Consequences of New Legislation Causing Health District Upheaval
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. Outdoors | 9 Entertainment | 11 Community Cool fun in the pools. Concert is back. COVERING CENTRAL MONTANA LIKE THE STARS $1.00 VOLUME 139 NUMBER 47 LEWISTOWNNEWS.COM WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 2021 Great turnout for Pioneer Power Days By News-Argus Staff The Central Montana Flywheelers hosted the 35th Annual Pioneer Power Days on Saturday and Sunday at the group’s site on Airport Road in Lewistown. The event brings together those who collect and refurbish old equipment, and allows those in attendance to experience the power behind the pioneer years. After its cancellation last year, the weekend festivi- ties were popular amongst Birding bunch members Lisa Ferguson locals and visitors. and Cathy Moser are the first to spot a “We had a very good yellow warbler just above the outing. turnout,” said Brian Sallee, Photo by Miriam Campan who serves on the board of directors for the group. “It was well attended with lots of questions about what it Tails and Tales, was and what was going on.” Flywheelers held dem- Birding Bunch find onstrations on sawmilling, threshing, rock crushing, interesting birds at shingle making and hay pressing. Attendees were also able to watch black- Brewery Flats smiths Alexandra Paliwoda and Matt Isenhart work on a wind chime in the black- By MIRIAM CAMPAN | Reporter smith shop. The couple is new to the area, and took rmed with tiny plastic binoculars, a over the demonstration checklist, and an enthusiasm to sight this year for Jim Marsh. numerous birds along the Brewery Flats “We had new black- trail, nearly 30 participants of the Tails smiths this year and they A did a very good job,” said and Tails summer library reading program met with the local Birding Bunch to point their fin- Sallee. gers upwards as warblers, eagles, and an occa- Although the group sional airplane flew overhead. does not have a final count Participants ranging in age from toddler to on attendance yet, they felt adult gathered on June 11 around a picnic table numbers were up com- and made their first bird identification; not so pared to 2019. much by sight, but by sound. Atop a pine tree, See page 15 for more just above the participants, a yellow warbler photos from the event. burst into its three-second sweet song that may consist of up to 21 individual notes. John Vanek oils his Birding bunch member Dana Leininger intro- family’s 15 horsepow- duced participants to a variety of media (books, er M. Rumley steam software applications) to identify birds, while engine, which his dad, Cathy Moser brought specimens that showed the variety in coloration (to assist in identifying bird David Vanek, Jr., gender), sizes and shape of bird toes (woodpeck- restored many years ers have a different placement of toes used for ago. John used the stabilization) and beaks (cross-bills’ specialized 1900 model to run the beaks assist in eating pine nuts). threshing machine After the informative presentations, with during a demonstra- checklist in hand, the eager birders, eyes towards the sky and the water, looked for red-winged tion at Pioneer Power blackbirds, mallard ducks, loons, chickadees, Days in Lewistown. woodpeckers, pheasants, sand hill cranes, swal- He has proudly helped lows, hawks and eagles. Within two minutes the operate the machine birders had already checked off swallows (identi- for 10 or so years and fied by their split tails) and a bald eagle, both circling overhead. said, “I’m 21 and it’s The field trip was one of several activities in 121 years old so we’re the Lewistown Public Library’s Summer Reading exactly 100 years Program, which is focused on animals. apart.” Photo by Katherine Sears Consequences of new legislation causing Health District upheaval By DEB HILL | News-Argus Managing Editor HB 121 requires a health district to have a “local governing body,” defined as county com- A Memorandum of Understanding distribut- missioners if the health district serves one ed by Fergus County in May was the source of county, city commissioners if the health district tense discussion at a special meeting of the Cen- serves one city, or the entity identified in the tral Montana Health District board Thursday. health district bylaws for a city-county health The MOU names the Fergus County Commis- district. sion as the governing body of the Health District. “They were trying to have a check on health It also details other changes to health district board authority, to have another entity that can operations, based on a legal interpretation of a overrule a health board,” Cochrane said at bill passed by the 2021 legislature, House Bill 121. Thursday’s meeting. According to Deputy Fergus County Attorney The Central Montana Health District is the Diane Cochrane, “these are changes based on only health district in the state to serve six coun- what the legislature did, not what Fergus County ties and a city: Fergus, Judith Basin, Petroleum, wants.” Golden Valley, Wheatland and Musselshell coun- So far, none of the other governments ties and Lewistown. The district formed in 1973 involved in running the health district have and adopted its current bylaws in 1975. signed the MOU, despite Fergus County’s July 1 The MOU proposed by Youngbauer names deadline. the Fergus County commissioners as the govern- Another special meeting to discuss the MOU ing body for the health district, giving them is set for Thursday. authority to hire, fire and oversee employees, adopt regulations and fees, approve the appoint- New governing body ment of a health officer, and approve regula- At the May meeting, Fergus County officials, tions, including responses to a declared emer- including Commissioner Sandy Youngbauer, gency. chairman of the health district board, explained Leann Fisk, Disease Intervention Specialist at Central Montana Health District, that HB 121 changes how the health district See Health | Page 5 enters the office on Tuesday. The fate of the health district is uncertain as par- operates. ties involved debate the effects of HB 121. Photo by Katherine Sears . USPS 311-120 [email protected] OBITUARIES: D. BOYCE, M. EVANS, L. ORTGIES, C. STONEHOCKER . PAGE 2LEWISTOWN NEWS-ARGUS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 2021 During World War I, Montana contributed one of the highest numbers of soldiers per capita Lewistown 538-8791 of any state. It was 25% higher Denton 567-2561 than any other state Stanford 566-2670 Central Montana’s propane on a per capita basis. and fertilizer company since 1952. Moore 374-2528 Farmers Market opening for business By MIRIAM CAMPAN | Reporter ummer, for the fans of and vendors at the Farmer’s Mar- ket, will unofficially begin this Saturday, June 19 and continue on through Oct. 1 from 8 a.m. to noon. Located Sin Symmes Park, near the Chamber of Commerce build- ing, farmers and vendors will continue to bring fresh wares as they have for the past 14 years. Wares include garden fresh produce (a new variety each week), honey, homemade jelly, pies, and rolls, freshly cooked brauts, knit and crocheted items, arts and crafts, spices and a homeopathic apothecary, along with new vendors bringing new wares each week. Space is available for new vendors. According to Kathy Wal- ter, if selling food items, vendors are required to contact the Sanitarian at 535-7466 to fill out the necessary paperwork before setting up a booth. All vendors are also required to “pack it in and pack it out.” Contact Walter at 366-3838 for a space or for more informa- tion. Summer squash varieties (above, right) are piled high at a Farmers Market display a couple of years ago. The market opens this Saturday. News-Argus File Photo Montana visitor spending down in 2020 As tourism goes, 2020 will one thing — COVID-19’s det- strong demand for people to Despite the challenges, 11.1 be a memorable year for only rimental impact on econo- drive and find wide open million out-of-state visitors mies that depend on travel spaces, outdoor recreation still contributed roughly $3.15 and tourism across the U.S. opportunities and generally billion in travel-related spend- and world. escape dense urban areas or ing to Montana’s economy Montana was no exception destinations,” said ITRR during 2020. This spending as its out-of-state visitation Director Jeremy Sage. “We directly supported nearly $2.6 was down about 12% over the have a lot of that in Montana billion in economic activity previous year, said research- and the secret is definitely and nearly 31,000 state jobs, ers at the University of Mon- out.” as well as indirectly support- tana’s Institute for Tourism However, not only did the ing an additional $1.8 billion and Recreation Research. The 2020 total volume of visitors in economic activity and more state still fared much better decrease to the lowest num- than 12,400 additional jobs. than states like California, bers in five years, but spend- Looking back, 2020 started which saw a 55% reduction in ing patterns of those arriving off on a strong footing, with a travel-related spending changed as well, resulting in a 9% increase in visitation in according to the industry 16% overall reduction. the first quarter of 2020 com- webpage of Visit California, According to Sage, the dis- pared to 2019 and a 16% where tourism is more heavi- tortions created from the pan- increase in spending by those ly based on urban destina- demic were due to the visitors. tions, air traffic and interna- decrease in restaurant capaci- However, ITRR estimates tional travelers. ties, closures of indoor spaces reflect a 32% decrease in visi- “At the start of the pan- and activities in general.