Author: Evelyn Pyburn

Six Local Businesses Invest $175 million in Yellowstone County

7 April 2025
Evelyn Pyburn
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Six businesses in Yellowstone County received two different forms of tax abatement on new investments from Yellowstone County Commissioners.

Total investments made in the county’s economy by the six companies totaled $175,702,197.

Applying for the tax rebates to cover recent new investment in their businesses are Phillips 66, CHS, Inc., and Coca-Cola Bottling Company High Country. Par Montana received abatement on equipment.

The County Commissioners cannot deny these requests but they are allowed by state law to determine the amount of rebate at 80, 90 or 100 percent for an initial 5-year period. After the initial abatement, the tax is increased incrementally over the next four years until the property is fully taxed.

County commissioners granted a rebate of 80 percent for these applicants:

—Phillips 66 invested $11,591,018.

—CHS, the refinery in Laurel, has invested $10,501,546.

—Coca-Cola Bottling Company High Country invested $21 million.

—Par Montana has purchased $10,909,633.19 in equipment.

County Commissioners are allowed to accept or reject two other requests, as well as determine whether to abate at 80, 90 or 100 percent They approved, also at 80 percent, abatement for:

—Town and Country Supply Association, 3833 Coulson Road, Billings, which has invested $6,400,000;

—Rocky Vista University, Billings, completed construction in March 2026, on medical facilities and veterinary school, with an investment of $115.3 million.

County Elections Department Plans Move to Metra Park

7 April 2025
Evelyn Pyburn
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By Evelyn Pyburn

Yellowstone County Commissioners are taking a hard look at moving the county’s Election Department, in its entirety, to Metra Park.

With the Election’s Department Director, Ginger Aldrich, concerned about not having enough space for the Department to perform its functions, especially after what was experienced in the November general election, County Commissioner Mike Waters took on the challenge of delving into the problem to come up with a solution. At Wednesday’s discussion meeting county officials reviewed the options, challenges and recommendations.

Waters and Aldrich’s top recommendation is to do some renovations of Cedar Hall at MetraPark and make it the one-stop location for most aspects of conducting elections. While the move will not provide all of the space that Aldrich projected as needed it does come close and offers many benefits.

Such as: The location of MetraPark is well known to everybody and many people are already used to going there to vote. The location has ample parking and plenty of space to accommodate dropping off ballots. And perhaps most beneficial is that ballots remain in one location which generates more public confidence in the integrity of elections.

Other options that were scrutinized included splitting operations between the new administration building, which is in the process of being refurbished for county departments, and to continue to lease space from Wells Fargo, which is a solution that has been used in the last two years. Waters said he was anxious to end the cost of that lease.

Another suggestion was to continue with the plan to have the main “front facing” Election office in the County Administration Building (CAB), the former Miller Building, and perform some of the other functions in the Cedar Hall location. Aldrich and some of those working for the department commented that it was one thing to have to walk back and forth between the Election’s office and the Wells Fargo Building (often as many as five times a day) and quite another to have to drive back and forth from the CAB and MetraPark. It also increases concerns about security and election integrity.

Aldrich also announced out that the City of Billings offered first floor space in their new office building (the Stillwater Building) at a “very generous rate.” While the distance between the Stillwater Building and the CAB is greater than that of their current office and Wells Fargo, it would still be doable, and the great entry way into the Stillwater Building would accommodate the long lines that often occur for Elections.

Kevan Bryan, Director, Office of Management Budget at Yellowstone County, expressed concerns about the fact that the Cedar Hall location will still not meet all of the space that Aldrich, initially, estimated as needed.

Waters’ provided a statement regarding the positive aspects that the Cedar Hall option provides:

“The strength of this option is based on the fact that it can be used to maintain the front-facing office and the operational side in one place. This is a significant advantage and the Elections Department is willing to configure a smaller space specifically to ensure both registration and ballot processing stay together. Management of election judges and registration in two areas is challenging when they are one block apart. Separating them by more than a walkable space would not allow effective oversight or management of both registration and ballot processing.

The ground level space provides positive aspects for:

— Accessibility of the public including disabled and elderly voters

— Movement of mail, ballots, and other bulky items such as polling place material drop off by county staff and election judges

–Negates the need for adequate elevator space / a freight elevator

Rejected ballots and other materials flow between the registration office and the operations side. Unifying these processes ensures:

— Temporary election judges work under direct supervision from permanent staff

— Ballots and other election materials remain within the custody and control of election space, rather than having to move between spaces with additional paperwork requirements and the logistics of moving those materials to another site.

Commissioners Reject Bike Trail Master Plan

7 April 2025
Evelyn Pyburn
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By Evelyn Pyburn

Yellowstone County Commissioners unanimously rejected the Billings Area Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan, which was presented to them by the City –County Planning Department. Besides the commissioners, the plan goes before the Yellowstone County Planning Board, the Billings City Council, and the Policy Coordinating Committee (PCC) for approval.

As the plan was being presented to the County Commissioners by Alta Planning+ Design, the engineering firm engaged to develop it, Commissioner John Ostlund raised questions about whether they weighed the cost vs benefits of spending so much on building trails for the use of so few people.  He said he has been involved with the issue for many years and has observed that one can drive around the community on a very nice day and not see even ten bikes on the bike trails.  “I can’t find a bike on the bike trails,” he said.

Ostlund referenced S. 32nd  Street W. in Billings, where a bike trail shares the pavement of a very busy thoroughfare with heavy traffic that is often stalled waiting to move forward – with their motors running – while beside them is a  bike lane with not one bike on it, that could be used for more space to improve the traffic flow.

Ostlund said, “I am not going to rubber stamp the plans going forward. I will vote no,” because over the years, “I have asked and asked” about whether this has been reviewed. “It’s a terrible investment. I have never seen anything that spends so much with less benefit.”

Ostlund pointed out that the cost for striping and for signage of a bike trail on city streets, exceeds the cost of striping and signage for the street.

He challenged the practicality of following the federal “Complete Streets” program, which Billings adopted, saying he believes “Complete Streets is a complete failure.”

Elyse Monat, Transportation Planner for the City of Billings Planning Division, said that there have been changes to the plan to make users more comfortable in using bike trails, those routes are identified in the plan as “high comfort.” They involve shared-use paths and provide facilities for pedestrians such as neighborhood bikeways, bike lanes, buffered bike lanes, and separated bike lanes.

Lora Mattox, Transportation Planning Coordinator for the Planning Division, explained the goal of having a bike trail system. “We are trying to make sure people who don’t drive have a means of transportation.”

County Commissioner Mike Waters said that he has noticed trails get the most use in park areas. He added that they do serve “such a small population” and while “it is a lofty goal, we spend a lot of money on them.”

Mattox replied, “We do try to take advantage of the parks .. we are trying to be more diligent in how we plan for these facilities.”

County Commissioner Mark Morse asked about the funding.

Elyse Monat explained the “external funding” they have received in the past, citing a number of federal grants.

Morse responded, “All of it is government tax money.”

Monat conceded that it was, but there is some funding from private organizations—mostly for upkeep.

Morse asked whether they push some of the costs onto private developers.

Monat replied that, “Yes, it is very common that developers will enter an agreement with the city to build sidewalks” and other internal structures in subdivisions to serve the transportation needs.

Mattox further explained, “We have been hearing that people want more connectivity…they want to connect between subdivisions . . . they want to have sidewalk connections.”

Ostlund underscored that sidewalks are not bike trails, and replied, “I like the sidewalks. The Safe Routes to School, if they have a funding source.”

Morse questioned varying data included in the plan regarding attendees at public hearings and surveys. One survey was conducted at the Strawberry Festival where the number of respondents was stated to be 200. Morse asked, “Is this because you had a booth at the Strawberry Festival and anyone who walked by was counted as an attendee?”

Mattox said “We had an interactive poll and we counted them if they participated in it.”

There was discussion about the Billings Area Pedestrian and Bicycle program’s struggle to fund the cost of maintaining the trails. Morse said, “When your own plan says we can’t afford the maintenance. It is time to reconsider building them.”

The Plan sets out several goals of the Billings Area Pedestrian and Bicycle system. An overall objective of the Billings Area Pedestrian and Bicycle program is to reduce reliance on motor vehicles and to contribute to more walking and bicycling.

Most of the funding for bike trail construction comes from the federal government’s Federal Highway Administration

Local property tax dollars fund maintenance and safety improvements. Property owners are also assessed fees when developing new areas of growth, which may include donations of right away for trails.

Constructing bike and pedestrian trail costs between $62,652 to $1,523,144 per mile depending on where it is located and the degree to which safety measures and signage is required, whether it is separated from traffic or paved.

According to data in the master plan the daily average use of shared use paths, in the Billings area, is 3,786. Bike trail usage averages about 467 bikers a day throughout the system, according to plan data.

The Billings trails, over 61 miles of bike and pedestrian path ways, have been constructed including on-street bikeways, paved trails and sidewalks.

Another Shot

21 March 2025
Evelyn Pyburn
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By Evelyn Pyburn

Unleashing the American citizen — that’s what Trump is doing.

It’s the act that built America — allowing citizens to pursue their own happiness, dreams and ambitions. How some of Trump’s actions will impact our economy and relations with other nations may not be readily evident, but the fact is it cannot be worse than the smothering of citizens by government debt and regulations that inhibit the glorious ability of average everyday citizens to do great things.

President Trump and his cabinet picks are making the news absolutely entertaining. His forthrightness about what he thinks and how he says it, is startlingly refreshing – as compared to the banal political clichéd comments we are all so used to hearing. He subtly reveals how much politicians from both sides of the aisle have systematically deceived us about what was going on behind closed doors for decades and perhaps a century. He speaks clearly and bluntly, and amazingly the world does not end – and only a few citizens become apoplectic “clutching their beads” —- and more than a few politicians.

We are truly living in an exciting era of history. It is exciting because it appears to be the next gigantic step in the process of advancing civilization – and this isn’t really the most exciting part of it – that is yet to come. All Trump and the legions of people who voted for him are doing right now is removing the shackles that has restrained the ingenuity and ambition of the common man – not just in the US but for people around the world. What every day people will be able to do with that freedom – THAT will be the really exciting part.

There is no doubt that the citizens of other countries want their freedom just as much as do we in the US. Their points of view do not make the headlines but they are there, observing and rooting for us. Those who expressed empathy with illegal immigrants crossing our southern border, contending they were seeking freedom were not incorrect. While that was a huge aspect of what was happening — which was rigorously and studiously avoided by our own media — it is blatant evidence that most people want freedom. But, all freedom- seeking peoples can’t just come to the US – they have to fight for it in their own countries. So be assured that they are taking notes on what is happening here. And, be assured that their dictatorial, collectivist autocrats are well aware of that, worried as they are about what their citizens will do. It is primarily why they too hate Trump and are currently shaking in their boots. Even in countries like China or Iran this is happening.

President Trump is going to go down in history not just as the greatest president in the US, but the greatest leader ever. He is that because he respects the common man. We are on the precipice of the second Revolution for freedom for the common man — the first having been that of George Washington and that era of founders. They respected the common man and their rights — and not just for the colonists. Their rejection of tyranny was “the shot heardaround the world” because it was an awakening for the commoners around the world.

Trump’s election is the second shot heard round the world.

US Does Have Rare Earths

18 March 2025
Evelyn Pyburn
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That rare earth minerals are being found in the United States, which has to import most of its rare earth minerals from China, is exciting news. As reports begin to emerge about rare earth minerals discoveries in the US – such as that in Ravalli County, Montana – a question emerges about why the discoveries are coming only now.

For example, a report from Wyoming in Cowboy State Daily has announced that “The US could soon become a world leader in rare earth minerals after over two billion metric tons were found in Wyoming. The discovery could mean America over taking China, whose supplies stand at 44 million metric tons.”

Rare earth elements are a group of 17 elements that are essential for both domestic and for military technology.  They are used in the production of medical equipment, clean energy components, electric vehicles, electronics, and more. Demand for them is expected to explode in the near future. The US imports most of its needs for rare earths from China. Demand for the metals is expected to soar up to seven times current levels by 2040, according to the International Energy Agency.

Over the decades there was only one rare earth minerals mine, Mountain Pass in California, in the US and it was owned by the Chinese. How that came to be was a matter of little foresight and over regulation in the United States.

In a six-year report from Defense News, the lack of interest in pursuing more development in the US was made more clear.

Mountain Pass was opened as a uranium deposit, but came to supply rare earths for the electronic needs of the “Cold War economy.” Until the 1990s, it stood alone as the only major source of rare earths worldwide.

By 2002, the mine became defunct, because to the U.S. government and major manufacturers, it no longer made sense to acquire rare earths from a U.S. source that was subject to stringent environmental regulations. It made more sense to import the minerals needed from other countries.

China was happy to oblige.

In 2008, a group of investors formed Molycorp to reopen the Mountain Pass mine, with the intent of delivering a secure supply chain, but their plans failed and eventually the mine was purchased out of bankruptcy by a consortium that included a Chinese-owned firm.

The article stated, “Reducing red tape and bureaucratic inertia will lower costs and reduce risk — there is no reason that permitting a mine in the United States should take five times longer than it does in Canada or Australia.”

Since the prospects look brighter at the moment for development of rare earth mineral mines, with development of better technologies, more rational regulations and a profound interest from the US military and domestic markets, suddenly there emerges news that rare earth mining might indeed be possible in the US.

Just a couple weeks ago US Critical Materials announced that their find in a 50-year old abandoned mine at Sheep Creek in Ravalli County, Montana holds the highest reported grades of any known deposit in the United States, according to an independent analysis from Activation Labs. Besides having the highest reported grades of any known deposit in the United States, said Activation Labs, the mine has the highest concentrations of gallium—a material essential to national security.

Near Wheatland, Wyoming comes another announcement from American Rare Earths Inc. They claim that they may have “hit the mother load”, dwarfing another find in northeastern Wyoming, which was claimed to be “one of the biggest discoveries in the world.” American Rare Earths is the U.S.-based unit of an Australian-founded exploration company working in Wyoming.

Mining.com has ranked the Halleck Creek rare earths find as the fifth largest in the world outside of others discovered in Greenland, Canada and Kenya.

American Rare Earths wants to mine and process these metals – particularly neodymium and praseodymium – through its Wyoming Rare (USA) Inc. unit, which controls 367 mining claims on 6,320 acres of a mix of state, federal and private land across the Halleck Creek Project area near Wheatland, and four Wyoming mineral leases on  1,844 acres on the same project.

Worldwide rare earth mineral demand stands at about 60,000 tons annually. A metric ton equals about 2,200 pounds while a ton is 2,000 pounds.

Latest drilling revealed that the ore is more extensive and of higher quality, making it potentially even more valuable than anything else in the state,

The company said it could move more quickly to establish a mining operation on 320 acres of state land where permitting would happen at a faster clip than on federally owned land.

Also, in Wyoming, Rare Element Resources Ltd., a Canadian exploration company, is setting up shop on a large rare earth deposit in Upton, Wyoming, with a novel new mining process that promises to speed up rare earth processing. This is called the Bear Lodge Project. 

The Wyoming unit of Rare Element Resources, which controls 100% of the Bear Lodge mineral rights held through federal mining claims in Upton, is betting $44 million that its mining process is a game-changer for U.S. rare earth production. 

And still more — Ramaco Resources revealed it had found a deposit of rare minerals near Sheridan in Wyoming, that could have a value of $37 billion. The company said, “We only tested it for 100, 200 feet, which is about the maximum you’d ever want to do a conventional coal mine.”

Besides these finds of rare earth minerals, geologists are reporting that there are millions of tons rare earth minerals to be found in coal ash, the chalky remnants of coal that has been burned for fuel from by power plants. There are piles and piles of coal ash, long considered a waste by-product, across the US.

The new research found that there could be as much as 11 million tons – worth $8.4 billion — of rare earth elements in accessible coal ash in the United States, which is nearly eight times the amount that the U.S. currently has in domestic reserves.

Even though the level of rare earth elements in coal ash is relatively low when compared with those mined from geological deposits, the fact that the ash is readily available in large quantities makes it an attractive resource, said co-author Davin Bagdonas, a research scientist at the University of Wyoming.

Not only have ventures to retrieve the rare earth minerals been reported in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Texas, but there has been talk that in Colstrip, Montana, too, the possibility will be explored.

State’s First Arraignment Court Now in Session

18 March 2025
Evelyn Pyburn
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By Evelyn Pyburn

Yellowstone County has a new addition to its judicial system – -a new court that focuses upon arraignments. It is being operated in the county department of Justices of the Peace. Judge Jeanne Walker and Judge David Carter have been presiding over the court for about a month.

Creating an arraignment court is part of improving and making more efficient the process of adjudicating criminals, which is a necessity in making the new short-term detention facility functional, according to Justice of the Peace Carter, who has spent the past year or more leading the process of developing and establishing the court.

The short-term detention facility is a city-county project in the process of being built next to the Yellowstone County Detention Facility, which is expected to be completed late this fall. It is viewed as a solution to the over-crowded jail that serves Yellowstone County. It will enable law enforcement to arrest and hold those perpetrating offenses who, in the past, law enforcement has not been able to arrest because of having no place to hold them

The concept of an arraignment court – this will be the first one in Montana – emerged from Yellowstone County’s  10-person committee that was appointed two years ago to look at the entire justice system and the new jail proposal for the county and City of Billings, to develop a more efficient and economical system. An arraignment court was viewed as essential to the process of making the short -term detention facility function well.

So far arraignment court has gone well, said Carter. They have focused on working out the wrinkles. “There will probably be changes,” said Carter, but so far it’s been pretty smooth. “We are building something,” he said, “Until you start doing it you are not quite sure how it will work.”

Arraignment court will be held at 2:30 pm every day, Monday through Friday.

An arraignment is usually a felony or misdemeanor defendant’s first court appearance after arrest. During the arraignment, a defendant is formally advised of the criminal charges against him, informed of their rights, and asked to enter a plea to the charges, and often a public defender is appointed. The court also looks at the defendant’s history, and decides whether the defendant will be released pending trial, whether they must wear an ankle bracelet and bond is set.

A public defender stands with the defendant during the process to explain and advise about the proceedings.

The judge goes through a process of sorting out the charges against a defendant in accordance with state laws or local ordinances, looking at their criminal record and determining, if there are other outstanding charges, misdemeanors or felons.

Most of the time a defendant has other outstanding charges against them, perhaps in more than one court, explained Judge Carter. During arraignment court the judge gives them a schedule of not only their next court appearance on the current charge, but also other pending court appearances and dates at which they are required to appear.

According to Judge Carter, missing court dates is the most common infraction for which other charges are often made. “It gets to be a revolving door,” he said, underscoring that their goal is “to get the people who don’t need to be in jail out, or to make sure they are in jail for the right period of time – – and to do that correctly — more efficiently and elegantly and timely.” Court hearing dates can be complicated, he said, and overwhelming for people who sometimes have many other unfortunate things happening in their lives.

Currently, the defendants appear in arraignment court via video from the Yellowstone County Detention Facility (YCDF), with the court room located in the County Courthouse. Asked if that will continue to be the model, Judge Carter said it is not considered best practices. Ideally, he believes, arraignment court should be held at the YCDF.

Whether that will be included for the plans of a new addition to the YCDF, he isn’t sure. The county has to authorize that, he said, adding, “There has been discussions, and support expressed. But there is no room currently.”

The process of being prepared for their first court appearance is far more complicated than it might appear. It takes a staff of knowledgeable and trained people to prepare the case – to gather all the documents pertaining to other outstanding charges and their status, and to check on the defendant’s record, family and criminal record. The first half of the day on court days is spent by staff preparing all the necessary information and documentation for the judge. Some are on the job at 6 a.m.

Starting an arraignment court required the hiring of 1.5 FTEs (employees) said Carter, pointing out however that much of the work involved is being absorbed into by the existing Justice Court staff. While $45,000 has been set aside in the budget for the arraignment court, it is just there in case they discover a need for it.

Right now there are five people in Justice Court dedicated to pre- trial services. “It is more expansive than just arraignment court,” explained Judge Carter. “We have other programs for pre- trial services.” Four of the five staff members have been trained for arraignment court, but they also have secondary duties. “It is very hard,” said Judge Carter, “But we are building on that and will evolve.”

In the long term – which essentially means when most of the county’s administration offices move into the county’s new administration building, and the Courthouse has been remodeled as exclusively a court house – Justice Court anticipates requesting another Justice of the Peace. An additional Justice of the Peace would be welcomed, said Judge Carter.

The challenges before Yellowstone County’s judicial system are significant and so will be the challenges to the arraignment court which will not only be serving a justice court with the largest case load in the state, but also a district court with the largest case load in the state, and a city with the largest municipal court case load in the state. They haven’t taken on the arraignments for the city municipal court yet because that court is quite literally in the process of moving to the new city hall.

The arraignment court expects to assume their case load in May.

Amazon Opens Delivery Station

18 March 2025
Evelyn Pyburn
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Local city and county officials, state legislators and other local dignitaries turned out in full force in Billings last week to celebrate the opening of Amazon’s new $23 million delivery station at 6767 Tun Tavern Road. The 40,000 square foot facility is Amazon’s second location in Montana marking a total investment of $110 million in the state. The distribution network will serve over 1000 local sellers in the region and means faster delivery for all. In his welcoming remarks, County Commissioner Mark Morse noted that the city, Big Sky Economic Development and the county partnered in the development of infrastructure that facilitated the new addition to Billings. He also pointed out that Amazon’s investment in the community will garner over $48.6 million in economic impact.

In Seeking Fun, Billings Couple Founded Montana Wake

18 March 2025
Evelyn Pyburn
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By Evelyn Pyburn

Starting a boat business in Montana may not seem like an inherently good idea at first glance, but then maybe you aren’t as passionate about water sports as are Nate and Lindsey Romain, and maybe you haven’t recognized that there is generally a lack of sales and service support in Montana for such enthusiasts.

Those two life experiences eventually prompted Nate and Lindsey to take the plunge and start their own business in Billings in 2023, called Montana Wake Co. They opened in a 3000 sq. ft. building with one employee.

So far it is proving to have been a good move.

In 2024 they serviced over 400 customers and sold over 70 boats and were being asked to deliver and service many more. “The shop was packed to the gills” said Nate, and they had 15 boats in storage and 8 at his home.

The key to their rapid success believes Nate, is their focus on customers. “We listen to the public,” he said, explaining that many boating enthusiasts have had the same experience he did in finding it hard to get the guidance and support needed. After buying his first boat, Nate said, the closest support business was in Kalispell.

 Filling that niche has brought customers to the door of Montana Wake very quickly.

In trying to find a new location, the Romains encountered an offer for a building that had previously served a steel business at 7510 Entry Way Drive. The location offered a warehouse much bigger than the Romains had initially considered necessary. At first the building seemed to be “just a pipedream,” but as they looked at it and pondered its potential, Nate said, they began to realize, that even though it was bigger than anticipated, “if we didn’t get it, it would only be a matter of months and we would have to move again.”

So they bit the bullet and forged ahead. With a crew of helpers they worked for three, 20-hour days, getting it into shape. One exciting aspect of the huge building is that they can keep all their boats – new and used – inside, making it easy for customers to inspect them and ponder their choices without having to “brush the snow off,” said Nate. They opened in their new location in October 2024.

“As we moved into the building, we knew we were going to have to really step up our game to make it work,” said Nate – and that they have.

Just a couple months ago, at the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas in Orlando, Florida – the largest marine dealer group in the world — the Romains were recognized with three awards from Centurion, including “Rookie of the Year.”

Centurion (what Nate calls the “Bentley of boats”), is one of several lines of boats Montana Wake carries. Others include Supreme, Bennington and Balise Pontoons. Montanans, said Nate, really enjoy pontoons. For those who are novices about boats, a “wake” boat is one that is used for water sports, such as for water skiing. While there are a few other businesses in the area that sell boats, they mostly focus on boats designed for fishing.

Because Montana Wake focuses so much on support and service for their customers, Nate said that in a sense, they don’t have much competition. It was after all, that lack of such support and service that inspired the Romains to start their business.

Nate’s love of water sports began at a very young age. Although he lived on a ranch between Chester and Fort Benton, he was able to spend summers with his grandparents who lived on Flathead Lake.  That’s where he learned to love everything that had to do with water.

“I didn’t want to do anything else,” said Nate.

When circumstances required that they move to Billings, he missed summers on the Flathead, but then discovered Yellowtail Dam and Big Horn Lake and fell in love all over again.

Nate went to work in the oil business and saved up quickly to buy his first boat. Lindsey played a role in that experience, even though they weren’t married yet, but they had discovered they had a mutual passion for water sports.

They soon married and spent all the time they could on the water – exploring other lakes in Montana. Montana’s lakes are scattered but they are often close enough that it’s possible to spend a day on the water and still be home for the evening, pointed out Nate.

The Romains now have a son and a daughter, ages 11 and 7, and all their family time is spent on a lake. “They love the water as much as we do,” said Nate.

In order to pursue their sport, Nate became self- taught, acquiring and using his own equipment. He helped out friends, and he and Lindsay have forged many friendships and relationships, introducing others to the joys of water sports. That grew even more so when they started a Facebook page, which  was really the beginning of Montana Wake.

The Romains designed a logo and began selling apparel for boating with the logo (all of it made in Billings). It became very popular, said Nate.  They were getting orders from all over the world, such as Africa and Australia. People liked the “Montana stamp on it, and wanted to support us.”

Nate’s reputation for knowledge and expertise about boating began to spread, and he was frequently called upon by people seeking advice or needing help. The Romains would often take people out on excursions, introducing them to water sports and to Montana lakes. There are actually more lake options around the Billings area than people commonly realize. Yellowtail , Houser,  Coney,  Deadman’s Basin, Canyon Ferry and even Flathead Lake. There’s no need to spend lots of money on extended vacations, points out Nate, there is plenty of places to go not too far down the road.

For the Romains it was still all about “just wanting  to get people out to enjoy all the beauty of Montana.”   Encouraging them to start a business were requests for demonstrations and charters. “The business started picking up from there.” The fact that Nate found himself often referring people to dealerships was also a signal that here was a business opportunity.

Another, instance of encouragement was when he was approached by a local boat dealership who asked him for assistance. He started subcontracting his services, and was soon working full time as a salesman for the business.  But as a salesman, “I wasn’t able to deliver the full experience to the customer, as I wished I could,” he said.

Starting the business was a challenge. Nate said they learned a lot very quickly about dealerships, licensing, insurance, zoning, getting financial backing and floor financing.  “We were running into issue after issue.” At times “they were so overwhelming, we thought it was the end of it.” 

“But what really kept us going was the public support. That is what drove us and kept us moving forward.”

Currently, the Romains employ 13 people, which include a nephew and his wife who moved to Billings from Michigan – so Montana Wake is truly a family business.

“We are getting employees who love to solve problems,” said Nate, about his staff.

As they have expanded, drawing more interest from adventurists seeking new experiences, they have acquired rental properties on lakes, which allow them to offer get-away packages for their customers.

In all that they find themselves doing, the Romains declare, “We are taking the pain out of having fun.”

Just saying….

18 March 2025
Evelyn Pyburn
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By Evelyn Pyburn

It must be said.  People losing jobs — as many federal government employees are– is a difficult and very bad turn of events for the individuals involved — no matter who you are or for what entity you were working.  It is not a new kind of malady. OK, maybe it is for government, but it isn’t for the private sector.

For all the wringing of hands, crying and lamenting on media about the layoffs of thousands of government workers – not to mention law suits being filed in declaring that their employer has no right to fire them – one has to be amazed at the incredible angst that so many are exhibiting. Where was that concern —  all those tears and media blitzes — during and after COVID when millions of people lost their jobs and even lost thriving businesses because of government coerced layoffs and the inhibition of people’s freedom to even leave their homes? Bureaucrats were actually the ones enforcing the dictatorial decrees with an arrogance of righteousness that often comes with unchecked power.

(Nonfarm payroll employment in the United States declined by 9.4 million in 2020).

“We need more compassion,” said one talking head this weekend. Really? I never heard anyone say that during all the COVID mandates.

Where? Where? Where was all this outrage, whining, indignation and compassion then? If you objected at that time you were considered criminal, and an adversarial spreader of misinformation and bureaucrats did all in their power to block citizen access to social media and free speech.

I recall most distinctly at the very beginning, in listening to the mandates that everyone not go to work, and that employers  close their businesses, the very obvious lack of concern about what that was doing to people –-  impacts that are still being felt today by many people. It was shocking. As I listened to the decree, I immediately thought of people like single mothers waiting tables to support their children, or of families working hard to meet monthly mortgage payments. Just one week of no income would be devastating to them.

When I asked a question about such impacts of the COVID official, resplendent in the glory of being able to exercise his new found power, he had the stunned, blank look on his face of someone who had never even thought of such a plight. He had no answer.

There was minimal concern expressed in national media about all the unemployed people. There were no demonstrations or any aspect of concern from bureaucrats anywhere. In fact many of them were enthusiastic participants as they went into businesses to shut them down, with threats of arrest to workers and customers.

Bureaucrats, of course, had guaranteed incomes, no matter what. For them it was little more than a paid vacation.

Kind of a different response we are seeing now from government and other collectivists, don’t you think?

It is now rather surreal to see government factions concerned about being unemployed and declaring it to be unjust, and wanting the world to be concerned about their plight.

At a later point in time, the COVID official, who never even thought about how eliminating jobs for so many people would really hurt them, was heralded by some factions in the community as a noble, valiant  and dauntless leader. If that was who he was, so most certainly is President Trump and his noble, valiant and dauntless volunteer, Elon Musk.

President Trump is doing exactly what so many leaders over the past five decades or more have promised to do and never did – cut the size and power of government. That he is doing it so quickly and relentlessly is probably the only way it can be done, which is probably why no one was ever successful in doing it in the past. Part of the reason for the lamenting and crying of those in opposition is because President Trump is giving them no time to develop strategies to oppose the cuts and layoffs.

That there are people who are being negatively impacted through no fault of their own, there is no doubt and one can certainly feel sorry for them, but welcome to the real world. Fortunately there is one good thing that is sure to come to the rescue of all the workers now flooding the labor market – the US private sector has more jobs than workers and it is a situation that is expected to continue for the next 15 years. You have more options than did the workers and businesses during COVID.

NWE Plans New Transmission Line to Meet Growth Needs 

18 March 2025
Evelyn Pyburn
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by Evelyn Pyburn

NorthWestern Energy has announced plans to build an additional 230 kV transmission line that will serve customers in Yellowstone County and the region that will provide “critical” additional electric transmission capacity.

The 21-mile long line – expected to cost between $25 million and $30 million – will run from NorthWestern Energy’s existing Shorey Road substation and head northwest, ending at NorthWestern Energy’s existing Broadview substation. The project includes upgrades to the Broadview Substation and Shorey Road Substation, both North of the Billings Area with construction anticipated in 2027 and 2028.

Project siting and right-of-way acquisition is intended to begin in 2025 and construction of the new electric transmission line anticipated in 2027, to be completed within the next 3 years.

The line will be subject to the Montana Major Facilities Siting Act, which requires NorthWestern to file a public notice in area newspapers and with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality describing the project details and approach prior to easement acquisition.

The line will “ensure “continued safe reliable electric service is provided to support growing electric load and Billings area economy,” according to Jo Dee Black, NorthWestern’s Public Relations Specialist, who added it is a “top priority to provide critical additional capacity to the electric grid that serves the region. Black explained, “The project will provide important new capacity and reliability improvements to NorthWestern’s transmission system . .  . NorthWestern has seen significant residential and commercial demand growth in the Billings areas and expects that trend to continue.”

The new 230 kV line will consist of a combination of two-pole “H-Frame” steel structures and single pole steel structures, depending on terrain and engineering requirements, with potential pole heights from 70 feet to 120 feet. The news 230 kV line will be similar in appearance and design to other area transmission lines.