School elections now complete

Though all three of Havre’s incumbent school board members were re-elected, incumbents in three other north-central Montana school districts were unseated in Monday’s school elections.

In Havre, incumbents Cindy Erickson, Curtis Smeby and Timothy Scheele fended off a challenge from Keisha Fegan. The top three vote-getters in the contests were the winners.

Erickson received 1,059 votes, Schelee 1,022 and Smeby 903, while Fegan trailed with 656 votes.

In Chinook, six-term member of the Chinook High School Board of Trustees and the board’s current chair Pauly Miller was ousted by political newcomer Justin Simenson.

Three candidates competed for three seats on the board. Justin Simenson, a former assistant chief of police with the Chinook Police Department, won 214 votes to Miller’s 152. Incumbent Scott Gunderson, who was also on the ballot, won re-election with 300 votes.

Donald Horn was defeated for re-election to the Harlem School Board of Trustees. A field of six candidates competed in the race for two seats. Jonathan “Chunker” Walker and Dean A. Doney Jr. received 114 and 105 votes respectively and were elected. Horn, the only incumbent up for re-election, garnered 83 votes. Challengers Mike King got 75 votes and Myron Lee Hoops 68. Misty Main rounded out the field with the support of 39 voters.

In the Rocky Boy school district, Chippewa Cree Business Committee member and Rocky Boy School Board member Ted Russette III won re-election, though fellow school board member Paulette Standing Rock was unsuccessful in her bid for re-election. Ten candidates competed for two seats.

Russette won with a total of 60 votes. Challenger Billie Jo Coffee with 49 votes was able to unseat Standing Rock, who took 41 votes. Contenders Michelle Sangrey and Van Four Souls Sr. each got 43 votes and Martin Parker 42. Paulette Standing Rock and Harriet Standing Rock each received 41 votes, while John S. Colliflower Sr. and Joseph S. Lafromboise Jr. won 29 and 28 votes respectively. Donita Hay rounded out the field with 4 votes.

In Hays-Lodge Pole, Leslie “Josie” Morin won an open seat that had been held by George Horse Capture Jr., who opted not to seek re-election to the school board. Cliff received 96 votes, while her opponent Kenneth W. Morin received 54.

The Chinook and North Star school districts received approval to continue existing mill levies. In North Star, which includes Kremlin, Gildford, Hingham and Rudyard, voters approved the renewal of both the elementary building reserve and the high school building reserve for another five years.

By a margin of 322-167, voters in Chinook authorized the imposition of a 7.61 mills for the district’s general fund levy for the mainenance and operation of the school programs.