Lincoln Government Day

Lincoln Government Day kicked off with an alarming report from Lewis and Clark County Deputy Robert Rivera.

Rivera reported on a few interesting calls that ranged from a person out for a walk mistaking the sunrise for a fire to a UFO crash involving the Navy, to a bear driving off in someone’s car up on Roger’s Pass. The bear was later revealed to be Bigfoot when he was finally stopped near Cascade.

That’s what you get for holding a meeting on April Fool’s Day.

In no-foolin’ news, Rivera provided an update on his planned transfer to Helena, Sheriff Leo Dutton relate a story about the “militarization’ of law enforcement, Lincoln District Ranger Rob Gump talked about spring burning, and the public hearings for the Lincon and Lambkins Rural Improvement Districts saw no participation.

Sheriff’s Office update

In his actual update, Rivera said March was fairly slow for law enforcement in Lincoln. He reported that a person has been charged with theft for stealing the donations for the girls’ basketball team from Mountain View Co-op in February.

Rivera also said that contrary to his earlier plans, he will be staying on as Lincoln’s resident deputy rather than moving to Helena.

“That is not an April Fool’s joke,” he said.

He had been slated to take on duties as the Canyon Ferry Lake deputy and the DARE officer for School District 1 in May. Sheriff Leo Dutton explained that his office had to change their plans after the Helena school district decided they didn’t want the DARE program in their schools. That forced them to change the opening they had to only a patrol position. Ultimately, Rivera would have been trading one patrol position for another, so he asked to remain in Lincoln and Dutton agreed.

Dutton also reported on an armed standoff the Sheriff’s office was involved on Saturday March 29 near Helena.

He said an individual purposely set a fire, apparently with the intent to ambush firefighters responding to the blaze. A passerby noticed the fire and tried to put it out with a hose but couldn’t. He checked to see if anyone was in the house and was met with a shotgun and told to leave, which he did and then called 911.

Dutton said deputies arrived and began taking fire through the garage door.

The individual kept firing as deputies tried to communicate with him over a patrol car speaker. Deputies called up the Sheriff’s Office tactical unit, which arrived with their Bear armored response vehicle. He said the fire fighters who arrived also began taking fire and were moved back.

“I get grief from some people about militarization of our peace officers,” Dutton said. “This is a piece of safety equipment. Twice now it saved peace officers’ lives. Back in October a gentleman engaged with us and shot the Bear at least five times. He was shooting at deputies. This time the guy shot at the bear as well.”

The Bear also made an appearance in Lincoln in early March 2021 during a standoff west of town.

Dutton said they put the Bear in harm’s way to draw fire and to help defuse such situations.

“If we’re taking fire, the public’s not. And that’s the goal,” he said.

The Bear also allowed them to spot the man, identified as David Madden, 70, after he slipped out of the house and tried to flank the law enforcement perimeter. “He walked right into the outer perimeter guy, who took him down and cuffed him. No one was hurt. No one got shot,” Dutton said, adding “Those are things I want to think about when people say ‘Oh, they’re buying all this armor.’ Well, we’re not going to cops funerals either.”

Community Council/Fire Department

Upper Blackfoot Valley Community Council Chairman Zach Muse reported that a crew from the Montana Department of Transportation was in Lincoln marking utilities at the crosswalk near the library in preparation for installing buttons to activate the speed limit warning lights when the crosswalk is in use. There was no word on when they will be installed. The idea was first proposed by former Lincoln librarian Kate Radford about two years ago.

Muse, who also serves as Lincoln Fire Chief, reported that last month’s Fireman’s Ball was a huge success. “It was nice to be back and do it at the Community Hall and actually do a Fireman’s Ball. It was good for the community and good for us.”

Muse also inquired about the possibility of installing a fire well at Hooper Park.

“It’s just trying to get that reliable, high flow water in one spot for us, DNRC, county, Forest Service, whoever,” he said.

The fire district is hoping to work with the county on an improved well site at Hooper Park, rather than sink more money into the wells and pumphouse downtown behind the BVD office, which only draws a fraction of the water needed for the department.

County Public Works Director Eric Griffin, in his final appearance at Government Day ahead of his April 15 retirement, suggested Muse confer with public works to come up with an estimate for the cost of the well for the upcoming county budgeting process.

Ranger District happenings

The Lincoln Ranger District has completed the burning of slash piles in the area and will begin moving into prescribed burning as conditions allow. Lincoln District Ranger Rob Gump said they will be mainly working in the Poor man Creek drainage and the Helmville Face and will issue press releases ahead of the controlled burns.

Gump also reported that this week marks the conversion of snowmobile trails north of Highway 200 back to roads, although the Copper Bowls are still open until April 31 ?.

Gump said they also have a new trail manager at the Ranger District who comes to Lincoln from the Spotted Bear District and will be filling the position left open when Forest Moulton took over as district’s recreation manager last year.

With 2022 marking the 50th anniversary of the creation, Gump said the Forest Service is coordination with Wild Montana (formerly the Montana Wilderness Association) for a September celebration to recognize the nation’s first citizen-initiated wilderness area.

Public Works

Public Works Director Eric Griffin kept his final report brief, reporting that county maintenance worker Pete Dempster has been patching rough spots on area roads with gravel. He said they are waiting for things to dry out a bit more before they can do more work on the roads.

Griffin thanked the community of Lincoln for working with the county over the years.

“We’ve had our ups and downs over the last 25 or 30 years, but I think we always come out in a better place than where we were when that conversation started,” he said.

Budgets & ballot questions

County Chief Administrative Officer Roger Balz reported that the county budget is $110 million in expenditures, with the largest expenditures being public safety and public works, with 374-plus employees.

Balz said the county’s budget process is set to begin in May. The budget meetings are all public and the budgets are published on the county website for anyone who wants to look at the details.

Balz also said the primary ballot in June will include two questions related to marijuana sales in the county. In separate questions voters will be asked whether they want to approve a three percent excise tax on recreational marijuana, medical marijuana sales or both.

The Government Day meeting concluded with the back-to-back public hearings on the creation of the Lambkins and Lincoln RIDS to fund chip sealing of the streets in Lincoln. See RID story.