No. 294, Vol. 128, 2013**

$2 retail. For home deliverypricing, see Page 2

Full reporton back page

Sunday, March 3, 2013 A PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING NEWSPAPER WWW.GREATFALLSTRIBUNE.COM

High: 46 - Low: 21

Cooler, with snowtapering off. Westto southwest winds

15-25 mph.

GREAT FALLSFORECAST

Business ................1-3,4BCalendar......................8ACelebrations................5LChatter .......................5MClassified ..................1-6C

Farm & Ranch.............6BLegal .............................4CMilitary ........................4BNation..........................2AObituaries ..................2M

Opinion .......................6APuzzles ..................5C, 4LRecords .......................3MTV, TVWeek...............8AWeather ......................8A

INDEX OF REGULAR FEATURES

- Contact information for circulation, ads and news is on 2A -

Be it commentary, features ormovie reviews, our teen panelistslet you know what young mindsare thinking /ComingMonday inClass Act

STUDENTS GUIDE YOU INTOTHE WORLD OF TEENAGERS

A veteran is trying to preserve the unique historyof Camp Rimini, which served as a sled dogtraining center in World War II /MyMontana

Keeping the memories alive

PPL Montana’s $230 million powerhouse at Rainbow Dam is almostcomplete after 3 1⁄2 years. It’s the biggest investment made in asingle project in Cascade County in years, but the company says theincrease in capacity made it feasible. Read about the Rainbow Dampowerhouse in today’s Business section.

The oldRainbow

Dampowerhouse,left, sits nextto the new

powerhouseon the right.

TRIBUNE

PHOTO/LARRY

BECKNER

Rainbow Dam’s $230 millionpowerhouse nears completion

The most-recent federal budget cuts are not thefirst time that government economic engineeringhas produced a time bomb with a short fuse /2A

Unintended consequences

Itwasarepeat inmoreways thanone.

The Belt Huskies won their sec-ond straight State C girls’ basket-ball championship with a 40-34 vic-tory over the Winnett-Grass RangeRams Saturday night in Belgrade.

Itwas also the second triumph inasmany tournament title games forthe Huskies, who edged the Rams46-36 on Feb. 23 in the Northern Cchampionship game at Four Sea-sons Arena.

Meanwhile, the Browning Indi-

State Cvictoryfor Belt

By Tribune Staff

Belt’s Katie Fertterer, right, makes alayup. TRIBUNE PHOTO/LARRY BECKNER

MORE INSIDEFor the latest coverage, see our Sportssection.

See VICTORY, 3A

HELENA — The first half of the63rd Montana Legislature is in thebooks, but the bulk of lawmakers’work lies ahead.

That was the message from par-ty leaders Thursday as they pre-pared to leave the state capital forthe midsession transmittal break.

The first-half focus of any legis-lative session is primarily on forg-ing new policy.

Any policy-oriented measures

See SESSION, 3A

First halfover forsession

By John S. AdamsTribune Capital Bureau

2013LEGISLATURE

Don Feist holds up a container of discolored,ThirdWorld-lookingwater that came fromoneofthe taps at Trailer Terrace, a mobile home parkjust south of Great Falls where he lives.

“If you’re drinking the water and you livehere, you’re nuts, to be honest with you,” Feistsays.

Water tanks used at the half-century-old parkonce held oil at a refinery. Some of the sewer ser-vice pipes, installed in the 1960s, are made of pa-per. Then unsafe levels of arsenic were detectedin 2012.

Arsenic levels have since returned to accept-able levels,butFeistsaysresidentsofTrailerTer-race, who number 250, are fed upwith chronical-ly unfit water and sewage backups resultingfrom lack of upkeep and out-of-town owners.

In the fall of 2009, residents, who make an av-erage of less than $20,000 a year, formed a not-for-profit cooperative in order to buy the park. Apurchase is now pending. And in 2012, theyformed a water and sewer district in order to re-place the park’s outdated water and sewer infra-structure.

Bothmoves, Feist says,were attemptsby resi-dents to takecontrolof their livingconditionsandresolve the problems that plague the park todayand avoid them in the future.

“It affects our lives daily,” he says.

Trailer parkunites overwater woes

The water tanks at the Trailer Terrace mobile home park are a source of contention. “If you’re drinking the water and you live here, you’re nuts, to behonest with you,” resident Don Feist says. TRIBUNE PHOTO/RION SANDERS

Residents see ownership as way to solve troubles

“So we formed everything to try to make it towhere we were in control of our own destinies ...”

DON FEIST Trailer Terrace resident

By Karl PuckettTribune Staff Writer MORE ONLINE

View video of the residents of Trailer Terrace atwww.greatfallstribune.com.

TRIBUNE GRAPHIC/NICK DANIELS

40th Ave. S

Lower River Road

13St.S.

10th Ave. S

South WindWater andSewer District

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SeeWATERWOES, 4A

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Montana has 1,000 li-censed mobile home parks.

Trailer Terrace, one of 34parks in Cascade County, hasthe worst water and sewersystem that Pam Smith hasever seen.

Smith is theprogramman-ager for the state Depart-ment of Natural Resourcesand Conservation’s renew-able resource grant and loanprogram, which funds waterand sewer system improve-ments in Montana.

“We live in a headwatersstate, and no little kid shouldhave to drink bad water,”Smith said. “That’s whatdrives me with my job any-way. I really feel that.”

In 2012, tests at TrailerTerrace showed arsenic inthe water at four times theEPA health standard.

Since then, arsenic levelshave returned to safe levels,according to the state De-partment of EnvironmentalQuality.

But residents arepressingforward. They’ve applied for$1.9 million in loans andgrants fromstate and federalagencies to get water andsewer work improvementsstarted.

And in their most recentmove, they’ve asked theMontana Bureau of Minesand Geology to conduct astudytofindoutwherethear-senic is coming from. Fund-ing for that work would haveto come from the Depart-ment of Natural Resourcesand Conservation.

Smith said no money forthat work, if approved, willbe available until July 1, butshe thinks a study is a goodidea to find the source of thearsenic before new waterwells are drilled.

The property currently istied up in foreclosure pro-ceedings in Cascade CountyDistrict Court.

The owner is Dennis Des-champs of Lolo, but the parkis in receivership and Des-champs is no longer involvedwith its operation. He pur-chased the property in 2003from Larry Rasmussen, wholater died.

As part of the foreclosureproceedings, the court ap-pointed Dennis Rasmussen,Larry’s brother and estaterepresentative, as the receiv-er, and he’s now in charge ofmaintaining the property un-til the property is sold. Theresidentcooperativehassub-mitted a purchase offer.

Since thecourtnamedhimreceiver lastspring,Rasmus-sen, of Kalispell, says he’scompleted a number of im-provements to the water sys-tem that solved the waterquality issues, including thehigh level of arsenic.

“The water system is nowworking verywell,” Rasmus-sen said.

And he’s also implement-ed new rules that he sayscleaned up the community,such as allowingonly onedogper trailer and setting aside aplace for old cars that don’trun.

“Residents are making a

move tobuy theparkwith thehelp of NeighborWorksMon-tana, a not-for-profit with amission of creating afford-able housing.

“I think it’s a great idea,”said Melissa Tuemmler, su-

pervisor of Food and Con-sumer Safety Section of thestate Department of PublicHealth and Human Services,which licenses mobile homeparks based on inspectionscompleted by counties. “I’mhoping we see a trend.”

Tuemmler said ownershipgives control and impetus tosolve problems that arise.

In 2012, the state refusedto validate Trailer Terrace’smobile homepark license be-cause it didn’t have an ap-proved water and sewer sys-tem.

Problems with water andsewer systems are the mostcommonreasonmobile homeparks have licensing issues,she says.

“Traditionally, mobilehome parks have kind ofbeen a problem area becausethey are privately held by afor-profit owner,” says LyleMeeks, an engineerwithNCIEngineering in Great Falls,whomresidentshavehired todesign new water and sewersystems. “It’s not like it’s amunicipal utility, where thegoal is to have a capital im-provement programand cap-ital replacement program.

NeighborWorks is affiliat-ed with a national organiza-tion called ROC USA, whichstands for “resident ownedcommunities,” said SheilaRice of NeighborWorks. Theorganizationoffersfinancingfor cooperatives that form inmobile or manufacturedhome communities. TheTrailer Terrace co-op has re-ceived preliminary approvalfor a loan but the sale de-pends on resolving thewater-sewer issues, she said.

“These are all hard-work-ing people who have regularfull-time jobs and they’vedonea lot ofwork to try togetthis sale completed,” Ricesaid. “Some of them havelived there 20 and 30 yearsand they remember the olddays when Trailer Terracewas very nicely kept up andthat’s what they want to re-store the park to.”

Since 2008, mobile homecooperatives have beenformed in Red Lodge, Kalis-pell and at Missouri Mead-ows, another mobile homepark inGreatFalls,Ricesaid.

Trailer Terrace would bethe fourth.

NeighborWorks Montanabecame interested in assist-ing mobile home court resi-dents in forming coopera-tives after a park closed nearWhitefish and displaced 132families, Rice said.

Tuemmler predicts thateven more residents else-where inMontanawill followthe example of Trailer Ter-race if its residents succeedin purchasing the park inGreat Falls.

Mobile home park resi-dents own their homes butnot the ground underneaththem, making them vulnera-ble to rent increases, de-ferredmaintenanceandparkclosures if land is sold for re-development, Rice said.

Ownership via a coopera-tive, she says, offers securitywith residents controllingrents, amenities and waterandsewerupdates.Membersreceive long-term transfer-rable leases of up to 75 years,which makes the home morevaluable when homes aresold, and a board runs the co-operative, Rice said. Moneythat typically would go to theowner can be invested in

SeeWATERWOES, 5A

Water woesContinued from 1A

tesh, the director of the bu-reau.

“Arsenic isn’t the onlyproblem you can have inwells,” Metesh said. “TheMadison and Kootenai (aqui-fers) up there, you alwayshave to be careful drillinginto them.”

One misconception thatresidents have is that drillingwells into the deep limestoneMadison aquifer ensures

Arsenic isnaturallyoccur-ring in groundwater and isfound statewide, accordingto the Montana Bureau ofMines and Geology.

“It’s out there,” said TomPatton, chief of the bureau’sResearch Division. “Peopleneed to be concerned that it’sthere. But not overly con-cerned that it’s there.”

There’s noneed tobeover-lyconcernedbecausearsenicis part of the state’s geologicmakeup and occurs naturallyin groundwater, and is notcaused by human activities,he said.

Arsenic is among the ele-ments the bureau tests forstatewide as part of itsgroundwater assessmentprogram. The objective isgathering good baseline in-formation on current condi-tion of the state’s aquifers.

“It represents kind of ayardstick to compare againstto indicatewhether thewateris generally safe to drink,”said John LaFave, senior hy-dro-geologist andmanager ofthe program.

The drinking water stan-dard for arsenic is 10 micro-grams per liter. Levels of ar-senic above 10 violates thestandard.

The acute standard foraquatic life is 340 micro-grams per liter. The chronicexposure standard for aquat-ic life is 150 micrograms perliter.

Statewide in 2012, the bu-reau took 815 arsenic sam-ples, and 7 percent wereabove 10 micrograms per li-ter. In 2008, 12 percent of thesamples exceeded 10 micro-grams per liter.

The bureau took 239 sam-ples from 150 wells CascadeCounty from 2006 and 2010.Of those samples, 14 wereabove the 10 micrograms-per-liter drinkingwater stan-dard. That number did notsurprise bureau officials andis typical of what’s foundstatewide, they said.

Arsenic is detectedthroughout Cascade Countybut not necessarily at levelsthat make it a problem, saidstate geologist John J. Me-

good quality water, but that’snot always the case, said TedDuaime, an associate re-search hydro-geologist.

“There’s information outthere that upper areas in theMadison, in some areas, havevery nasty water and do notproduce as much,” Duaimesaid. “You have to drill to theappropriate level of theMad-ison to have that better qual-ity water.”

Residents need to takecare that drillers seal off up-per areas when wells aredrilled into deeper locationsof theMadison to ensure thatpoor water and doesn’t mixwith good water, he said.

TheEPAandDEQloweredthe maximum contaminationlevel from18 to 10 in 2001.

Arsenic is a concern be-cause it is a carcinogen.

“Arsenic isacomponentofseveraldifferent rockforma-

tionsand it canbe leachedoutof water if conditions areright,” LaFave said.

Groundwater moves fromareas where it is recharged,such as mountains, to areaswhere discharges, rivers, La-Favesaid.Thebureau tries tocollect samples along its flowpath between the rechargeand discharge areas to checkits “geochemical evolution.”

Metesh, thedirector of thebureau, said arsenic has be-come more of an issue in thestate not because there ismore arsenic but becausethere is more building goingon in new areas and morewells are being drilled.

Arsenic at levels exceed-ing the health standard wasdetected at Trailer Terracesouth ofGreat Falls last year.The levels have since re-turned to acceptable levels.

Lyle Meeks, an engineerhired by residents, is curiousabout the source and why itsuddenly showedup and thendisappeared. He wonders ifthe arsenic migrated fromStockett-Sand Coulee-Tracyarea because of past coalmining activity.

“Why did it just startshowing up? Don’t know,”Meeks said.

Officials with the Bureauof Mines and Geology saidtheydon’t think it’s likely thatthe mines are the cause.Groundwater from themining area doesn’t flow to-ward Trailer Terrace area,they said.

A local groundwater studyto look at the occurrence ofarsenicofgroundwater in thevicinity of the trailer park isunder discussion, Duaimesaid.

Arsenicalso is found in theMissouri River and concen-trations in some areas are no-table, LaFave said.

Samples takenaroundMo-rony Dam in 1994, for exam-ple, showedrangesof arsenicfrom 14 to 30. Some of thesamples with elevated levelswere from sand gravel aqui-fers next to the river.Groundwater migrates backand forth, especially duringperiods of high water.

Arsenic part of geological makeupARSENIC

The Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology took 239samples from 150 wells in Cascade County between2006 and 2010. The EPA drinking water standard forarsenic is 10 micrograms or less per liter. Of the 239samples, 14 were above 10 micrograms per liter.

IN CASCADE COUNTY

ARSENICMicrogramsper liter (ug/L)

NoneLess than 1010-50More than 50

TRIBUNE GRAPHIC/NICK DANIELS, MAP PROVIDED BY GROUND WATER INFORMATION CENTER

GreatFalls

Ulm

Vaughn

Cascade

Sun RiverSimms

BeltBelt

Monarch

Neihart

TRIBUNE GRAPHIC/NICK DANIELS

40th Ave. S

Lower River Road

13St.S.

10th Ave. S

South WindWater andSewer District

G R E A T F A L L S

By Karl PuckettTribune Staff Writer

Naturally occurs ingroundwater and isfound statewide

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Dennis Deschamps pur-chased Trailer Terrace onLower River Road just southof Great Falls as an invest-ment.

Because of its condition,he says the investmentturned into a financial disas-ter and he sued.

“I’m living in a trailermy-self now,” says Deschamps,of Lolo.

Dennis Rasmussen, thebrother of the now-deceasedLarry Rasmussen, who sold

the park to Deschamps, saysDeschampsneverdidhis duediligence before buying thepark.Hesays theDeschampslawsuit has caused him a lotof grief and time.

“He didn’t take care ofanything,” Rasmussen said.

The legal battle over thepark ownership has compli-cated fixing the environmen-tal issues, according to peo-ple familiar with the case.

In April 2003, Deschampsagreed to buy the park fromLarry Rasmussen for $1.6million.

In May, after Deschamps

complained about the condi-tion of the property, the par-ties renegotiated and low-ered the purchase price to$1.4 million.

OnJuly2, 2003,LarryRas-mussen died of cancer andDennis Rasmussen was ap-pointed the personal repre-sentative of his estate. Den-nis Rasmussen lives in Kalis-pell, where he is administra-tor at Greenwood Corp.,which is an assisted living fa-cility that also operates mo-bile home parks and camp-grounds.

That sameyear, onJuly21,

awell pumpfailedat theparkrequiring replacement. Des-champs, who owns an auto-motive repair business in Lo-lo, claimed it was the first ofseveral problems with thesystem he encountered afterhe bought Trailer Terrace.

“Craziest thing I’ve everbeen involved in,” Des-champs said. “It costmehun-dreds and hundreds and hun-dreds of thousands of dol-lars.”

In 2006, Deschamps sued,alleging Rasmussen misrep-resented the quality and con-dition of the water system.

In2009,ajuryruledinLar-ry Rasmussen’s favor, con-cluding he did not negligent-ly fail to disclose the defectsin the park’s water distribu-tion system before selling itto Deschamps.

Deschamps appealed tothe state Supreme Court andlost there, too.

Dennis Rasmussen saysDeschamps knew full well hewas purchasing an older mo-bile home park.

“Deschamps had all thetime in the world to see whathe was buying,” Rasmussensaid.

In February 2007, Ras-mussen’s estate indicatedthat the parkwould be sold atauction on June 29, 2007, as aresult of Daschamps’ failuretomake payments. The courtappointed Dennis Rasmus-sen as the receiver.

“They’re trying to see ifthe co-op can come up withmoney to buy it out,” saidDeschamps, referring to acooperative of residents atthe park.

Deschamps says a lot oftenants stopped paying rentbecause of the problems, andit snowballed.

Trailer Terrace is subject of a long legal battleBy Karl PuckettTribune Staff Writer

park improvements, shesaid.

In April of 2012, TrailerTerrace residents also votedto formtheSouthWindWaterand Sewer District, whichwas necessary to apply forloans and grants to fix theproblems.

The first phase of the planby the residents to upgradethe system would cost $1.9million.

The district is applyingfor $1.6 million in grantsfrom the Montana Depart-ment of Commerce and De-partment of Natural Re-sources and ConservationandU.S.Department ofAgri-culture’s Rural Develop-ment.

It’s also seekinga$330,000loan from Rural Develop-ment.

“The linchpin of the deal,”NeighborWorks’ Rice says ofpurchasing the park, “is hav-ingapprovalof thosegrants.”

Much of the funding iscontained in bills now beingconsidered at the Legisla-ture.

The 22-acre Trailer Ter-race is located1.7miles southof town, on scenicLowerRiv-er Road, which parallels theMissouriRiver. It hasmaturelandscaping and trees, it’s ina rural setting and it has easyaccess, making it attractive.

Except for the water.“My problem is, if I can

smell thewater, I’mnotgoingto drink it,” says Feist, whoadds the water sometimessmells like rotten eggs be-cause it contains high levelsof sulfates.

High iron content alsoclogs up coffee makers infour to sixmonths. Hardnessof the water is 38 grains pergallon, which is consideredvery hard.

The park was constructed51years ago, in1962, to houseBoeing employees installingMinuteman missile systemsfor the U.S. Air Force innorthcentral Montana. Thecompany built, installed andmaintained the missiles intheir silos and trained AirForce personnel involved inthe program.

“Thisplacehasdeteriorat-ed,” says Feist, a 52-year-oldhome health care workerwho shares a mobile homewith his wife, Heidi, and 6-year-old-son Joseph.

A drinking water dispens-er sits in the kitchen and thefamilybuysbottledwater forcooking.

Theparkhashistoryofen-vironmental issues related toits aging water and sewersystems, but they’ve neverbeen permanently resolved,Meeks said.

But the arsenic was new.Meeks says arsenic occursnaturally in groundwater insome locations in Montana.

“But not these concentra-tions and certainly not in thepublic water supply systems— this being different be-cause it’s a public water sup-ply system. If you’re a pri-vate system, you’re not regu-lated.”

EPA sets the safe drinkingwater standard, said RichJost, acting case manage-ment chief for the state De-partment of EnvironmentalQuality’s Enforcement Divi-sion.

The running annual aver-age of arsenic can’t exceed

0.01 milligrams per liter ofwater.

On May 18, 2011, a test re-quired at the park everythree years showed an ele-vated level of .022, exceedingthemaximumallowable levelof arsenic. That promptedquarterly sampling. Over thenext year, the average levelof arsenic was .42, or fourtimes the maximum allowa-ble level, Jost said.

In September 2012, theDEQ issued an administra-tive order to the trailer parkfor exceeding the safe drink-ing water standard for ar-senic, which is one step shortof judicial action.

“We’re hopeful that thisnew group of individuals willbuy this system and bring itback into compliance,” Jostsaid. “

In the three most recentarsenic samples that Ras-mussen submitted to theDEQ, arsenic levels droppedwell below the maximumcontaminant levels, and the

park no longer is in violation,Jost says. Jost says it is notuncommon for levels of ar-senic to fluctuate. Rasmus-sen is appealing the order.

No reports of residentsgetting sick have been re-ported to the DEQ, Jost said.

BillBronson, aGreatFallscity commissioner and an at-torney, said he has a clientwho lives at Trailer Terrace.He is representing the clientin a disability claim unrelat-ed to the trailer park’s watersystem.As part of that claim,the client’s child needed to beseen by a physician, Bronsonsaid. The child had elevatedlevels of arsenic, he said.

“It kind of illustrates thepoint there is that concernout there,” Bronson said.“Fortunately, it hasn’t result-

ed inany long-termproblems(for the child). But it is an is-sue out there. That kind ofbrings it closer to home.”

Trailer Terrace is a publicwater system, which is a sys-tem that servesmore than 25people daily formore than 60days of the year.

The DEQ has 100 activecases involving public watersupply systems that have al-legedly violated publicwatersupply laws,withTrailerTer-race one of them.

If the project proceeds asplanned, residentswould pay$59 a month to repay theloans involved. Currently,waterandsewerfeesarepartof the lot rent.

Today, the park is licensedfor 92 mobile home pads, butthe infrastructure was builtfor a temporary housing situ-ation and hasn’t kept up,Meeks says.

Meeks says he’s neverbeen associated with a groupof residents so committed tofixing the problem. The me-dian household income is$19,800. That’s 58 percent ofthe average in the county.

In his research, he says hefound 23 different water vio-lation letters from the DEQover the past 10 years.

Water in the tanks freezeup and are too low in eleva-tion to adequately pressurizethe system, Meeks said. Wa-ter pressure in the upperparts of the park are 10pounds per square inch. Itshould be 40.

The proposed solution to

thepoorwaterquality isdrill-ing deeper wells to tap a newwater supply deep in theMadison aquifer. Currently,the park is served by twoshallow wells.

Meeks drives to the otherend of the park.

A sewage lagoon sits be-hind a fence. Residents say itstinks and leaks into thegroundwater, which finds itsway to the Missouri Rivernearby.

It has no formal outlet andis designed to disperse rawsewage via a drain-field inthe ground. But as lagoonsage, sludge seals off the bot-tom and the lagoon almostoverran its sides a few yearsago, Meeks said.

The lagoon is45percentofthe size that it would be re-quired by today’s standards,Meeks says.

The sewer lines were in-stalled to house temporaryconstruction employeeswithout long-range implica-tions in mind, Meeks says.

The solution to the sewerproblems involves buildingnew lagoons above the mo-bile home park and using thestored and treated effluentfor irrigating agriculturalfields, Meeks said.

OneChristmas,Feist says,residents had no water.

“Sowe formed everythingto try to make it to where wewere in control of our owndestinies — we were in con-trol ofwhatwas going to hap-pen at this place instead ofsomebody else,” Feist said.

Peeling paint on the water tanks at the Trailer Terrace. TRIBUNEPHOTO/RION SANDERS

Water woesContinued from 4A