Jan192024

Obituary: Shirley Jean (Caldwell) Pollock

Obituaries
Shirley Jean (Caldwell) Pollock

Shirley Jean (Caldwell) Pollock

Shirley Jean (Caldwell) Pollock, formerly of Pompeys Pillar, passed away peacefully in Billings, on Jan. 9, 2024, at the age of 89.

She was born on Jan. 27, 1934, to Clarence and Laura (Morris) Caldwell in Billings. 

On June 18, 1952, in Red Lodge, Shirley married the love of her life, Leroy Gavin Pollock. They went on to have four wonderful children: Carolyn, Kipp, Bill and Gary.

After 22 years in Billings, Leroy and Shirley moved to Pompeys Pillar and spent the next 35 years there farming, raising sheep, chickens and gardening. She was well known for canning jams and jellies that they sold at local farmers’ markets. They were faithful supporters of Huntley Project Schools and loved following all the grandkids and their sporting endeavors.

Shirley had a love of read more

Jan192024

Obituary: Gary Joseph Ruff

Obituaries

Gary Joseph Ruff

In Loving Memory of Gary Joseph Ruff

Gary was born on January 21st, 1950, and he left us on January 7th, 2024, due to complications from a stroke. He was a devoted husband, son, brother, uncle, friend and neighbor who touched the lives of so many.

Gary was generally affable, and was easy company for everyone. It was evident from an early age that Gary had a love of animals, and that foreshadowed him becoming a lifelong cattleman and a collector of cats. He was well-known for his love of milkshakes, visiting with friends, his “Gary Wear” Western fashion, his impassioned screeds of swearing, and his adoration for read more

Jan192024

This is a major threat, especially to rural economies, culture and traditional ways of life

Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

I just read an article in an ag newspaper out of South Dakota about a recent proposal by the SEC (Securities & Exchange Commission) that would allow a new type of company with rights to own and control public and private lands in the U.S. to be listed on the NYSE. This control would include National Parks, game refuges, BLM, USFS, agricultural land (both farming and rangeland) and private conservation easements, literally much of the U.S.!

These NAC’s (Natural Asset Companies) would not only hold rights to AND management of forests, wetlands, farm and rangeland, coral reefs, etc., but management would not be based on traditional accounting and returning profits to shareholders. These NAC’s would be managed for “natural processes” and prioritizing “conservation” and “sustainable practices”. (Pretty vague and dangerous terms!) In other words, these companies could read more

Jan192024

Obituary: Debby Dvorak

Obituaries

Our beloved wife, mom, grandma, great-grandma and friend gained her angel wings on Friday, January 12, 2024. Debby (Weber) Dvorak was born on April 9, 1952 in Helena, MT to Henry and Lydia Weber. She was raised on the family farm in Ballantine, MT, where she hoed beets for her dad. Debby graduated from Huntley Project School in May 1970, and was a proud member of the Majorettes. On New Year’s Eve in 1967, Debby met the love of her life, Monte Dvorak, and they were married on October 24, 1970 in Worden, MT. They started their life together on the Spear-O-Ranch on Corral Creek. In 1971, they moved to Worden where they farmed alongside her parents, Henry and Lydia Weber and have been at their family farm from 1989 to present. In 1971, they welcomed their first daughter Trena, followed by Justine in 1974 and Melisha in 1979.

Debby worked at LaBell’s Department store in Billings for 5 years. She then stayed home to raise her family and work on the farm. Debby later returned back to read more

Jan182024

Frozen in Time: Subzero Cold Cancels School, Sports, and More

Local • Top Stories
Montana Wind Chills getting chilly January 2024

Montana Wind Chills getting chilly January 2024

Last week was marked by closures and disruptions caused by dangerously cold temperatures and copious amounts of snowfall impacting people in the Billings area and across the state.

Normal temperatures for this time of year in Billings are around 36 degrees for the high, and 18 degrees for the low, according to data from the National Weather Service (NWS) Billings office. This year, however, Billings saw an average high temp of -16.5 degrees for the period of Jan. 12 to 15.

On Sunday, Jan. 14, NWS reports a record low of -22 degrees was set, beating the previous record of -21 degrees set in 1972. A new record also was set Saturday, Jan. 13 of read more

Jan182024

Thank you for continuing to educate the public (and the boards)

Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

Thank you to Jonathan McNiven and reporters Evelyn Pyburn and Michael Marino for their coverage of local government including the city, county, school boards and water districts. Thank you for continuing to educate the public (and the boards) about the value of open public meetings. Jonathan’s meanderings make it clear that CWDBH is not the only board struggling with the concept and the law. Failing to follow open meeting laws makes it appear that there is something to hide.

Thank you to Michael Marino for detailed reporting on the City of Billings proposed change for storm water billing. Currently the charges are a “special assessment” on the annual property tax bill and are included in the Total Taxes due for the current year.

Public Works proposed a $178 million cost to upgrade the city’s storm water system. The city manager noted that Public Works plans to migrate from charging the storm fee as an assessment on property taxes to instead charge the fee on the utility bill effective July 1, 2024. At the January 2 work session, a non-binding public vote was supported by all council members except Roy Neese with three council members absent.

The shift to the utility bill will make it appear that “property taxes” have decreased for the city of Billings when not one dollar of spending has been reduced and large increases read more

Jan152024

Human trafficking, it’s happening right here in Montana

Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

Human trafficking is not just a big city problem – it’s happening right here in Montana.

Which is why, during National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, I’m encouraging Montanans to learn the signs of human trafficking and report it if they see it.

Let’s call human trafficking what it is: modern-day slavery. Traffickers—often organized criminal enterprises—are profiting at the expense of adults and children who are forced to perform read more

Jan132024

Sir, you hit the nail right on the pointed head of David Crisp

Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

Clint Kegel, Sir, you hit the nail right on the pointed head of David Crisp. You expose the lies he spits out and Crisp could care less about what YCN readers think, as he’s getting paid for his bile. Crisp, and all the phonies we have exposed, allow for YCN readers to see what their true colors are. A bouquet to Senor(s) McNiven and Marino of the YCN for allowing us to speak truthfully. Sadly, Sir, we don’t get paid for speaking the truth. What Crisp still has not explained to YCN readers is the reason he lost the “Outpost” bird cage liner. It has to be due to the same chunder he wraps in a respected newspaper such as the YCN. Amazing!

Jen J. Larson, “Ol’ Blue Tears of Joy.” We still have not been told your gender, so with due respect, Mam/Sir, I will read more

Jan132024

McNiven’s Meanderings: Public Meetings and the Law

Features • Politics

Well, Folks, I want to take this week and talk about public meetings and some misconceptions that are out there as well as set the record straight.

I’ve had to address some flat out lies about what can and can’t be done at public meetings as I’ve had to address some board presidents and board members with concerns and issues as well as the general public in regards to three different entities in the last two months. so I think it’s important to address some of those now.  

First, please know that any public meeting is open to the public and/or media and can be recorded by anyone. We typically record any meetings we attend, and boards are supposed to record their own meetings as well.

Second, please know that public meetings are for the transparency of the public and taxpayers to know what is being done at these entities and during meetings.

Third, please know that going into closed session in order to eliminate and remove our reporter from being in the room (in order to pull a power trip) is just wrong and illegal read more

Jan132024

WAKE UP BILLINGS! YOU WILL BE DRINKING THEIR POLLUTION!

Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

WAKE UP BILLINGS!

When Laurel OKs the “heavy industrial” zoning change they are talking about, (for about 1000 acres along the Yellowstone River), to go along with NorthWestern’s illegal building of their methane plant, they, along with any other business that goes in there will take water from the river and dump waste back into the river. YOU WILL BE DRINKING THEIR read more

Jan112024

Signal Peak Energy Shafted? That is why ranchers and landowners joined NPRC, BMLA and others

Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

Signal Peak Energy Shafted?

I am writing in response to the article claiming Bull Mountain landowners were somehow “shafting” the corrupt coal mining operation south of Roundup. To claim that Signal Peak is “getting shafted” is wildly inaccurate. Not only is the company being coddled by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), but Signal Peak Energy (SPE) has received from inception a 50% proceeds tax subsidy amounting to millions of dollars annually. This sweetheart tax deal, imposed by the State Legislature over the objections of Musselshell County taxpayers, was supposed to expire after read more

Dec202023

Water Advisory for Huntley Water Users Has Been Lifted,

Top Stories • Huntley Project

The Boil Water Advisory issued for Huntley Water & Sewer District customers on Monday, Dec. 18, has been lifted as of Wednesday December 20, 2023.

A fiber optic company accidentally hit one of the district’s main distribution lines Monday morning, causing loss of pressure and the risk of contamination. This led officials to issue an advisory for residents to boil water before consuming it.

read more

Dec152023

Lives of Yellowstone County Special Edition

Features • Obituaries • Yellowstone County

Lives of Yellowstone County December 30, 2022 was the first time YCN published this special edition. Here is an image of the front page for example.

Yellowstone County News will be publishing a special edition of YCN called “Lives of Yellowstone County” and we’d like to include a little write up about your loved ones that passed away in the last year, Please send us a story/article about your loved one that is 500 words or less. You can include any little stories about your loved one, or some hobbies or a specific example of that loved one that exemplifies his character and personality. We just don’t want the exact obituary but a lot of the information from the obituary can be used.

 
Our deadline is Wednesday December 20 by 5pm so we can get it ready to be published in our last edition of the year newspaper. The cost is free to submit the article. Please include a different picture (if possible) than the one we already have from the obituary.
 
Please email your articles/stories to info@yellowstonecountynews.com and put “Lives of Yellowstone County” in the subject line.
 
We look forward to honoring those from Yellowstone County that have passed on this last year.
This will be our second edition of Lives of Yellowstone County.  
 
If you have any questions, please contact Jonathan McNiven at 406-672-5941.

Dec42023

Shepherd Residents Voice Concern Over Pacific Steel’s Proposed Repository/Landfill

Top Stories • Shepherd

A great deal of animosity was evident Thursday, November 21, from the Shepherd community at a public meeting regarding the idea of Pacific Steel & Recycling (PSR) building a repository to store scrap metal waste near the corner of U.S. Highway 87 North and Shepherd Acton Road.

PSR is planning to develop a roughly $2.5 million repository to support its Lockwood plant where cars, trucks and white goods are shredded and processed as scrap metal. The leftover material, called Auto Shredder Residue (ASR), is thought to contain minerals, rubber and plastics that will be valuable in the future, which is why the company wants to build a repository to store ASR for future use.

In October, Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) posted PSR’s application to build the repository, which DEQ considers a “landfill” for permitting purposes, for public comment. A group formed called “Stop the Shepherd Landfill” to resist the project based on their view that ASR waste contains “hazardous, cancer-causing particles.”

The group includes Kit Charter Nelson, whose family farms in the area; Anellise Deters, who lives two miles from the proposed site on Shepherd Road; and Tricia Mae, who has had experience as a project manager for a wood waste landfill, and lives on Yeoman Road over three miles from the site.

At last Thursday’s meeting, held at the Shepherd High School gym, DEQ Solid Waste Supervisor, Fred Collins, gave a brief overview of the permitting process. Any entity wishing to build a landfill must first fill out a 272-page license application which often includes hundreds more pages of attachments and indexes. They must also draft an Environmental Assessment (EA).

Next, DEQ publishes the draft EA and application for public comment. “We review any substantive comments,” said Collins. “So, any comments that are dealing with the topics of interest as far as the groundwater concerns, wildlife, things like that.” He said staff does not review “non-substantive” comments like, “We don’t want it,” because “it doesn’t read more

Dec12023

DEQ Finds Signal Peak Complaint ‘Unsupported by Facts’

Top Stories

Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) responded November 17 to a citizen complaint filed against Signal Peak Energy’s (SPE) Bull Mountain Mine last month, calling it “unsupported by the facts,” and chastising the complainants for their “repeated misuse of the citizen’s complaint process.”

On October 16, four groups — Earthjustice, Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC), Northern Plains Resource Council (NPRC), and Western Environmental Law — filed the complaint with federal agencies. The complaint alleged SPE was “failing to comply with permit requirements to reclaim lands affected by… subsidence, including failures to protect topsoil and vegetation.” It included photos from November 2022 of subsidence cracks on land owned by Steve Charter, a member of NPRC. It also alleged DEQ had “failed to issue notices of violation or cessation orders when citizens and inspections have identified these violations.”

Charter further claimed cattle have “likely” been injured by subsidence cracks, and that ranchers “have reported cattle breaking legs or injuring themselves with the probable cause being subsidence cracks.”

The complaint demanded that, “the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) perform a federal inspection of this mine, or alternatively, require DEQ to grant the requested citizen inspections within ten days.” After that, the complaint said OSMRE should order Signal Peak to immediately cease operations.

In a response dated Nov. 17, DEQ Mining Bureau Chief Dan Walsh wrote, “DEQ strongly disagrees that any… inspection is required or that a cessation order is appropriate.”

Walsh continued, “DEQ finds Complainants’ allegations read more

Dec12023

Signal Peak Energy is getting Shafted!

Politics • Meanderings • Shepherd

Well, Folks, I wanted to take this week to talk about Signal Peak’s Mine and the visit of their facilities and property a couple weeks back, AND all the BS that is surrounding the lawsuits and groups that filed them. In addition, due to judges legislating from the bench (as they call it), Signal Peak can’t mine on federal lands now (when they were previously approved), but other mines can continue to mine while updating their EIS (Environmental Impact Study).  I’m told the lawsuits are the same lawsuits but the only difference is the judge.  I’m going to help you navigate and connect some of the dots here.     

Initially, Signal Peak Energy which is located just north of Shepherd and extends into Musselshell County, has come on our radar since we first received some information from Steve Charter about his claims and the problems he is having with Signal Peak Energy. 

He claims Signal Peak is devaluing his land, destroying his land and property for his cattle because of mining operations that are going on in that area. Furthermore, he and these groups claim that Signal Peak is taking over his land and not reclaiming it. We ran that story in our newspaper about his claims and Signal Peak’s short response in our October 20thedition of YCN.  Our reporter did another story follow up in our paper about the issues that are at hand which includes Charter’s claim that the read more

Dec12023

Obituary: Billy Gardner McIlvain

Obituaries
Bill Gardner McIlvain

Bill Gardner McIlvain

December 16, 1936 – November 10, 2023

Billy (Bill) Gardner McIlvain passed away at his home in Huntley, Montana, at the age of 86. He was a loving husband, father, and grandfather, as well as a loyal friend.

He was born in Big Spring, Texas, in 1936 and grew up on the Wilkinson Ranch (Cross F), near Natural Dam Salt Lake, where his father worked as the ranch foreman. Alongside his father, Bill

worked cattle, rodeoed, and learned to manage the ranch. His elementary years were spent in a one-room schoolhouse, to which he sometimes rode the 4 ½ mile distance on Ole Paint, the pony.  During high school he was read more

Nov252023

Court Says Counties Must Collect 95 Mills in Taxes for State

Yellowstone County

Property taxpayers will be getting an addendum to their property tax bill, following last week’s Montana Supreme Court decision in favor of the State regarding the amount of mills it may levy in property taxes.

Almost all of the counties in Montana billed property owners less than the 95 mills the State claimed it had the authority to levy.

County commissioners claimed the State failed to levy its tax in compliance with the same cap that the state legislature imposed on local governments. But according to the Supreme Court that decree does not impact State government, “…that authority rests with the State alone.”

How Yellowstone County taxpayers will be notified of the additional tax charge is being ironed out by County Treasure Marci Shafer, in discussions with Yellowstone County Commissioners and Deputy County Attorney, Chief In-House Counsel Steve Williams. There are numerous legal issues about the billing to be addressed as well as how to minimize costs to the county for the mailing. Decisions are not likely to come until January.

Shafer pointed out that some taxpayers have already paid all their property taxes and read more