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Local WWII vet receives France's highest honor

By Jason Stuart
Ranger-Review Staff Writer

Sixty-eight years after the guns fell silent over Europe, Glendive resident Paul Winhofer has been awarded a medal for his service there.
And the medal came not from the U.S. military, but from a grateful nation young American soldiers helped liberate from the grip of Nazi Germany all those years ago – France.

The French government recently presented Winhofer and four other Montana veterans of World War II the Legion of Honor, which is France’s highest military honor. Winhofer attended a ceremony in Hamilton on May 4 where he received his medal in a ceremony with three of the other Montana vets.

“I was just shocked, I couldn’t believe I got something this late,” Winhofer said. “I never thought I’d get anything like that this many years after the war. I never expected anything like this in my life.”

Winhofer said he was handed forms to apply for the honor by the local VFW last year. The French require foreign veterans to go through an application process for the medal. Though Winhofer accepted the forms and filled them out, he said he wasn’t really sure he was qualified for the medal and had no expectations.

“I was shocked when I heard this,” Winhofer said. “I didn’t expect nothing.”

Winhofer was an 18-year-old farm kid living on his parent’s farm north of Richey when he was drafted at the end of 1943. He went through basic training at Fort Sam Houston in Texas and then moved to Nebraska for technical training.

Winhofer was assigned to the U.S. Army’s 723rd Railway Operating Battalion and trained as a locomotive fireman. He had never worked on a railroad before.

“They put you where they needed you at the time, and that’s what they needed us for,” Winhofer said of how he ended up in a railway battalion.

Winhofer landed with his unit on Utah Beach in Normandy, not on D-Day, but two months afterwards on Aug. 26, 1944.

Winhofer said the signs of the Normandy battle were everywhere and what he saw was quite a shock to a farm kid from rural Montana. He was greeted with a blasted ruin of a landscape.

“When I arrived in Normandy, there was nothing left,” Winhofer said. “I tell you, it was a mess.”

The 723rd Railway Battalion moved into the French interior, following along the rails behind the advancing Allied armies. Winhofer said the soldiers’ job was to keep the ammunition trains moving along the rails to the units battling the Nazis at the front. Coming back the other way on the trains, Winhofer said, were boxcars full of German POWs.

The 723rd spent their entire time in Europe moving up and down the railways following close behind the front line units.

“That’s what we did, just back and forth wherever we could go,” Winhofer said.

And while he never saw actual combat, Winhofer said he saw as much as he cared to in that regard.

“I was close enough I could see the tracer bullets going every night,” Winhofer said. “I was never under direct German attack, but I was as close as I wanted to be.”
And Winhofer has other images from his time in France that he said no citizen living safely in the United States can even begin to imagine.
“People in this country don’t know what a war is,” Winhofer said. “The airplanes were so thick in the sky, they almost cut off the sun. You never see anything like that otherwise.”

As for his memories of the French people to whose liberation he helped contribute and who have now seen fit to honor him, Winhofer said they were “very hospitable.” He remembers people in the French towns his unit traveled through often inviting them to dinner. When they were able to accept, Winhofer said they were treated to good food often capped off by a glass of fine French wine at the end of dinner.

“They were very nice people, very accommodating,” Winhofer said.

When the war ended and Winhofer was discharged, he said he returned home quietly, never expecting to one day be honored with a medal.

“I got out, came home, and nobody even knew I was home,” Winhofer said. “I hung up my uniform, put on my work clothes and went to work.”

After a brief time back on the family farm, Winhofer moved to Glendive in 1946, taking a job with the local John Deere dealership. A few years later, he married his wife, Liz, and started a family. The two have quietly lived in Glendive, for most of the time in the same house they still live in today, ever since.

Now, though the memories of the war and the destruction he witnessed there haven’t faded, Winhofer has a happier memory to hold on to from when the people of France honored him and his fellow Montana WWII vets in that ceremony just a few days ago.

“It was quite an experience,” Winhofer said of receiving the Legion of Honor. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Reach Jason Stuart at rrreporter@rangerreview.com.

DCC Presidential search prompts 42 applicants

By Dave Johnson
Ranger-Review Staff Writer

The Dawson Community College Presidential Search Committee has its work cut out for it as it narrows down the 42 applicants who applied for DCC’s top position.
The job announcement for the position of Dawson Community College president officially closed May 3, according to search committee member Chad Knudson.

“There was a huge surge in newly submitted applications in the last two days before the announcement closed,” Knudson said. “The number of applications nearly doubled during that time.”

The committee now has to narrow the pool of applicants. Each of the 12 committee members has spent the week scoring each application individually.

“We’ve been spending 12 to 14 hours per committee member screening these applications,” Knudson said. He added the committee members are ranking each application based on approximately two dozen criteria.

Knudson said that the committee will gather Sunday, May 12 to discuss as a group the results of their individual scoring.

“This is the chance (for the committee members) to fight for the applicants you really like, and then try to reach a consensus,” Knudson said.

The committee plans to narrow down the field of applicants to between six to eight candidates following their May 12 meeting. Those candidates will then be scheduled for Skype interviews during the week beginning May 13.

“We would like to select three finalists from the Skype interviews, and then submit those to the DCC Board of Trustees, and then it’s in their hands,” Knudson said.
He added the committee is not locked into submitting three, they could submit only two, or even start the process over if there are no qualified candidates.

“But there is a very low risk of that happening, as there are some very strong applicants,” Knudson said.

The final group of candidates submitted to the board of trustees will be subjected to reference checks and other vetting as a condition of hire, according to Knudson.

The board of trustees will arrange to have the final candidates travel to Glendive for on-site interviews.

Thus far, the financial costs associated with the presidential search are well within budget.

“The trustees budgeted $25,000 for this process, and so far we’ve spent less than $7,000,” search committee member Kathleen Zander said.

Knudson added the committee originally discussed using a professional search firm to hire a president, which would have cost $40,000 and he feels would have yielded a smaller pool of applicants.

Once the on-site interviews and background checks have been completed, the committee hopes to see a president hired by the first week of June, although the job does not officially begin until July.

The salary for the new president should be in the neighborhood of $112,000-$140,000 annually, dependent upon incentives built into the contract, according to Knudson.

Reach Dave Johnson at rrwriter@rangerreview.com.

Murder suspect make initial appearances

By Dave Johnson
Ranger-Review Staff Writer

Two defendants charged in the murder of Glendive resident Matthew Wiseman made their initial appearances in Dawson County District Court Tuesday morning.

Jessica Miller-Grossman, 23, and Levi Stark, 22, appeared before District Court Judge Richard Simonton to formally hear the charges filed by the state against them. The judge also read possible sentences if either were found guilty of any or all the charges.

Grossman made her 9:30 a.m. appearance via VisionNet teleconference. She is incarcerated at the Yellowstone County Detention Center in Billings, where she can receive medical care for her pregnancy.

Stark is incarcerated at the Dawson County Correctional Facility in Glendive. His appearance was at 10 a.m.

Neither had an attorney present. Grossman indicated that she has an attorney in Billings appointed by the Public Defender’s Office. Judge Simonton appointed the Public Defender’s office to represent Stark.

The judge told Miller-Grossman and Stark that he would not hear a plea from either of them at this time, as neither had an attorney present.

Miller-Grossman has been charged with conspiracy to commit deliberate homicide, arson, tampering with evidence, criminal mischief and obstructing justice. Stark is charged with deliberate homicide, arson, and tampering with evidence. All charges are felonies, and both Miller-Grossman and Stark could face life in prison.

When asked by Simonton if she understood the charges and possible sentences, Grossman answered “yes sir” to each question. When asked if he understood the charges and possible sentences, Stark answered “yes” to each question.

According to court documents, Matthew Wiseman was found dead on the porch of his residence in the Casitas del Rio trailer park by his wife Kelsea Wiseman Dec. 21, 2012. He had been stabbed multiple times around the head and neck.

Court documents allege that after the murder of Wiseman, Miller-Grossman and Stark engaged in an elaborate scheme to cover up the crime. Stark is alleged to have broken into the city impound lot on Jan. 13 and setting fire to a vehicle police had seized earlier as evidence in the investigation.

Miller-Grossman is alleged to have fired a gun into a vehicle on the other side of town to distract law enforcement at the time Stark broke into the impound lot.

Witnesses interviewed during the course of the investigation said Miller-Grossman referred to Wiseman as a “snitch” and discussed having “something done” about him.
The next court appearances for Miller-Grossman and Stark are their arraignment hearings set for Tuesday, May 21.

Reach Dave Johnson at rrwriter@rangerreview.com.

OBITUARIES

The following obituaries appeared in The Ranger-Review.

Leah Haas, 93, passed away on Monday, May 13, 2013 at the Glendive Medical Center Extended Care in Glendive.

Tennis teams head to Divisional Tournament

By Jason Stuart
Ranger-Review Staff Writer

Dawson County High School’s tennis squads closed out the regular season Saturday in the Miles City Invitational.

The next stop for DCHS tennis is the Eastern A Divisional Tournament, which begins this Thursday in Hardin, barring inclement weather. In the case of rain, the tournament will move to the Elk’s Club and MSUB indoor courts in Billings.

The top four singles players and doubles teams that emerge from the Divisional Tournament brackets will move on to the State Tournament next week. Singles and doubles teams will be seeded in the divisional brackets according to their season records.

The boys team split their two dual matchups in Miles City, blanking Custer County High School in their dual and narrowly losing 4-3 in the dual against Billings Central.
The Red Devils finished the season with a team record of 21-5-2.

Johnson Li and Skylar Huschka closed out their seasons with strong performances at the number three and four singles slots. Both went undefeated on Saturday.
But Billings Central’s Dillon Meyer and Blayne Sandau proved too much for the Red Devils top two singles players, Hadyn Pettersen and Nathan Sickler.

In doubles play, DCHS duo Zach Palmer and Dennis Berg still couldn’t find a solution to the top Billings Central team of John Knisley and Harrison Fagg, though Palmer and Berg did win their first set of the year against the BC duo, which pleased DCHS Coach Richard Lindgren.

“They have steadily improved toward’s the season’s end,” Lindgren said of Palmer and Berg.

Palmer and Berg’s record on the season was good enough to earn the number two seed in the Divisional Tournament. They will be joined at the divisionals by singles players Pettersen and Sickler and the Red Devils’ number two doubles team of Blake Stanhope and Gavin McPherson.

The Lady Devils wrapped up their regular season by winning both of their duals in Miles City, routing CCHS and squeaking by Billings Central.

The Lady Devils finished their regular season with a team record of 21-6-1.

Morgan Opp and Jordan Johnson continued their season-long dominance, each breezing through both their matches without dropping a single set. Opp and Johnson both finished the regular season without a single loss.

The Lady Devils’ dominance against the competition this season is reflected in the fact that 12 Lady Devils players will make the trip to the Divisional Tournament. Opp and Johnson look like locks to be the top two seeds in the tournament, and Lindgren said the doubles team of Nichole Burman and Ellen Carbajal also look set to receive a high seed.

Miles City Invitational Results:
The Red Devils went 1-1 in the Miles City Invitational.
Billings Central 4, DCHS 3
Singles - Dillon Meyer, BC, d. Hadyn Pettersen, DCHS, 6-0, 6-0; Blayne Sandau, BC, d. Nathan Sickler, DCHS, 6-1, 6-2; Johnson Li, DCHS, d. Nolan Trafton, BC, 6-0, 7-5; Skylar Huschka, DCHS, d. Kylen Laber, BC, 6-0, 6-3
Doubles - John Knisely/Harrison Fagg, BC, d. Zach Palmer/Dennis Berg, DCHS, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1; Tommy Pankratz/Jake Newbury, BC, d. Blake Stanhope/Gavin McPherson, DCHS, 7-5, 6-4; Taylor Scarpholt/Dillon Mitchell, DCHS, d. Conner Fiddler/Guy Keenum, BC, 6-4, 6-2
DCHS 4, CCHS 0
Singles - Hadyn Pettersen, DCHS, d. Tanner Muggli, CCHS, 7-6(2), 6-1; Nathan Sickler, DCHS, d. Jesse Anderson, CCHS, 6-0, 6-2; Johnson Li, DCHS, d. A.J. Rainey, CCHS, 6-1, 6-1; Skylar Huschka, DCHS, d. Andrew Lewis, CCHS, 6-0, 6-0

The Lady Devils went 2-0 in the tournament.
DCHS 4, Billings Central 3
Singles - Morgan Opp, DCHS, def. Barclay Fagg, BC, 6-0, 6-0; Jordan Johnson, DCHS, def. Sarina Aamold, BC, 6-0, 6-0; Meriah Taylor, DCHS, def. Erin O’Leary, BC, 6-0, 6-2; Paige Kauffman, DCHS, def. Rachel Wagenaar, BC, 6-0, 6-1
Doubles - Eloise Germic/Becca Shipp, BC, def. Nichole Burman/Ellen Carbajal, DCHS, 6-3, 7-6(2); Katie Hertz/Lauren Lee, BC, def. Annie Hill/Emilie Schaub, DCHS, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3; Casey Tehle/Lauren Griffin, BC, def. Brette Svenvold/Layton Hrubes, DCHS, 6-2, 6-1
DCHS 7, CCHS 0
Singles - Morgan Opp, DCHS, def. Neeka Gackle, CCHS, 6-0, 6-0; Jordan Johnson, DCHS, def. Michelle Bradford, CCHS, 6-0, 6-0; Meriah Taylor, DCHS, def. Madison Ueland, CCHS, 6-1, 6-1; Paige Kaufman, DCHS, def. Brittany Moats, CCHS, 6-1, 6-1
Doubles - Nicole Burman/Ellen Carbajal, DCHS, def. Shelby Arnold/Shaylee Singleton, CCHS, 7-5, 6-4; Annie Hill/Emilie Schaub, DCHS, def. Kimber Krauss/Sydnee Lohrke, CCHS, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3); Brette Svenvold/Layton Hrubes, DCHS, def. Angela Muggli/Marissa Singleton, CCHS, 6-2, 6-4

Reach Jason Stuart at rrreporter@rangerreview.com.

Hardin girls, Billings boys win Jock Stop Meet

By Kevin Miller
Ranger-Review Staff Writer

The Hardin Lady Bulldogs and the Billings Central Rams came to Perham Field last Friday evening for the Jock Stop track & field meet hosted by Dawson County High School and came away winners. The Hardin girls amassed 130 points to win the team title by 11 points over Sidney. In the boys’ team race the Rams came out on top with 154 points. Laurel was second with 116 and DCHS followed with 83.5.

Whitney Leuenberger and Dylan Hanser were honored with the Outstanding Athlete Award for their performances at the meet. Leuenberger helped the Lady Eagles to the second place finish by winning two events. Leuenberger had winning throws of 37-10.5 in the shot put and 127-8 in the discus. Hanser led Central with wins in the triple jump (42-6.5) and the high jump (6-0). He also was the anchor leg on the winning 4x100 relay team. To go along with his wins Hanser added a 2nd place finish in the 100 meter dash and a 3rd in the 4x400 relay.

Rio Frame, JR LeSueur, Luke Hill and Ejay Stuen had individual wins for Glendive. Frame, a DCHS senior, won the girls’ 3200 meter run with a time of 12:01.20. LeSueur sprinted to a win in the boys’ 100 meter dash. LeSueur’s time of 11.54 edged out Hanser by .02 of a second. Hill topped the field in the boys’ 400 meter dash, clocking a 50.04. Stuen, also a senior at DCHS, threw the javelin 166-10 for the win. The Red Devils’ Taylor Schwartz tied for 1st in the pole vault with Hardin’s Cole Campbell. Both vaulters cleared 13 feet.

The Jock Stop meet was the last competition of the season before the Eastern A meet on Saturday in Laurel. All six of the Eastern A teams were at the Jock Stop meet. Fergus High from Lewistown, Dickinson and Williston also competed at Perham Field on Friday.

Girls team scores: Hardin 130.2, Sidney 119.2, Billings Central 100.5, Fergus 90.5, Laurel 89.75, Custer County 58.95, DCHS 40.4, Dickinson 22.5
Boys team scores: Billings Central 154, Laurel 116, DCHS 83.5, Dickinson 69.5, Fergus 58, Custer County 45, Hardin 43, Sidney 42, Williston 23
Lady Red Devil placers: Alli Silvernale 5th 400 meter dash ( 1:07.43); Rio Frame 3rd 1600 meter run (5:32.82), 1st 3200 meter run (12:01.20); Austyn Copp 6th 1600 meter run (5:51.71); Carly Svenvold 2nd triple jump (31-10.5), 6th high jump (4-6); Savannah Kettner 6th high jump (4-6)

Red Devil placers: John LeSueur 1st 100 meter dash (11.54); Luke Hill 1st 400 meter dash (50.04); Matt Keltgen 5th 800 meter run (2:06.24), 6th 1600 meter run (4:44.18); Tanner Schwartz 4th long jump (20-7); Taylor Schwartz 6th long jump (20-5), 1st pole vault (13-0); Dillon Silvernale 3rd pole vault (12-6); Kasey Stedman 2nd discus (140-8); Ejay Stuen 1st javelin (166-10); 4x100 relay 2nd - Tai Sokoloski, Colter Bachmeier, John LeSueur, Taylor Schwartz (44.86)

Reach Kevin Miller at rrsports@rangerreview.com.

Red Devils softball team goes 2-2

By Kevin Miller
Ranger-Review Staff Writer

The Lady Red Devils traveled to Butte for the Laverne Combo softball tournament. The Glendive squad picked up two wins on Friday but then lost both games on Saturday.

The Lady Devils will now have two very important Eastern A conference games this week in Sidney and Hardin. The DCHS team is battling with Sidney and Laurel for the final two spots in the State A tournament. Three teams from the Eastern will qualify for state. Billings Central has wrapped up the top spot in the conference.

The Red Devils overcame a nine-run deficit to defeat Whitefish 11-10 in another ballgame on Friday. This time the DCHS girls rallied with nine runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning after trailing 10-1. They then won the contest with a run in the 4th. Sarah Temple pitched a complete game to earn the win. Storlie drove in two runs for the Devils.

Glendive clobbered Browning on Friday by the final of 23-1. The Devils had a 19-hit attack, led by freshman Amanda Mittlestadt. She had four hits in five at bats and drove in a run. Haylee Storlie, the Lady Devils lead-off hitter, was 2-2 with a double and two RBIs. Storlie was also the winning pitcher, pitching a no-hitter. Glendive scored 15 runs in the 1st inning. Browning did not have a hit in the game.

Frenchtown blanked Glendive 10-0 in the Lady Devils’ first game on Saturday. The DCHS squad was limited to just two hits and the team committed three errors in the field in this loss. Frenchtown pounded out 15 hits. The Red Devils trailed just 1-0 after the first two innings but the Lady Broncs pushed across three runs in each of the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings. Jayde Marquart and Sydney Schieffer had the hits for the Devils. Peyton Schieffer pitched for DCHS.

Coach Todd Naasz said, “We played with them for 4 innings, but we really saw a complete softball team ... no mistakes and pound the ball. Defensively, catcher Allie Mittlestadt played very well and threw out their fastest runner at second.”

Havre took advantage of a six-run 3rd inning to knock off the Lady Red Devils on Saturday by the final score of 8-6. The Lady Devils trailed 8-2 before their final at bat. The Devils scored four times in the final inning but fell short by the two runs. Glendive had seven hits by seven different players. Lex Hubbard and Peyton Schieffer each had a double for DCHS. Hubbard also drove in one of the DCHS runs. Temple was the pitcher in this final contest of the weekend.

DCHS (15)12 5 - 23 19 1
Browning 000 1 - 1 0 5

Whitefish 073 0 - 10 11 2
DCHS 019 1 - 11 6 4

DCHS 000 00 - 0 2 3
Frenchtown 103 33 - 10 15 0

Havre 006 2 - 8 10 0
DCHS 101 4 - 6 7 2

Reach Kevin Miller at rrsports@rangerreview.com.