Finally, 2020 is behind us.
It was a year in which everyone suffered. Jobs were lost, businesses failed, paychecks shrank, payments were missed, and families were separated by quarantine, an especially cruel hardship for the elderly.
Felton.
Even dependably uplifting diversions like weddings, concerts, vacations, holiday gatherings and just about every other fun thing went away.
And, people died.
The early warnings about COVID-19 came early and often.
"This is not a situation we should ignore," said John Felton on March 3, before even a single case was reported in Yellowstone County. Felton had been the nearly invisible CEO of RiverStone Health, the county’s public health department, before becoming the disaster’s local face.
His difficult orders requiring business restrictions, masking and social distancing made us miserable and cost our economy dearly. They also saved lives.
But, through all the misery, inspiring moments were everywhere you looked.
People took care of each other however they could. Volunteers at the food bank, some of them hungry themselves, packed a record number of food boxes. One family made a habit of leaving a tip with each meal they had delivered that was twice the cost of the meal. When another family learned a single mother in their neighborhood had lost her job, they arranged to have a hot meal delivered to her home every day. A landlord forgave overdue rent, a handyman charged only for parts, a woman in line at the grocery store paid for the items of the man ahead of her who didn’t have enough money, and a musician played sunny songs from his porch for passersby.
The pandemic broke the year in two. There was COVID and there was everything else. For that reason, we’ve prepared two lists of 2020’s top Billings Gazette stories — COVID, and everything else.
Top 10 COVID stories
1. Seventeen residents of Canyon Creek Memory Care died from COVID-19.
Beginning July 6, with just 16 total COVID-19 deaths in Yellowstone County and 44 in all of Montana, the disease began its swift deadly march though Canyon Creek Memory Care in Billings. Of the 45 residents there, 43 had tested positive for the virus. In less than three weeks, 15 residents had died, and soon after two more.
Members of the Montana National Guard put on personal protective equipment before entering Canyon Creek Memory Care Community in Billings.
The virus had so overwhelmed the care home, sending more than a dozen staff home sick, that the National Guard and volunteers from Billings Clinic moved in to help run the place.
2. First vaccines arrive in Billings, with frontline workers going first.
The first doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine are administered to front line workers at Billings Clinic on Dec. 15.
Although the two Billings hospitals received just a few thousand doses of the vaccine on its Dec. 14 arrival in Montana, the day was described as “monumental.” It was a small flicker of light at the end of a very long tunnel.
Billings Clinic ICU physician Dave Pucci volunteered to be among the first to get the shot, partly to demonstrate he believes it is safe.
A few days later, the vaccine arrived on Montana’s Indian reservations where Native Americans have been hit especially hard by the virus.
3. Rural health departments struggle weight of pandemic, and skeptics
Between March 1 and Oct. 28, McCone County public health nurse Sue Ann Good didn’t take a single day off. Her vigilance keep the number of COVID cases and deaths in her county low, but didn’t earn her many fans.
Marty Johnson, a Park County resident of 9 years, answers a survey administered by Park County Community Outreach Specialist Molly O’Neil Tuesday. The CASPER survey, (Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response) is designed to help community health officials to understand the needs of the people they serve. Johnson said he was surprised to hear anybody at the door since he has been almost completely isolated since the beginning of the pandemic. He said he was happy to participate in the survey because, “the more information the better on this COVID stuff.”
“I don’t think any public health nurse or director thought when this happened that we would have the pushback that we’ve had,” Good said.
In rural counties, several health officers resigned, either out of exhaustion or a weariness of the rudeness of some residents and even other county officials who believed health precautions were an unnecessary theft of their rights. In Pondera County in November, the entire Public Health Department resigned all at once.
4. Yellowstone County emerges as "epicenter" of pandemic in state
Early on in the pandemic it seemed like Yellowstone County, the state’s largest population center, would dodge the worst of it. On April 1, Gallatin County had 76 cases and Yellowstone had 30.
As brutal as it was, Gov. Steve Bullock’s emergency “shelter-in-place” order seemed to be keeping a lid on it in Yellowstone County. When the numbers did start to climb, John Felton was confident the rise was due to increased testing.
Then came June and July. On July, 16, Felton described the county as the state’s “epicenter” of the pandemic in Montana. At the time, the county’s 440 active cases accounted for one-third of all of the state’s cases and more than half of the state’s hospitalized COVID patients were in Billings.
Yellowstone County has remained the hottest spot in the state since then.
5. Many businesses ordered closed, restaurants limited to delivery
The order came like a hammer to hospitality businesses like restaurants and bars where customers drop as much as $100 million annually into the county’s economy, Billings Chamber of Commerce President John Brewer said at the time.
Customers stroll the halls as Rimrock Mall opens on April 27 for the first time since businesses closed due to the coronavirus.
Hundreds of employees lost their jobs and a few restaurants never did reopen.
6. Billings inventors create mask design that sweeps world
The pandemic came with such swiftness that health care workers were initially caught short of personal protective equipment, especially masks.
Colton Zaugg, left, and his father Spencer Zaugg, a Billings dentist, are making reusable high-filtration face masks for medical professionals on 3-D printers in their Billings home.
In late March, three Billings men had an idea for a mask with a replaceable filter that could be made with a 3D printer. The self-proclaimed “tinkerers,” Billings Clinic neurosurgeon Dusty Richardson, dentist Spencer Zaugg and his son, Colton Zaugg, stayed up all night fine-tuning the design and then offered the instructions free online.
Within a few weeks, the design had been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times and 3D printers were humming away making the masks in at least 200 countries.
7. Fleeing hotspots elsewhere, out-of-staters buy Billings homes
Out-of-staters found a fresh appeal of Big Sky country, as more work could be done remotely, and fewer people meant fewer cases of COVID.
Melisia Muscat stands on the front porch of the new home on Billings' West End that she and her husband bought sight-unseen before moving here from the Seattle, Washington area.
Many of the homebuyers in Yellowstone County bought sight-unseen, a few ran up bids beyond the asking price, and some even paid cash. It was great if you were a home seller, but not-so-great if you already lived in Yellowstone County and were just trying to move up. The run on homes also boosted rents for many cash-strapped locals.
8. For COVID "long-haulers," the illness may be forever
A photo taken July 15, two days after he was diagnosed with COVID-19 shows a bed-ridden Rory Rogina.
Among COVID-19 survivors are a few whose symptoms never seem to go away, including some unusual symptoms like hair loss, muscle cramps and even vision impairment
Disease experts don’t know much about what’s causing the lingering symptoms. There are long-haulers in Billings, and thousands across the country who are looking to support groups for help.
9. Schools go to remote learning
It has been one of those problems where every solution comes with enormous consequences. Faced with closures, school officials scrambled to find ways to educate students safely. Some students would be taught at home, officials decided, and some in carefully arranged classrooms.
William Bleyer, 5, picks out a book at the Reading Rocks event at Lewis and Clark Middle School in June. More families than expected are requesting that their children take classes remotely during the upcoming school year, according to Billings Public Schools superintendent Greg Upham.
The challenge was compounded by not all students having the technology to study at home, and most didn’t have a parent who could stay home to manage their school work. And what about students whose only hot meals were the ones they got at school?
About 30% of students “never engaged” with remote learning, SD2 Superintendent Greg Upham said in November.
The scores of students were assessed in the fall and compared to previous years when school was held normally. To no one’s surprise, scores in some subjects dropped, especially math.
10. Paycheck program gives $1.8B to 22,000 Montana businesses
It was a mad-dash, first-come first-served program, with banks in Billings submitting applications at midnight on the first day loans were available.
There was $1.28 billion awarded to 10,372 Montana businesses in the first 10 days, during which the original $349 billion awarded to PPP ran out. Congress then authorized another $200 billion.
Yellowstone Bank's President Jay Harris answers reporter's questions about the new SBA loans available to businesses as part of the Paycheck Protection Program at the Overland Avenue branch of Yellowstone Bank in Billings on Friday, April 3, 2020.
Among the Montana borrowers were more than 1,500 restaurants and bars. In that group there were 1,290 from towns large and small that collectively received $53.5 million, with an average loan of $41,510.
In June, Billings hotelier Steve Wahrlich said the city’s hotels were about 45% to 50% full, at a time of year when they would usually be 80% booked.
Without the federal aid, many small businesses would have failed, leaving employees stranded without a reliable paycheck.
Top 10 other news stories
1. Selena Not Afraid found dead
Not Afraid
On New Year’s Day, 16-year-old Selena Not Afraid wheeled into an Interstate 90 rest stop with friends on their way to Hardin from Billings. The van they were riding in had broken down.
While the group waited for a ride, Selena wandered off alone for some unknown reason and disappeared. Search parties including members of multiple law enforcement agencies and volunteers combed the area for days on horseback, foot and ATV.
After 20 days, a special federal search team found her, about a mile from the rest stop.
She died of hypothermia, and the preliminary autopsy showed no evidence of violence or foul play.
2. Homicides spike in Yellowstone County during 2020
Yellowstone County saw 19 homicides in 2020, or approximately one every three weeks.
The numbers mark a record for at least the past decade. The closest year, in 2015, saw 12 homicides, according to data from the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office and the Billings Police Department.
3. Hundreds gather for peaceful George Floyd rally
On Sunday, June 7, hundreds of people from all over the region joined other cities in the nation in rallying for change following the police-involved death of Black Minneapolis resident George Floyd.
Many of the rallies across the county were marred by violence and police in Billings prepared for the worst.
Demonstrators chant during a Justice for George Floyd rally in downtown Billings on June 7.
So many people joined the rally downtown that the crowd spilled into the sidewalk and streets around the courthouse lawn. Men and women with guns were among the crowd. A man in a bear costume with a boombox danced and passing cars honked.
But, nothing beyond a few brief shouting matches occurred and before too long a summer downpour dispersed the crowd.
4. Record-breaking voter turnout in Yellowstone County
Yellowstone County voters set a record in 2020, casting nearly 83,000 ballots. The previous record was about 72,000 ballots.
Voters wait in line inside the Montana Pavilion at MetraPark in Billings on Election Day, Tuesday.
And, while most voters returned their ballots by mail, thousands showed up to vote at MetraPark, some of them waiting four hours in line.
The result was a red sweep across the state, with Republicans winning every significant seat.
5. Airplane crash kills four men brought together by sobriety
On Jan. 11, a private airplane carrying four people hit the guy wire of a 200-foot tall radio tower on Dunn Mountain about 25 miles north of Billings.
All four died. The men had bonded through a sobriety program in Billings and were just have a “recreational flight” with stops in Hardin and Roundup.
The victims included David Healow 69; Rusty Jungels, 36; Mikel Peterson, 35; Raymond Rumbold 32.
6. Crow cultural history goes on display at Chicago museum
For the Crow Indians, a long-overdue national appreciation of their rich culture and history began in the same week that one of the worst crises in decades struck the tribe.
In Chicago last March, the Field Museum opened the exhibit “Apsáalooke Women and Warriors,” a massive, deeply researched and curated display of Crow Indian culture, religion and society. It was two years in the making. It was also the Field Museum’s first major exhibit curated by a Native American scholar, Nina Sanders, a member of the Crow Tribe.
For the opening of the exhibit, more than 50 members of the Crow Tribe, including tribal elders, traveled to Chicago. Their visit included a parade, on horseback with tribal members wearing traditional regalia, along the streets of South Chicago.
7. Colstrip Units 1 and 2 shut down
It seemed like the end came pretty swift for the Colstrip coal-fired power plant’s oldest two units. Exit dates had been hinted at for several years, but accelerated throughout 2019. And, then in the first few days of the new year, the units that had been operating since the 1970s fell cold and still.
The Colstrip Power Plant is shown Friday, October 2, 2020.
Puget Sound Energy’s hope to sell its shares to NorthWestern Energy and Talen Energy fell through last October.
8. Bullying, spying and harassment revealed in Montana's PSC
Montana’s Public Service Commission, the five-person body elected to among other things determine monopoly utility rates, was caught up in an intrigue that has resulted in one commissioner filing a $2.5 million damage claim.
Documents obtained by The Billings Gazette showed a pattern of bullying, harassment, and spying at the agency, where the annual salary for board seats start at $109,000.
Beginning in 2019, PSC staff and commissioner Randy Pinocci began reading through fellow commissioner Roger Koopman’s emails without Koopman’s knowledge.
9. Two tow truck drivers killed on Interstate 90
Although not considered often enough as first-responders, tow truck drivers are regularly risking their lives to tend to vehicles that have stalled or crashed on busy roads and highways.
On Oct. 25, two tow truck operators from Hanser’s Automotive in Billings were struck and killed by a pickup truck pulling a trailer on icy Interstate 90 near Columbus.
One of the operators was 37-year-old Nicholas Ryan Visser of Billings. The other was 28-year-old William Casie Allen from Reed Point. The two men were on foot recovering a vehicle that had crashed earlier.
To memorialize the two drivers, more than 200 vehicles, many of them emergency vehicles, lined the top of the Rims after nightfall and flashed their emergency lights.
10. (tie). Bobcat fire near Roundup destroys structures
“Thus is life,” said longtime Roundup resident Pat Perrella as he prepared sack lunches for the hundreds of people battling the September Bobcat fire.
Fires, and floods, have become all too regular disasters in Musselshell County. In 1984, a fire burned 173,000 acres, destroyed 44 homes and killed a volunteer fire firefighter. And then, beginning in about 2006, it seemed like fires swept through nearly every year. In 2011, the Musselshell River swelled over its banks and flooded part of Roundup up to the roof lines.
The lightning-caused Bobcat fire killed livestock, destroyed 10 homes and at least 13 outbuildings and led to evacuation orders for some Musselshell County residents whose properties were threatened by the fire.
10. Yellowstone grizzly vs. bison video goes global
When Michael Daus of Jackson, Wyoming, uploaded the video he shot of a grizzly bear attacking a bison during a brutal struggle in Yellowstone National Park, he had no idea the response would be so huge.
“This was not originally put together with any expectation of wider exposure,” he told The Gazette.
But, wider exposure it got. By the end of the year, his video posted to YouTube had been viewed nearly three million times, and shared more than a thousand.
Photos: Billings Gazette photographers' favorite photos of 2020
Horses at sunset
Horses gather along a fence line on Shorey Road as the sun sets in August.
Justice for George Floyd protest
Sequoyah Underwood leads a chant of "what's his name," as protesters lie on North 27th Street during the Justice for George Floyd protest outside of the Yellowstone County Courthouse in Billings in June.
Underpass mural
Volunteers Madalyn Freeman and Amy Hauschild work on a mural in the Sixth Street Underpass in August.
Gardiner fire
An aerial view shows how fire destroyed historic buildings in downtown Gardiner in July.
MontanaFair goat show
Grace Hansen, 11, of Worden-Riverdale 4-H, sits with her Nigerian goat Carmela before her turn in the ring at the breeding goat show at MontanaFair at the First Interstate Arena at MetraPark in August.
John Raines hugs his son Blake
John Raines hugs his son, Billings West student Blake Raines, during a graduation ceremony in the auditorium at Billings West High School in January. The special ceremony was held so that John Raines, who has terminal brain cancer, could see his son graduate before his condition worsened.
Roundup Fire
A DNRC firefighter jumps over hoses as he moves to a new position as firefighters battle a fire in the Vintage Cafe building in the 200 block of Main Street in Roundup in May.
Church Cleaning
Jan Ward wipes down pews after they were sprayed with sanitizer at St. Patrick Co-Cathedral in November. Staff and volunteers at the church clean every part of the church before and after the congregation has been inside.
Hardin vs. Central basketball
Ze'Andre Pickett, 8, cheers as Hardin's players are introduced during the Hardin Bulldogs' game against the Billings Central Rams in the final round of the Eastern A Divisional Tournament at First Interstate Arena in Billings in February.
Shopping unicorn
Bernie Wahl wears her inflatable unicorn suit at Sam's Club in Billings in March. Wahl bought the suit online, and has made three trips out around Billings since it arrived, hoping to make people smile.
Ellen Edlund
Billings Clinic nurse Ellen Edlund is cared for by Katie Kukowski in the Intensive Care Unit at Billings Clinic in December.
Miss Montana High School Rodeo Queen
Miss Montana High School Rodeo Queen Laney Johnson pins her hair before carrying the American Flag during the National Anthem at the Montana High School Rodeo Association state championships at Fallon County Fairgrounds in Baker in June.
Chris LaRue
Chris LaRue watches the sun set and the moon rise over the Billings skyline as he makes his way to the tent where he lives on the Rimrocks overlooking Billings.
Neowise
The comet Neowise hangs over the Billings Rimrocks in this time-exposure in July.
Tracy Linder
Artist Tracy Linder stands with one of her new installations, which she has temporarily installed in a barn near her home between Acton and Molt in October.
Cohagen School
Students race to the school where national Rural Teacher of the Year Joni Carroll manages 13 students at the Cohagen School.
Park One
A Billings Police officer consoles a man at the scene in the Park One parking garage at Third Avenue North and North 29th Street in June. A man died after falling through a stairwell window near the top of the building.
Stillwater Wind Farm
Wind turbines at Stillwater Wind facility turn in the evening light in December near Reed Point. Multiple wind farms occupy the area north of Interstate 90 in Stillwater and Carbon Counties.
Pageant fundraising
Rhiannon Erwin, center, fixes the sash for her cousin Taevinn Erwin, 10, right, as they sit with Rhiannon's sister Serenity Erwin, 9, at a bus stop on North Broadway and Fourth Avenue North in June. The three were out in their pageant sashes and tiaras as they fundraised for a trip to the national Our Little Miss Scholarship Competition, which began July 26 in Las Vegas, Nev.
Alice Frank
Alice Frank bowls during the Jubilee Seniors bowling league at Fireside Lanes in Billings in February. Frank, who turned 100 on Feb. 14, bowled a season-high 188.
Yellowstone Regionals
A racer competes in qualifying at the NHRA Lucas Oil Yellowstone Regionals at the Yellowstone Drag Strip in August.
Standoff arrest
Homicide suspect Taylor Plainbull was arrested by Billings police at the Rodeway Inn after a standoff with SWAT team members in October.
Class C Basketball
Bridger's Jake Kallevig (12) reacts after sinking a three-pointer and drawing a foul to take the lead with less than three minutes to go in the fourth quarter during the Plenty Coups Warriors' game against the Bridger Scouts in the championship round of the Class C District 6 tournament at Huntley Project High School in Worden in February. Bridger had trailed by 16 at the start of the fourth quarter.
State wrestling tournament
Three Forks wrestlers Kylan Kamps and Levi Wagner, center, lie on a mat as wrestlers jog around the arena to warm up before the state wrestling tournament at First Interstate Arena in February.
Legion baseball
Royals' Noah Aufdengarten (12) takes a quiet moment after the last out in the Royals' 6-0 loss to the Senators in the semifinal round of the American Legion Baseball Class AA State tournament at Dehler Park in Billings in August. The loss eliminated the Royals from the tournament and ended their 2020 season.
Foxes on Shiloh
A trio of fox kits warms in the morning sun near Shiloh Road in May.
Steer Wrestling
Brennan Graham competes in the steer wrestling event during the Montana High School Rodeo Association state championships at Fallon County Fairgrounds in Baker in June.
Highgate parade
Highgate Senior Living resident Joanne Stensland looks out of her window as eight of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren come by to say hello during a parade organized by staff in May.
Selena Not Afraid's birthday
Friends and family members of Selena Not Afraid and her twin sister Zoey Not Afraid release a paper lantern in their memory.
Clinic testing
Herman Hill arrived on a motorcycle for his pre-procedural coronavirus testing at Billings Clinic on North Broadway in April.
Protest in Billings
Protesters pass an armed militia member guarding downtown Billings businesses on North Broadway during a protest in April over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Leo the Dog Reunion
Melissa Buescher gives a kiss to her chow Leo after being reunited with him in November at Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter in Billings. Buescher flew in from Minneapolis to reunite with her dog after he got lost during an early October hike.
State Soccer
Laurel's Mya Maack (5) cries after the Laurel Locomotives won the Class A state championship over the Whitefish Bulldogs at Laurel High School in Laurel in October. The Locomotives trailed 2-0 with less than 17 minutes left in regulation before coming back to win 3-2 in overtime.
North Park Christmas Tree
The light from a large decorated pine tree turns the snow blue and purple as dusk settles over North Park in December in Billings. For the second year, the North Park Task Force, Billings Parks and Recreation and Billings Industrial Revitalization District have come together to decorate the Christmas tree on the Southwest corner of the park to “brighten the spirits of the residents of North park and the greater Billings Community,” according to a press release.
January 03, 2021 at 08:00PM
https://billingsgazette.com/news/local/2020-was-a-year-to-forget-although-it-brought-out-the-best-in-many-people/article_10250800-65bd-583d-9a1c-2cb95ccca436.html
2020 was a year to forget, although it brought out the best in many people - Billings Gazette
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