'Ultimate sacrifice' honored
Jim Lynch, Montana Department of Transportation director, consoles Chynna Graham, 9, on Wednesday while she sits with her mother, Genny, and brother Caiden, 6, after being presented with flowers and a replica of a highway sign dedicated to the late Trooper David Graham.
Trooper Michael Haynes’ son Elias, 2, touches his father’s sign while accompanied by Haynes’ father, John, and the late trooper’s nephews Zachariah and Isaac Haynes and daughter Taryn.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer removes the wrapping Wednesday from a sign dedicated to Trooper David Graham. The sign will identify the section of U.S. 2 between Reserve Drive and just north of Glacier Park International Airport as the David A. Graham Memorial Highway.
State officials on Wednesday dedicated sections of Flathead County's major highways to three Montana Highway Patrol troopers killed recently in the line of duty.
Troopers David Graham, Evan Schneider and Mike Haynes died in head-on collisions between October 2007 and March 2009.
"Our husbands made the ultimate sacrifice serving our community and the state of Montana," said Schneider's widow, Carrie.
"It is my hope that these honorary dedication signs, as well as all the white crosses we see when we are driving across the state, will serve as a grave reminder to all the lives that have been lost."
Schneider, 29, was killed in an August 2008 crash on U.S. 2 near Bad Rock Canyon.
A former U.S. Marine, Schneider was following another vehicle when it sideswiped an oncoming half-ton GMC pickup truck - forcing the pickup's driver to lose control, veer into the other lane of traffic and crash head-on into Schneider's patrol car.
The two people in the pickup truck, a couple from Hungry Horse, also died in the wreck.
The driver of the third car never has been found.
Signs were unveiled Wednesday identifying the section of U.S. 2 between Montana 206 and Hungry Horse as the Trooper Evan F. Schneider Memorial Highway.
U.S. 2 between Reserve Drive to just north of Glacier Park International Airport has been dedicated to Graham, who is survived by his wife and three young children.
Graham, 36, was killed in October 2007 while performing routine traffic control after his squad car was struck head-on by the inattentive driver of a pickup truck that crossed the center turn lane on U.S. 2 near the intersection with Rose Crossing.
Legislation renaming portions of U.S. 2 after Graham and Schneider was passed last session.
"It was a true honor to carry this legislation ... and on behalf of the Legislature, our thoughts are with the highway patrol," said state Rep. Jon Sonju, R-Kalispell.
Lynch ordered the section of U.S. 93 between Somers and Cemetery Road dedicated to Haynes, who died from injuries suffered in a crash that occurred after the 2009 session's deadline for new legislation.
Haynes, 28, died from injuries suffered in a March crash with a drunken driver.
A father of two, Haynes was southbound on U.S. 93 north of Somers when a car traveling northbound in the southbound lanes struck his marked cruiser head-on.
The other driver, a 29-year-old Kalispell man, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Chilly winds and overcast skies on Wednesday didn't stop dozens of family members, friends and fellow law enforcement officers from turning out for the small ceremony along U.S. 2 outside Glacier Park International Airport.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Montana Highway Patrol commander Col. Mike Tooley also attended.
"I really appreciated the colonel and the governor coming up," said Haynes' widow, Tawny. "These things mean a lot to me and Carrie [Schneider] and Genny [Graham]. It's nice to know they're willing to take these steps, to make all this effort, to honor [our husbands]."
Schweitzer thanked members of the highway patrol for making the state's roads safer.
"We thank the families, not just of the fallen heroes, but the families of the entire highway patrol," Schweitzer said.
Officials presented the widows with flowers and framed miniatures of the signs erected alongside the highways before full-size signs were unveiled to strains of "Amazing Grace" played on a bagpipe.
"Everybody's life is actually a story ... and these three troopers, their stories ended in a way we wish they hadn't," Tooley said.
An interim legislative committee, which met for the first time in August, has been tasked with evaluating current DUI laws before the 2011 session.
Some advocates of reform say Montana's DUI laws aren't strict enough and have become a complex patchwork of statutes arising from federal mandates, initiatives by legislators and task forces, plus case-specific circumstances.
In 2007, Montana ranked first in the nation for the number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities per miles traveled, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
U.S. 2 also is dedicated as the 163rd Infantry Regiment Heritage Highway, in honor of the soldiers who fought in World War II. That memorial designation overlaps those sections named for the fallen troopers.
"It's a tremendous honor ... to be able to include our three sons in the dedication of these highways," Lynch said.
Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com