The Billings Gazette (Billings, MT) articles from February 2006

The Billings Gazette (Billings, MT) archives from February 2006

$130K approved to help Metra.
February 1, 2006... Byline: Tom Howard Feb. 1--Yellowstone County commissioners will transfer $130,000 from the county's general fund to help MetraPark recover from a projected budget shortfall. Commissioners approved the one-time transfer Monday during...

Billings Gazette, Mont., Jan Falstad column.
February 1, 2006... Byline: Jan Falstad Feb. 1--BANK TO TRIPLE IN SIZE: Have you heard? Sometime today the heavy equipment will rip into and tear down the drive-in canopy at Western Security Bank at the corner of Wicks Lane and Main Street. Bank manager...

Board emphasizes school renovation, not expansion.
February 1, 2006... Byline: Laura Tode Feb. 1--The Billings School Board is moving forward with a plan for renovation of existing high school facilities and banking on projections that indicate enrollment in the district will drop over the next decade. ...

YAM selects executive director.
February 2, 2006... Byline: Linda Halstead-Acharya Feb. 2--Following a six-month search, the Yellowstone Art Museum has named a new executive director. Robyn G. Peterson, who most recently served as senior director of exhibitions and programs at Turtle...

Sapphire begins to shine.
February 5, 2006... Byline: Jan Falstad Feb. 5--The blue sign brags it's "The most promising location in Montana." Millions have been spent on stretching city water and sewer to the 65-acre subdivision. Curbs and gutters are in by the Shiloh Road and...

Groups aid elderly with Medicare rules.
February 6, 2006... Byline: Jan Falstad Feb. 6--America's seniors may not like the federal Medicare drug prescription law passed by Congress and signed by President George W. Bush. They may be baffled by navigating the Internet and choosing between 42...

Council ponders how to select city manager.
February 7, 2006... Byline: Tom Howard Feb. 7--Billings City Council members agree the city needs to conduct a search before hiring a new city administrator. But during a work session Monday night, two schools of thought emerged on how to go about doing it....

CBM drilling proceeds across Montana.
February 7, 2006... Byline: Clair Johnson Feb. 7--Pete Schoonmaker, president and CEO of Pinnacle Gas Resources Inc., believes in getting in, getting the job done and getting out. That's why things are little hectic in southeastern Montana this winter....

Plan for parking meter fees draws large crowd.
February 7, 2006... Byline: Tom Howard Feb. 7--A plan to increase downtown parking fees attracted a crowd to the City Council's work session Monday night. While the meeting wasn't a formal public hearing, several downtown property owners aired their...

State issues 2 CBM wasterwater permits.
February 7, 2006... Byline: Clair Johnson Feb. 7--The Montana Department of Environmental Quality has issued permits to discharge treated and untreated coalbed methane water into the Tongue River in southeastern Montana. The two permits issued Friday are...

County looks into boat ramp grant.
February 8, 2006... Byline: Tom Howard Feb. 8--County commissioners hope canoeists will be able to use a new boat ramp near Pompeys Pillar National Monument in time for this summer's 200th anniversary of Capt. William Clark's historic trip down the...

Billings Clinic selected to research new drug.
February 8, 2006... Byline: Suzanne Kydland Ady Feb. 8--If someone even suspects they might be having a stroke, Dr. Daniel Rodriguez says dialing for help is the best thing they can do. "Don't call your neighbor's sister's niece who happens to be in...

Rimrock modifies treatment center plan.
February 8, 2006... Byline: Tom Howard Feb. 8--Rimrock Foundation on Tuesday unveiled a revised plan for a proposed residential alcohol treatment center in the North Park neighborhood. Rimrock Foundation officials said they will continue to seek City...

Plan for parking meter fees draws large crowd.
February 9, 2006... Byline: Tom Howard Feb. 9--A plan to increase downtown parking fees attracted a crowd to the City Council's work session Monday night. While the meeting wasn't a formal public hearing, several downtown property owners aired their...

Carrying a tune.
February 13, 2006... Byline: Lance Benzel Feb. 13--Twice a year or so, Greg Depner receives a painful reminder that he's moved thousands of pianos over the years. It comes in the form of nagging pain in his lower back, and for a few days at a time the...

Montana, Wyoming sugar companies amp up beet production.
February 13, 2006... Byline: Jim Gransbery Feb. 13--Drought in south Asia, hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and ethanol production in Brazil are funneling incentives toward local sugar beet farmers to increase production as wholesale prices for sweetener move...

Council delays decision on sex-oriented businesses.
February 14, 2006... Byline: Lance Benzel Feb. 14--Billings residents will have several more months to formulate their arguments for and against a zoning change that would restrict operations at sexually oriented businesses. The City Council on Monday...

Hardware Hank goes out of business.
February 14, 2006... Byline: Jan Falstad Feb. 14--According to Amber Meyer, salesperson at Cellular Plus, a steady stream of cars drove by the Hardware Hank store at the corner of Main Street and Wicks Lane last weekend, read the sign, and left. Orange...

Rimrock threatens to sue Billings.
February 14, 2006... Byline: Tom Howard Feb. 14--The chief executive of Rimrock Foundation threatened to take legal action Monday after the City Council denied the foundation's plans to expand into the North Park area. "This is discrimination," Rimrock...

Svee evaluation contains praise, criticism.
February 15, 2006... Byline: Laura Tode Feb. 15--The Billings School District 2 Board of Trustees wants better communication between the board and administrators and asked district Superintendent Rod Svee to take a more active role in community advocacy. ...

Rimrock Foundation bristles at council action.
February 15, 2006... Byline: Tom Howard Feb. 15--Mona Sumner, chief operations officer for Rimrock Foundation, said she was shocked after the City Council killed the foundation's proposal for developing a residential addiction treatment center in the North...

Money, materials, manpower behind Good Earth.
February 19, 2006... Feb. 19--The Gainan's warehouse is in great shape structurally, and one of the challenges was to demolish walls that were hiding the visual elements, according to High Plains Architect Ed Gulick, who designed the remodeling project. ...

Volunteers 'work for the larger good' at Billings, Mont., organic market.
February 19, 2006... Byline: Jan Falstad Feb. 19--A stint on the Good Earth Market board turned into a full-time volunteer job for Billings potter and yoga instructor Greg Jahn. When the tiny neighborhood whole-foods grocery decided to move into a...

Montana has 116 certified organic producers, growers.
February 19, 2006... Feb. 19--Since the federal organic certification program started in 2002, the state of Montana has certified 116 Montana producers as organic growers. The man who makes the call verifying that agricultural products have been chemically...

Merger strengthens Billings, Mont.-based office supply company.
February 22, 2006... Byline: Dave Burgess Feb. 22--In the best kind of merger mathematics, one plus one equals more than two. For the newly formed Reporter Big Sky Office, business is so strong it seems that merger math has created a business bigger than its...

Judge decides older Billings, Mont., Primrose care facility may use name.
February 22, 2006... Byline: Becky Shay Feb. 22--The poem may state that "Rose is a rose is a rose," but a federal judge has ruled that a Primrose is not necessarily a Primrose, at least in Billings. Operators of two care facilities met in federal court...

School District 2 freeze hiring.
February 23, 2006... Byline: Laura Tode Feb. 23--The Billings School District won't hire any staff until after its budget is settled. The school board this week decided to adopt a hiring freeze that will sunset on June 30. But, the measure gives the board...

MetraPark consultant optimistic about facility as diamond in the rough.
February 23, 2006... Byline: Tom Howard Feb. 23--Yellowstone County commissioners say MetraPark is a diamond in the rough that needs some special attention. Armed with a consultant's suggestions on how to improve the facility's operations, commissioners hope...

Rimrock Foundation stays on offensive.
February 23, 2006... Byline: Ed Kemmick Feb. 23--The head of Rimrock Foundation and the president of the foundation board said Wednesday they are committed to moving forward with their plans to build a residential treatment facility on the North Side. In...

Empire Bar's days may be numbered.
February 24, 2006... Byline: Jan Falstad Feb. 24--The downtown bar that attracts more police and fire calls than any other business may be torn down and remade into a parking lot. The Downtown Billings Partnership board this morning approved a motion to...

Ex-bookkeeper gets prison for wire fraud.
February 24, 2006... Byline: Clair Johnson Feb. 24--The company president first learned that his firm was in trouble when his paycheck bounced. Ed Wadington, president of Energy and Environmental Measurement Corp., subsequently found that his bookkeeper,...

United Way delights in record fundraising.
February 25, 2006... Byline: Jim Gransbery Feb. 25--The United Way of Yellowstone County celebrated its eighth straight year of record fundraising Friday and announced a new structure for addressing critical issues during its annual meeting. "We want to...

Billings Gazette, Mont., Jan Falstad column.
February 26, 2006... Byline: Jan Falstad Feb. 26--HAVE YOU HEARD? Billings Heights businessman Denis Pitman is launching a different venture: saltwater fish and aquariums at The Coral Connection. To get there, head up Main Street to 1106 Main, Suite 4,...

New technology and new ideas for wool could boost sheep industry.
February 26, 2006... Byline: Jim Gransbery Feb. 26--About 10,000 years ago, humans discovered the fleece of sheep could keep them warm, so they started keeping the sheep. Since then, the uses for wool have been limited only by the imagination of hundreds...

Contract has miners losing ground and conditions.
February 28, 2006... Byline: Jim Gransbery Feb. 28--The business manager of the coal miners union at Colstrip said Monday that contrary to assertions by the manager of the Rosebud Mine, the new contract offer would have the miners loosing ground. "It is...