The Billings Gazette from Billings, Montana • 29

IM I The Billings Gazette CITY STATE Thursday, December 16, 1993 9C Continued story Hearing put off until May on parental-notice statute Radio its commitment to opening a Sidney radio station. Scofield Broadcasting Co. of Williston, which operates channels KEYZ and KYYZ, will expand to Sidney, according to John Scofield, general manager of the sole proprietor company. "One way or another we will do it," he said. When the FCC opens a window, the company will apply, he said.

"We've actually been interested in this market for quite some time," he said. "It's only been recently that the FCC has allowed multiple ownership of either one FM or one AM in a single market. Williston-Sidney-Glen-dive is considered one market." He said he finds Sidney's people and business climate to be excellent. Scofield said applicants do not bid on broadcast licenses. Instead, the FCC looks at applicants' finances and their ability to meet the needs of the community.

Even if Ellwein's community group receives the KSDY license, he said, Scofield Broadcasting will pursue permission to use a new FM for starting a community-owned station for the other FM channel. He has licensed Richland Communications LLC (limited liability company) with the state. An LLC, he said, "is a cross between a corporation and a partnership. There is limited liability to an investor." People invest by buying units for $400 each. "It's not stock," he said.

"It's more like a cooperative." Partners have profit sharing instead of dividends. Ellwein started an account at Richland Bank and Trust for pledges and for donations of under $400 and set a deadline of Jan. 1. He estimates that the project will take $200,000 to $300,000. So far, however, the response has been "underwhelming," he said.

"Does the community want the station or don't they?" he asked. "I have the fullest confidence there will be radio station in Sidney. I'm just giving people an opportunity to participate. If they do, they'll reap the benefits." One out-of-town company from not too far away already has shown From Page 1C er, have received an FCC authorization to remain silent until Dec. 16 and may get an extension beyond that.

Oscar Halvorson of Williston, whose family owns the station along with Ted and Kay Tescher of Medo-ra, N.D., said Tuesday he doesn't know what the future of KGCX and KGCH will be. When asked why the station closed, he said "Why does any business close?" and confirmed the reason was financial. He said he's willing to sell for the right price. "You have to get something for it or you might as well burn it down," he said. Ellwein who used to sell ads, work on the air, hire and fire and broadcast sports said he has offered to buy the station for a fair price but was turned down, as was a Sidney economic development group.

Instead, he has formed a vehicle The law can't be followed because it is vague, the complaint said. It doesn't say who is responsible for notifying the parent and what form the notification should take. The law also makes no exceptions for medical risks to the patient or physical or sexual abuse, the complaint said. It does not consider that the pregnancy may be the result of incest. The complaint said the law does not provide for exceptions in cases of medical emergencies, for teenagers who do not live with a parent or for instances when a parent can't be found.

If the law were enforced, patients could be forced to endure physical injury, ejection from the home or forced pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood, the lawsuit said. The law imposes an undue burden on the right of a woman to seek abortion, and the obstacles it places on abortion are "not reasonably related to legitimate state interests," it said. It also denies the woman equal protection because no similar notification is required for the parents of the male involved, the complaint, said. Legal assistance for the doctors is being provided by the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, a New York abortion rights group. restraining order halting attempts to enforce the parental notification law on Dec.

1. According to the order the judge signed Wednesday, that restraining order will remain in effect until it is superseded by other injunctive relief or is vacated by order of the court. Wicklund filed the lawsuit after an investigation was begun by the Gallatin County sheriffs office at the request of a father who told officers he believed that Wicklund had performed an abortion on his minor daughter without complying with the notification law. On Nov. 1, a subpoena was issued for the medical records of one of her patients.

The lawsuit contends that the Montana notification statute not only violates the patient's right to privacy, but is an unenforceable law. In the complaint, the doctors contend that the provision of the law requiring parental notification can't be separated from a portion of the statute that required a woman to notify her husband before seeking an abortion. The husband notification provision was found unconstitutional. It contends that even if the parental notification could be separated, it still violates the due process rights of patient and care provider. By LORNA THACKERAY Of The Gazette Staff A hearing on the constitutionality of a Montana law requiring parental notification for unmarried women under 18 who seek abortions has been postponed until May 2.

The temporary restraining order preventing the state from enforcing that law will remain in effect while legal proceedings continue, Senior U.S. District Judge James Battin ruled Wednesday in Billings. The parental notification law is being challenged by Dr. Susan Wick-lund of Bozeman and five other Montana physicians and a physician's assistant. Gallatin County Attorney Michael Salvagni was named as the defendant.

Both sides joined in the motion asking that the preliminary injunction hearing scheduled for Wednesday be continued until next spring. The Montana attorney general's office, representing the defendant in the case, agreed to the continuance because it has not had time to review the issues raised and to determine an appropriate response. The doctors agreed that a postponement would not hurt them or their clients. Battin had issued a temporary Shut station started in 1926 FILL YOUR STOCKINGS EARLY of through the microphone. In 1929, Krebsbach took over operation of Westland Oil Station in Wolf Point.

At that time, KGCX was moved to Wolf Point and was housed in the Westland Oil building. With a new transmitter, its output increased to 250 watts. In 1936, the transmitter was moved to a site east of Wolf Point and power was raised to 1,000 watts. At that time, KGCX joined the Canadian Broadcasting according to the book. In 1942, KGCX moved to Sidney as a full-time commercial station.

Because it was during World War II, there was no new material available for civilian use, so the equipment was moved down from Wolf Point. The studio was located in the Suksdorf Building in Sidney. In 1945, the Canadian affiliation was terminated and KGCX joined the Mutual Broadcasting System. Power went to 5,000 watts in 1952, and in the late 1950s the studio was moved to the LaLonde Hotel. Krebsbach's son, E.

Clair Krebsbach, sold KGCX on Jan. 1, 1973, to Oscar and Fay Halvorson of Williston, N.D., and Olaf and Borghild Folkvard. The station is now owned by the Halvorsons and their children, and by the Halvor-son's daughter and son-in-law, Ted and Kay Tescher of Medora, N.D. The owners shut down the station after the day's broadcast on Aug. 2, 1993.

KGCX was the second radio station in Montana, according to Arch Ellwein, the station's former sales manager. On Oct. 5, 1926, the station was licensed to the First State Bank of Vida, according to the station's 50th anniversary book, published in 1976. Vida, between Circle and Wolf Point, had a population of 25 then and today has about half that. KGCX's first license was signed by Herbert Hoover, who was secretary of the U.S.

Department of Commerce at the time and went on to become president. The station had a power output of only 7.5 watts when it began and was equipped with equipment worth $125 purchased from Joe Jacobs, a rancher south of Vida and amateur radio operator. Jacobs later moved to Minneapolis and gained fame as the manufacturer of Jacobs Wind Electric Equipment. Ed Krebsbach, who worked at the bank, operated the station from a back room of the building. The station was on the air for one hour every noon and on Sunday afternoons, when it conducted a talent show featuring anyone who wished to perform.

In those days, radio stations typically played phonograph records by placing the microphone in front of a phonograph horn. KGCX, however, experimented with an all-electronic pickup for playing phonograph records, in which the signal traveled directly through wires instead I i i i a i is i TECHNICAL SKI WEAR Nevica Obermeyer -Marker Hard Corps -Columbia Black Bear Jackets Pants Suits I II I i ft 113: ir! 1 WlNST-FOCUsT BINOCULARSj "1 Simmons 10x50 Never needs focus Carry cast and covers 1 Ret. $109.95 I epos izfjuypscj J3 Ho ft ''WGraphlto I Basketball I Set 1 Backboard Rim Net Reg. $49.99 1 White thittort Last Years Models 50 off Mnnfana Rarkrnads Readers can sit back, relax and prepare to enjoy this book that takes them on 20 out-of-the-way road trips that tranverse the Big Sky country. Beverly Magley WnK-nfl I MLB I i JOG SUITS Infant Toddler Reg.

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