For many in Basin, John Russell Howald’s spree was a defining moment. It caused deep pain for people associated both with the shooter and with his intended victims. It also exposed and crystallized decades of tension in the tiny community around sexual identity, forcing people to reckon openly with difficult issues that had long been half-buried.
Author Archives: Charlie Denison, The Boulder Monitor
Charlie Denison is the editor of The Boulder Monitor. He is a veteran Montana reporter whose Treasure State journalism career has included two years at the Glendive Ranger-Review, nine years at the Lewistown News-Argus and a wide range of freelance work, including bylines in Montana Quarterly Magazine and Chicken Soup for the Soul. Charlie fell in love with Montana when his dad, a Presbyterian minister, took a job preaching at Big Sky's Soldiers Chapel. Once he graduated from the University of Kentucky with a journalism degree, Charlie followed his parents out to the Last Best Place, where he enjoys playing guitar and singing, hiking, reading and hitting the hot springs with his wife, a Montana native.