Top local stories for 2016

It was a year of many surprises - some happy, some sad, some troubling - in north-central Montana, with some of the issues covered here picked up nationally.

The Havre Daily News polled members of its newsrooom to find out what they thought were the most interesting and important issues covered during the year. Here are the results of the poll.

1. Surprising year in politics

Politics were hot and heavy in the region, from the presidential race down to local offices.

After Republicans started taking many legislative seats  in traditionally Democratic Hill and Blaine counties in recent years, in 2016 Democrats picked up two seats they had lost to the GOP in the last election. Nevrtheless, the GOP still dominated in local legislative races.

Democrat Jacob Bachmeier, an 18-year-old who filed as a candidate while still a Havre High School senior, defeated first-term Republican Stephanie Hess in the race for the seat in House District 28, which basically includes the city of Havre.

Former Sen. Frank Smith, D-Poplar, defeated first-term Republican Rep. Gilbert Bruce Meyers of Rocky Boy, who chose to run for the Senate seat now held by Democrat Jonathan Windy Boy of Rocky Boy instead of running for re-election to the House.

Windy Boy, who could not run in his Senate District due to term limits, was unopposed in taking back the House seat in District 32, replacing Meyers.

Republicans swept the other local elections, with Mike Lang of Malta defeating Democrat Douglas Adolphson of Glasgow in the race for Senate District 17, Jim O'Hara of Fort Benton defeating Democrat Ryan Rominger of Floweree in the race for House District 27 and Casey Knudsen of Malta defeating Democrat Mike Finley of North Havre for the seat in House District 33.

In the only contested Hill County race, Republican Diane McLean defeated Democrat Jim Bedwell and independent Ted Solomon in the election to fill independent County Commissioner Jeff LaVoi's seat. LaVoi did not run for re-election.

The race for governor also was closely watched - and made honorable mention on its own in the newsroom poll of top stories - with both Republican Greg Gianforte and his running mate, Phillips County Commissioner Lesley Robinson, and Democrats Gov. Steve Bullock and Lt. Governor Mike Cooney making multiple stops in the area. Bullock won Hill and Blaine counties while Gianforte won Chouteau and Liberty counties, but Bullock won the race with 50 percent of the vote to Gianforte's 46 percent. Gianforte spent $5.1 Million of his own money on the campaign.

The changes continued after the election, with Hess announcing she was going to Helena to serve as chief policy adviser for incoming Republican Secretary of State Corey Stapleton, while Sen. Kris Hansen, R-Havre, announced she was resigning to take a position as chief counsel for incoming Republican State Auditor Matt Rosendale. Hansen had two more years left in her term.

A joint meeting of county commissioners from Cascade, Chouteau, Hill and Liberty counties, which are parts of Hansen's Senate District 14, bucked the recommendation of the Republican central committees of the counties and appointed outgoing Liberty County Commissioner Russ Tempel to replace Hansen in the Senate. The top recommendation by the central committees as a replacement was Havre businessman Brad Lotton. The Chouteau County Commission gave Lotton his only votes.

2. Sunrise Financial

Havre Daily News reporter Paul Dragu wrote an award-winning week-long series about a mysterious company - which refused to reply to multiple requests for comment - which has been buying up tax liens on properties in Havre on which owners have defaulted on taxes. Sunrise Financial is doing nothing with the properties, and has refused to sell, or asked much higher-than market price for properties which people have tried to purchase. The company also has been buying liens in other Montana towns as well.

3. Havre High marching band goes to Washington

The Havre High School marching band, after being nominated by Gov. Steve Bullock, was selected by a national committee to represent the state of Montana in the National Independence Day Parade in Washington July 4. The Havre Daily covered the band preparing for and leaving on the trip, used blog comments and photos from band members and their families while in D.C., and covered their triumphant return.

4. City manager fails

After a year-long effort by a commission studying ways the form of Havre's city government could be change to persuade people to switch to a charter form of government and hire a city manager, the resolution proposing the changes was soundly defeated in the polls.

5. City annexes property

In an anticlimactic vote Dec. 19, Havre City Council approved annexing a series of properties west of town into the city limits. The city had attempted several times in the past 10 years to annex some or all of those properties, but was stymied by protests, petitions and lawsuits filed by property owners. No one spoke against the annexation at the final vote Dec. 19.

6. Ament builds skate parks

Big Sandy native Jeff Ament - whose band, Pearl Jam, is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year - continued to be busy funding improvements to existing skate parks and creation of new parks. Ament funded another improvement to the Havre skate park and paid for construction of a new skate park in Hays.

7. Reverse unemployment problems

With unemployment in the region at low levels - Job Service reported it dropped to 4 percent in Montana in November - local employers are having a hard time finding workers. Two workshops were held in Havre this year to talk to employers about how to find - and keep - workers and the Havre Daily ran an article in October with employers and state officials talking about the problem.

8. Bullhook drainage rebuilt

The city began work this fall to replace and repair the culverts in Bullhook, the storm drainage creek that runs from south of town into the Milk River. Bullhook is covered through most of Havre and runs under streets and sidewalks and properties in town. Streets above the drainage began to collapse into the ditch several years ago.

9. Construction starts on Northern's Diesel Technology Center

After years of trying to talk the state into providing enough funding, Montana State University-Northern raised enough funds to go along with partial state funding to finally start work on its new Diesel Technology Center. The new building will house Northern's top-ranked program and replace the building that previously housed it and its top-ranked automotive technology program, a building which was not up to code when it was constructed more than 60 years ago.

10. Hillery succumbs to ALS

After battling for several years against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease, local volunteer, politician and activist Pam Hillery, a member of Havre City Council who came back to serve out, while in a wheelchair, the term of a member who resigned, died Sept. 14. Her battle against the disease, her positive, upbeat attitude and the blog she kept - "Life with ALS - Each Day Is Joyful" - caught the attention and tears of the state and the nation.

Honorable mentions

Several others of the dozens of stories considered for the top 10 received multiple votes, including 2016 being the 100th anniversary of both the creation of Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation and Beaver Creek Park in Hill County.

Other honorable mentions include the turmoil at Chester-Joplin-Inverness schools in Chester. A superintendent who replaced the previous superintendent - who resigned after a controversy about suspending a student athlete - murdered his wife and killed himself Dec. 6. That came while the town was still mourning the death of a former CJI student, who had moved to Fairfield, who died Aug. 27 of injuries sustained in a car crash.

Continued court action regarding embezzlement and corruption at Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation is still making headlines in the Havre Daily throughout the year.

After Judge John McKeon announced his retirement after decades of sitting on the bench in the state judicial district that includes Blaine, Phillips and Valley counties, he made national news when he sentenced a man who pleaded guilty to incest to 60 days followed by a suspended sentence. An out-of-state website started a petition to have McKeon removed from the bench. McKeon defended his sentence, saying it followed a psychosexual evaluator's recommendation for community treatment against which no one had spoken. The story raised the state exception to a 25-year minimum sentence on child sexual abuse charges - allowed if a pyschosexual evaluation recommends it - to prominence, and the Montana Sentencing Commission has since recommended the Legislature remove the exception.