skulduggery afoot in Bonner?

July 29, 2011 in Montana

by problembear

i have a deep affinity for the bonner area. it is the place i first lived when i moved to missoula. i lived there when champion was running 4 shifts. then they sold it to stimson. stimson closed it for good several years ago and laid off the last few dozen workers last year.  the millsite sits there empty and forlorn. over 1200 good paying jobs have been lost since 1985. i feel for that area. tough people. good people who deserve better. and the place sits empty long after the governor came and shook some developers hand who made big promises. remember? dick king said there were big plans to revive jobs in the area. so far nothing. and for the longest time nobody has heard anything from the developer about it. and when things get quiet i figure that isn’t a good sign.

in 2008 a developer by the name of scott cooney came along and promised big things for the poor people of Bonner. yesterday’s article in the Missoula Independent seems to put an end to those promises for now. and there seems to be a bit of skulduggery afoot….. here is an excerpt but you should read the entire article……..

On the heels of that bankruptcy filing, a trustee representing Blackfoot Land and Water creditors filed a lawsuit last month alleging Cooney mismanaged company funds, including tenant deposits, for his own personal gain. “Sometime during the years 2008 and 2010, Cooney began to use Blackfoot’s account as his personal account,” the suit states. “The amount withdrawn from Blackfoot’s accounts for Mr. Cooney’s personal use and/or that of his other business entities was a minimum of $560,898.51 and possibly substantially more than that.”

j-girl did an excellent story on this back in 2008.