Feb232022

Obituary: Richard William Covington

Obituaries

Richard William Covington

Richard William Covington, age 80 of Huntley, MT, passed away at his home surrounded by family on February 21, 2022.

Richard was born on March 19, 1941, in Detroit, MI, to Richard and Emma Covington.  He graduated from Bald Knob High School in Arkansas in 1959.

Richard married Mary “Sue” Burrus on April 4, 1960.  During their 61-year marriage, they were blessed with seven children:  Rick Covington, Cindy Ward, Ann Daniel, Tabby Covington, Sandie Rush (Chris), Jason Covington (Theresa) and Stephen Covington.  He leaves behind 21 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren. He is preceded in death by one grandchild, Adam.  read more

Feb182022

Transparency At MetraPark

Opinion • Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor:

Commissioner Pitman’s guest editorial in the Billings Gazette on February 13, 2022, does not shed light on the MetraPark discussion. He states within the last five years, there was significant deterioration of Metra property and buildings. “We began by doing an assessment of the property and cost of saving barns and the grandstands.” Who is the ‘we’ and where is the report on this assessment? Next, he talks about “…this new footprint.” What new footprint? Has Metra Advisory Board formally presented a footprint for adoption? read more

Feb182022

Huntley Project Wins 1st Wrestling State Championship in 22 years!

Local

Huntley Project team, coaches and managers pose with their newly awarded 1st place state trophy and hardware at MetraPark’s First Interstate Arena on Saturday, February 12, 2022. The last time Huntley Project wrestling one the state tournament was in 2000. This is the seventh time Huntley Project has won the state championship in school history. (Photo by Roger Nay)

The Huntley Project Wrestling Team achieved another milestone with winning the state Championship trophy and first place in last week’s State Wrestling Tournament at MetraPark Arena. This is the first time since 2000 when Huntley Project took the state championship status and the seventh time Huntley Project’s wrestling team has won the State Championship in school history. 

“After coming up short the last two years with a second-place finish,” said Head Coach Tim Kaczmarek in his 13th year at the helm, “we separated ourselves this year and extended our lead in the Saturday morning matches which helped us win the state tournament as a team.”  read more

Feb182022

Obituary: Christina Carlson (Richter)

Obituaries

Christina Carlson (Richter)

January 11, 1930 – February 14, 2022

Christina Carlson (Richter)

Christina Carlson, 92, formerly of Selz, ND, passed away peacefully in her sleep February 14, 2022, in Billings, MT, surrounded by her three children and family.

Christina was the 9th of 12 children born to Michael and Barbara Richter. She lived a full life spending most of her time in WY, MT, WA, and AZ. She grew up on a farm outside of Selz, ND. She married Leo Thomas on October 4, 1948, and they had 3 children.  They farmed by Wellsburg before moving to Upton, WY, where she worked at the Upton Gazette as a typesetter. She married George Falk of Upton, WY, and enjoyed taking care of and riding horses. She fulfilled one of her desires and had her last horse ride the summer before she turned 80.

She worked at the Jones’ truck stop, and it was during this time she developed her love for cooking and held positions at various restaurants as a sous chef over the years. Her most enjoyable employment came as a personal chef on the Taylor Ranch outside of Kirby, MT.   She married Dave Carlson, an independent truck driver, and got to see most of the United States as they traveled around the country. After Dave retired, they relocated from Startup, WA, to Yuma, AZ. They purchased a motorhome and continued to travel during the summer months. After Dave passed away, she moved to Billings, MT to be close to her family. read more

Feb112022

Mail-in Ballot Solved Several Voting Problems

Opinion • Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor:

As a person full of misinformation, I thought the US Constitution gave states the ability to govern their own state.  When I was in high school, Montana drafted a new constitution. Part of that document stated air and water quality standards.  A few years later the state had to change the standards for the sake of jobs or out-of-state investors’ profits.  About the same time the drinking age changed, the federal government said if we wanted interstate highway funds, we had better change the drinking age to 21. read more

Feb72022

Obituary: James Grosskop

Obituaries

James “Jim” Allen Grosskop

James “Jim” Allen Grosskop, 69 of Huntley, Montana, died on January 29th, 2022 at his home on the farm. He was born on August 26, 1952, in Billings Montana to Harold and Lou “Madeline” Grosskop

He graduated from Billings West High School in 1970, attended MSU Bozeman and studied Ag Business/Economics. From 1972-1974 he was in the Peace Corp in Nepal working on the “Farm Seed Project.” Jim worked as a loan officer at Yellowstone Bank for seventeen years. He then worked for Hulcher Services as a laborer on a train wrecking crew. On this job he made some life-long friends, who he viewed as family and shared many great adventures with them on the job.  read more

Feb42022

2022, Good Year for Montana and Yellowstone County

Montana-Statewide • Politics

Economically, Montana had a “fantastic” year in 2021, and 2022 is being forecast to be much the same, but there are challenges.

At the forefront of his forecast, Montana’s premier economist, Dr. Patrick Barkey, Director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana, is projecting a decline in the seven percent inflation rate – “a stunning number” — to something closer to 3.5 or 4 percent, which is still “a lot of inflation.”  Skyrocketing energy prices are contributing the most to the inflation rate. Some commodities have actually declined in price. read more

Feb42022

Signal Peak Energy Fined $1 Million

Local

The Department of Justice released information on January 31, relating to Signal Peak’s failing to report injuries, and improperly disposing of mine waste.  Signal Peak Energy, LLC (SPE) was sentenced to three years of probation and slapped with a $1 million-dollar criminal fine. read more

Jan282022

How Much Longer does Heights Need to Wait for Fire Station

Opinion

Dear Editor:

On Wednesday, January 19, there was a house fire in the Moon Valley area of the Alkali Creek neighborhood.  KULR-8 reported a woman was trapped inside the home and Billings police officers helped her escape.  Their story also said “emergency resources in the Heights were sparse and busy responding to other emergencies during this fire.”  How much longer do the 30,000-plus Heights residents need to wait for the City to build a second fire station? read more

Jan282022

Property Tax Cap Petition Can Continue Gathering Signatures

Politics

Signature gathering on a petition that would cap property taxes may continue.

The Montana Supreme Court refused last week to take up a lower court decision that halted signature gathering on a petition for an initiative that would cap the rate of property tax increases, saying it couldn’t hear the case any sooner than could the District Court.  On Tuesday, the injunction against signature gathering was lifted by a lower court while the case advances based upon the merits raised by the Plaintiffs.  read more

Jan282022

2-Dead,1-Injured

Local

The Billings Police Dept. released information pertaining to a suspected double homicide in Billings that occurred on January 25th.  At approximately 3:00 AM Billings Police Dept. was dispatched to the 300 block south of 37th St., to a motor vehicle accident.  Upon arriving, and initial investigation, it was determined that there were two male occupants of the vehicle who were unresponsive and not breathing.   read more

Jan282022

Governor Listens to Problems by Local Crime Fighters

Top Stories • Yellowstone County

Pictured are Governor Greg Gianforte (L), Dennis Bear Don’t Walk, Member of the Crow Nation, Barry Usher, State Representative, Bryan Lockerby, Director of Crime Investigation, during a roundtable discussion about crime held in Billings last week.

With the next state legislative session looming on the horizon, one of the biggest issues before it will surely be the issue of crime, which is especially true for Yellowstone County and Billings where crime has been escalating at a faster pace than the rest of the state. read more

Jan212022

Obituary: Helen Hoerner Geck

Obituaries

Helen Hoerner Geck passed away peacefully on January 9, 2022, surrounded by her family.  Helen was born on the family farm in a stone house on March 25, 1938, to Valentine and Monica Hoerner, in Glen Ullin, ND.  She attended a one-room schoolhouse until 8th grade and graduated from Glen Ullin High School.  

Helen taught school, worked at the Bank of Glen Ullin, and lived on the family farm in North Dakota until she married Richard Geck on Sept 2, 1958.  From this union two sons were born, Dan and Darrin.   They traveled to many different locations with road construction and made many good friends along the way.  In 1982, they moved to the family farm in Pompeys Pillar, MT. read more