Great Falls Tribune from Great Falls, Montana • Page 3

Wednesday, June 29, 2005 GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE WWW.GREATFALLSTRIBUNE.CO 3, Section A Homicide: Suspect describes several attempts to commit suicide Investigators found no drugs at any of the scenes, Carpenter said. Malmstrom Air Force Base Sgt. Andeelynn Fifrick said the base will not be involved in prosecution. "Basically, we'll be cooperating as much as legally permissible to assist local law enforcement," she said. Trotter was an Airman First Class who entered active duty Nov.

29, 2004. He arrived at Malmstrom in May 2005. He served as a security forces specialist, or military policeman, with the 341st Security Forces Squadron, she said. Policy prevents her from releasing information about LaRocque until today, she said. Malmstrom provides professional counselors for friends and family, she said.

Trotter was booked Monday at Cascade County regional jail. He is being held on charges of deliberate homicide, a felony that is punishable by death or by 10 years to life in prison. He also is charged with tampering with physical evidence, a felony punishable by 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $50,000 or both. Trotter appears in court today. Reach Tribune Staff Writer Keila Szpaller at 791-1466 or (800) 438-6600; her e-mail is according to a Meagher County news release.

They swerved their RV to avoid a T-bone hit but collided anyway, the news release said. Meagher County authorities called the accident an attempted suicide. Witnesses said the driver was bleeding when he exited the vehicle and ran into the Lewis and Clark National Forest, the news release said. Officers on trail By this time, numerous jurisdictions were involved, including Cascade County, Meagher County, Malmstrom and the U.S. Forest Service.

While officials from various agencies converged at the bottom of the drainage Monday afternoon, U.S. Forest Service's Graef and a Meagher County search and rescue officer began looking for Trotter. They believed he was armed and dangerous. They slowly drove 4 or 5 miles up the drainage. "We come 'round the corner, and there he is," Graef said.

Trotter looked more tired and worn than dangerous. His ankles were blistered and bloodied from walking in shoes without socks, Graef said. His the Holiday Inn Express. There, he tried to drink the poisons he had bought but couldn't bring himself to do so, the affidavit said. He attempted to hang himself with his belt and a power cord, the affidavit said.

He failed in this attempt, too. At 4 a.m., he left the Holiday Inn Express for the Motel 6. Trotter slept there until 9:30 a.m., court documents said. In the morning, he once more attempted to kill himself. He made his third trip to Wal-Mart, bought antifreeze and window washer and returned to the Motel 6 to drink them, the affidavit said.

He couldn't down them, either, it said, and he left town. Looking for a cliff Trotter took LaRocque 's Dodge Stratus down Highway 89 sometime late Monday morning. He looked for a cliff to drive off, he told authorities. At Deadman Creek drainage, 5 miles south of Kings Hill in Meagher County, Trotter pulled up a Forest Service road, according to court documents and a Meagher County news release. A short time later, a vacationing Florida couple traveled north on the highway.

They noticed a car pulling onto the highway, wrists were bloodied, too, from the earlier suicide attempt. "He just looked so young, about 16 or 17," Graef said. Graef searched the compliant 19-year-old. Graef found one key, one hotel card key and a shotgun shell. Trotter found the shell along the Forest Service road, picked it up and put it in his pocket, he told Graef.

Graef sat him in the front seat of his pickup and asked if he was OK. Trotter told the officer he was "just a little thirsty," Other law enforcement officials met Trotter at the bottom of the hill. In the back of a Montana Highway Patrol trooper's car, Trotter talked, authorities said. First, he tried to tell the false story of a weekend of rough sex, the affidavit said. Story emerges A skilled detective didn't believe Trotter, Carpenter said, and coaxed the truth from him.

Trotter confessed. Authorities alerted Great Falls police, who went to the Holiday Inn Express and found Trotter's fiancee late Monday afternoon. LaRocque had been dead "probably 24 hours," Carpenter said. FROM 1A checked into a room at the Holiday Inn Express at about 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 25, the affidavit said.

Trotter said he then began drinking Southern Comfort, and the two stayed in the room all day, according to the affidavit. He said he continued drinking Sunday, passing out sometime before noon. LaRocque left to have lunch with a friend. At some point after she returned to the hotel, the week end turned ugly. LaRocque complained about Trotter's drinking, he told authorities.

She told him there was "no way she was going to Trotter marry an alcoholic," according to court documents. He told police he "snapped," and "lost it," court documents said. Trotter, a member of Malm-strom's military police, confessed to choking LaRocque in the bedroom "until she stopped moving," according to court documents. He gripped her throat for six to eight minutes until she fell off the bed, the affidavit said. Then, he Bush: Iraq FROM 1A ing with an insurgency that's claimed more than 1,700 American lives.

He rejected the idea of a timetable for withdrawal as well as alternative approaches that call for the deployment of more troops. "Setting an artificial timetable would send the wrong message to the Iraqis, who need to know that America will not leave before the job is done," he said, "Sending more Americans would undermine our strategy of encouraging Iraqis to take the lead in this fight." Departing from his usual upbeat assessment of the war's progress, Bush offered a sober report on a conflict that features almost daily attacks with explosive devices and car bombs. The speech was timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the transfer of power from the U.S. military to a provisional Iraqi government. "Like most Americans, I see the images -of violence and bloodshed.

Every picture is horrifying and the suffering is real," Bush said. "Amid all this violence, I know Americans ask the question: Is the sacrifice worth it? It is worth it, and it is vital to the security of our country." Bush referred to bin Laden or i- Station: KTGF to stay on air even sans NBC choked her some more, it said. In one version of Trotter's account, he admitted that choking her gave him "a rush." In another account, he realized she was dead, "freaked out" and stepped outside for a smoke. In his confession to authorities, he staged a lie to explain her death: "He pulled her up on the bed and set it up as if the two of them were having 'rough' sex and it got out of hand," the affidavit said. He tugged off her pants, slipped off her panties and threw them on the floor, according to the affidavit.

He tore her shirt. He penetrated her vaginally, court documents said. On the move During subsequent events, Trotter moved quickly and frantically. He made three separate trips to Wal-Mart, the affidavit said. In the first two trips, he bought a knife, then bleach and ammonia.

He made a brief stop in his dormitory room around 1:30 a.m. Monday, where law enforcement later found pools of blood and a knife, Carpenter said. They believe he attempted suicide there. He rented a room at a different motel, Motel 6, and he returned to 'a central Sept. 11 six times in his 30-minute speech and quoted bin Laden to buttress his point that Iraq is "a central front in the war on terror." Bush said bin Laden cast the conflict in Iraq as the "third world war" and declared that "the whole world is watching this war." Bush's trip to Fort Bragg gave him a chance to highlight his role as commander-in-chief and to link his policies to the men and women who have to carry them out on the battlefield.

"I recognize that Americans want our troops to come as quickly as possible. So do he said. "We will stay in Iraq as long as we are needed and not a day longer." At least 89 soldiers and airmen from Fort Bragg and its sister air base have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fort Bragg, home of the storied 82nd Airborne Division, has about 9,300 troops in Iraq. Bush urged Americans to show their support for the troops on July 4th by flying flags, sending letters to the troops or helping military families.

He announced a new Defense Department Web site www.AmericaSupportsY-ou.mil that offers suggestions for boosting military morale. Democrats dismissed the defense," said Wayne Fields, director of American culture studies at Washington University in St. Louis and a specialist on presidential rhetoric. "It also provides something he can borrow," said Fields, enabling Bush to identify himself with the military's patriotism and sacrifice. There are also the images of the war that the administration prefers not to NEWS ANALYSIS on terror' skeptical about the administration's rationale for war and claims of progress in Iraq.

Bush's personal standing has fallen along with support for the war, and his approval rating now well below 50 percent in most polls. Before his speech, Bush met privately with relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq. "We have more work to do, and there will be tough moments that test America's resolve," he said. "The American people will not falter under threat and we will not allow our future to be determined by car bombers and assassins." Bush again evoked Sept. 11 describing the stakes in Iraq.

He said a defeat for U.S. troops there would "yield the future of the Middle East to men like bin Laden." The CIA recently expressed concern that since the U.S. -led invasion in 2003, Iraq has become a better training ground for terrorists than Afghanistan was when it served the home base for bin Laden and al-Qaida. In Afghanistan, Islamic fanatics trained in desert hideouts; in Iraq, they're getting real-world experience urban warfare against the U.S. military, CIA analysts concluded.

unpredictable on, critics have" accused the administration of not being forthcoming on the challenges that remain, and putting too much emphasis on a public-relations campaign. "There has been a tendency to talk down to the American people in slogans and to fail to present convincing plans," said Anthony Cordesman, an Iraq specialist with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. As to Bush surrounding himself with troops, "I think the real problem is he's trying to capitalize on our men and women in uniform," Cordesman said. Not so, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. "This is the commander in chief talking to the American people during a time of war," he said.

"And it's important for the American people to hear from the commander in chief, particularly at important moments like this in Iraq." EDITOR'S NOTE Tom Raum has covered Washington for The Associated Press since 1973, including live FROM 1A sion that will ultimately determine which station gets the NBC affiliation. "I can't say a lot about it right now," he added, declining to say why NBC is interested in changing its local affiliate. Efforts to contact NBC officials by phone and e-mail were unsuccessful Tuesday. Affiliate stations are not owned by the network but have agreements that provide for the use of network programming. There are about 200 NBC affiliate stations in the United States, along with stations owned by NBC.

KBGF, a new station, has run newspaper ads recently saying it will be the area's "new home for NBC" and will soon offer local news programming. The new station has an office in downtown Great Falls and will have local advertising salespeople. KBGF has hired two news reporters to be based in Great Falls and also will have single reporters in Havre and Lewis-town. The idea is to have a regional newscast also using three reporters from KTVH in Helena, Toddre said. KBGF is licensed as a low-power station, meaning its broadcast range could be more limited than that of KTGF and the other two full-power stations, KRTV, a CBS affiliate, and KFBB, an ABC station.

KBGF says it will air on Channel 6 on cable in Great Falls and on Channel 50 for those without cable. Bresnan Communications, the cable provider in Great Falls, Havre and in some other area OUR LADY OF LOURDES CATHOLIC SCHOOL Pray for Peace 1305 5th Ave. South Great Fulls 452-0551 452-6464 Sponsored by, tmri, QltKtte ft trkk Bi'cy Catchjt White Vs Missoula Troops among Bush's favorite audiences; results communities, says it is waiting until Friday to see which station holds the NBC affiliation before making any lineup changes. "I haven't notified my subscribers of the change because I don't know what the changes will be," said Bonnie Hanson, local area manager for Bresnan, KTGF will continue to broad-; cast locally, even if it loses the NBC affiliation, according to Washington and Jack May, the station manager. The station would likely seek affiliation with another network and continue to develop local programming, they said.

Washington said plans to launch a local newscast at KTGF have been delayed by the uncertainty over the network affiliation. Selling advertising has also been difficult with the programming uncertainty, said May. "It's making it difficult for us to do business," May said, noting that his station's call letters sound much like those of KBGF, the new station. "It's created an enormous amount of confusion in the market." Reach Tribune Business Editor James E. Larcombe at (800) 438-6600 or at blarcombgreatfal.gan-nett.com.

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packet games pay $100. Full Service Snack Bar, Beer, Wine, Video Poker Keno Machines. depends on daysession) ED 7 Sox Osprey free tickets front in war speech as more of the same and accused Bush of erroneously linking Iraq to Sept. 11. "'Staying the as the president advocates, is neither sustainable nor likely to lead to the success we all seek," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said.

"The president's numerous references to September 1 1th did not provide a way forward in Iraq; they only served to remind the American people that our most dangerous enemy, namely Osama bin Laden, is still on the loose." MoveOn, an anti-war group that claims to have more than 3 million members, began airing a television ad Tuesday night declaring that "it's time to come home" from Iraq. The ad quotes Bush saying in April that "we're making really good progress," then contrasts those remarks with a more recent assessment by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. "The White House is completely disconnected from reality," Hagel said earlier this month in an interview with U.S. News World Report.

Bush acknowledged difficulties but confidently predicted victory. He conceded that many of the newly trained Iraqi security forces aren't ready to take over from American troops. Polls have found that Americans have become increasingly painted mixed pictures from Vice President Dick Cheney's claim that the insurgency was in its "last throes" to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's suggestion that the conflict could last another 12 years. Bush also sought to shore up military morale and reassure conservatives jittery about the continued loss of life and rising price tag.

Some images of Bush with the troops have backfired. When a flight-suit-clad Bush landed on the deck of the homeward-bound aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and proclaimed the end to major combat on May 1, 2003 under a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner it seemed at first like a perfect Kodak moment, even to Bush detractors. Never mind that the carrier had to be turned in a half-circle to keep the California shoreline out of the picture. But when violence increased instead of ebbing, the "Mission Accomplished" episode became an object of ridicule to many. That Thanksgiving, Bush made an unannounced trip to Baghdad to dine with U.S.

troops. An image of a beaming Bush, wearing an Army workout jacket and holding a platter containing a large golden-brown turkey and stuffing, was widely distributed. It turned out, however, that the turkey was a prop and not for consumption. The soldiers were fed from cafeteria steam-table trays. As the Iraq conflict has dragged -yw wr? yyr grr-ww-- is in as in By TOM RAUM Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON From his May 2003 "Mission Accomplished" speech aboard an aircraft carrier, to a Thanksgiving dinner in Baghdad, to Tuesday night's speech to troops in North Carolina, President Bush has had no shortage of telegenic moments on Iraq amid a nearly unrelenting string of bad news from the region.

With his approval ratings at the lowest of his presidency, Bush worked to rally lagging public support for the war with a prime-time address at Fort Bragg, N.C. The visit offered Bush one of his favorite audiences: row upon row of American soldiers. "I recognize that Americans want our troops to come home as quickly as possible. So do Bush told the military crowd. But he restated his opposition to setting a timetable, saying, "As Iraqis stand up we will stand down." The president's preference for friendly audiences is well established, demonstrated by Bush's repeated appearances before invitation-only "town hall" crowds to promote his Social Security plan.

It's a pattern he followed in his 2004 re-election campaign. Few audiences are as predictably friendly as military ones, duty-bound to show respect for their commander in chief, often bursting into raucous whoops. Bush's audience Tuesday evening was unusually quiet while the president spoke, however, applauding in unison after one key passage, as if on cue, and then at the end. Already this year. Bush has visited Fort Hood, Texas, twice; has spoken to U.S.

troops returning from Iraq at Wiesbaden Air Base in Germany; has stood with armed forces members in a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery; and has delivered the commencement address to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. In appearing often with U.S. troops, Bush "can show genuine respect for the men and women who provide the first line of emphasize: fallen Americans and Iraqis amid black smoke, fire and bombing rubble. The flag-draped coffins coming to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Bush's private sessions on military bases with the families of the fallen, his visits to the wounded in military hospitals. The conflict has cost the lives of more than 1,740 U.S. troops since the war began in March 2003. North Carolina has been hard hit. In the one year since the U.S.-led coalition returned official sovereignty to Iraq, some 100 North Carolina-based troops have died in the war, second only to 180 from California, according to an Associated Press analysis.

About 52,000 members of the military are stationed at Bragg and adjacent Pope Air Force Base, and some 14,700 are fighting in Iraq. North Carolina also has sent thousands of Marines from Camp Lejeune and air crews from two Air Force bases. Bush sought to clarify the stakes after other U.S. officials if WINDOW 7 pm Tonight Stop by any of the shops at 2Js Shopping Complex and get free tickets. Listen to K99 FM for COVERINGS JJ 2Js Shopping B-- K99PM yj Join us at the Ballpark! XJ Monday Friday 9-5 -f Box Office 5:30 game days to Free Consultation Right in your home Wmm FlGOIiLYG 1201 7th Street South 761-3223 Mon-Fri Sat 9-12.