News Briefs
March 19
PHS business team goes to conference
POLSON — The Polson High School Chapter of Business Professionals of America sent two members to the 2009 Montana BPA Leadership Conference on March 8-10 in Kalispell. The state conference had nearly 1,200 attendees. Larissa Hanson and Sabrina Nystrom represented the Polson High School Chapter. Hanson competed in the Human Resource Management event. She placed tenth in the state. Also, she participated in six open events and attended leadership workshops.
Nystrom completed in seven open events and leadership workshops.
Business Professionals of America is an organization that develops business professionalism at the high school and collegiate levels.
- Courtesy of PHS chapter adviser Dennis LaBonty
Ronan man gets 10 years for fatal crash
POLSON — A Ronan man was sentenced to 10 years in prison on March 11 after pleading guilty to two counts of negligent homicide in a fatal 2006 crash.
Scott Julian Gardipe, 19, was the admitted drunken driver that caused a head-on collision on Aug. 28, 2006 that took the lives of the 26-year-old passenger Patrick Finley and 55-year-old motorcyclist Frederick Roullier.
According to court documents, Gardipe’s Chevy Cavalier was going a minimum of 72 miles per hour in a 45 mile per hour zone when he struck the southbound motorcyclist on old U.S. Highway 93 just north of Ronan. When police authorities arrived on scene both vehicles were in the ditch and fully engulfed in flames.
A police affidavit also stated that blood test results reported Gardipe’s blood alcohol content at .239 percent the night of the crash. Gardipe was taken to St. Luke Hospital before being transported to the Seattle Burn Center, where he would spend several months recovering from injuries incurred in the fiery collision.
Gardipe received a cumulative 30-year sentence from District Court Judge C.B. McNeil with 20 years suspended on the state’s and defense’s joint recommendation that the defendant serve 10 years in state custody.
- Reporter Ty Hampton
Charlo School vandals to pay for acts
POLSON — The state dropped felony charges of burglary, criminal mischief and theft against two Ronan men who vandalized the Charlo School last May in an agreement that entails the defendants paying the school $10,000 each, per year, over the next four years.
According to court documents, 19-year-olds Geoffery Baldridge and Jacob Seibert were accused of discharging multiple fire extinguishers inside several classrooms, damaging computers, spray-painting doors in a graffiti fashion, and mutilating an American flag on the night of May 23, 2008. The alleged vandal attack on public school property caused an estimated $76,000 in damages.
Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Cory Allen stated in court on March 11 that both men had enlisted in the National Guard and the deferred prosecution agreement was a venue for the Charlo School to receive restitution. The attorney also reported that school board trustees consented to the agreement.
Both men faced charges with maximum penalties of up to $50,000 in fines and 20 years in prison.
- Reporter Ty Hampton
MVA has big week
Last week, Mission Valley Aquatics received a boost in the form of a $250,000 anonymous donation to the group’s savings account, member Tana Seeley said in an e-mail. The money was a welcome addition to the group’s fundraising efforts. To be eligible for a major grant from the Murdoch Foundation, the group needed to have raised 40 percent, or $650,000, of its ultimate $8 million goal by March 16.
On Monday, the good news continued as a representative from the Murdoch Foundation visited the MVA, listening to presentations from Hu Beaver, Dick Silberman, Raina Stene, Marc Vergeront, Dorothy Ashcroft and Caroline McDonald. The representative used the information to determine if the project is serious and legitimate, and present it to a board, which ultimately will decide if the grant will be awarded to MVA.
Seeley also said the pre-audit review of the group’s funds was positive, and the full audit is progress. An audit will allow MVA to be eligible for an expanded range of grants.
-Reporter Jenna Cederberg
Fairgrounds get hearty boost
The 19th Annual Cowboy’s Ball, held Friday night, helped raise money for the Polson Fairgrounds. The banquet featured a silent and live auction, and raffle drawings on more than 100 items.
“Most of the local businesses donated items,” secretary of the non-profit organization Polson Fairgrounds Inc., Una Rose Graham said.
Nineteen items were auctioned in the live auction, varying from artwork to an oil stove. A hand-made western dressing mirror got the highest bid, more than $900.
There were 25 annual sponsors for the event. The money received from the sponsors, and ball, significantly helps the 25-year-old committee to continue its efforts on the more than 70-year-old grounds.
Some of the activities held on the fairgrounds include horse shows, roping, 4-H events, carnivals circuses, riverfront concerts, the Radio Waves Regatta, and holiday fireworks.
The money received from the ball will go toward maintaining and improving the grounds — which measure approximately 40 acres — for public use and enjoyment.