Hungry Horse News KGEZ faces foreclosure Thursday, March 3, 2005 By Richard Hanners Hungry Horse News      The question of what happened to $750,000 KGEZ radio talk-show host John Stokes allegedly received from the state in a highway condemnation case may soon be resolved.      Stokes said he expects a court ruling soon in a case brought by Questa Resources, of Bigfork, which loaned Stokes $665,000 in April 2000 so he could purchase the AM radio station on U.S. Highway 93 south of Kalispell.       Questa claims Stokes and others named in the promissory note failed to make a mortgage payment in March 2003. Stokes was declared in default in July last year, and Questa seeks $710,548 in principal and interest plus attorney's fees and other costs.      But Stokes claims he has paid Questa at least $877,000 which includes all the money the Montana Department of Transportation provided him in the condemnation proceeding.      Questa attorney Christy Brandon disputes Stokes' claim. Brandon claims Questa received $293,930 from Stokes' attorney, Wade Dahood, who had control over the $750,000 MDT gave Stokes to mitigate noise, vibration, dust and other impacts from construction and road widening.      Citing documents provided to her by Dahood, Brandon claims Dahood gave Stokes about $135,000 of the state highway money. She claims Stokes used $36,640 to pay the Internal Revenue Service for back taxes, $37,564 to pay off a lien on his residence, and another $60,831 for Stokes' personal use.      According to a letter Dahood sent to Brandon in August 2003, Dahood said expenses for experts in the 2 1/2-year-old case approximated $150,000 and attorney fees could reach $260,000.      Dahood said the state highway money was used to pay $30,839 to Alliance Acoustical, $8,350 to Owl Engineering and $80,374 for attorney fees. Dahood claimed he had not been "fully reimbursed" for his work on the "complex and difficult case."      Stokes, however, claims that Dahood is Questa's attorney, not his, and that Dahood had control over the state highway money. In a Feb. 2 affidavit, Stokes also claimed he had "worked diligently and tirelessly and obtained over $750,000 in compensation for and on behalf of (Questa)."      Brandon told the Hungry Horse News that Dahood initially represented Questa when Stokes sued MDT over the Highway 93 project. But that was an "accommodation," she said, and Questa and Dahood parted their ways after Stokes allegedly failed to make his mortgage payments. Brandon became Questa's attorney in the foreclosure.      Flathead County District Court Judge Katherine Curtis issued a ruling on motions in the case on Dec. 8 last year. She also ruled that Stokes may represent himself pro se in the case, but he could not represent his wife, Pamela, his daughter, Elizabeth, nor the "now dissolved" corporation Skyline Broadcasters and Z-600 Inc.      Curtis said the two corporations were dissolved because Stokes failed to file annual financial reports with the Montana Secretary of State's Office. However, she ruled, the mortgage agreement bound all the remaining "parties, heirs and successors"-specifically Pamela and Elizabeth Stokes.      Stokes and his wife live on an 80-acre property in Lake County that they deeded to Elizabeth. Questa claims the property was mortgaged in 2000 as part of the loan to purchase the radio station.      Curtis also ruled that Questa's claim to a security interest in the radio station's license and broadcast equipment was valid. Stokes had cited a Federal Communications Commission ruling that he claimed forbids broadcast license holders from granting security interest in the sales of a license.      The status of Stokes' broadcast license was recently raised by area watchdog groups.      All Montana radio stations are currently going through the license renewal process.      An FCC Web page dated Feb. 4 reported Stokes' application for AM radio license renewal had been issued a "red light dismissal," meaning Stokes was delinquent in fee payments to the FCC.      Brandon said she became concerned some time last year that Stokes might let his broadcast license lapse and "waste" his assets if he felt he might not prevail against Questa's claim.      KGEZ is no longer in red light dismissal status, said Jose Privado, at the FCC in Washington, D.C., but the FCC's revenue and receivables finance group was still working on the case.      Stokes told the Hungry Horse News that he would appeal the Questa mortgage case to the Montana Supreme Court if necessary, but that he expects to prevail.      Stokes' optimism is not unfounded. In March last year, claiming the state had conspired against him, Stokes upped his claim against MDT for the Highway 93 project from $1.1 million to $4.7 million. In July, Curtis denied the state's motion to dismiss the $4.7 million claim.      On Feb. 22 the Montana Supreme Court ruled in Stokes' favor in a new case involving the highway project - an inverse condemnation claim against MDT.      In that case, Stokes claimed the highway project adversely impacted his easement to radio antennas and other equipment on property near his radio broadcast station. The Supreme Court reversed District Court Judge Ted Lympus on a technicality and sent the case back to the Kalispell.      "I haven't lost a court case yet," Stokes claimed.