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Helena News with Jay Scott


Butte walkaway captured near Helena

HELENA (KBLL) -- A walkaway from a Butte prerelease center has been taken in after a traffic stop on Canyon Ferry Road. 34-year-old Shaun Curtis Capp was taken in in the parking lot of Maxim Marine just before 5 PM yesterday. Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton credited Deputy Phil Clarks work, and said the arrest took place without incident. Capps was serving a sentence for felony stalking out of Lewis and Clark County in Helena. Officials in Butte said Capps escaped after tested positive for consuming alcohol last Saturday.

 

ARSON SUSPECT SHOT

Review: Use of force justified in Helena shooting

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Lewis and Clark County sheriff's office review board found a deputy was justified in using deadly force last month when confronted by an armed man in the valley north of East Helena.

Sheriff Leo Dutton said Monday that Deputy Matthew Reighard has returned to work.

Reighard was placed on paid administrative leave after the May 29 shooting of 62-year-old Douglas Francis Harper, who was wanted on an arson charge in Musselshell County.

An investigation found Harper had expressed suicidal thoughts a few weeks earlier and officers were performing a welfare check when Harper pointed a handgun at a deputy. Dutton says Harper did not comply with orders to drop his weapon and Reighard fired his.

Dutton says a review of the department's use-of-force policy and in-car video found no policy violations.

 

Capital protesters plead guilty　

 

HELENA (KBLL) -- A group of 14 people admitted Monday to trespassing in the Montana Capitol building last summer in protest of coal development in Montana.

 

The group, affiliated with the Missoula-based Blue Skies Campaign, said their fight over coal and global warming isn't over, even though they will pay fines and keep the matter off their records.

25 year old Nicholas Engelfried, of Missoula, entered a no-contest plea for misdemeanor trespassing before Municipal Judge Bob Wood, as did 70 year old John Lawrence Ashmore, of Seeley Lake, along with 68 year old Margarita McLarty, and 58 year old Linda Kay Kenoyer, both of Livingston.Ten others etered no-contest pleas. 

They were all arrested on five different days in August after refusing to leave the Capitol when staff attempted to close the building, to protest what they say will be a massive increases in exports to Asia, through proposed ports on the West Coast, of coal mined in Montana and Wyoming.

Judge Wood did not allow the defendents to use "compulsion" or "necessity" defenses. Under Montana law, most otherwise criminal actions are justified if the perpetrator reasonably believes that death or serious bodily harm would otherwise be inflicted. That decision may be appealed to District Court.

 Rainbow gathering near Dillon

 

BUTTE - (KBLL -- The Rainbow Family will be gathering on U.S. Forest Service land near Dillon this summer, according to the organization's website.

Some 30,000 people from across the country are expected to arrive, to camp out for about a month near Saginaw Creek in the same place where the group camped in the summer of 2000, about 40 miles west of Dillon.

 The Rainbow Family calls itself non-violent group that believes in community building and celebrating alternative lifestyles while spreading a message of peace and love.

 Crash injures one

HELENA - (KBLL) -- A two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Gilbert Street and Dearborn Avenue sent on person to St. Peter's Hospital Monday noon . 

The driver of Taurus wagon was heading south on Dearborn and failed to yield to the eastbound Volkswagen van in the intersection on Gilbert.

The Taurus hit the van on the driver's side, and the van hit the curb and landed on the passenger side.

The driver was taken to St. Peter's Hospital with injuries that are not life-threatening, and was cited for failing to yield, driving on a suspended license, improper registration, no insurance, and no child safety restraint


.ADA report on City/County building shows area that need work 

HELENA (KBLL) -- A report looking at programs and buildings that provide local government services with regard to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act had found some areas that need work.

 

Public areas in the City-County building were examined, and the report noted that there while the county clerk and recorder's office has a counter that will accommodate people in wheelchairs, none of the others do and must rely on tables set up for this purpose, 

 

The motor vehicle office lacks built-in accomodations, and requires those who rely on wheelchairs must make "navagational adjustments," and use a table in another room, 　

 

Some new signs to indicate the accessible entrance to the building are also needed, and the ADA-rated parking space in the parking lot on the north side of the building should be removed because there is no access route.

Other recommendations include providing a compliant access route from both that north parking lot and the south parking lot, and correcting slope issues and uneven surfaces at access points .

Gery Carpenter, community facilities director with the city, said the smaller deficiencies noted in the consultants' report are being addressed. He anticipated they would be completed by August.

 The report was prepared by SMA Architects for the inside of the City-County Building and by Stahly Enginering & Associates for the facility's grounds.

 

FEDERAL PAYMENTS
 
     Feds give local governments in Mont. $26.5 million
 
     BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - Montana counties are receiving $26.5 million this year under a program that compensates local governments for the amount of non-taxable federal land in their jurisdiction.
 
     Federal officials said Thursday that Flathead County and Lewis and Clark County will receive the highest amounts - more than $2 million each.
 
     The amount of payments statewide is virtually unchanged from last year, and amounts to just under $1 an acre.
 
     The Interior Department gives out the money based on the acreage of federal land and population of each county or jurisdiction. That includes lands within National Forests and National Parks, under control of the Bureau of Land Management and within Bureau of Reclamation water projects.
 
     Daniels County in northeast Montana is alone among the state's 56 counties in not receiving a payment.
                                                                                                                                                                            Bullock signs equal pay order


HELENA (KBLL) -- Governor Steve Bullock has signed an executive order establishing a task force to address the issue of the wage gap between men and woman in Montana's work force, beginning in State Government.

 
According to the governor's office, Montana ranks 39th in pay equality in the nation. Women in Montana make 67-percent of what men do, which is less than the national average of 77-percent.

The Equal Pay for Equal Work Task Force will be led by Montana Department of Labor and Industry's Commissioner, Pam Bucy, who says that women employed by the state only  make about 80 percent of what men do.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

After fourth DUI, man sentenced for Social Security Fraud

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   DUI
HELENA -- (KBLL) A man with four driving-under-the influence charges  was ordered by a federal court judge Thursday to spend 15 months in prison for illegally taking about $63,400 in Social Security funds.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Senior U.S. District Court Judge Charles Lovell called Antonio Mathias Petersen "a public menace" and rejected his request to get out of prison immediately so he could go to work as a wildland firefighter to pay off his debt. Instead, Lovell said he wanted to be sure he got Petersen's attention regarding the severity of his offenses.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

Petersen was arrested in 2004,  for his first DUI charge, when he struck an unattended vehicle and left the scene. He also was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and reckless driving; he was sentenced to 10 days in jail, but nine were suspended.
His second DUI came in October 2005, when he drove a GMC truck into a tree. Lovell noted that the tree could have easily been a school bus full of children. For this, he was sentenced to five days of house arrest.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Next came charges of partner/family member assault and resisting arrest, with a six-month suspended sentence. Petersen spent one day in jail for that.
In April 2008, Petersen applied to Social Security for "surviving spouse with child in care benefits" as well as auxiliary survivor benefits for his minor son, based on the death of his wife. He said his son lived with him.
However, his son was residing with his grandparents, who paid his living and health care expenses and never received any financial support from Petersen. In 2009, they were appointed guardians of their grandson.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Petersen's fourth DUI, which is a felony, came in December 2010. This time, he received a 13-month sentence, but that was suspended except for two days. However, it did bring him to the attention of Social Security officials, who interviewed him.

 

 
He was then charged with Social Security fraud.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 


His attorney noted that Petersen would pay $5,000 in restitution, and Lovell ordered the remaining $58,410 to be paid at a rate of $300 per month once Petersen is out of prison. He also ordered Petersen to be supervised by the parole office for three years upon his release, and told him to stay away from alcohol and drugs. He'll be required to attend alcohol treatment in prison, and possibly mental health classes.                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Apland plea bargain
HELENA (KBLL) ---That North Dakota man who led Helena police on a high-speed chase last fall pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to two felonies in a plea bargain in which three other charges were dropped.
29 year old Joshua Tyler Apland admitted he was involved in a conspiracy to possess and distribute methamphetamine and that he is a convicted felon who possessed a firearm. Two charges of possession with intent to distribute and distributing meth were dropped, as was one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
At the time of his arrest, Apland was being investigated by members of the Missouri River Drug Task Force, who suspected him of dealing meth. When Helena police attempted to arrest him last September 19th, he drove off.
He threw a Weatherby 12-gauge shotgun,  and a Smith and Wesson .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol out of a window on Sierra Road as he was being chased,. He fled to a bar in Lincoln eventually gave himself superficial wounds before being arrested.
On the conspiracy charge, he faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison, and up to a $10 million fine. The firearm charge carries a possible 10-year sentence and $250,000 fine                                                                                                                                                                                             
 

 

 

Montana News and Sports


WASHINGTON (AP) - MISSING MONTANA TEACHER-TRIAL

 

 

 

Defense in Sherry Arnold case seeks to avoid death

 

 

 

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - Defense attorneys are seeking to avoid the death penalty for one of two men charged in the killing of a Montana high school teacher because they say the suspect is mentally disabled.

 

 

 

Twenty-four-year-old Michael Spell of Colorado faces charges including deliberate homicide for the alleged January 2012 kidnapping and murder of Sidney teacher Sherry Arnold.

 

 

 

Defense attorney Al Avignone said Tuesday he's asked the court to rule Spell ineligible for execution under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that outlawed capital punishment for the mentally disabled.

 

 

 

Prosecutors have until Aug. 21 to respond to the motion.

 

 

 

Avignone also is seeking to have Spell's 2014 trial moved to Bozeman. He says widespread news coverage of Arnold's killing in the booming Bakken oil patch of Montana and North Dakota has biased potential jurors.

 

 

 

NATIVE AMERICAN LAND

 

 

 

Tribal land buy-back program starting

 

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Interior Department says it is ready to start a program to help Native American tribes buy parcels of reservation land that have accumulated multiple owners.

 

 

 

The purchases announced Tuesday are part of the settlement of the Cobell lawsuit over government mismanagement of Indian land royalties.

 

 

 

Outgoing Interior deputy secretary David Hayes says purchase offers should begin at the end of the year and speed up in coming years.

 

 

 

The program will start with the Pine Ridge, S.D.; Crow, Mont. and Makah, Wash. reservations and the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of South Dakota tribe and involve 10 to 12 tribes by year's end.

 

 

 

Allotting reservation land to individual tribe members, who passed it to heirs, was once a government method for assimilating American Indians. Some parcels now have thousands of owners.

 

 

 

ABUSE-RELIGIOUS ORDER

 

 

 

Catholic religious order opens abuse files

 

 

 

NEW YORK (AP) - A Roman Catholic religious order based in the Midwest is releasing an unusually candid report admitting it failed victims of clergy sex abuse.

 

 

 

The Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Joseph opened its files going back decades to outside experts. The report released Tuesday found the friars treated many victims with hostility. Until 2004, most of the money the religious order spent on responding to abuse was on defense attorneys, not on help for victims.

 

 

 

The Province of St. Joseph has offices in Detroit and runs a Wisconsin boys' boarding school called St. Lawrence Seminary High School. Abuse at the school became known in the 1990s through reports by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The investigation released Tuesday found more student victims, raising the total from 14 to 28.

 

 

 

DEAD BISON

 

 

 

FWP rules out fever in bison deaths

 

 

 

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) - State wildlife officials aren't sure what killed three bison that were found dead in the Yellowstone River, but they know it wasn't a virus spread by domestic sheep.

 

 

 

The Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced Tuesday that tests on two more bison turned up negative for malignant catarrhal fever. The first negative test was announced late last month.

 

 

 

FWP veterinarian Jennifer Ramsey says all three animals found in mid-May showed signs of physical trauma. Two had fractured pelvises and one had crushed ribs. Ramsey says the injuries could have occurred if the animals were swept away when the river was swollen with spring runoff.

 

 

 

The bison were tested out of concern they may have been sickened by a virus after a rancher introduced about 30 domestic sheep to property that borders the Yellowstone River near Gardiner.

 

 

 

ENDANGERED HISTORIC PLACES

 

 

 

AP PHOTOS: Astrodome, JFK terminal endangered

 

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Houston's Astrodome stadium, New York's old Pan Am Worldport Terminal at Kennedy Airport and Montana's one-room schoolhouses are joining a list of the nation's most endangered historic places.

 

 

 

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is releasing its listing of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. It includes sites from Maine to Alaska.

 

 

 

The Astrodome was the world's first domed, air-conditioned stadium and was once called the "eighth wonder of the world." Now it needs a plan for reuse to avoid demolition. At New York's JFK Airport, the flying-saucer-shaped Worldport Terminal helped usher in the jet age in 1960 but has been vacated by Delta Air Lines and faces demolition.

 

 

 

LEWISTOWN DROWNING

 

 

 

Lewistown woman drowns in Big Spring Creek

 

 

 

LEWISTOWN, Mont. (AP) - Fergus County officials say a 37-year-old Lewistown woman drowned at a fishing access on Big Spring Creek.

 

 

 

Coroner Dick Brown said Michele Marlene Hope was being swept away by high water at about 5:30 p.m. Monday.

 

 

 

Lewistown Fire/Rescue says Hope was found within 10 minutes of the first 911 call, but resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful.

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

DRIVE-THRU DUI

 

Great Falls woman charged with DUI in drive-thru

 

 

 

(Information in the following story is from: Great Falls Tribune, http://www.greatfallstribune.com)

 

 

 

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) - A Great Falls woman is charged with aggravated DUI after police say she was driving drunk at a fast-food drive-thru with her neighbor's young children in the car.

 

 

 

The Great Falls Tribune reports 43-year-old Stacy Dawn Rattray also was cited Sunday with felony driving under the influence and two counts of endangering the welfare of children. She made an initial appearance in District Court on Monday and was released after posting a $10,000 bond.

 

 

 

Court records say Rattray's blood-alcohol level was 0.277, more than three times the limit of 0.08 in which a person is considered legally drunk.

 

 

 

The girls in her car were 4 and 2. Rattray said they were her neighbor's children, but that she couldn't remember their mother's name. State child protective services was notified.

 

 

 

PEEPING SENTENCE

 

 

 

Man goes to jail for recording teen girls

 

 

 

(Information in the following story is from: Portland Press Herald, http://www.pressherald.com)

 

 

 

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - A 45-year-old former Maine man who installed hidden video cameras in a home to record unsuspecting teenage girls is going to jail for two years.

 

 

 

Michael Femling apologized Monday and told a judge that installing the camera was "probably the worst decision I've made in my entire life."

 

 

 

Under a plea agreement, he was sentenced to two years in jail, followed by eight years of probation. He'll also have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

 

 

 

The Portland Press Herald says Femling made the video recordings in Westbrook between February 2009 and July 2011, when one of the girls and an adult found hidden cameras and notified police. At the time Femling was living in Westbrook. His latest address is in Montana.

 

 

 

MSU NORTHERN-PROGRAM REVIEW

 

 

 

Northern chancellor wants to drop secondary ed

 

 

 

HAVRE, Mont. (AP) - The chancellor at Montana State University-Northern is recommending that 25 of its programs be ended or placed under moratorium, meaning admission into those programs is temporarily suspended.

 

 

 

Faculty and staff started in September reviewing all 74 programs offered at Northern.

 

 

 

Chancellor James Limbaugh last week recommended growing 19 programs, maintaining 25, reducing or integrating four into other programs and placing a moratorium on or ending 25 programs.

 

 

 

The most debated of the recommendations is ending the secondary education major for students who want to teach high school math, English and science due to decreasing enrollment.

 

 

 

Limbaugh says the review focused on growing areas with increasing interest or job potential, such as the new criminal justice degree, nursing, civil technology and the diesel, automotive and farm technology programs.

 

 

 

COAL TRAINS

Army Corps. won't do overall study of coal exports

 

SEATTLE (AP) - An official with the Army Corps of Engineers told a Congressional committee Tuesday it doesn't plan a broad environmental study on exporting coal from the Western United States.

 

Environmentalists and elected officials in Washington, Oregon and Montana have called on the federal government to look at the cumulative effects of shipping millions of tons of coal via train from Montana and Wyoming to ports on the West Coast.

 

They worry about increased pollution from coal dust, traffic congestion and climate change impacts from burning the fuel.

 

The agency previously decided to do more limited studies at two ports in Washington state: Gateway Pacific Terminal near Bellingham and Millennium Bulk Terminal at Longview. Federal officials have not decided whether to do a study on a terminal at Port of Morrow, Ore.

TESTER-CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

 

Tester seeks constitutional change on corporations

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Jon Tester is proposing a longshot constitutional amendment aimed at limiting rights of corporations to spend in elections.

The senator's office said Tuesday that the proposal to change the U.S. Constitution is a response to last year's voter-approved initiative. It directed Montana's elected officials to push for such a change and declare that corporations are not people entitled to constitutional rights.

The initiative got on the ballot amid backlash to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision that ruled a ban on corporate spending in elections was an unconstitutional free speech restriction.

Some politically-minded groups have been organizing as corporations, which can face fewer campaign restrictions than traditional campaign operations.

Constitutional amendments require two-thirds support in Congress and ratification by the states.

MSU NORTHERN-PROGRAM REVIEW

Northern chancellor wants to drop secondary ed

HAVRE, Mont. (AP) — The chancellor at Montana State University-Northern is recommending that 25 of its programs be ended or placed under moratorium, meaning admission into those programs is temporarily suspended.

Faculty and staff started in September reviewing all 74 programs offered at Northern.

Chancellor James Limbaugh last week recommended growing 19 programs, maintaining 25, reducing or integrating four into other programs and placing a moratorium on or ending 25 programs.

The most debated of the recommendations is ending the secondary education major for students who want to teach high school math, English and science due to decreasing enrollment.

Limbaugh says the review focused on growing areas with increasing interest or job potential, such as the new criminal justice degree, nursing, civil technology and the diesel, automotive and farm technology programs.

BILLIONAIRE'S BANKRUPTCY-TAXES

$57M Blixseth tax case to resume in July

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana tax authorities say a federal court hearing over a $57 million tax dispute with luxury real estate developer Tim Blixseth will resume in July.

Attorneys for Blixseth and the Montana Department of Revenue faced off in a Nevada courtroom last week. The state is trying to force the founder of the ultra-exclusive Yellowstone Club into involuntary bankruptcy.

After two days of hearings with no resolution, state officials say U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Bruce Markell set closing arguments for July 5.

The state claims that Blixseth, a resident of Washington state, owes the taxes on a 2005 loan he diverted from the Yellowstone Club. The club later went bankrupt and is now under new ownership.

Blixseth is seeking to dismiss the case. He maintains he paid what he owed.

DRIVE-THRU DUI

Great Falls woman charged with DUI in drive-thru

(Information in the following story is from: Great Falls Tribune, http://www.greatfallstribune.com)

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — A Great Falls woman is charged with aggravated DUI after police say she was driving drunk at a fast-food drive-thru with her neighbor's young children in the car.

The Great Falls Tribune reports 43-year-old Stacy Dawn Rattray also was cited Sunday with felony driving under the influence and two counts of endangering the welfare of children. She made an initial appearance in District Court on Monday and was released after posting a $10,000 bond.

Court records say Rattray's blood-alcohol level was 0.277, more than three times the limit of 0.08 in which a person is considered legally drunk.

The girls in her car were 4 and 2. Rattray said they were her neighbor's children, but that she couldn't remember their mother's name. State child protective services was notified.

HIT BY TRAIN

Man dies after being hit by train in East Missoula

EAST MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — Missoula County officials say a 42-year-old man died after being struck by a freight train in East Missoula.

The man was struck at about 8 p.m. Monday. Sgt. Tony Rio says the man's death has been ruled a suicide.

Sheriff's office spokeswoman Paige Pavalone says the man was believed to be a transient.

The collision temporarily halted eastbound Montana Rail Link freight traffic.

    

BARRY BEACH

Beach will continue to try to prove innocence

(Information in the following story is from: Great Falls Tribune, http://www.greatfallstribune.com)

DEER LODGE, Mont. (AP) — Montana State Prison inmate Barry Beach says he will continue to fight to prove his innocence in the 1979 killing of Kim Nees of Poplar.

But his efforts will be made from behind bars.

Beach was released from prison in December 2011 after a state judge ordered a new trial in his case. Last month, the Montana Supreme Court overturned that decision.

Beach has asked the Supreme Court to reconsider. The state responded Thursday arguing the decision to deny a new trial is correct.

Retired District Judge E. Wayne Phillips has said he feared he'd done a "soul-wrenching injustice" to Beach in freeing him, only to have him return to prison.

Beach told the Great Falls Tribune he doesn't regret the freedom and opportunity that Judge Phillips gave him.

COAL LEASE

Cloud Peak seeks 198M ton coal lease in Montana

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Federal and state officials will weigh in this week on a Wyoming company's application to lease 198 million tons of coal adjacent to a southeastern Montana mine.

Cloud Peak Energy is seeking to expand its lease at the Spring Creek Mine near Decker by more than 1,600 acres.

Wednesday's initial decision on the application comes on the heels of an Inspector General's report that said the Interior Department is potentially losing tens of millions of dollars by undervaluing coal from public lands.

Environmentalists want a moratorium on new leases. The coal industry says its critics are ignoring billions of dollars in government revenues from mining.

The Bureau of Land Management said Monday that it would be several years before a value was placed on the lease sought by Cloud Peak.

HIGHWAY PATROL-DISPATCH NUMBER

Highway Patrol changes dispatch number

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The Montana Highway Patrol is changing its toll-free number for non-emergency traffic concerns as it changes its phone service company to save over $81,000 a year.

The new number is 1-855-MHP-3777 or 1-855-647-3777.

The numbers 3-7-77 were the symbol of Montana vigilantes and are included on the MHP patches.

Col. Kenton Hickethier says the patrol's monthly phone bill had risen to nearly $7,575. The new carrier charges are estimated at $800.

Callers to the old MHP dispatch number will hear a recording directing them to dial the new number. The MHP Communications Center is always staffed. Last year, its dispatchers handled over 54,250 calls from around the state asking for assistance with issues ranging from stranded drivers to reports of drunken drivers.

Hickethier emphasized that drivers should still call 911 for emergencies.

EATON EXECUTION

Lawyers for death row inmate explore new defense

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A judge has approved medical testing for Wyoming's lone death row inmate to determine whether he should be covered by a federal ban against executing people with intellectual disabilities.

Dale Wayne Eaton is challenging the constitutionality of the state death sentence he received in the 1988 rape and murder of 18-year-old Lisa Marie Kimmell of Billings, Mont.

U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson on Monday approved a request from Eaton's lawyers for testing to determine whether he has intellectual disabilities that would preclude putting him to death.

Johnson plans a hearing this summer on Eaton's claim that his original defense team didn't develop "mitigation evidence." Such evidence would have been information about Eaton's past that underscored his humanity to try to convince the jury not to sentence him to death.

WANDERING CAT

Cat missing in Portland being returned to owner

(Information in the following story is from: Independent Record, http://www.helenair.com)

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Portland, Ore., man whose cat had been missing since last year will soon be reunited with the well-traveled feline, courtesy of the transient who's been caring for her more than nine months.

Ron Buss says he let his cat "Mata Hairi" out of the house in September. The cat never returned.

Michael King spotted the cat hiding under a table trying to stay out of the pouring rain. He tells the Independent Record that he didn't want a cat, but he picked her up to save her life.

The cat traveled with King to California, back to Portland and then out to Montana, where King's foster father lives. They took the cat to a veterinarian, found a microchip and contacted the owner.