaters of the Yellowstone River.

The one-lane bridge was closed June 19th after the engorged Yellowstone undercut one of the support pillars. The pillar sagged 18 inches, causing two cement-deck sections to buckle and the wooden support rails to snap.

The bridge was the only way to reach the 35 homes on Ninth Street and Siebeck islands.

When the bridge began to fail, visitors and workers on the island were ordered to leave their cars and were escorted across the bridge wearing life jackets. Officials then closed the bridge, leaving island residents either stranded in their homes or on the “mainland” for about a week until a temporary bridge was installed.

Flood conditions brought the Yellowstone River’s surface a few feet of the bottom of the bridge, and prompted state officials to close a 12-mile section of the river to recreational use for much of the summer.

The bridge was eventually reopened to traffic with a temporary trellis rig called a Bailey bridge, which was laid on top of the damaged structure. The Bailey bridge is expected to remain the only access to the islands until the old bridge can be replaced. Traffic is restricted to only residents and property owners.

- Amanda Ricker

No. 9: Remembering the good times

Gallatin County began 2008 optimistically. State economists predicted strong growth would continue, unemployment was practically unknown and magazine editors couldn’t help but put Bozeman and surrounding communities on their “best places to live” lists.

But as the national economy ground to a halt, it became painfully clear that this mountain valley was not immune. The economists have tempered their projections. Unemployment has ticked up, up, up.

Yet, members of the community and visitors from afar in 2008 continued to remind locals why this is considered a “best place.”

The historic Ellen Theatre downtown, for example, was refurbished by the hands of volunteers and reopened just in time to retell Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” to packed houses.

In mid-summer, thousands of Airstream campers hauled by members of the Wally Byam Caravan Club International converged on the Montana State University campus to meet and share all that the Bozeman area had to offer: good food, good outdoors, good people.

Downtown’s makeover neared completion as the final touches were put on a new parking garage.

And a new middle school, Chief Joseph Middle School, was built and opened to students, while work got underway on the new Hyalite Elementary School.

Such stories served as solid reminders that while prosperity may be fleeting, community need not be.

- Daniel Person

No. 10: Fate of idyllic animals comes to the fore

Officials heard an earful this year about whether bison should be allowed to roam outside of Yellowstone National Park and whether wolves should be taken off of the endangered species list.

After the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed gray wolves from the list, a federal District Court in July granted an injunction to prevent the delisting.

Some wildlife watchers say the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may attempt to remove the wolves from the list in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming before President-elect Barack Obama takes office Jan. 20.

If the wolves come off the list, people will be able to legally hunt them in Montana. Some ranchers say the wolves pose a serious threat to livestock.

Larger critters, too, were a hot topic this year. As folks debated the fate of the last free-ranging genetically pure bison herd in Yellowstone, “adaptive management” became the name of the game.

This year, the Government Accountability Office criticized the Interagency Bison Management Plan, which aims to protect cattle against brucellosis transmission while giving bison room to roam, as having no clear objectives and too little coordination.

As a result, IBMP partnering agencies regrouped this year, cutting deals to open up areas on the north and west sides of the park so bison can graze during winter months.

Amid skepticism from bison advocates, state wildlife officials have said they will reexamine how bison, cattle and partnering agencies fare given the modestly expanded range and adapt as necessary.

“This is going to be a learning process,” said Pat Flowers of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. “We’ll learn more as we go.”

- Jessica Mahrer

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