The Last Chance Stampede and fair is celebrating fifty years of fun and excitement this week. There will be a lot of nostalgia during one of Helena's biggest and most popular traditions. Loads of the people have been coming for years. Beartooth NBC's Ryan Whalen spoke with one gentleman on the last half century, and well let's just say, it's not his first rodeo.
__________

For fifty years people have passed through these same gates to see the Last Chance Stampede Rodeo. Roy Pace has been there for all but six of them.

"This was the first Stampede that I saw, the Seventh Annual one in 1967."

And he's been committed too. Pace told Beartooth NBC,"since I came to town there's been 138 rodeo performances at the stampede and I've been to 136."

Pace has been involved in many different capacities. He covered the Rodeo as a newspaper reporter.

"these are two of the best bucking horses in pro rodeo today." Pace told Reporter Ryan Whalen, pointing to a commemorative horse statue.

Pace worked as the publicity chair for more than fifteen years and a few decades later as Co-Chair of the Stampede Committee.

"Have to accept that you're getting old when you've been to that many of them, I'll tell you for sure" says Pace.

For the past three years Pace had been away from the Rodeo, attending only as a fan. This year he is back again helping out with the parade.

"If something isn't going the way I'd like to see, I get involved and see if we can change something".

Pace says his greatest memories of the Rodeo were meeting and interviewing the numerous winners who went on to be world champions. He says a lot has changed since 1961, but the roots of the event remain.

"The rodeo itself doesn't change much from year to year. It's still the same events, they do them the same way, although the cowboys are getting better, just like they are in most professional sports."

And when this Rodeo turns fifty-one next year, you can bet Roy Pace will be back.

Story by Ryan Whalen, Beartooth NBC.
Copyright ©2010 Beartooth Communications Company. All Rights Reserved.


[Posted:   8:14 PM, Wed Jul 28  ]        Back to top

__________________________________________________

Helena Police are increasing man power to crack down on drunk driving during the fair. Lieutenant Curt Stinson says increased man power should deter drunk driving.
"The enforcement around the events and around the fair ground I think there's been a lot of deterrence and a lot of education and a lot of work around the fair grounds to deter that problem".

The increased man power lasts through August 1st.
[Posted:   8:19 PM, Wed Jul 28  ]        Back to top

__________________________________________________

HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- A man attending a skydiving festival in the
northwestern Montana town of Marion was killed when he plummeted to the ground after his parachute became entangled with another man's.
Fred Sand, owner of Skydive Lost Prairie, which hosts the event, says the accident happened late Wednesday afternoon. He declined to release any details about the man, other than he was a "very, very experienced skydiver."
Sand says the man's parachute became entangled with another skydiver's gear, but he was too low to deploy a reserve once he became untangled. Sand did not know how high the man was when he began his free fall.
Skydive Lost Prairie has not been immune to accidents. A May 2007 plane crash killed all five aboard,including the pilot, two instructors and a couple from Great Falls.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-07-28-10 2224MDT


[Posted:   9:42 AM, Thu Jul 29  ]        Back to top

__________________________________________________

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) -- Cascade County official say an 18-year-old man missing and presumed drowned after jumping into the Missouri River in the Hardy Creek area.
Sheriff's Capt. Ray Hitchcock says search and rescue crews were called Wednesday evening after the young man jumped off a cliff into the river and then failed to resurface.
Hitchcock says firefighters stood watch at Hardy Creek Bridge overnight, looking down into the river with lights.
He says the river can look inviting on a hot day, but the current and hazards are very deceptive.
Hitchcock says the search resumed at 8 a.m. Thursday.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-07-29-10 0901MDT


[Posted:   12:40 PM, Thu Jul 29  ]        Back to top

__________________________________________________

Illegal Immigrants arrested for felonies may no longer find safe haven with alias names. Beartooth NBC's Andrew Knaus reports on a new system designed to weed out violent illegal immigrants.
_________

Lewis and Clark County is one of two counties in the state selected to try out a new fingerprint sharing system with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

The system focuses on immigrants with criminal records or warrants for violent offenses.Sheriff Leo Dutton of
Lewis and Clark County told Beartooth NBC, "it's getting people off the streets that are murderers and rapists. Those type of violent offenders that we may not have caught".

Sheriff Dutton says they currently send prints to the National Crime Bureau but ICE has better records on immigrants.

"They may have been deported once before and it's not on file but ICE keeps track of those kind of things. This is how the new system works".

Bryan Merritt Detention Officer and Lewis and Clark County Sheriff commented "once we get our prints we transmit them to the state if a flag comes up the state notifies ICE, ICE would then notify us that they want to come over and talk with an individual. Although illegal immigration is not a huge problem in Lewis and Clark County, Dutton says the new system will help.

"We check for any kind of warrants for arrest any kind of holes like that but it doesn't check for any illegal immigration. now we can".

Sheriff Dutton also says the county is a prime spot to test the new system.

"We have a lot of state, federal, and local partners. its a good place to try it out".

ICE is now using the new fingerprint sharing system in 481 jurisdictions and 27 states. They plan to use it nationwide by 2013.


Story by Andrew Knaus, Beartooth NBC.
Copyright ©2010 Beartooth Communications Company. All Rights Reserved.



[Posted:   8:47 PM, Wed Jul 28  ]        Back to top

__________________________________________________

HAMILTON, Mont. (AP) -- A Seattle company has announced plans to open a plant in Corvallis that will convert biomass such as food waste and grass clippings into fragrances for food and cosmetics products.
Blue Marble Biomaterials co-founder Kelly Ogilvie says they hope to open the plant in a warehouse in Corvallis this winter.
Blue Marble's manufacturing process involves putting various types of biomass into 600-gallon reactors with bacteria. The reaction yields methane, ammonia and chemicals. The chemicals can be used as a substitute for fragrances normally made with petroleum products.
Ogilvie told the Ravalli County commission and the county's economic development authority last week that the company plans to hire 25 people in a phased process over the next year.
------
Information from: Ravalli Republic,
http://www.ravallirepublic.com
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-07-29-10 1522MDT


[Posted:   4:41 PM, Thu Jul 29  ]        Back to top

__________________________________________________

KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) -- Flathead County officials have released the name of a Colorado man who died in a parachuting accident during an annual skydiving festival in northwestern Montana.
Sheriff's officials say 57-year-old Garl "Mike" Newby of Colorado Springs, Colo., died Wednesday afternoon near Marion after his main parachute became entangled with another man's chute and he was unable to deploy is reserve parachute in time.
Officials say the surviving jumper was able to remove his main chute and deploy his reserve parachute.
Skydive Lost Prairie owner Fred Sand called Newby a "very, very
experienced skydiver" who had been coming to Lost Prairie for around a decade.
------
Information from: Flathead Beacon, http://www.flatheadbeacon.com
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-07-29-10 1421MDT


[Posted:   4:37 PM, Thu Jul 29  ]        Back to top

__________________________________________________

COOKE CITY, Mont. (AP) -- Montana wildlife officials have identified the man killed in a bear mauling near Yellowstone National Park as a 48-year-old Michigan man.
Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Ron Aasheim (AHS'-hym) says the body of Kevin Kammer of Grand Rapids, Mich., was found at the Soda Butte campground near Cooke City .
Kammer was believed to have been killed early Wednesday by an adult female grizzly bear that has been captured along with two of
her three cubs.
The woman who was injured in the attack is Deb Freele of London,
Ontario. Officials have not released the name of a teenage boy who
suffered bites to his leg.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-07-29-10 1036MDT


[Posted:   12:11 PM, Thu Jul 29  ]        Back to top

__________________________________________________

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) -- Authorities say a Minnesota man was killed and his wife was injured in a motorcycle crash in Bozeman.
Gallatin County deputy coroner Dan Springer identified the man who died as 55-year-old David Erickson.
Trooper Erick Fetterhoff says Erickson was going north on Bridger Canyon Road just after 4 p.m. Wednesday when his bike drifted off the road, went over an embankment and hit several rocks. Erickson's wife, who was a passenger, suffered minor
injuries.
Neither alcohol nor speed were factors in the crash.
------
Information from: Bozeman Daily Chronicle,
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-07-29-10 0314MDT


[Posted:   9:44 AM, Thu Jul 29  ]        Back to top

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________