Flathead County schools cancel football, weekend activities
KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) – Flathead County schools have canceled football games and other weekend extracurricular activities due to threats made earlier this week that the sheriff said could be credible.
Whitefish Superintendent Heather Davis Schmidt told the Flathead Beacon that schools have been advised by law enforcement to prevent “large groups of students from being together” amid this situation.
School administrators consulted with law enforcement officers and were told the situation has not been resolved before deciding to cancel classes on Friday along with weekend sporting competitions.
“Based upon our estimation, without revealing any details of the investigation, we certainly feel that there is a credible threat, or at least a potentially credible threat,” Sheriff Chuck Curry said.
Athletics directors said they would try and reschedule the games, if possible.
Officials have not released the contents of the threats, which were apparently sent by text and email, beginning Wednesday. Some threats were received Thursday morning, a day after a student at a high school southeast of Spokane, Washington, shot and killed one student and injured three others.
Columbia Falls and Kalispell police, the Flathead County sheriff’s office and the FBI are investigating. “Persons of interest” had been interviewed and the investigation made progress on Thursday, Curry said.
“We pretty much have every resource on this right now,” Curry said.
Classes were canceled Thursday and again on Friday. The closure impacts about 15,700 students in more than 30 public and private schools, including high schools in Bigfork, Columbia Falls, Kalispell and Whitefish along with Flathead Valley Community College campuses in Kalispell and Libby.
The weekend sports cancellations include volleyball matches involving the Kalispell and Helena high schools, Flathead High’s home football game against Missoula Sentinel, Glacier High’s football game at Helena High, Bigfork’s football game against Eureka, home football games for Whitefish and Columbia Falls and Whitefish High’s homecoming activities.
School officials have not yet decided if classes will resume on Monday.
Expands. Updates headlines, story summary.
AP-WF-09-15-17 1917GMT
SL man accused of trying to run over officers
SL man accused of trying to run over officers
TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY
Richard Byrd
Columbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake, Wash. (TNS)
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SOAP LAKE – A Soap Lake man is accused of attempting to run over two Soap Lake officers during an incident last week.
Grant County prosecutors charged Kyle Simpson, 28, of Soap Lake, in Grant County Superior Court with two counts of second-degree assault, attempting to elude and making a false or misleading statement to a public servant. Prosecutors tacked on the aggravating circumstances of “crime against police officer” on each of the assault charges.
On Sept. 8 a Soap Lake Police Department officer responded to a report of a trespassing in progress in the 700 block of Main Avenue East. SLPD officer Nicholas Diaz was advised the suspect vehicle was parked in the back of a vacant home and the suspect went around the house a few times before going back to his vehicle, according to court documents.
Diaz made contact with the vehicle and suspect, alleged to be Simpson, who claimed his vehicle overheated so he pulled over and parked. Simpson allegedly went on to give the officer a false name and admitted to driving without a license. Diaz called for backup and Simpson closed the door to his car and got out his cellphone, claiming he was on the phone with the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.
“I advised him that it was fine for him to be on the phone but he was not free to leave. He then stated that he was free to leave. I advised him a few times that he was not free to leave. He then stated that he was free to leave and that I wasn’t really a police officer,” wrote Diaz.
SLPD Chief Ryan Cox arrived at the scene and was able to positively identify the suspect as being Simpson. Simpson was advised to step out of his vehicle, but he allegedly put the vehicle into drive and quickly accelerated.
“I then observed that Kyle forcefully slam(med) the vehicle’s shifter into gear and turn(ed) the steering wheel left quickly. This was in the direction of Officer Diaz and I. I then observed Kyle slam his foot down, causing the engine to rev high, and quickly move forward towards Officer Diaz,” wrote Cox. “I immediately thought that Kyle was attempting to run Officer Diaz over with the vehicle with the intent to kill him.”
Cox says he was forced to jump back to avoid getting hit by the vehicle. Simpson continued driving in the alleyway until coming to a dead end. He then ditched the car and took off running south toward First Avenue Southeast. Diaz was able to catch up with Simpson and gave him several commands to get on the ground before he was forced to use his Taser on the suspect. Diaz and Cox were able to gain control over Simpson after he was tased and arrested him.
Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.
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AP-WF-09-15-17 1955GMT
’Oregon, My Oregon’ lyricist gets new headstone in Warrenton
’Oregon, My Oregon’ lyricist gets new headstone in Warrenton
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WARRENTON, Ore. (AP) – The man who wrote the lyrics to Oregon’s state song has a new headstone at Ocean View Cemetery in Warrenton.
John Buchanan’s granddaughter and the Daughters of the American Revolution raised more than $8,500 for the new headstone that was installed Thursday, The Daily Astorian reported (http://bit.ly/2wgJkNy).
Buchanan’s resting place had been marked by a headstone that included his name and the years of his birth and death. The new headstone includes the lyrics from “Oregon, My Oregon.”
Buchanan wrote a two-stanza poem for a statewide contest in 1920 to select the state song. The words were set to music by Portland organist Henry Murtaugh, and their collaboration was chosen from more than 200 entries.
The Oregon State Legislature officially made it the state song in 1927.
“It’s something he did for the state . and it’s pretty much forgotten,” said his granddaughter, Carol Lambert. She hopes the new headstone will help more people take notice.
Born in Iowa, Buchanan lived in two other states before moving to Monmouth, Oregon, in 1875. He attended Oregon State Normal School (Western Oregon University).
He later started a law firm in Roseburg and was the city’s justice of the peace.
Buchanan served two terms in the state House of Representatives representing Douglas and Jackson counties. As a member of the Oregon National Guard, he served in World War I as an artillery commander at Fort Stevens in Warrenton.
After the war, Buchanan and his family moved to Astoria, where he set up a legal practice and became a city judge. He died in 1935.
Buchanan published a book of poetry, “Indian Legends, and Other Poems,” in 1905, although its release was limited to 25 copies after the collapse of its publishing warehouse in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.
A second collection of his poems, “Sunset at the Bar,” was published posthumously.
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Information from: The Daily Astorian, http://www.dailyastorian.com
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AP-WF-09-15-17 1907GMT
LPN gets prison for stealing gold, silver from quadriplegic
LPN gets prison for stealing gold, silver from quadriplegic
APNewsNow.
HAVRE, Mont. (AP) – A licensed practical nurse has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $665,000 in restitution for stealing gold and silver coins from a quadriplegic north-central Montana man he was hired to help care for.
The Havre Daily News reports 52-year-old Teddy Young Sr. was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years in prison with 15 suspended for seven counts of felony theft.
Young blamed the thefts on his meth addiction.
District Judge Yvonne Laird noted Young was discharged from the U.S. Army in 1989 due to larceny convictions.
Prosecutors said Young learned the combinations to the Chinook man’s safes and took the coins over a period of two years. An accomplice sold them in Great Falls.
The victim was a rancher who became quadriplegic after a 2004 four-wheeler crash.