<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>Courtesy of today’s (November 9, 2017) <i>Spokesman-Review.</i></div><div><i><br></i></div>— — — — — — — — — — — — — — -<div><br></div><div><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Liberian refugee elected Helena mayor</span></div><div><br></div><div>HELENA – Voters in Montana’s capital city have elected a Liberian refugee as their next mayor.</div><div><br></div><div>Wilmot Collins ousted four-term Helena Mayor Jim Smith 51 percent to 48 percent Tuesday in the mail-in election for the nonpartisan post.</div><div><br></div><div>Collins campaigned for more affordable housing, addressing homelessness among military veterans and teens and increasing staffing for the police and fire departments.</div><div><br></div><div>Collins is a state child protection specialist and an adjunct instructor at Helena College University of Montana. He is also a member of the U.S. Naval Reserves. He fled the civil war in Liberia in the early 1990s.</div><div><br></div><div>The Montana Historical Society said Collins is believed to be the first black mayor of Helena since 1874, when Edward W. Johnson – a barber from Washington, D.C. – became unincorporated Helena’s first mayor.</div></div><div><br></div><div>— — — — — — — — — — — — — — -<br><br><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div> </div></div></div></body></html>