A year in review: 2019

Editor’s note: This version corrects an error that misreported that Jaylen Jake Crazyboy had been arrested in Cascade County.

A multitude of news items happened in north-central Montana over the past year, with many issues continuing to create headlines throughout most of the year.

Following are just a few of the issues covered in the Havre Daily News in 2019.

Amtrak ticket agents

A year-and-a-half of cuts, congressional action and negotiations continued into the last couple of weeks, with President Donald Trump signing into law a funding bill that included money for Amtrak to restore ticket agents to some stations where that service had been cut, including in Havre and Shelby.

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., announced last week that, in addition to his inserting the ticket agent language into the bill that fully funded Amtrak operations, he sent a letter to Amtrak President and CEO Richard Anderson stressing the importance of ticket agents, especially in rural stations, and offering to work with the rail passenger service to put agents back in the stations as quickly as possible.

Amtrak has increasingly been cutting services in its long-distance service, including eliminating ticket agents in Montana, such as in Wolf Point, in previous years.

Some of its actions have included cutting back on some services, such as downgrading the meals served on some long-distance trains, and have placed restrictions on and increased prices for private or charter cars hooking onto Amtrak trains.

In April 2018 it announced it was eliminating ticket agents from 16 stations, including Havre and Shelby.

Amtrak also planned  to replace some 450 miles in the middle of the route of the Southwest Chief between Chicago and Los Angeles with buses. 

Amtrak said it was eliminating the ticket agents to reduce expenses and be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, saying people could purchase tickets online or using an automated telephone service.

Rail passenger advocates, local residents and members of Montana's congressional delegation called for ticket agents to be replaced, saying the ticket agents do much more than sell tickets.

Amtrak contracted with companies to provide station caretakers in place of ticket agents.

People cited ticket agents helping passengers with baggage, directing them to sites in the community, allowing children to board the train without a parent or guardian, and more, including finding - sometimes lifesaving - medical assistance as needed.

When Congress passed a budget resolution in February to keep the federal government running, it included full funding for Amtrak including for the full Southwest Chief route and directed Amtrak to put customer service agents in the stations where ticket agents were cut.

Amtrak said it would have the caretakers provide customer service but would not restore ticket sales in the stations.

The Trump Administration's  budget proposal for Amtrak released early this year called for using grants to states to fund and administer long-distance routes and gradual elimination of the grants, requiring states to fully take over the long-distance routes. The proposal said lesser-traveled routes could be replaced with bus service.

The proposals met with little support in Congress. When the House Appropriations Committee released its report on its funding proposal, it rebuked many of the Amtrak proposals including the transfer of long-distance service to states and directed Amtrak

to restore ticket agents to the stations where they were cut in 2018.

The final bill signed into law by Trump included fully funding Amtrak and language directing the service to restore agents to sell tickets and provide customer service to stations cut in 2018 that served an average of 25 or more passengers a day, including Havre and Shelby.

Little Shell granted federal recognition

A Montana tribe of Native Americans finally received federal recognition after more than 100 years of effort, with the members of Montana's congressional delegation successfully inserting the recognition into a must-pass spending bill.

The Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians comprises more than 5,400 members, mostly in north-central and central Montana but with some members residing elsewhere in the state and outside of Montana. The tribal offices are in Great Falls.

Native American Tribes must be recognized as sovereign nations by the federal government to exercise full self-governance. When federally recognized, tribes can access federal resources including for economic development, health care and education and regulate affairs on tribal lands.

Federal recognition can be granted via Congressional legislation, a U.S. Court decision, or an administrative process through the U.S. Interior Department.  

Tribal historians trace their efforts for federal recognition as far back as to when Chief Little Shell left treaty negotiations between the U.S. government and the Red Lake and Pembina bands of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota and Minnesota in the early 1860s.

Several leaders left the negotiations as the treaty was amended to reduce the benefits to the tribes.

The Little Shell petitioned the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1978 for recognition through the bureau's federal acknowledgement process. 

The tribe was recognized by the Montana government in 2000, but although the Department of the Interior gave a favorable report on federal recognition of The Little Shell Tribe that year, the Bureau of Indian Affairs denied the tribe recognition in 2009 and again in 2013.

But prioro to this, the members of Montana's congressional delegation had been working for Congress to recognize the tribe before that. U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., and Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Conrad Burns, R-Mont., all had pushed for congressional recognition.

In 2007, the first bill Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., introduced after he was elected was for Little Shell recognition, and he has introduced it every session since, with the backing of the other U.S. lawmakers including Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont.

Little Shell recognition almost made it to the president's desk in 2018 when a bill introduced by Gianforte passed the House, the first to pass from either the House or Senate.

But it was blocked in the Senate by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

Gianforte and Tester and Daines reintroduced the recognition this year, and Gianforte's bill again passed the House, but was not taken up in the Senate.

After Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he would allow the recognition to be added to the defense spending bill but only if it were sponsored by a Republican, Daines added the recognition to the National Defense Authorization Act, co-sponsored by Tester. 

The bill passed with the recognition included, was kept in the version approved by the conference committee resolving differences between the House and Senate versions, passed both houses and was signed by Trump.

Alleged crime ring busted but keeps going

A group of local residents were charged or suspected in a series of thefts and burglaries early this year. Ongoing action includes some people having charges dismissed and others being charged in other crimes right through this month, including new charges pending on one, who some witnesses said was the ringleader.

Jaylen Jake Crazyboy is scheduled for trial March 26 in two cases alleging burglary and theft. And the Hill County Attorney's Office has asked for leave to file a case with a total of 71 felony and misdemeanors, in the latest court document available in the Hill County Clerk of Court's Office this morning, in a case alleging his involvement in a crime ring whose story mainly broke last January.

Court documents say that on or about Jan. 29, law enforcement received a call from the Havre John Deere dealership Northern Ag Solutions reporting a break in and burglary of multiple items.

E-1 Towing later called with a similar report.

The documents say a Hill County sheriff's deputy was driving by a residence where a burglary suspect stayed and saw a man and a woman in a black Honda Pilot SUV pulling out, with the driver trying pulling his hat down over his face and crouching down in the Honda after he spotted the patrol vehicle. The driver exited the vehicle and entered the residence while the deputy was talking to a representative of E-1 Towing, who arrived with a copy of a surveillance video.

Law enforcement officers found items reported stolen in burglaries including from E-1 Towing and Frontline Ag Solutions, the documents said.

Officers found in the Honda and a green Subaru at the residence many items people had reported stolen.

The driver of the Honda, Fabian Joel "JuJu" Saddler Jr., was arrested on multiple counts  including burglary, theft and criminal mischief.

Officers later came back to the residence looking for the juvenile - Jaylen Crazyboy - who was a suspect, documents said, and Gloria, Caroline and Leslie Crazyboy, who also live in the residence, were arrested on the basis that stolen property or evidence was found in every room in the house and the deputy found it impossible for occupants not to know about the thefts and property.

Jaylen Crazyboy wsd not present at that time..

In June, Judge Kaydee Snipes Ruiz granted a motion to dismiss the charges against Leslie Crazyboy made after Snipes Ruiz granted a motion, to which the prosecution did not respond, requesting she exclude evidence found in the search of the residence. Snipes Ruiz dismissed the charges with prejudice, meaning they could not be refiled.

Snipes Ruiz also granted new charges filed against Saddler Jr. after he was found driving a 2012 GMC Sierra pickup truck reported stolen on Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation.

Prosecution of the case against Caroline Crazyboy was deferred in September, meaning as long as she abides by the requirements of the deferral the case will not go to trial.

In October, the charges against Gloria Crazyboy were dismissed without prejudice, meaning the prosecution could file the charges again. In its motion, the prosecution cited new evidence coming to light and requested dismissing the charges against Crazyboy because proceeding with her trial could compromise the investigation.

Also that month, felony counts of burglary, deceptive practices and theft were filed against Jaylen Crazyboy, who had turned 18.

Court documents say a man reported someone had broken into his house and stolen his wife's purse and a gray 2017 Toyota Camry and a white 2015 Nissan Altima were stolen.

A credit card in the purse was used and attempted to be used at several businesses before its owner canceled it, totaling $2,862.31 in charges, a court document said.

Video from one of the businesses showed two men attempting to use the card, and they were identified as Jaylen Crazyboy and Fabian Saddler, the document said.

The Altima, partially spray painted black, was located later.

Crazyboy and Saddler both have been charged in that case, and Crazyboy also has been charged in relation to another reported burglary and theft.

Kate Lambourne was charged in June in connection with the cases after a person whose house she had been watching said he found items in his garage that did not belong to him. Officers found items matching items stolen in the January and other thefts.

Lambourne had pleaded guilty in a plea agreement to charges in two cases and the prosecution had deferred prosecution in the case related to the January and other burglaries, but prosecution reopened the cases after she refused to cooperate with officers when she was found in a vehicle connected to the theft of the Nissan Altima.

Jaylen Crazyboy was arrested again last week after a man led police on a high-speed chase that ended in a crash. Crazyboy is alleged to have been a passenger and fled the scene but was located and arrested. He is charged with violating conditions of his release.

In the pending case, witnesses told officers that several people including Lambourne and Josh Kaupang, who pleaded guilty in October to misdemeanor counts of theft and criminal mischief in a plea agreement, were involved in the burglary ring, but that Jaylen Crazyboy was the ringleader and planner.

Kuapang was ordered to pay restitution in his case and sentenced to three terms of six months in the county jail, to run consecutively, with credit for 180 days served. 

Government shutdown impacts local communities

A government shutdown that started in the end of December 2018 and extended into February had local impacts, including loss of some services on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation and closure of Farm Service Agency offices, some of which reopened, and shutting down Bureau of Land Management operations. 

Due to contingency planning and funding of some federal agencies, not all services were lost in the shutdown.

Big Equipment suffers another fire

A local business connected with legendary tractors suffered its second fire in two years.

Big Equipment, which works on tractors and other machinery and specializes in Havre-made Big Bud tractors, which made the two largest tractors in the world, lost its shop Dec. 16, less than a year after its original building burned to the ground Dec. 24, 2017.

A new building opened in August at its original location on U.S. Highway 87, but owner Ron Harmon kept the shop operations in the location to which they had been moved on U.S. Highway 2 near the Big Sandy Creek Bridge.

That building was declared a complete loss in the Dec. 16 fire.

St. Mary's Church burns to the ground

The historic St. Mary's Catholic Church at Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation also was a loss to fire this year.

The church, built by members of the reservation of logs harvested on the reservation, burned Dec. 14.

New judges

Havre saw two new judges sworn in last year. District Judge Kaydee Snipes Ruiz, the youngest district judge in Montana history, took office after she was appointed. Former Havre High School teacher and Havre police administrative assistant and communications technician Jane Hedstrom took her appointed office as Havre city judge.

Havre applies for Montana Main Street Program

Havre continued work that began several years ago to revitalize Havre by moving to apply for the Montana Main Street Program.

The Downtown Havre Matters! group, which is likely to incorporate the downtown revitalization committee, has been working to join the program.

The Montana Main Street Program, established in 2005, is a collaborative effort between Montana Department of Commerce's Community Development Division and Montana Office of Tourism. The program helps communities strengthen and preserve their historic downtown commercial districts by focusing on economic development, urban revitalization and historic preservation through long-range planning organization, design and promotion.

The downtown revitalization group has been working to spruce up Havre, including putting decorative covers with local artwork on traffic boxes at stoplights, adding bicycle racks and putting murals on downtown walls, with more plans in the work.

A separate effort by the Havre/Hill County Preservation Commission also is installing artwork downtown, with murals of historical photographs.

A cold, cold February

After a mild start to the winter last year, February came in with a vengeance.

January and the first days of February started with highs in the 40s or warmer, then the cold and snow set in.

The monthly average temperature - that averages the high and low each day - ended up at minus 5.9 degrees Fahrenheit for Havre in February, edging out the previous second-coldest of minus 4.9 degrees set in 1887.

What is now the fourth-coldest average for February, set in 1891, is minus 0.2 degrees.

The benchmark for cold Februaries in Havre was set in the bitterly cold year of 1936, at minus 12.8 degrees.