☛ ☛ NTERPRISEt h e l i v i n g s t o n E Thursday, April 8, 2021 •฀Livingston,฀Montana฀•฀Vol.฀115 No.฀78 $1.00 Biden WATER SUPPLY tightens some gun controls WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden, in his first gun control measures since taking office, announced a half-dozen executive actions Thursday aimed at address- ing a proliferation of gun violence across the nation that he called an “epidemic and an international embarrassment.” “The idea that we have so many people dying every single day from gun violence in America is a blemish on our character as a nation,” Biden said during remarks at the White House. Family members whose children were killed at the Sandy Hook, Con- necticut, school massacre in 2012 and the shooting at Marjory Stone- man Douglas High School in Park- land, Florida, in 2018 attended the hearing, and Biden thanked them for attending, saying he understood it would remind them of the awful days when they got the calls. He assured them, “We’re absolute- ly determined to make change.” Biden’s Thursday announcement delivers on a pledge the president made last month to take what he termed immediate “common-sense Enterprise photos by Justin Post steps” to address gun violence, after A Canada goose flies over the Shields River as the Absaroka Range rises up in the background on Thursday morning. a series of mass shootings drew renewed attention to the issue. His announcement came the same day as yet another, this one in South Caroli- na, where five people were killed. Despite dry March, upper Yellowstone snowpack near normal Biden emphasized the scope of the problem: Between the mass killings By Sam Klomhaus in Atlanta massage businesses and Enterprise Staff Writer the Colorado grocery store shooting last month, there were more than 850 additional shootings that killed 250 treamflow forecasts for and injured 500 in the U.S., he said. spring and summer But Thursday’s announcement underscores the limitations of issued by the Natural Biden’s executive power to act on Resource Conservation guns. His orders tighten regulations S on homemade guns and provide Service April 1 decreased more resources for gun-violence pre- since March, according to the vention but fall far short of the sweeping gun-control agenda he laid NRCS’s monthly snowpack out on the campaign trail. report, after weather patterns Indeed, Biden again urged Con- gress to act, calling on the Senate to in March yielded below-aver- take up House-passed measures clos- age precipitation levels across ing background check loopholes. He also said Congress should pass the Montana. Violence Against Women Act, elimi- March’s dry weather continued a trend nate legal exemptions for gun manu- of back and forth wet and dry months, facturers and ban assault weapons according to the report. and high capacity magazines. Biden Despite a lack of precipitation last said month, snowpack in the Upper Yellow- “This is not a partisan issue among stone River Basin is still near normal, thanks largely to a strong February. Enterprise photo by Justin Post In the Upper Yellowstone River Basin, Tom McLaughlin, of Moline, Ill., casts his fly line while fishing the Yellowstone River See Gun controls, Page 3 snowpack was 101% of normal April 1, Thursday morning south of Livingston. McLaughlin, who works in finance, said he is down 8% from March 1. The Shields Riv- visiting the area on a fishing trip with his girlfriend. er was also down 9% from March 1, with a 95% normal snowpack as of April 1. typically peaks in April, so this month through April and potentially into early The Upper Yellowstone area saw 65% will be important for Montana’s water summer. of average precipitation in March, but resources this summer and even beyond According to the National Weather Ser- the Yellowstone River Basin still fared that. vice, the next few days could see rain or better than the Columbia (88% of normal “As always, our runoff prospects and snow in the Livingston area with highs in snowpack, 49% average precipitation in timing are directly tied to the weather the mid-50s up to Saturday night; and March) and Missouri (92% normal snow- experienced in the coming two to three highs in the mid-40s forecasted for Sun- pack, 62% average precipitation in months,” NRCS Water Supply Specialist day and Monday with a chance of rain or March) basins. Lucas Zukiewicz said in the release. snow. In the Yellowstone basin, the Bighorn Per the report, long-term forecasts for “A return to normal temperatures and river reported 98% normal snowpack, warmer than normal temperatures in wetter weather patterns would be more the Tongue River reported 103% normal April are concerning for long-term water than welcome at this point to slow the AP snowpack and the Powder River report- resources. transition of the mountain snowpack President Joe Biden speaks about ed 119% normal snowpack as of April 1. According to the National Oceanic and towards melt and satisfy the existing gun violence prevention in the Rose According to the press release that Atmospheric Administration’s Climate soil moisture deficits present in many Garden at the White House, Thurs- accompanied the report, the mountain Prediction Center, warmer than normal valley and plains locations,” Zukiewicz day in Washington. snowpack at middle to high elevations temperatures will likely continue said. Number of kids alone at border hits all-time high WASHINGTON (AP) — 11,475 in May 2019 and November added urgency to bers, more than 4,000 people The U.S. government picked 10,620 in June 2014. The endemic poverty and vio- at a U.S. Customs and Border up nearly 19,000 children agency started publishing lence that have led people to Protection holding facility traveling alone across the the numbers in 2009. Before flee for decades. Changes in have been jammed into a Mexican border in March, then, adults made up the vast U.S. policy under Biden also space designed for 250 at a authorities said Thursday, majority of those crossing have guided their decisions, tent complex in Donna, Tex- the largest monthly number the border. whether real or rumored. as. They lay inches apart on ever recorded and a major March’s count was roughly Hermelindo Ak, a Guate- mats on the floor with foil test for President Joe Biden double the number of unac- malan corn grower who bare- blankets. as he reverses many of his companied children encoun- ly makes enough to feed his CBP must transfer unac- predecessor’s hardline immi- tered by the Border Patrol in family, was expelled to Mexi- companied children within gration tactics. February and more than five co from Texas’ Rio Grande 72 hours to the U.S. Depart- A complex mix of factors times the number in March Valley with his 17-year-old ment of Health and Human in the United States and Cen- 2020. son. Ak decided to send his Services, whose facilities are tral America drove the The huge increase in chil- son alone for a second more suited to longer-term increase. It has coincided dren traveling alone — some attempt after learning unac- care while arrangements are with the Biden administra- as young as 3 — and families companied children can stay made to release them. More tion’s decision to exempt has severely strained border in the U.S. Ak, 40, said he than 2,000 children were held unaccompanied children holding facilities, which would return to family in longer than that at the Donna from pandemic-related pow- AP aren’t allowed to hold people Guatemala after selling his facility one day last week, ers to immediately expel Young unaccompanied migrants, from ages 3 to 9, watch for more than three days but house to pay smugglers. The with 39 there at least 15 days. most people from the coun- television inside a playpen at the U.S. Customs and Border often do. It’s left the govern- plan was for his oldest son to HHS opened its first tem- try without giving them an Protection facility, the main detention center for unaccom- ment scrambling to find live with relatives in the U.S. porary holding facility in opportunity to seek asylum. panied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas. , space and hire staff to care “I didn’t want to leave him Carrizo Springs, Texas, on Children are instead released March 30. for children longer term alone,” Ak said last week in Feb. 22, and has since struck to “sponsors” in the U.S., until they can be placed with the Mexican border city of a slew of agreements to usually parents or close rela- backlogged immigration tered 18,663 unaccompanied sponsors. Reynosa. “Necessity obli- tives, while being allowed to courts. children in March, well For many, a hurricane that gates us.” pursue their cases in heavily The Border Patrol encoun- above previous highs of hit Central America in Amid the growing num- See Kids alone, Page 3 Page 2, Livingston Enterprise Thursday, April 8, 2021 BRIEFS OBITUARIES •฀The trustees for Park County Rural Microsoft Teams. See the agenda and sports class, or enjoy a Story Walk — Wesley Earl ‘Wes’ Bull Fire District # 1 will hold a regular information for joining the meeting at: there is something for all interests. Visit monthly meeting on Monday, April 12, https://www.bigskyrail.org/events. the ParkCountyECE Facebook page for Wesley Earl “Wes” Bull, 93, passed 2021 at 6 p.m. The meeting will be held a complete schedule of special events. away April 5, 2021.