My Page: Amy Linn
From the Department of Bitter Irony
W.R. Grace Gets Philanthropy Award
W.R. Grace & Co. won a 2009 “Philanthropist of the Year” award today in a ceremony that managed not to mention the words “asbestosis,” “mesothelioma” or “Libby, Montana.” The Baltimore Business Journal reported that the Columbia, Maryland-based Grace snagged the award because it donated at least $1 million last year, “of which about 40 percent went to Maryland nonprofits.” The asbestos and chemical company giant also “encouraged employees to donate more than 1,250 hours of their time,” the story said. The annual award is given by the Maryland chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
Tormenting at Hellgate Middle School
When Bullies Win at School, Who’s to Blame?
Bullies are everywhere—that’s no surprise to anyone who’s ever been a kid. Bullying is a leading problem in the nation’s schools, hurting grades, lowering attendance levels, and wreaking emotional havoc that reverberates for a lifetime. At its extreme edge, bullying can end in violence or suicide. The common victims are people with disabilities, who are disproportionately targeted for violence across all age levels in this country.
Those are just a few of the serious and sad truths behind an extraordinarily sad and important story yesterday by Missoulian reporter Michael Moore.
Moore wrote about Pat Fuglei, an eighth grade boy with autism who was so tormented and humiliated by fellow students at Hellgate Middle School that his parents removed him from school several weeks ago and will send him to a private school in Arizona. Fuglei was mocked, mimicked, called “retard,” and sexually taunted, Moore reported. In the wake of this ugliness, it’s easy to feel outrage and blame the obvious target: the school. How could Hellgate allow a student to be so violated? How could teachers or administrators not know that Fuglei was being victimized? Why didn’t someone do something about it?
[more]Car Talk is Out, Wait Wait is In!
Tuning In: Big New Program Changes on Montana Public Radio
This just in: Montana Public Radio is switching its schedule to offer extra news in the morning and new shows—while booting some old ones.
Starting November 2, the morning news on MTPR will run until 9 a.m., complete with NPR’s “Morning Edition” and two new additions, “Marketplace Morning Report” and an expanded “Montana Morning News.” The latter will feature segments from Missoula anchor Edward O’Brien and reporters Emilie Ritter in Helena, Katrin Frye in the Flathead Valley, and Kevin Maki in the Bitterroot Valley, according to a press release from the University of Montana.
The changes were made after two years of building the regional news team and gathering feedback about what listeners wanted most, the announcement said. MTPR officials specifically tried to satisfying two key camps—classical music lovers and newshounds—by offering more news in the morning and three to six hours of classical music programming each day, according to the press release. “Morning Classics” will now start later in the morning, airing from 9 to 11 a.m.
From the Flathead Beacon
Killer Roads: Reducing Death Rates on Highways a Challenge in Montana
A highway dedication last week near Glacier Park International Airport called to memory a tragic anomaly in which three Montana Highway Patrol troopers died on Flathead County roads in an 18-month span. Before that span, between October of 2007 and March of 2009, only four troopers in state history had died in the line of duty.
Two stretches of U.S. Highway 2 were dedicated to David Graham and Evan Schneider, and one stretch of U.S. Highway 93 near Somers was dedicated to Mike Haynes. But the ceremony also served as a reminder of something that’s much more of a reality than an anomaly: Rural roads still account for the majority of highway fatalities in the United States, despite the fact that more traffic and more crashes are found on urban roadways.
A report released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that, while overall highway fatalities continued to decline in 2008, more than half of highway deaths occur on rural roads even as states seek to remedy this trend. In 2008, according to the report, 56 percent of fatalities were on rural roads.
From the Flathead Beacon
New Judge to be Assigned in Barkus Case, Postponing Arraignment
A new judge will preside over the case of Kalispell state Sen. Greg Barkus, who is charged with three felonies after an Aug. 27 boat crash on Flathead Lake that seriously injured himself and four others, including Congressman Denny Rehberg.
Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan filed a motion Oct. 14 requesting a substitute for District Judge Nels Swandal of Livingston. Swandal was previously assigned to handle the case after the three Flathead District Court judges removed themselves because they worked with Barkus this year on legislation to add district court judges in Montana.
Officials in Corrigan’s office said Tuesday they thought Lake County District Judge Kim Christopher will be the new judge presiding over the case, but a call for confirmation to Christopher’s office for confirmation has not yet been returned. A new date for Barkus’ arraignment, previously set for Oct. 26, has not yet been scheduled. The arraignment is where the defendant pleads guilty or not guilty to charges.
Barkus, the Republican majority senate whip, was charged with one count of criminal endangerment and two counts of negligent vehicular assault after he drove his speedboat onto the rocky shoreline at Wayfarers State Park the night of Aug. 27.
Commentary
A Journalist Runs Through It
Folks in Lolo are quietly happy about the fact that the bitterly-disputed Bitterroot Resort—with its proposed 2,700 homes, a golf course and skiing galore—looks doomed. That’s according to a story in the Atlantic by Christina Davidson, who’s offering various dispatches in a feature called (downer alert) Recession Road Trip.
Davidson recounts how Tom Maclay, the driving force behind the Bitterroot Resort, once dreamed it would be one of the nation’s biggest ski destinations. Instead, a major creditor, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. Asset Holdings LLC, filed foreclosure papers Oct. 2 in Missoula District Court, seeking control over the property and naming Maclay and his parents.
Writes Davidson: “The Maclays have some of the deepest land-owning roots in western Montana, going back five generations to 1883 when the family first established a ranch in the Bitterroot Valley south of Missoula ... If the foreclosure filing against Bitterroot Resort proceeds to its likely end, Tom Maclay’s 3,000 acres will be taken over” to satisfy “a festering $19 million debt.” (To read the rest of her fine story, click here.)
[more]Commentary
Our Stadium’s Nice, But Other Things Are Frosty
We’re getting a nice nod from the Sports Network, which wrote today about the five towns that are publicly bidding to host the final game of the 
The story by David Coulson notes that the championship game has been played in Chattanooga, Tenn., for the past 12 years. But the 2011 game—slated for January—could end up in a different place, owing to stiffer competition between wannabe hosts. At least five towns have placed bids with the NCAA football committee, Coulson writes, and one of them—a dark horse—is Missoula. The other four are Chattanooga; Frisco, Texas; Little Rock, Ark.; and Spokane.
[more]From the Flathead Beacon
Bad Economy Puts Contentious Lakeside Subdivision on Hold
Flathead County Commissioners voted last week to ratify the withdrawal of controversial phases of a proposed Lakeside subdivision, effectively negating a lawsuit seeking to stop the final phases of the development.
Eagle’s Crest, a subdivision with nine development phases located west of U.S. Highway 93, would have added over 1,000 residences to Lakeside. It sits on 1,353 acres, or roughly two square miles, and would have included a golf course and an airstrip as amenities for its residents.
Jolly Good Press
BBC’s View of Montana: Oil, Cowboys and Gladiators
Should we feel happy that the wild West still tantalizes European journalists, or should we feel bad that a BBC radio reporter recently got sent all the way from England—and apparently only got to visit Glendive and Sidney, Montana? (All due respects to Glendive and Sidney, of course: those are great places in windswept, cold, vast Eastern Montana. Did I mention windswept and cold?)
[more]New West Conference
Real Estate Market in the West: Where It’s Going, and How
Less can be more. The end is not nigh. The real estate market—including second-home and resort markets—will recover … eventually.
Predictions and advice about opportunity, realism, smart growth, environmentalism—and a slow-paced recovery—were the hallmarks of NewWest.net’s fourth annual Real Estate Development in the Northern Rockies conference in Missoula. The two-day event, which ended yesterday at the Hilton Garden Inn, included more than 30 speakers who discussed wide-ranging topics about development, planning, land use and the future of the West.
The boom-and-bling era of speculation and eye-popping returns on real estate have obviously vanished, said the planners, architects, developers, policy makers, real estate agents, green builders and others who took the stage. But the current economic downturn could fuel a shift that benefits people and the planet, speakers said. When smart growth replaces sprawl, when developers are good neighbors, when downtowns are revitalized and landscapes are preserved, the region will be protected from ugly booms and busts.
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