Legion Park Access Clarified By Cybulski
District Court Judge David Cybulski filed an order Aug. 7, bringing a potential conclusion to a longstanding dispute over access to American Legion Park in Culbertson.
Cybulski ordered Knudsen Family Limited Partnership, which includes local residents Miles and Rhonda Knudsen, to pay damages and face sanctions for defying a Montana Supreme Court ruling granting access through their land to American Legion Park along the Missouri River. The dispute has prevented Scouting groups and the public from using the park site for decades.
The order finds that Miles Knudsen “personally engaged in the conduct that resulted in the blocking off of the easement road and relocating it with a lesser quality road in violation of this Court’s final judgment.” The order also finds “that Mr. Knudsen’s behavior violated this Court’s final judgment and is considered contempt.”
Cybulski ordered Knudsen Family Limited Partnership to deposit $45,158.75 with the Roosevelt County Clerk of Court, “pending resolution of the issue of the easement restoration, and as an alternative to jailing until the easement is restored.”
The dispute between the Knudsens and the American Legion over the route to the park was on the brink of resolution in 2021, when Cubulski first issued a ruling granting the Legion access to the property. The partnership then appealed the ruling, which was affirmed by the Montana Supreme Court in 2022. Miles Knudsen blocked off the road in defiance of the ruling, prompting a motion for contempt filed by Tomas Mann Post No. 81 of the American Legion April 24.
An affidavit on attorney’s fees was also ordered by Cybulski, indicating the direction he may take with regard to sanctions for contempt at a planned hearing on the matter. That hearing is scheduled for Aug. 27 at 10:40 a.m. at the Roosevelt County Courthouse in Wolf Point.
