Page 24 - Flathead Beacon // 10.7.15

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KALISPELL
1. Man Killed in Crash on Farm-to- Market Road
A Kalispell man was killed in a motor- cycle accident on Farm-to-Market Road on Sept. 27, according to Sheriff Chuck Curry.
Montie Reynolds, 50, was driving his motorcycle north of Kalispell when he rear-ended a vehicle that had quickly stopped in front of him. Reynolds struck the vehicle and ended up in the oncoming lane of traffic where he was hit again by another vehicle.
Reynolds was pronounced dead at the scene. The Montana Highway Patrol is investigating the wreck.
ST. REGIS
2. Lumber Mill Lays Off 90 Employees
A lumber mill in St. Regis laid off nearly 90 employees.
Executives at Tricon Timber announced that roughly half of the mill’s workforce was being laid off Sept. 25, citing the tumultuous American timber market.
Joe Zito, vice president of logistics for Tricon, said the layoffs were temporary.
“As soon as we can bring people back we will,” he said. “But right now it’s all market based.”
The layoffs are the latest blow to Min- eral County, which has the fourth high- est unemployment rate in Montana at 6.7 percent. Tricon Timber says it is the larg- est private employer in the county.
Opened in 1991, Tricon Timber pri- marily constructs stud framing lumber as well as softwood flooring and wain- scot materials.
Zito said low lumber prices, the declin- ing Chinese market and the looming expi- ration of the softwood lumber agreement between the U.S. and Canada all played key parts in the company’s decision.
The agreement, which keeps tim- ber prices above a certain range for U.S. producers, is set to expire Oct. 12. The agreement had a six-to-nine-year time limit and was extended for two years in
2012. Since then, there has been little in the way of negotiations between the two countries to renew it.
“That’s driving the market. Everybody is holding off on orders to see what hap- pens on Oct. 13,” Zito said.
With the U.S.-Canada trade agree- ment set to end, the market would likely be flooded with more Canadian lumber.
Julia Altemus, executive vice pres- ident of the Montana Wood Products Association, said the state’s entire indus- try is struggling amid this situation.
She said the industry has laid off a total of 235 positions since March.
“People are just trying to do more with less,” Altemus said. “It’s a matter of economics.”
MISSOULA
3. Montana Sees Increase in Tax Fraud Over Past 3 Years
The Montana Department of Revenue has seen a sharp increase in the amount of tax fraud committed over the past three years.
The Missoulian reports that the Department of Revenue stopped more than 1,647 fraudulent returns in 2014, stopping more than $1.7 million from ille- gally being handed out.
In 2013 the department stopped 1,250 returns for more than $1.4 million and in 2012, 897 returns worth more than $760,000 were caught.
Officials say the increase can be attributed to identity theft, where a crim- inal uses someone else’s identity to file a fake tax return and get a refund. They say it is safe to assume more fraudulent returns have been missed.
LINCOLN
4. Miners File Countersuit Against Forest Service
Two Montana miners filed a coun- tersuit seeking a jury trial to determine their rights to claims near Lincoln after the U.S. government sued them for failing to comply with federal regulations.
George Kornec and Philip Nappo
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