Page 15 - Flathead Beacon // 2.4.15

FLATHEADBEACON.COM NEWS FEBRUARY 4, 2015 | 15 Lake County Man Pleads Guilty to Shooting Toddler
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Galen Hawk appeared in Lake County District Court on Jan. 28.
By JUSTIN FRANZ of the Beacon
A Lake County man has pleaded guilty to shooting and killing a 3-year- old boy.
Galen Hawk, 26, of Ninepipes ap- peared in Lake County District Court on the morning of Jan. 28 and plead- ed guilty to negligent homicide, three months after he shot Lonato Moran-Al- len in the back on Oct. 22.
According to court documents, Hawk, who is not related to the vic- tim but was living in the same house, had been drinking whiskey and Mike’s Hard Lemonade when he saw the tod- dler playing with his gun. Hawk took the gun away from Moran-Allen and the boy started shooting a toy gun at Hawk as he ran down a hall. Hawk lifted his own gun, which he thought was empty, and shot the boy in the back. He later told authorities that he was “buzzed” and thought the gun was empty because the spare magazine was still in his pocket.
Moran-Allen later died at St. Luke Community Hospital in Ronan.
When police questioned Hawk at the hospital, he initially tried to cover up what happened and told authorities that
Galen Hawk, the 26-year-old Lake County man accused of shooting and killing a 3-year-old boy in the back while intoxicated, is led into Lake County District Court on Nov. 5, 2014.JUSTIN FRANZ | FLATHEAD BEACON
the boy had shot himself. Later, when the autopsy results showed that Moran- Allen had been shot in the back, police asked Hawk to explain how a young boy could shoot himself in the back. Galen then admitted that he was the one who fired the bullet that killed the boy, ac- cording to prosecutors.
The boy was shot in the back and
died less than three weeks before his 4th birthday.
Hawk was charged with negligent homicide on Oct. 30 and initially plead- ed not guilty Nov. 5.
Hawk will be sentenced on March 25. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.
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Municipal Matters
A recap of recent city council and county commission meetings
KALISPELL
• The city council confirmed officer Eric Brinton as a new member of the Kalispell Police Department. Brinton was appointed Feb. 2.
• Adam Cliffton was confirmed as a new member of the Kalispell Fire Department at the city council meeting on Feb. 2.
• The city council reviewed a request for a conditional use permit to con- struct a 12-unit residential apart- ment on two lots at 91 and 95 Finan- cial Drive on Feb. 2.
•TKG Spring Prairie Development Four, LLC, has submitted a pro- posal to develop the 28-acre tract of land located at the southwest corner of U.S. Highway 93 North and Old West Reserve, formerly Re- serve Loop. The site was previously used as the Montana DNRC Admin- istrative Office Complex. Develop- ers propose to build 14 pads — four- large pads and 10 smaller parcels —
to be utilized for general commer- cial development, similar in nature to phases 1-3 of Spring Prairie to the immediate north. This is a mul- tiapplication process occurring on State School Trust Lands. The ap- plicants will need four specific ap- provals from the City of Kalispell: A Growth Policy amendment for 23 of the 28 acres to allow commercial development, a zone change from public P-1 to B-5 commercial for 23 of the 28 acres, a PUD overlay zone, and a 14 lot subdivision. A planning board work session is scheduled for Feb. 10, and a public hearing before the planning board is scheduled for March 10.
WHITEFISH
•The Whitefish City Council held a work session Feb. 2 to consider a funding mechanism for a portion of the cost of a conservation easement in Haskill Basin. The council heard the presentation of results from a public opinion survey on the vari-
ous financing options for a portion of the cost of the F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co. conservation ease- ment, followed by an explanation of the impact of various funding options on residents and visitors, as well as options for an election on funding options requiring an election. The easement would help protect more than 3,000 acres in Haskill Basin near Whitefish. The property, owned by the F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co. and located beside Whitefish Mountain Resort on Big Mountain, is highly vulner- able to the pressures of develop- ment, proponents of the easement say, and is the source of 75 percent of the municipal water supply in Whitefish. Stoltze is offering the land for $17 million. Last year, Stol- tze and the Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit land conservation orga- nization, reached a deal that would keep the land permanently protect- ed for water, wildlife and recreation uses, while still allowing Stoltze’s sustainable timber management to
continue.
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