Montana Artists Refuge reopens after Basin shooting incident

Basin, Montana is a basin, indeed — pretty much smack dab in the middle of the Boulder Batholith, the richest hydrothermal ore-body on Planet Earth, now it's a smoldering hotbed of art. 

The Montana Artists Refuge, built by a community of intellect and talent so expansive that its sheer gravity compelled it to well there, Nancy and MJ are two of its Founding Mothers. Elegance is available for trekkers seeking respite just thirteen miles from the Continental Divide Trail; the Stone House is MJ and Nancy's way of bringing Jefferson County's mill history to visitors while Basin Creek laughs its way to the Boulder River just yards farther downstream. The Refuge closed in 2011 but reopened last year in defiance of a shooting, an arrest and a conviction for a hate crime. 

Montana's chorus of anti-education legislators included Basin's own Alan Hale, until he died. Today, the state's legislature is no longer recognizable as a democratic body but rages on as a Trumpian horde.

Behind a paywall at the Boulder Monitor is a feature on the Refuge.
 

Bryher ran for the Montana House of Representatives for District 75 in 2020 but lost to an Earth hater 68 - 32 percent. She operated the High Note Café when this scribe lived in Basin.

A federal jury convicted a Montana man of hate and firearms crimes for firing an AK-style assault rifle at the residence of a woman, who identified as lesbian, and was home at the time. After a four-day trial that began on Feb. 14, the jury found John Russell Howald, 46, of Basin, Montana, guilty of hate crime acts and discharge of firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence as charged in a superseding indictment. According to court documents and statements in court, on March 22, 2020, Howald went on a self-described mission to rid the town of Basin of its lesbian and gay community. Armed with three rifles and two pistols, and knowing that the victim identified as a lesbian, Howald approached her residence on foot and fired an AK-style assault rifle at her property. Several rounds went through the victim’s fence and rounds hit her yard and porch. One round traveled through a wall of the home, bounced off the kitchen ceiling and lodged in a wall in the room. The victim was at home at the time but was not struck. [Montana Man Convicted of Federal Hate Crimes and Firearms Charges for Shooting Intended to Rid Community of the Lesbian and Gay Members]

ip photo: a contingent from Basin listens to testimony during the 2011 legislative session.

Learn more at the Helena Independent Record.