My Page: Robert Struckman
Uncertainty in Missoula Manufacturing
Rumors Swirl Around Frenchtown Mill
Falling demand for cardboard boxes has prompted fresh rumors to swirl around Frenchtown's Smurfit-Stone paperboard facility about a pending closure. Company officials say the plant will stay open.
"I hope it doesn't happen," said Roy Houseman, union representative for the workers there. "But if it does, it wouldn't surprise me."
If the plant did close, it would mean the loss of about 390 jobs. The plant, which supplies cardboard box-making plants with corrugated paperboard, recently laid off 52 employees. The international manufacturing giant says it will hire those workers back at the end of the year.
"That's very possible, too," Houseman said, who was among those recently laid off.
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Weather In Missoula and Beyond
Montana’s Warm Fall May Turn Windy and Cold
The problem with unseasonable weather in Montana is the temperature is probably plummeting -- or rising -- even as you note how odd it is.
So far this fall, the weather has been warmer than usual, said meteorologist Corby Dickerson of the National Weather Service's Missoula office.
But the warmth won't last.
The "normal" high temperature for November 19 is 38 degrees Fahrenheit. The low is 23 degrees. Wednesday's high was 42 degrees. Tonight's predicted low is 30.
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Missoula City News
Missoula Wants a Chance to Tap Its Visitors With a Tax
Rising costs and slower growth mean a municipal budget that's tighter than ever at Missoula's City Hall.
Missoula Mayor John Engen has asked department heads to cut costs, and he has planned with Alec Hansen of the Montana League of Cities and Towns to lobby for a local option sales tax at the upcoming legislative session in Helena.
"We're going to come back with the same thing we've promoted for years and years, which is the local option tourist tax," Hansen said.
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Tales From Bankruptcy Court
Yellowstone Club Gets a (Brief) Lease on Life
A Montana bankruptcy judge reluctantly breathed three weeks of life into the Yellowstone Club in a Missoula courtroom Thursday when he OK'd a three-week loan to keep the club operating during the next stage of bankruptcy hearings.
"Why am I doing this?" asked U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Ralph B. Kirscher, who called it "troubling" and "overkill" that his order included the terms and conditions of a $4.4 million temporary bailout loan from lender Credit Suisse to the luxurious-but-broke private club.
"What happens if I don't sign this order?" Kirscher said. "If you would have asked me at one o'clock last night, I would have said, 'This isn't going to get signed. I'll let things fall where they may.'"
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Poor Little Rich Club
Yellowstone Club Bankruptcy Exposes Brutal Financial Showdown
Once touted as the world's pre-eminent leisure community for the mega-rich, with billionaires from Bill Gates on down among its members, the Yellowstone Club near Big Sky, Montana, doesn’t have enough cash in the bank to buy propane, owner Edra Blixseth said in bankruptcy court in Missoula Wednesday.
The four companies that operate collectively as the Yellowstone Club filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Montana on Monday, citing debts of about $360 million, most of it owed to a consortium of lenders led by international bank Credit Suisse. Chapter 11 allows a business to operate while it reorganizes its debt, and in this case the bankruptcy filing comes in the wake of an ugly divorce, allegations of large-scale financial impropriety, and a complete meltdown of the high-end real estate market and the credit markets that funded it.
The club doesn't have enough cash to make its $600,000 monthly payroll for its 521 employees or to buy food for its restaurants, or for the electricity needed to operate the chairlifts at its storied private ski area. Last week, the club's checking account had only about $40,000.
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The 2008 Data Book from Montana Kids Count, which just hit the shelves, is boring and bland, but its informative sections on juvenile justice and the data snapshots of Native American women and children sound alarm bells.
Here's an example. On page 9, in the middle of a chart, is this shocking bit of news: Native women in Montana have an average life expectancy of 64 years, compared to 81 for the general population.
Sixty-four years!
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News Brief
Bitterroot Resort Gets Initial OK from Forest Service
The proposed Bitterroot Resort passed an early hurdle from the Bitterroot National Forest on Monday.
"We passed our first screening," said manager Jim Gill. "This is just one of many steps."
The Bitterroot Resort seeks to develop as part of its four-season resort 3,000 acres of Forest Service land (down from the 12,000 originally requested in 2005) for gladed skiing, Nordic skiing, and mountain biking, none of which would require ski lifts to access.
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The Yellowstone Club near Bozeman teeters on the brink of closure and lacks the cash to make payroll for 521 employees for the next three weeks, if a Montana bankruptcy judge doesn't allow the company to take on another $4.5 million in debt and spend its cash collateral, according to a plea filed in the resort's bankruptcy case.
The uber-exclusive, 13,600-acre Yellowstone Club filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late Monday, citing a total of $344 million in debt, mostly to international bank Credit Suisse, and about $1.1 billion in assets, court filings say.
A special request filed alongside the initial bankruptcy papers asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ralph B. Kirscher to OK an immediate hearing in the case to decide whether the club could use its cash collateral and to take out the loan.
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Tough Times at the Club
Yellowstone Club Files For Bankruptcy
Late Monday the uber-exclusive Yellowstone Club near Bozeman filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after negotiations broke down with lender Credit Suisse, from whom it borrowed some $300 million several years ago.
The first court filings, which bear the signature of club manager and co-owner Edra Blixseth, cite a combined debt of $344 million and assets of about $1.1 billion. The bankrupt companies include Yellowstone Mountain Club, Yellowstone Development, Big Sky Ridge, and Yellowstone Club Construction Co, according to court documents.
"I think we had a perfect storm. We're in a tough liquidity position," said club spokesman Bill Keegan. "We were seeking new long-term financing as part of our long-term capital needs, and then the lending markets froze. We felt it was best to protect the club, the members, and our future by seeking Chapter 11 protection."
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Missoula City Government
Missoula City Council: There’s UFDA to Consider
Here's Missoula Office of Planning and Grants director Roger Millar's short take on the city's zoning book: It's a 36-year-old update of an 80-year-old original, and most changes made to it over the decades have been preventive measures taken after some tragic or lame occurrence.
"Something terrible happens, and the city council directs staff to write codes so it can't happen again," Millar said. "We have all sorts of ways to say, 'No,' rather than an ordinance to facilitate what the community wants."
Part of the effort on reworking the zoning involves an amendment to the urban area's growth plan, the Urban Fringe Development Area Project, known as UFDA. On Monday night the city council will hold a public meeting at 7 p.m. on UFDA at its chambers at 140 W. Pine St.
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