Montana Snapshots

By The Associated Press - 09/12/2008

Channel 16 will air Grizzly game in Butte MISSOULA — Following is the updated information on the media coverage of The University of Montana Grizzlies' next three non-league football games of 2008, as forwarded by the UM news services office.

The only channels that will carry the next three UM games in the Southwestern Montana area are Butte 4.2 digital and cable channel 16, and Bozeman: 7.2 digital and cable channel 14.

The CW-TV station in Helena is not affiliated with CBS or KPAX-TV of Missoula, therefore it does not carry any pre-season, non-conference games. However, the next three Griz football games will be aired on a tape-delayed basis starting at 10:30 p.m. on KXLH in Helena.

CW games are also available on Dish Network channels only in Montana, and they are not shown on Direct TV.

"There may have been some confusion last week, particularly across the Hi-Line and eastern Montana, as well as in the Helena market, and this caused frustration," said Griz Athletic Director Jim O'Day. "We accept full responsibility for this misinterpretation, and hope this new information will clarify where the game can be seen. Thanks to KPAX and the Montana News Stations across Montana, we are able to get these non-conference games up to more than 75% of the viewers in the state.

Because of broadcasting restrictions by CBS nationally, the only other option to televise these games would be via delayed broadcast. This has not been popular in the past. CW was made available — and offered free-of-charge to us —- so we were happy to have the opportunity to air the games live. It also allows us to get the games up via satellite to other fans across the country. Without the assistance of these stations, non-Big Sky Conference games would not be televised this year." KPAX and its MTN affiliates own the rights to all of the Grizzlies' Big Sky games this year.

Also, the rest of the Grizzly football games this year can be seen via video streaming on bigskytv.org - free of charge the entire 2008 season.

Butte resident finishes minor league season Recent Butte resident A.J. Ford recently completed his second season in minor league baseball.

Ford was born in Salt Lake City and raised in Butte until moving to Phoenix while in high school. He played Little League, Babe Ruth League and some American Legion Baseball in The Mining City.

Ford is a pitcher in the Los Angeles Angels system and spent the 2008 summer with two Class A teams — Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the Midwest League and Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., in the California League. He was 2-1 with a 2.49 earned run average at Cedar Rapids before being promoted to the advanced Class A California League. At Rancho Cucamonga, Ford was 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA. He appeared in 15 games for each team. Overall, he was 3-2 with a 2.98 ERA over 48.1 innings, all in relief.

He struck out 44 batters, walked 27 and gave up 35 hits, only one of which was a home run. Teams batted .199 against him.

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound, 23-year-old right-hander played in college for Louisiana-Monroe and signed last year with the Angels as a non-drafted free agent.

Judge: No reduced sentence for MSU athlete BOZEMAN (AP) — A district judge on Monday dismissed a petition filed by a former Montana State University football player who has been sentenced to prison for robbing a suspected drug dealer the night he was shot.

John Lebrum pleaded guilty to robbery and criminal endangerment and was sentenced in May to 50 years in prison for his role in the June 2006 shooting death of Jason Wright. Lebrum filed a handwritten petition in June seeking relief from his sentence.

But District Judge Mike Salvagni said Lebrum's request was "incomprehensible," and the former MSU athlete "does not state any facts upon which the Court could grant him any relief." Lebrum "suggests that he may have been wrongly convicted based on the allegation," Salvagni wrote. But the judge noted that Lebrum willingly pleaded guilty. A petition to reconsider Lebrum's sentence, filed by his attorney, is pending in Gallatin County District Court.

Lebrum's co-defendant, former MSU basketball player Branden Miller, is serving a 125-year sentence after pleading guilty to deliberate homicide in Wright's death.

Free sight-in chance being offered in Butte The Skyline Sportsmen's Association of Butte is partnering with the Butte Gun Club to hold sighting-in sessions for hunters on Sept. 20-21 at the gun club grounds in Rocker.

Hunters looking to sight in their rifles will be able to do so on those dates, 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. each day. No fees will be charged.

Phone Joe Maloney of the gun club at 782-9095 or Vince Fischer of the Skyline Sportsmen at 496-2761 for details. Fischer said the arrangement was made between the two groups due to lack of sighting-in areas in the region.