This Week’s Missoula News Highlights – Week of June 24

By TOM DIDDEL

Long time Missoula Resident and Father of Cash Hyde, Michael Hyde is running for Mayor

Missoula Mayor John Engen will not run unopposed for re-election this coming fall. Father of the late Cash Hyde, a terminally ill cancer patient whose parents used medical marijuana to treat their child’s cancer, filed to run against Engen in November’s election. Michael Hyde will face an uphill battle in his race to unseat Engen. However, according to the Missoulian Hyde remains undeterred by Engen’s popularity. Hyde stated, “Yeah, I’m the underdog. But I love the story of the underdog.”

Jason Christ will not receive Jail Time for Verizon Store Bomb Threat

District Court Judge Karen Townsend decided not to sentence Missoula medical marijuana activist Jason Christ to serve any jail time for threatening to bring a bomb to a local Verizon store. Christ is well known for being actively outspoken about medical marijuana, going so far as to smoke it in public places such as the University of Montana’s Law Library. In the summer of 2010, Christ made several phone calls to the local Verizon store and threatened to bomb it. He was convicted of felony intimidation in April for the incident and this week was ordered to pay $10,000 along with a six-year deferred sentence. (read more) other links: MIM, NBC Montana

Corvallis Boys save 2-year-old girl from drowning at Splash Montana

Brock Perkins and his younger brother Paytn Griffin were enjoying one of Missoula’s first warm days of the summer when Paytn noticed a young girl who looked almost like a doll floating in the deeper end of the zero-depth part of Splash Montana. Patyn asked his older brother, Brock, if he thought she was okay. Brock responded quickly carrying the girl to life-guards. The girl was eventually resuscitated and brought to Community Medical Center where she is conscious and breathing. The actions of the two brothers and their willingness to help someone in need likely saved the young girls life. (read more) other links: KPAX

Eureka Fish Hatchery suffers the Death of 160,000 fish

photo by rkramer62 via flickr

Summer weather is finally here with temperatures expected near the 100 degree mark by Monday.

A power outage and subsequent failure of an emergency generator are to blame for the deaths of 160,000 hatchery fish at Murray Springs north of Eureka. The devastating event happened Sunday evening after the loss of power prevented pumps from moving water resulting in the depletion of oxygen. Many of the fish were scheduled to be transplanted into Lake Koocanusa this week. The incident was heartbreaking to the staff who worked tirelessly during the outage in order to save as many fish as they could. The hatchery staff was able to only recovery under 2,000 fish. (read more) other links: Hatchery

Summer Weather is finally here in Western Montana

Possible record breaking high temperatures are in store for Western Montana this weekend and for the beginning of next week. Friday’s highs will likely be in the mid 90’s and Monday could see temperatures reach the 100 degree mark. The record heat wave might be the earliest to arrive in Missoula in nearly 100 years. Missoula has only recorded one day in which the temperature reached triple digits in the month of June and that was back in 1918.  (read more)

 

Each week, Tom Diddel recaps the week’s most talked-about stories in Missoula. Visit the Make it Missoula News & Opinion section for more talk of the town.

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Tom Diddel has lived in Missoula on and off for nearly thirty-eight years. He enjoys skiing, hiking, and many other outdoor activities. He holds a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Montana and is currently working as a Freelance Writer and a Para-Educator.
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