State has $438M for highway, bridge projects

HELENA (AP) — The Montana Department of Transportation has more than $400 million to spend on highway and bridge repair projects this year — work that could create more than 12,000 jobs.

The 2013 Legislature gave the department the authority to spend $438 million in federal and state money this year, agency director Mike Tooley said. About 85 percent of that, or $372 million, will be spent this spring, summer and fall, Lee Newspapers of Montana reported.

"Business is booming in Montana," Tooley said. "The Legislature treated us pretty well. They realize the importance of transportation infrastructure investment."

The agency is accepting bids through June 13 for several major projects.

Tooley said the work is expected to generate more than 12,000 jobs based on a federal formula that 27.8 jobs are created by each $1 million spent. Al Ekblad, executive director of the AFL-CIO said he's seen estimates that highway projects in Montana will create 13,500 jobs.

"It's an economic catalyst in Montana, and the jobs are critical to the construction workers, especially in the crafts," Ekblad said.

The jobs are covered by the Davis-Bacon Act, which requires contractors and subcontractors to pay local prevailing wages on public works projects. They also usually offer health insurance and pension benefits, Ekblad said.

Tooley said some of the construction projects help the local economy beyond the jobs the initial work creates.

For example, the recent construction of the Custer Avenue interchange in Helena was a $21 million project that Tooley says has drawn businesses to the area of the interchange, including some businesses that are new to Helena.

As part of its work this summer, the DOT plans to spend $500,000 in both the Missoula and Billings areas to improve the interstate off-ramp signage in an effort to prevent intoxicated drivers from driving onto the interstate in the wrong direction. Both areas of the state have seen fatal crashes due to wrong-way drivers.

Columbia Falls seeks dismissal of stun-gun lawsuit

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Columbia Falls police officers were justified in using a stun gun on a 77-year-old Alzheimer's patient who had wandered away from the Montana Veterans' Home and died a few weeks after the confrontation, an attorney for the city said in a court filing Tuesday.

The filing by attorney William L. Crowley is in response to a wrongful death lawsuit by the family of Stanley Downen, who died three weeks after he fell and struck his head on the pavement in the encounter with two police officers on June 1, 2012.

Downen's family accuses the veterans' home and police of negligence, assault, battery, malpractice and civil rights violations.

The lawsuit says Downen had advanced dementia from Alzheimer's and he had been admitted into the veterans' home on May 31, 2012. The next day, the veterans' home's staff called police when they were unable to stop him from leaving the grounds.

Downen refused to cooperate with the officers, and one of them used a stun gun on him. He fell and struck his head on the pavement.

Veterans' home nursing staff told Downen's family initially that he had tripped and fallen while running, and the family only learned of the encounter with police two days later, the lawsuit said.

Downen died on June 24.

The police department admits one of its officers used a stun gun on Downen, but the officers acted within their duties, Crowley said in his response. Downen's use of profanity and his threatening to throw rocks at the officers justified the response, Crowley wrote.

"Mr. Downen's own negligent acts or omissions caused the damage or injuries to himself and his heirs," Crowley wrote in the filing.

The two responding officers ordered Downen to drop the rocks he was holding and Downen refused, Crowley wrote.

One of the officers used the stun gun when Downen drew his arm back as though to throw a rock, he wrote.

Nothing the officers did was motivated by evil intent or reckless indifference to Downen's rights, Crowley said.

The city is asking a federal judge to dismiss the case.

Downen served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. He was an ironworker for nearly 30 years before retiring in 1998.