Bigfork Marina Withdrawn, Cemetery Theft Lawsuit and Libby Clinic Closure

Taylor Inman rounds up the week's biggest stories from Northwest Montana from this week.

Developers behind a proposed 97-slip marina in Bigfork Bay pulled their permit application after pushback from the community. A Flathead County lawsuit accuses a Kalispell man of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his father, the longtime Conrad Cemetery groundskeeper, and forcing him into unsafe living conditions before his death. Libby's Center for Asbestos Related Disease closed its doors early after losing federal grant funding. Plus, a Columbia Falls teenager is running again months after a car crash that nearly killed her, and two Flathead Valley manufactured home communities became resident-owned.

00:00 - Intro
00:39 - Bigfork Marina Application Withdrawn
03:16 - Lawsuit Accuses Son in Cemetery Groundskeeper's Death
07:29 - Libby's CARD Clinic Abruptly Closes
10:28 - Columbia Falls Crash Survivor Returns to Running
12:40 - Twin Willows Becomes Fifth Resident-Owned Community

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Hello and welcome to News Now. I'm your host, Taylor Inman. We're going over the week's biggest headlines for Northwest Montana. We'll get the latest on the application withdrawn for a 97 slip marina in the Big Fork Bay. Hear about a new lawsuit accusing the son of the former groundskeeper at Conrad Memorial Cemetery in Calisbell of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his father. We'll learn about the abrupt closure of the Center for Asbestos Related Disease in Libby. We'll also get an update on the Columbia Falls high schooler who was severely injured in a crash earlier this year, caused by someone who allegedly stole a car in Evergreen and led police on a chase. Lastly, we'll get details on a new resident-owned community in the Flathead Valley. The developers behind a proposed 97 slip marina in Flathead Lakes Big Fork Bay have withdrawn their 310 permit application with the Flathead County Conservation District in response to public feedback. The Conservation District Board was set to review the application from Cougar Ridge Development at its August 10th meeting, but the Poulson-based developer on Monday notified the district of its intent to withdraw from the review process. District Resource Conservation Specialist Samantha Tappenback said they made reference to wanting to pull the application to address some of the concerns and issues that have been brought forward by the public through a more appropriate venue, like through the planning process as opposed to the 310 permit process. While the application will still appear on the August 10th meeting agenda, the board will only formally approve the application's withdrawal. The developer did not indicate to the district its next steps for the project. Cougar Ridge Development owns the property on the northeast shore of Big Fork Bay, immediately west of the Flathead County Public Dock. Most of the property is in the water, but also includes a sliver of shoreline between the Bay and Grand Drive. According to plans submitted with the now withdrawn 310 permit application, the marina would include 97 boat slips, a boardwalk, a swimming area, and a parking lot. No fueling would be offered at the marina, but there would be wastewater disposal provided to boaters. Since Big Fork Bay is considered part of the Swan River, the proposed marina is required to go through the 310 permitting process, which is designed to preserve rivers and streams in their natural state. Any project that will impact the better bank of a perennial flowing stream is required to obtain a 310 permit. To move forward with the project, Cougar Ridge would eventually need to resubmit its application with the district. The conservation district received Cougar Ridge's 310 permit application in early April and was originally scheduled to review the document in June, but the board tabled the application due to insufficient information. The developer requested additional time ahead of the July meeting, pushing the review to August, before withdrawing the application altogether. In its application, Cougar Ridge Development wrote, quote, The project is necessary because of the continuing slash growing need for general public boat docking capacity on Flathead Lake. Without the additional capacity, boat owners are only left with the option of removing watercraft from the water after every use. When completed, the facility will provide a needed public service that is lacking on Flathead Lake. End quote. The proposed marina has drawn considerable attention from the Big Fork community who fear the project will change the character of Big Fork Bay. Ashley Atkins of the recently formed Big Fork Community Alliance said the group is concerned about increased traffic both in the water and on Grand Drive, as well as the impact of the marina on the environment. Jim Korn was the longtime groundskeeper of Calisbell's Conrad Memorial Cemetery and died in May after vanishing last year. Korn and his son Kevin Korn disappeared in the spring of 2025, allegedly absconding with cemetery records needed to sell grave sites. The loss left the cemetery in limbo for half a year, and families looking to buy graves for loved ones were turned away because cemetery employees couldn't identify the sites that were already sold. The missing deed books and plot maps were eventually recovered from a distant relative's home outside of Libby in October. The cemetery's new sexton, Jim Epperly, has had to painstakingly digitize the pen and paper logging system that Jim used for decades. Two computers that vanished at the same time as the records remain missing. Following Jim's death at the age of 92 in a hospital in Murray, Utah on May 17th, Christy O. Wolfe was appointed as the personal representative of her father's estate. Attorneys Grant Snell and Kyle Glanzer, with Crowley Fleck PLLP, who are representing Jim's estate, filed a complaint in Fleethead County District Court on July 1st, asking for a jury trial to determine whether Kevin mistreated his father and improperly took money from his investment accounts. Snell declined to comment for this article, citing ongoing litigation. The complaint accuses Kevin of two counts of negligence and infliction of emotional distress for manipulating his father to gain access to and steal the records, isolating him from his family, removing him from his home in Kalisbell, and forcing him to live in unsafe and unsanitary conditions, including sleeping in the passenger seat of a car filled with clutter. Court documents allege that the conduct created degrading, disorienting, and isolating circumstances that deprived Jim of stability, safety, and meaningful contact with his family. Kevin is also accused of two counts of conversion and unjust enrichment for manipulating his father into closing two investment accounts totaling $300,000 and transferring the money into a shared account. Kevin allegedly put the funds into a joint investment account to use for his personal benefit, thwarting Jim's estate plan as set forth in his will, according to court documents. He also allegedly continues to use Jim's 2002 Mercury Grand Marquee GS, which is now an asset of Jim's estate. The complaint is seeking damages and equitable relief, including restitution and attorney's fees. Jim oversaw cemetery operations for more than two decades before the winter of 2025 when dementia and other health issues began affecting his job performance, prompting the cemetery board to search for a successor. Jim's family and cemetery board members suspect Kevin of taking the records in retaliation for being passed over for the position. Kevin did not respond to a request for comment before press time. After allegedly stealing the records, the two skipped town, frequently bouncing between locations that made it tough for family, the cemetery, and even private investigators to track them down. They'd sometimes stay in hotels, but often slept in Jim's sedan, which was filled with clothes, food containers, and boxes. The complaint alleges that Kevin forced Jim to sleep in the car at restaurants and in parking lots. The two were often in Utah where members of their extended family live and where Jim had to make various hospital visits due to his fragile health. Jim's family was unaware that he was in intensive care until days before his death. Despite Kevin's effort to withhold familial information from medical staff, nurses tracked down his granddaughter, Michaela Priest, after finding the Interlakes previous reporting on his disappearance and Priest's efforts to find the cemetery records. Upon arriving at the Utah hospital, Jim's family learned that he had been hospitalized repeatedly since December 2025, including for a hip fracture that required surgery, according to court documents. The complaint alleged that the poor living conditions Kevin subjected his father to further deteriorated his fragile health and either caused or contributed to his death. Conrad Cemetery Board President Jeff Ellingston said that he has still been unable to get in contact with Kevin. The cemetery's criminal complaint, originally filed against Jim and Kevin, was later amended to name Jim's estate as a defendant. Ellingson said anyone with information as to Kevin Korn's whereabouts can call the cemetery office at 406-955-9808 or email the board at Conrad Cemetery at iCloud.com. Patients at Libby's Card Clinic were left wondering when or if they'll receive their medical records after the facility abruptly closed on Monday, three weeks sooner than expected. The Center for Asbestos Related Disease posted a message on its Facebook page at about 3 30 p.m. on Monday that it was permanently closed as of August 10th. The beleaguered facility was set to close August 31st after its federal grant funding was not renewed, which resulted in the impending closure. Federal grant funding provided nearly all of the clinic's operating revenue, and the clinic was in the process of dissolving the organization after the grant was pulled. Attempts to reach the clinic's executive director, Tracy McNew, by phone on Monday were unsuccessful. About an hour following the closure announcement, CARD patient Tanya Olson arrived at the clinic to get her medical records, and she was unaware of the closure. She told the Western News that she doesn't spend much time on Facebook, but that she knew they were closing at the end of the month and wanted to get her records. Olson learned that she had to call the clinic number at 406-293-9274 and leave a message. In the announcement posted to social media, the clinic noted limited ability to process and respond to medical record requests. The post said that CARD is actively consulting with the appropriate government agencies and legal counsel to determine the appropriate process for handling medical record requests during the transition. The clinic has been on shaky ground since it lost a September 2024 appeal to a federal jury's $6 million judgment in June of 2023. Railroad giant BNSF Railway sued the clinic for fraud in 2019, claiming more than 1,000 fraudulent diagnoses. Jurors ruled that the clinic made or presented false claims 337 times. McNew previously said that most of the claims at issue in the trial concerned the submission of forms to Medicare, that certified patients had been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease and were eligible for coverage under an Affordable Care Act provision created to respond to Libby's environmental health threat. According to McNew, prior to trial, Judge Dana Christensen made a legal ruling that any claim based only on imaging read outside of a B-reader radiologist was invalid, making it likely that those certifications constituted a bulk of the 337 claims. The clinic opened in 2000 under the direction of St. John's Lutheran Hospital, now known as Cabinet Peaks Medical Center, following the discovery of widespread asbestos exposure. Hundreds of asbestos-related deaths and thousands of diagnoses followed. The CARD Clinic separated from the hospital in 2003 and moved into its own location in 2004. In 2010, the Federal Affordable Care Act provided millions of dollars for asbestos screening and surveillance, as well as asbestos-related health care services. Since then, CARD has received millions in funding from the Centers for Disease Control that allowed it to operate and provide free screenings. In August 2024, CARD received a new five-year federal funding grant that was abruptly terminated earlier this year, leading to the impending closure. The federal government recently began a more stringent review of grants due to the perceived amount of fraud that was occurring. A few weeks ago, Columbia Falls high schooler Hazel Alexander received a box from her parents. Inside it were a pair of running shoes and a note from her doctor. She was cleared to run again. Alexander was moved to tears. The expectation was that her pelvis, which was shattered in a car accident, wouldn't be healed enough for her to train safely until this winter. She will soon be a senior on the Columbia Falls cross-country team. Alexander was almost killed in a car accident on January 9th after the vehicle she was driving was hit by Alfred Chester Flamond of Browning, after he allegedly stole a vehicle at the town pump in Evergreen and then led police on a high-speed chase through Columbia Falls. The chase ended when he allegedly ran the red light at highways 2 and 206 and plowed into Alexander's vehicle. She suffered numerous injuries, including a raptured spleen which had to be removed, a broken femur, broken jaw, shattered pelvis, and had strokes in both hemispheres of her brain, a full one in the right side and a partial on the left side. She was lifelighted to Harvard View Medical Center in Seattle, and after numerous surgeries, she spent two and a half months in a wheelchair. She also had to undergo intensive therapy to regain her communication and motor skills due to the strokes. She told the Hungry Horse News in a recent interview that she's been running for a few weeks now. She gets up every morning and puts her shoes on and runs. Alexander said that she was pretty surprised that she was cleared to run after all that's happened. Right now she runs about two miles a day, adding a little bit at a time. She's running an eight-minute mile, and the goal is to trim that to seven minutes or less by the time cross-country season starts in a few weeks. Practice starts on Friday, but she'll be on a family vacation. Prior to the accident, she was the top runner for the Columbia Falls cross-country team, taking 20th at the state meet last fall. She plans on splitting her class duties both through homeschooling and in-school instruction. Her greater goal is to be accepted at the Naval Academy and go on to have a career in aircraft mechanical engineering in the Marines. A habitual offender, Flamin faces charges of felony fleeing and eluding, felony criminal endangerment, felony theft of a light vehicle, and negligent vehicle assault related to the wreck. If convicted on all counts, Flamin faces 40 years in prison. His case is pending in Flathead County District Court. Residents of two local manufactured home parks have purchased the land beneath their homes to create the fifth resident-owned community in the Flathead Valley. Now Twin Willows Incorporated, this 55 home community is officially resident-owned, providing greater long-term stability and preserving an important source of naturally occurring affordable housing in the Flathead Valley. Cooperative Housing Director of Neighborworks Montana, Danielle Bundrock, said, quote, Twin Willows is a powerful example of what can happen when manufactured homeowners are given the opportunity, tools, and financing to purchase the land beneath their homes. She said the 55 households are not simply buying property but creating long-term stability, preserving affordable homes, and building a community that they will govern together. The community includes a wide range of residents and households. Of Twin Willows residents, 72% are low income, 6% are veterans, and 14% are living with a disability. A variety of partners work together to support the sale of the two parks, including Twin Willows Incorporated, its resident members and board of directors, Neighborworks Montana, which has provided organizing, technical assistance, and purchase support, ROC USA Capital, Clearwater Credit Union and the Montana Board of Investments, which are providing primary acquisition financing, Whitefish Community Foundation, which awarded a $75,000 major community project grant in support of the community and raised an additional $18,000 in donations for the purchase. And the additional investors supporting the acquisition and property improvements. Debbie Profit, president of Twin Willows' newly elected board of directors, reflected on the significance of resident ownership at the community's closing earlier this week. She said there's a weight lifted off their shoulders and that being on the board allows them to make sure things are getting done properly and gather feedback from all of the residents moving forward. For more information about resident-owned communities, contact Daniel Bundrock at dbundrock at nwmt.org. Thanks for joining us. News Now is a podcast from the Daily Inner Lake. We're proud to be the largest independent newsroom in Montana and the longest continuously published newspaper in the region. Today's stories written by Big Fork Eagle Reporter Elsa Erickson, Daily Inner Lake reporter Jack Underhill, Western News Editor Scott Schindeldecker, Hungry Horse News Editor Chris Peterson, and the staff at the Whitefish Pilot. You can read the full versions of these stories at DailyInerlake.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.