Valley Journal
Valley Journal

This Week’s e-Edition

Current Events

Latest Headlines

What's New?

Send us your news items.

NOTE: All submissions are subject to our Submission Guidelines.

Announcement Forms

Use these forms to send us announcements.

Birth Announcement
Obituary

Women of Rollins hold candidate forum

Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local. You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.



Subscribe now to stay in the know!

Already a subscriber? Login now

ROLLINS — Twelve candidates came to talk about the issues at a forum sponsored by the Women of Rollins at the Rollins School on May 6 at 6:30 p.m. 

Participants were: Garth Cox, Democrat, and incumbent Janna Taylor, Republican, running for House District 11; Paula Holle, Democrat candidate for Lake County Clerk; Roy Anderson, Ron Merwin and Ann Smith Brower, all Republican candidates for Lake County Commissioner; Chuck Wall, Justice of the Peace candidate; and Dan Yonkin, Democrat, Steve Kendley, Independent and Jay Doyle, Jeff Kingery and Art Walgren, Republicans, all vying for Lake County Sheriff.

To get the forum going, the county commissioner candidates were asked what experience or background they had that would qualify them for the job.

Smith Brower cited experience she gained by serving on the Ronan City Council and membership in the Lake County Search and Rescue. She also has gained experience working for the Lake County Election Office.

Serving on the St. Ignatius School Board when the community was polarized gave Anderson experience in pulling the community together.

Anderson also has been involved in a milk marketing cooperative that gave him transportation experience.

Merwin served in the Navy and has been a business owner for many years. 

“I know what responsibility is, I’m educated and I don’t need a job,” Merwin added.

A sampling of other questions included:

Cox and Taylor were asked about key issues in the campaign. 

Taylor said she thinks we all want a tax cut and she would like to have property tax reappraised. Taylor said if you take a look at the entire state, property taxes made a beautiful bell curve — “as many went down as went up.” In Lake County it didn’t work that way, and a whole new class of taxpayers called outliers was created. Outlier taxes went up 150 percent or more.

Cox was against band-aid bills on the very last day of the legislative session. 

Cox added that when he graduated from college 79 percent of teachers stayed in Montana. Today 80 percent leave Montana. 

“As a state we need to find some way to keep good people in Montana,” Cox stated.

The county commissioner candidates were asked what they thought of the density map.

Anderson said he was dissatisfied with the density map and disagrees with how it’s implemented. 

District #2, south of Round Butte and south of Terrace Lake is the district one of these county commissioner candidates will represent, Merwin explained. The density map affects more people in District #2 than other districts. Merwin said the density map was approved in October of 2005 and is scheduled to be reviewed at the five and 10 year marks. Merwin encouraged people to make sure they know and get involved.

“Regardless of how anyone stands,” Smith Brower said, “The density map is here.”

The formal review process is about to begin, Smith Brower added. She said she thinks the density map was meant as a guide not as a regulatory document. 

“We (Lake County) want to draw business, we want to draw people,” Smith Brower said.

The candidates for Lake County Sheriff were asked what problems in the sheriff’s office would they fix, if any. 

The different offices don’t work well together, Kingery said, so he would address that issue. If all departments work well together, they work better for the sheriff and the community. 

Yonkin used the analogy of a teller who doesn’t want to be interrupted because he/she is busy with work — the customer is the work. Each employee in the LCSO needs to recognize the need for community partnership. 

Yonkin added that the sheriff’s office works well with other law enforcement in Lake County.

Kendley would improve communication. 

He would like to see a meeting of all personnel every quarter or every month. Training is also vital, Kendley said. 

He would like to put the LCSO budget on the Internet so the public could see the income and outgo. 

Doyle said as a current administrator in the LCSO he sees some problems working with three different labor unions. 

Referring to a memo from the commissioners to cut the budget by three percent, Doyle said overtime or call-out pay for 25 sworn officers for a mandatory meeting would cost a lot.  

Communication is paramount, Doyle said. The LCSO goes through chain of command, utilizing e-mail and supervisors to communicate. 

Walgren said he sees issues within and without the LCSO, one issue being an “us versus them” mentality towards other law enforcement. 

He would like to implement a countywide in-service training for all law enforcement. The mill levy specified $29,000 for training. 

“I don’t think it (training) has happened,” Walgren said. 

Since two thirds of Lake County is on the Flathead Reservation, an audience member asked a question about working relationships with Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and Tribal Law Enforcement.

Smith Brower said she had gone to the CSKT Tribal Council to formally announce her candidacy and looked forward to working together. 

Anderson said he would echo Smith Brower’s words. 

He has seen law enforcement work well together in his community also. 

Merwin said a county commissioner serves all residents of the county. 

Race has no bearing on a crime, Kendley said, adding that most deputies go to the call and handle it.

Kingery believes the LCSO has a very good relationship with tribal law enforcement. 

Lake County signed an agreement with the tribes so traffic offenses can be handled either by tribal officers or LSCO deputies, Yonkin said, while felonies are handled by the LCSO. Yonkin added that Tribal Law Enforcement Chief Craige Couture is working on getting investigators to supplement county detectives.

The Ronan Police Department works well with tribal law enforcement, too, Walgren said. Their relationship might even be a model for the rest of Lake County. 

“I don’t see biases at all,” Walgren said.

As the only candidate who is an enrolled tribal member, Doyle said he would like to train tribal officers to be deputy coroners. 

“In tribal culture, let a tribal officer be there,” Doyle said. 

After the forum, audience members had an opportunity to visit with all the candidates over coffee and cookies. 

Joyce Funda, who moderated the event, said the forum was very fair to the candidates and audience members asked really good questions.

The candidates urged everyone to vote in the primary election on June 8.

Sponsored by: