On Saturday, January 28, 2023, Yellowstone National Park requested assistance for a snowmobile crash 1 mile west of West Yellowstone on the West Entrance Road. The snowmobiler was reported to have fractured their femur in the accident.

Volunteers from Gallatin County Sheriff Search and Rescue in West Yellowstone, Custer Gallatin National Forest Service and Hebgen Basin Rural Fire District responded to assist with the rescue.

Volunteers quickly made contact with the patient, then packaged and transported them to the West Entrance where medical care was turned over to the waiting Hebgen Basin Ambulance for further evaluation.

Sheriff Dan Springer would like to remind snowmobilers to ride within their abilities and be aware of changing trail conditions.

Photos courtesy of Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office.

BOZEMAN – Chris Murray, president and CEO of the Montana State University Alumni Foundation, will retire on Feb. 28.   

Since Murray’s arrival in August 2014, the Alumni Foundation has raised over $630 million to fuel MSU’s people, places and programs. He was responsible for cultivating relationships with alumni and donors and securing private support to advance MSU. 

“Though retiring is bittersweet, the best time to leave is on a high note,” said Murray. “I’d say a $208 million record-breaking year is just that.” 

During fiscal year 2022, MSU announced a philanthropic gift of $101 million, the largest donation to any college of nursing in the U.S. at the time. Six months later, in February 2022, a $50 million gift from the Gianforte Family Foundation was announced that would support a building for MSU’s Gianforte School of Computing. 

Murray was also at the helm of the Alumni Foundation when it launched the public phase of its first comprehensive capital campaign in 2015, seeking to raise $300 million in private support. That campaign, “What It Takes,” ultimately raised $413 million from 41,000 donors, the largest fundraising effort in the state of Montana at the time. 

“Under Chris Murray’s leadership, the MSU Alumni Foundation team helped provide significant opportunities for our students, faculty, staff, as well as academic and research programs through philanthropy,” said MSU President Waded Cruzado. “We’re grateful for his dedication to the university's mission of serving our students and the people of Montana." 

Murray came to Montana State after stints at the University of Idaho and the University of Oregon, where he built fundraising programs and led two significant fundraising campaigns. During Murray’s tenure at the Alumni Foundation, annual fundraising totals have grown from $27.6 million to more than $75 million, and gifts to the endowment increased by $92 million, which nearly doubled endowed gifts, from $98 million to $191 million.  

“I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the incredible team at the Alumni Foundation and to have worked with some truly wonderful administrators, staff and faculty at MSU,” Murray said. “The Alumni Foundation team and the Board of Governors are unparalleled and will assure that the tremendous success we have achieved will continue long into the future.” 

“Chris has done an extraordinary job building an organization that is the envy of our peers,” said Greg Collins, chair of the Board of Governors. “His expertise, tenacity and tireless energy have been instrumental in our success and the very real impact on the university, the students, faculty and communities we support.”  

The Board of Governors will work with MSU to conduct a national search for Murray’s replacement. 

Patricia Batts appears in Gallatin County District Court on March 24. Courtesy ABC FOX Montana

Audrey Cromwell, Gallatin County Attorney, filed a Withdrawal of Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty today in the Patricia Batts case. See the full filing here.

Batts is charged with deliberate homicide, aggravated kidnapping, criminal child endangerment and strangulation of partner or family member, all felonies, related to the death of her 12-year-old grandson, James Alex Hurley, in West Yellowstone in 2020.

“After consultation with law enforcement, with the victim’s mother, and with the Attorney General Prosecution Services Bureau, we have decided the best way to proceed in this case is to withdraw the death penalty designation. The victim’s mother is in agreement with this decision,” Cromwell said.

“My heart goes out to Alex’s mom and brother. As a parent, I cannot think of anything worse in life than losing your child in the manner inflicted on Alex. There’s nothing worse that could have happened to him. It is critical that we move this case forward to seek justice for Alex in a way that will put an end to this years-long litigation and will provide closure to the family and law enforcement,” Cromwell said.

Montana is one of 24 states that allows capital punishment — 23 states have abolished the death penalty and three others have a governor-imposed moratorium on death as punishment, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The last execution in Montana happened in 2006 and two people are now on death row in the state, according to DPIC.  However, a 2015 injunction by District Court Judge Jeffrey Sherlock has put a moratorium on executions in Montana indefinitely.

The average death penalty case takes 12 years, including appeals for post-conviction relief. The costs of these highly litigious cases – including the time of judges, prosecutors, public defenders, and court reporters, and the high costs of briefs – are mostly borne by the taxpayer. Death penalty cases in Montana cost taxpayers approximately $2.2 million per case.

“Death penalty factors increase the time and cost of administering justice. We can secure justice for Alex through a sentence that includes life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. And the millions in taxpayer dollars that would have been used on the death penalty case can be redirected toward crime prevention and response so that what happened to Alex never happens to another child in our county,” Cromwell said.

Two other people were charged and pled guilty in connection with Alex’s death. James Sasser Jr., 49, pled guilty to felony deliberate homicide, felony child endangerment and felony tampering with a witness in August 2021. Judge John Brown sentenced him to serve 100 years for the homicide charge and 10 years each for the child endangerment and tampering charges.  James Sasser III pled guilty to felony deliberate homicide and, in October 2020, was sentenced to the Montana Department of Corrections until he is 18 years old.

Batts’ jury trial is currently scheduled for July 10 through Aug. 4, 2023.

BOZEMAN—The Museum of the Rockies will celebrate the opening of two new exhibitions, “Under the Arctic: Digging into Permafrost” and “Marvelocity: The Art of Alex Ross,” with an event Saturday, Jan. 28. 

The celebration runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Attendees are invited to wear their favorite Marvel superhero costume, sketch their own superhero at a comic book drop-in drawing program, and shop for classic comic books. The events are free with museum admission. 

Opening this Saturday, “Marvelocity: The Art of Alex Ross” showcases the original multimedia art from Ross’s most recent book. Considered one of the greatest artists in the field of comic books, Ross has revitalized classic superheroes into works of fine art. Attendees will learn about how he developed into an illustrator through his childhood drawings, preliminary sketches, paintings, video and 3-D busts of Marvel Comics characters. The exhibit was developed by the Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County. 

The other new exhibit, “Under the Arctic: Digging into Permafrost,” examines climate change through the lens of a thawing Arctic. Visitors are transported to the Arctic through the sights and smells of the nation’s only permafrost research tunnel and experience engineering challenges posed by thawing permafrost. The exhibit also includes Ice Age fossils, ancient ice cores and interactive games. Produced by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, this immersive exhibit was developed in collaboration with the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska - Fairbanks and made possible by a National Science Foundation grant. 

The exhibitions will be at the Museum of the Rockies from Jan. 28 through May 7. Museum members can access the exhibitions early at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27. Admission is free for members and children under age 5. Ticket prices range from $12 to $18 for youth, adults and seniors. 

To learn about each exhibition and its specialty programming, visit museumoftherockies.org/exhibitions. 

Gallatin County, MT- On January 20th, One Valley Community Foundation launched the initial convening of the Regional Housing Coalition at the Bozeman Public Safety Center.

The Regional Housing Coalition (RHC) will begin as a three-year initiative of One Valley Community Foundation, convening diverse partners and interests to coordinate and accelerate solutions to address housing affordability and availability needs in Gallatin County.

“One Valley Community Foundation understands that we need both shovels in the ground building homes and the collective impact of the Regional Housing Coalition to address upstream issues affecting housing,” said Bridget Wilkinson, President and CEO of One Valley Community Foundation. “A county-wide coordination of partners, funding, and solutions is crucial to addressing the complex set of issues around community housing needs. This need creates the opportunity for One Valley Community Foundation to marshal resources, convene partners, and provide accountability and structure for collective action.”

Local governments, nonprofits, employers, philanthropists, and private industry partners like realtors and home builders are each organizing resources to address housing needs in Gallatin County. One Valley Community Foundation has intentionally crafted the Regional Housing Coalition to support and coordinate those efforts by acting as the ongoing forum for developing partnerships and facilitating collaborative action on housing solution strategies. Additionally, One Valley will support these strategies by acting as a conduit for communication and education that crosses sectors.

The first meeting of the RHC welcomed the participation of 16 members, representing 15 organizations and agencies from communities across Gallatin County. Represented organizations included nonprofits, government agencies, chambers of commerce, employers, private housing partners, and foundations. As the Coalition evolves, the membership will do so as well.

The first RHC meeting was convened in Bozeman. Subsequent 2023 quarterly meetings will be held in West Yellowstone, Three Forks, and Belgrade in an effort to include and understand the particular housing challenges in rural communities and unincorporated areas of Gallatin County.
For more information on the Regional Housing Coalition, please go to www.onevalley/regionalhousing.

About One Valley Community Foundation

One Valley Community Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in Southwest Montana that connects people who care to the issues that matter most to them in order to address the priorities and concerns of residents and businesses in Gallatin County.

One Valley does this by matching donors with causes they believe in, focusing financial resources to facilitate change, offering tools and opportunities to support other nonprofits, and acting as a community facilitator. One Valley hosts multiple community- wide initiatives, including Give Big Gallatin Valley, a 24-hour giving day that has raised over $11.4 million for local nonprofits, and the Gallatin County Regional Housing Coalition, a convening of diverse partners working to address local housing challenges.
For more information, visit www.onevalley.org.

Hunters and Outfitters Unite at ‘Elk Camp at the Capitol’ as they roll out a legislative agreement to improve relationships and wildlife management.

More than one hundred hunters and outfitters participated in “Elk Camp at the Capitol’ on Tuesday at the Helena Capitol building.

The event was hosted by the Montana Citizens Elk Management Coalition to facilitate conversations between hunters and lawmakers active in the 68th Montana Legislature.

Speakers at the event, including Governor Greg Gianforte, reinforced the need for unity and collaboration between hunters, landowners, and outfitters to help resolve contentious wildlife policy debates.

“Hunting and our outdoor heritage are part of who we are as Montanans,” Governor Greg Gianforte said. “Coming to the table together, the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association and the Montana Citizens Elk Management Coalition have found common ground and built broad consensus among hunters, landowners, and outfitters. We look forward to working with them closely this session.”

“This is about working together to set the stage for new directions and further the conversation about elk and wildlife management in Montana,” said George Bettas, of the Montana Citizens Elk Management Coalition, who emceed the event.

During the event, the Montana Citizens Elk Management Coalition and the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association shared a consensus package of legislation they say represents the first legislative agreement to bring the outfitting and hunting community together since the 2007 Legislature.

The legislative package includes reforms to landowner preferences and the 454 program, strengthens trespass and hunter harassment rules, provides some limits to non-resident hunting tags to reduce pressure on public lands, improves hunter education, and doubles Block Management payments.

They say the agreements are part of ongoing conversations to find common ground and improve relationships between hunters, landowners, and outfitters.

“Managing Montana’s elk population is a complex challenge,” said Mac Minard, Executive Director, Montana Outfitters and Guides Association, “Realistic solutions require diverse interests working together to identify areas of consensus and advocating for policies that will shape the future of elk management. We are honored to be working with the Coalition and leading conservation groups in the state on these policy agreements.”

Participants at Elk Camp also discussed the need to establish a permanent trust account that would dramatically expand the pace and scale of stewardship and restoration treatments across the State.

Although the idea has not yet been introduced as legislation, Senator Jeff Wellborn, R-Dillon, says the proposed ‘Montana Legacy Trust’ deserves a fair shot at a hearing because it’s an investment in rural Montana.

“At the end of the 2021 session, I asked for people to bring solutions forward that unite, rather than divide,” said Wellborn. “The elk coalition has spent the better part of a year bringing the affected interests together. I’ll help whoever it is that carries this legislation.”

City aims to install a new water feature at Story Mill Park this year
 
BOZEMAN — The City of Bozeman and Trust for Public Land are collaborating once again on Story Mill Park. On Tuesday, Jan. 24, Bozeman City Commissioners signed an MOU for the Trust for Public Land to provide $155,000 towards the construction of a new splash pad. The City anticipates providing $350,000 towards construction and aims to break ground on the project in the spring and wrap up by the fall.

 
“The creation of a splash pad has been in the master plan for Story Mill Park for years but was not able to be built due to funding,” Addi Jadin, Park Planning and Development Manager, stated. “We’re excited to be able to partner with the Trust for Public Land again and implement this fun feature of the park.”

 
The splash pad will be built near the restrooms and will include a river scene with sun-bleached trees and reed water sprayers, similar to what residents may see at the edges of Quake Lake, the Madison or the East Gallatin River. Tactile features allow kids to control the water flow of jets and bubblers. A beaver den shade feature is planned for the lawn nearby, and a mural will be mounted on the restroom building to further enhance the scene.

A parking lot is also being built this year on the property as staff expects the splash pad to attract more visitors.
 
"Story Mill Park is the culmination of the ideas and passion of hundreds of Bozeman residents, bringing miles of trails, climbing features, space for outdoor learning, and now a new splash pad close to home for so many," said Dick Dolan, Associate Vice President, Northern Rockies Director for Trust for Public Land. "Trust for Public Land is thrilled to have partnered with the City of Bozeman to bring the community this unique feature and hopes to see it create more opportunities for the next generation to enjoy the benefits of the outdoors."


Those seeking more information on the project can contact Addi Jadin at ajadin@Bozeman.net.