By Hananna Kambich
Star Staff Writer 1/22/21


Thursday morning Tim Crews a Custer County Detention Sergeant appeared before Judge Ken Stein in Miles City City Court on in order to show cause due to failing to collect bond on an inmate who had a warrant out for their arrest.

Allegedly, Crews was unaware of the city warrant on the inmate and claims it was never given to the jail.

According to Crews, the inmates file allegedly only contain warrants from Wheatland County and Custer County District Court. He was not on duty when the warrant was delivered from the city.

“I cannot take care of a warrant I did not know existed,” said Crews in court.

Crews mentioned the unique situation that COVID-19 presented to the jails and their inability to hold inmates on misdemeanor charges.

According to Stein, there was video footage of the warrant being delivered to the jail. Because of this, the warrant should have been on record because it had been served. Before the pandemic that caused jails to restrict their acceptance of inmates, Stein allegedly was having problems with misdemeanor offenders serving their sentenced jail time due to the jail turning them away.

This situation he has since been exacerbated by COVID-19 and people with a DUI charge cannot serve there 1 to 2 day service required by law. The previous day Stein had to waive a one day sentence on a DUI charge because he knew the jail was not going to except that offender.

This story is rife with grammatical errors. Even the reporter's name is misspelled.

Granted, the Miles City Star is a small town paper.

But doesn't the Star have a publisher or editor who cares enough about the English language or takes enough pride in the finished product to keep this level of writing from reaching the printed page?

Maybe there's a Custer County High School English student with a 3.00 or 4.00 GPA who would be interested in an internship.

Yes, there are several typos, but the article is not exactly a cut and paste from the Star. I did a quick check on the article as published and think it may have been typed in by the original poster.

I do agree, however, that the Star needs to make better use of any spelling and grammar checking software that they have. It is really sad when an article by the editor or any reporter of a newspaper has several spelling and grammatical errors.

I don't want to give the Star any passes on poor editing work but Miles City is lucky to have the Miles City Star. That's a tough business to be in.

I am grateful for the Miles City Star and encourage the community to support their local newspaper.

Below is how the article appeared in the e-edition of the Friday, 1/22/2021, Miles City Star:

Detention Center officer appears in City Court
By HANNA KAMBICH
Star Staff Writer

Thursday morning, Tim Crews, a Custer County Detention Sergeant, appeared before Judge Ken Stein in Miles City City Court on an Order to Show Cause due to failing to collect bond on an inmate who had a warrant out for their arrest.

Allegedly, Crews was unaware of the city warrant on the inmate and claims it was never given to the jail.

According to Crews, the inmate’s file allegedly only contained warrants from Wheatland County and Custer County District Court. He was not on duty when the warrant was delivered from the City.

“I cannot take care of a warrant I did not know existed,” said Crews in court.

Crews mentioned the unique situation that COVID-19 presented to the jails and their inability to hold inmates on misdemeanor charges.

According to Stein, there was video footage of the warrant being delivered to the jail. Because of this, the warrant should have been on record because it had been served. Before the pandemic that caused jails to restrict their acceptance of inmates, Stein allegedly was having problems with misdemeanor offenders serving their sentenced jail time due to the jail turning them away.

This situation has since been exacerbated by COVID-19 and people with a DUI charge cannot serve their one to two day sentence required by law. The previous day Stein had to wave a one-day sentence on a DUI charge because he knew the jail was not going to accept that offender.

Detention Center officer appears in City Court
By HANNA KAMBICH
Star Staff Writer

Thursday morning, Tim Crews, a Custer County Detention Sergeant, appeared before Judge Ken Stein in Miles City City Court on an Order to Show Cause due to failing to collect bond on an inmate who had a warrant out for their arrest.

Allegedly, Crews was unaware of the city warrant on the inmate and claims it was never given to the jail.

According to Crews, the inmate’s file allegedly only contained warrants from Wheatland County and Custer County District Court. He was not on duty when the warrant was delivered from the City.

“I cannot take care of a warrant I did not know existed,” said Crews in court.

Crews mentioned the unique situation that COVID-19 presented to the jails and their inability to hold inmates on misdemeanor charges.

According to Stein, there was video footage of the warrant being delivered to the jail. Because of this, the warrant should have been on record because it had been served. Before the pandemic that caused jails to restrict their acceptance of inmates, Stein allegedly was having problems with misdemeanor offenders serving their sentenced jail time due to the jail turning them away.

This situation has since been exacerbated by COVID-19 and people with a DUI charge cannot serve their one to two day sentence required by law. The previous day Stein had to wave a one-day sentence on a DUI charge because he knew the jail was not going to accept that offender.

[Edited by Tom_Doniphan (1/24/2021 7:59:41 PM)]

The Star has two reporters and one editor right now. They are hanging on by the skin of their teeth. I'm just grateful they exist. I haven't had a raise in 20 years of Stardust and am okay because if that helps keep the lights on, I'm good.