Rafting Accident, Whitefish Landmark Changes Hands & Major Montana Investigations

A miraculous rescue on the Middle Fork River, the future of one of Whitefish’s most iconic bars, leadership turmoil inside a Montana school district, allegations of a six-figure church theft, and a Kalispell man facing serious criminal charges headline this week’s News Now.

In this episode, Daily Inter Lake reporter Taylor Inman breaks down the biggest stories shaping Northwest Montana. Hear the latest on a 17-year-old Ohio girl who survived after being submerged in the Middle Fork River for nearly 10 minutes, the local investors who stepped in to preserve the historic Great Northern Bar & Grill, and the ongoing shakeups inside the Hot Springs School District.

We also examine a major fraud case involving more than $150,000 allegedly taken from a Eureka church and the latest developments surrounding a Kalispell man accused of assaulting his mother while already facing charges connected to the vandalism of a wildfire-fighting helicopter.

A big thank you to our headline sponsor for the News Now podcast, Loren's Auto Repair! They combine skill with integrity resulting in auto service & repair of the highest caliber. Discover them in Ashley Square Mall at 1309 Hwy 2 West in Kalispell Montana, or learn more at https://lorensauto.com/

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Transcript

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Hello, welcome to News Now. I'm your host, Taylor Inman. We're going over the week's biggest headlines for Northwest Montana. A teenage girl from Columbus, Ohio nearly drowned in a rafting accident on the middle fork of the Floodhead River last week. 17-year-old Evie Scovile was submerged for about 10 minutes on June 4th until she was rescued by her boyfriend and his family, despite raging waters and a risk to themselves, according to a GoFundMe campaign set up to cover her medical expenses. She received 45 minutes of CPR from her boyfriend's family members and nearby EMTs before being airlifted to Kalispo for emergency medical treatment. The accident was part of a great Northern Raft Company excursion, but the company did not immediately respond to a request for more information. Flyhead County Sheriff Brian Haino on Monday confirmed there was a river accident on June 4th and multiple water incidents within the last week. In an email to the Hungry Horse News, Haino said that there had been six watercraft incidents from May 25th to June 4th. Rivers swelled with runoff after heavy rains last week, and emergency personnel said the accident involving Scovile occurred at the Bone Crusher Rapid between 2 and 3 p.m. Alert flew the girl to the hospital. That same day, a person in a kayak who went under also required rescuing. As of Tuesday, Scovile was in an induced coma and receiving treatment for her injuries, though she has been improving, according to reports on the GoFundMe page. The Great Northern Bar and Grill and Whitefish officially changed hands at 2 p.m. on Thursday, May 28th. Aside from the name on the deed, nothing has changed at the treasured downtown watering hole. Three days after the bar was listed on January 13th, the property was under contract. News of the sale spurred locals to fear the worst. Would an out-of-town buyer sanitize the joint or raise it and build something more attuned to Texas or California? Now whitefish residents can take a collective sigh of relief. According to Mike Anderson, the National Parks Realty agent who listed the property, a group of locals who have each lived in Whitefish for at least 15 years and wish to remain anonymous, joined forces to buy the iconic bar near the corner of Central Avenue and East First Street. Because in the fast-changing atmosphere of the town, they wanted this bit of whitefish to remain the same. Anderson and his son and business partner, Tyler Anderson, sold the property at close to the list price of $12 million. Mike said the new owners formed an LLC and purchased the bar so they could keep it, quote, exactly the same. He said they are local enough to know the integrity of the historic bar. Mike Anderson told the Whitefish pilot, quote, they want to keep the DNA of the bar and the local atmosphere 100% the Great Northern. All the buildings downtown are changing with new ownership and facelifts, and the Northern buyers don't want that. All the locals wanted the Great Northern to never sell, so they bought it to give the locals exactly that. End quote. Doug Ramerime and Kathy McGrath, bar owners for the last 40 years, will no longer be involved in the business, but their kids, Katie Aiky and Scott Larkin, who've managed the business for about 20 years, will continue to do so. And the staff won't change either. Mike Anderson worked at the Northern as a manager and bartender for 18 years before becoming a realtor. He described Ramerime as a musician who ended up buying the bar. Ramerime said he felt a little bit of relief and a little bit of sadness on Thursday, as he'd been part of the Great Northern since he began bartending there in 1983. He cannot recall the price of the bar when he bought it, but thinks it was less than one million dollars. He confirmed that the new owners aren't interested in making changes, but will repair a few areas that have been neglected over the last few years. He told the pilot, quote, they're great people, they're very philanthropic. They donate to a lot of whitefish projects and needs, and they love the town very much so, and they love the bar. When it came on the market, they jumped at it. End quote. Ramarim had an offer on the place a couple of years ago that eventually fell through. Even though it wasn't listed at the time, the experience made him start thinking about getting out of the business. The month of May brought tumultuous turnover within the Hot Springs School District, including the abrupt departure of its superintendent and the resignation of the system's new clerk and business manager. Former Superintendent Gerald Schunard, whose last day was scheduled for June 30th after he resigned in March, quit without warning on May 18th. The announcement came later that day at a special school board meeting when trustees were scheduled to discuss placing Schoenard on an administrative leave of absence, among other personnel issues, according to the meeting agenda. Interim Superintendent Mike Cutler, who was hired five days earlier, stepped in to take over for Schoenard on May 19th, according to board chair Jennifer Christensen. Cutler's original start date was July 1st, and he is contracted to serve as a halftime superintendent for the 2026-2027 school year. The school board hired Sam Hoff, whose experience includes three years as an elementary school teacher in Hot Springs and two years teaching fifth through sixth grade at Dixon Public Schools, on May 26th as a full-time principal. Hoff will earn an annual salary of $78,000, according to a contract posted on the school board's website. The Sanders County Rural School District launched its second search within a year for a permanent clerk and business manager after Bradley Pride resigned from the position on May 26, effective June 30th. Pride, who was hired by the school board in February, asked the School Board Finance Committee for a $65,000 salary for the 2026-2027 school year, according to a letter included in the Finance Committee's May 11th meeting documents. The Finance Committee said it would launch a 90-day performance evaluation before negotiating Pride's contract and salary, according to Christensen. He resigned less than two weeks after the meeting. The 90-day evaluation was part of Pride's original contract, which included a $50,000 annual salary with full benefits, according to Christensen. School Board trustees on Wednesday will consider an interim contract with AB Consulting Inc. to perform clerk and business manager duties until a permanent replacement is found. Three people have rotated through the clerk and business manager position since Carmen Jackson resigned from the role last August amid an audit investigation. A report released in September accused Jackson of embezzling grant money, giving herself unapproved payroll advances, and making personal purchases with the school's credit cards. The investigation was handed over to the Sanders County Attorney's Office in October. Barclay Flynn was hired in August to temporarily replace Jackson while the school board searched for a permanent candidate. However, his contract was terminated by trustees on November 3rd, following allegations that he failed to pay the bills on time. He was replaced by Gwen Anderson from AB Consulting, who was contracted by the school to train and assist Flynn. Anderson had raised the allegations that resulted in Flynn's termination. Resignation letters from two teachers were also announced at the May 13th school board meeting, sixth grade teacher Glenda Stickle and athletic director Brady Ovid, who taught junior high history and high school business and computer applications. Stickle left the school due to outside factors, according to her resignation letter. Ovid cited increasing concerns with the direction and culture within the district in his resignation letter, which went on to say that Ovid has experienced a lack of confidence in the financial transparency and decision making of the board and district as a whole, which has greatly contributed to his decision to depart.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

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SPEAKER_01 7:21

A Eureka woman is accused of fraud after church elders said that she stole more than $150,000. 62-year-old Kimberly M. Guterhan pleaded not guilty to one felony count of theft by embezzlement May 18th in Lincoln County District Court. Her next court appearance is scheduled for June 15th. She is free after Lincoln County Justice of the Peace, Jay Sheffield, granted her release on her own recognizance. A probable cause affidavit said the offenses were committed between June 1st, 2024 and October 30th, 2025. Eureka police officer Greg Niels met with five deacons on October 30th, last year at First Baptist Church. They gave the officer bank statements from two accounts. One account originally had $95,000 in it, but only $6,000 remained. Another account holding $65,000 was overdrawn by $1,400. Niels learned that Guterhan, who was employed by the church, was the only person with access to the accounts. She was responsible for writing checks from both accounts and making transactions for the church, according to court documents. October 31st, Niels retrieved bank statements from Glacier Bank. According to the charging documents, several transactions were made with a debit card to Montana Property Management, which is Guterhan's daughter, Amanda Benge. Debit transactions to the business totaled $89,150, according to court documents. There were also two checks written to Benj, according to the affidavit. One was for $10,000 and another for $318.46. Niels wrote in the affidavit that there was no legitimate reason for the $99,150 to be transferred from the church to Benge. In separate interviews with church deacons, Niels was told that they didn't require Guterhan to get approval to make purchases or write checks because they trusted her. Another deacon said that the defendant had written the word reimbursement in the memo line, which wasn't a normal practice for the church. The deacon said that they called Guterhan to the church after they reported the alleged theft, and she denied taking any money. She was also confronted with the Montana property management transactions, which she allegedly said recurring charges were accidentally set up. She said she was trying to reverse the action. But a review of the transactions indicated that the debit card appeared to have been physically used for each transaction, according to court documents. Neil said he tried to interview Guterhan on November 3rd, but she declined to do so without an attorney present. County attorney Marsha Boris is prosecuting the case while Libby attorney Ann German is defending Guterhan. The maximum sentence for a conviction on fraud is 10 years in the Montana State prison. A man suspected of ransacking a helicopter at the Kalispell City Airport last summer is back behind bars after allegedly attacking his 75-year-old mother. Authorities have held 54-year-old Darren Darrell Zick of Kalispell in the county jail on $175,000 bonds since his May 16th arrest. He pleaded not guilty to one felony count of strangulation before Judge Danny Kaufman in Fledhead County District Court on May 26th. Zick's mother told Kalispel police officers responding to her Airport Road apartment at about 8.22 a.m. on May 16th that the two of them got into an argument over money earlier that morning. Zick grabbed her by the arms and threw her to the ground during the exchange, leaving her with a bloodied elbow, according to court documents. As she laid there, Zick allegedly got on top of her and put both hands around her neck and squeezed. Court documents said that she later got free and fled the apartment, yelling for help, where a neighbor let her in to call the authorities. Officers found and arrested Zick near the intersection of 1st Avenue West and 10th Street West, according to court documents. Two days after the arrest, prosecutors filed a petition to revoke Zick's release on the pending felony criminal mischief and attempted theft case stemming from June 2025. In that case, Zick is accused of stealing equipment from a helicopter parked at the Calisbell City Airport on June 20th. When the crew arrived at the airport, they found equipment strewn about the rotocraft and Zick sitting nearby, according to court documents. When confronted, Zick allegedly told the crew that he believed the helicopter was slated for the junkyard. Surveillance footage turned over to the investigators captured Zik climbing on top of the helicopter before getting inside, where he spent roughly two hours. The crew valued the equipment pulled from the rotocraft at about $30,000 and said the damage amounted to more than $1,500. The ransacking rendered the helicopter, which was under contract by the state to aid in fighting wildfires, unable to fly, court documents said. Zik has pleaded not guilty in the case. Thanks for joining us. News Now is a podcast from the Daily Interlake. We're proud to be the largest independent newsroom in Montana and the longest continuously published newspaper in the region. Today's stories were written by Hungry Horse News editor Chris Peterson, Daily Interlake News Editor Derek Perkins, Report for America reporter Hannah Shields, Whitefish Pilot Reporter Julie Ingler, and Western News Editor Scott Schindeldecker. You can read the full versions of these stories at Dailyinterlake.com. And if you haven't already, subscribe to our YouTube channel to never miss an episode of The Pod. Everybody stay safe and have a great week.