Great Falls Tribune from Great Falls, Montana • Page 6

Friday, June 25, 2004 Page 6, Section A GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE WWW.GREATFALLSTRIBUNE.COM OPINION Editorial board Jim Strauss, President Publisher Elaine Kulhanek, Executive Editor Gary Moseman, Managing Editor Linda Caricaburu, Asst. Managing Editor Kathy Jack-Romero, Circulation Director For comments, tips or corrections: Call Managing Editor Gary Moseman at (406) 791-1465 or (800) 438-6600 Half-hour bus service good news for riders So many fun events are lined up for this weekend the Indian Traditional Games, the Augusta Rodeo, Bark in the Park that parents could be forgiven for overlooking the Safety First cials are giving away bicycle helmets, and elbow and knee pads and wrist protectors for skaters and skateboarders. Five hundred of them apiece, to be exact, thanks to the Benefis hos- Rally from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in the westside Kmart parking lot.

It would be a wearing geeky helmets, but geeky is in the eye of the beholder. A child will wear a helmet "if other children wear one, their parents use one, the teacher at school has told them how much good helmets do, and the child has picked out the one they really want," the institute says. The price is certainly right. A decent helmet costs $20 or so at a store. As long as they last, the helmets at the rally are free.

Not a bad way to spend an hour or so on a Saturday before plunging into the rest of the weekend's offerings. Safety Institute. Thousands more endure serious head injuries: Some wind up with headaches and problems with balance or concentration. Others see personality changes, including increased aggressiveness. The institute recommends replacing helmets if a child has crashed in one, because the impact tends to crush the foam inside.

Absent any crashes, children can wear their helmets for years by using thinner foam pads inside to accommodate their growing heads. Sure, some kids resist will run every half hour on every route but one from 6 to 10 a.m. and again from 2 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. The buses will continue running hourly from 9:30 a.m.

to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. The district is battling rising costs for fuel, electricity and natural gas and insurance, and it's understandable why the cuts in service were made. Still, we're glad to see them restored. I tion, which spon-0P1NI0N sor the event.

The helmets, especially, are a More good news: The Great Falls Transit District is restoring half-hour bus service at the beginning and end of the workday. The transit district pared back to once-an-hour runs a year ago as a way of saving money. It lost riders as a result and inconvenienced untold city residents who counted on the half-hour service to get to work or appointments on time. Starting July 1, buses shame if they did so, though, because the rally offers one of the best bargains of the summer. In addition to sharing helpful information about great deal.

Why? Because more than 800 bicycle riders are killed in accidents in the United States every year. Three out of four of them die of head injuries, accord- bike, gun, motor-vehicle, fire and home safety, rally offi- ing to the Bicycle Helmet GUEST OPINION READER OPINIONS On our minds: Court race, highways Clinton will like book's sales, but not the reactions socman Voters unaware? I read with shock that the voters of Montana, apparently based on very expensive TV ads, voted for Cindy Younkin, a Bozeman attorney, over Supreme Court Justice Jim Nelson, who was first appointed by Gov. Marc Racicot and has served dutifully for about 10 years. Obviously, these voters were not aware that Cindy Younkin had been hired as a supposed water rights attorney by the- town of Clyde Park in July of 1994 and totally botched the case. Cindy Younkin was actually sued for legal malpractice, where the town of Clyde Park accused her of being "negligently ignorant" of their rights and causing it extensive damage.

Hopefully, as the general election comes around, Cindy Younkin's abilities as a lawyer and her legal malpractice claim will become more known. The name and cause number of this case is Town of Clyde Park vs. Cindy E. Younkin, Cause No. 03-785, and it is before the Supreme Court of the state of Montana.

Shannon L. White, Great Falls Pepper vs. fly dung As the election draws near, we all get our fill of commentary from all the political candidates. The most challenging aspect of all the commentary is separating the fly dung from the pepper. I try very hard not to get excited about the fly dung, but occasionally I just can't help myself.

The comments made by the Democrat who is challenging Denny Rehberg are so full of fly dung that I have to say something. The Democrat challenger questioned Denny's ability to support Montana. I have been OF REA rW9CO im BE WHAT THE VOIEKS ARE UXKINS fCR" involved in state transportation issues for nearly 30 years and have served in key transportation positions in Montana since 1989. The recent highway bill passed by the House has put Montana in a better position than any previous transportation bill passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives ever! I attribute that to Dennis Rehberg.

Additionally, if we were all paying attention, we would know that Dennis Rehberg was selected as one of the transportation bill conferees. In the middle of his second term, he was appointed on the conference committee of one the most important bills to Montana, the six-year, 300-plus-billion-dollar transportation bill. Such a sought-after position fully despite countless inquiries by concerned citizens and letters by Sens. Conrad Burns and Max Baucus and Rep. Denny Rehberg.

Maryanne Bach is the regional director of BOR in Billings. She has deemed it fit to be addressed as "doctor" on the regional office's Web site, although the doctorate she received in 1998 was honorary. She is ultimately responsible for the actions of the area managers dealing directly with Canyon Ferry. Please contact her at her office and demand an explanation for the current situation facing Canyon Ferry. The Web address is: www.usbr.govgp Jeremy Simms, Helena Off the same cloth The June 7 edition front-page headline "No al-Qaida-Saddam tie" looks a bit silly when the end result of the Saddam regime and al-Qaida is the same.

Barbarism. They are cut from the same cloth. It is naive to believe that the savagery of Saddam has had no influence on the savagery of al-Qaida. Tim Milburn, Grass Range is unheard of for a second-term congressman. My hat's off to Denny.

I don't know about you, but I would much rather have Dennis Rehberg working for Montana than a 10-year Montana resident who has a hard time recognizing good pepper. Dave Gait, Helena Let B0R know Canyon Ferry Reservoir users are disgusted with the Bureau of Reclamation. BOR's strategies mean the elimination of Yacht Basin and other marinas and the beneficial services they provide the community. The Bureau of Reclamation is the target of the criticism and the outrage with regards to the situation at Canyon Ferry, but what exactly is the problem? John W. Keys III, commissioner of the BOR in Washington, claims on his Web site that his bureau wants "collaboration and cooperation" with others, and Keys himself recently was rewarded for "maintaining open lines of communication." Sadly, the regional and area offices of BOR have acted unprofessionally and disrespect Twain, the two volumes were completed four days before Grant succumbed to throat cancer, and have been in print ever since.

(Clinton kept both volumes in the Oval Office.) The book earned $500,000, or about $9.3 million in today's dollars. The inescapable, and not all that surprising, fact is that the autobiographies that sell best are those by the most controversial presidents. Clinton's publishers know this and presumably received a promise that he would deliver the goods, from Monica to the final-hour presidential pardons. Here are four more reasons Clinton's book will earn out its advance: Richard Nixon once declared that "the worst thing a politician can be is dull." Clinton revealed himself to be a flawed leader, playing equally well the role of hero and rogue. That duality makes him the most richly textured president since Nixon.

While Clinton was still in office, a cottage industry of Clinton insider books climbed the best-seller lists. And it didn't seem to matter if they were pro or con. More than 1.5 million copies of Hillary Clinton's book were gobbled up, and readers, presumably, will turn out in droves for the other side of the story. This will be one of the most carefully orchestrated, painstakingly marketed rollouts in history- "60 Minutes," Oprah, magazine covers, news nuggets. Book signings will look more like parades.

In the 3Vi years since he left office, Clinton has reinvented himself yet again. Voters and book buyers appear to have forgiven him his trespasses and are apparently prepared, in this politically polarized election year, to view him through a hazy, nostalgic memory of peace and prosperity. Yet if Clinton is also hoping for critical success, he may be disappointed. A president's legacy is often derived from a single ideological triumph. Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act.

Nixon went to China. It may not be enough that Clinton delivered on the economic mandate that got him elected, presiding over the greatest peacetime expansion in recent history. Absent a clear, tangible legacy, Clinton's troubles may define his presidency more than his accomplishments. Jeffrey A. Krames is vice president and publisher of McGraw-Hill.

The column was written for The Los Angeles Times. By JEFFREY A. KRAMES Bill Clinton's "My Life," which came out Tuesday, will almost certainly become the best-selling presidential autobiography ever published. Already, it's the most lucrative from an author's point of view: The former president received an advance, reported to be more than $10 million, that set a record not just for presidential memoirs but for all nonfiction books. This is pretty remarkable for a president who left office in 2001 with dismal personal ratings; 67 percent of Americans found him "not honest or trustworthy" at the end of his term, an ABC News poll found.

Republicans hated him; Democrats were deeply disappointed. His designated successor was defeated. Few wanted to hear from him; even candidates from his own party asked him not to come to town to campaign for them. Given that, can Knopfs bet possibly pay off? Can Clinton really sell the 1 million-plus copies needed to earn back the fattest nonfiction book advance ever more than was paid to GE's Jack Welch ($7 million), to Clinton's wife ($8 million) or to the pope ($8.5 million)? I believe it can. First of all, the book appears in the midst of the greatest bull market for political books ever.

Despite a longtime industry rule of thumb that political books do not sell, in one recent week this spring, nine of the top 10 titles on The New York Times nonfiction best-seller list were political in nature. Michael Moore, Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Bob Woodward and Joseph C. Wilson IV are among the authors whose books have become best sellers in recent months. Of course, presidential autobiographies are a distinct genre, and most have disappointed their publishers. One of the reasons is that presidents don't write memoirs; ex-presidents do.

By the time Ronald Reagan published "An American Life," for instance, George H.W. Bush had been in office for two years, and few readers felt compelled to look back. The same was true for Gerald Ford's "A Time to Heal." Richard Nixon did better. He overcame disgrace and poor reviews when his 1978 memoir, "RN," made the best-seller lists. But the best model is "Personal Memoirs," the autobiography of Ulysses S.

Grant. First published in 1885 by a company controlled by Grant's friend, Mark PLEASE WRITE TO US The Tribune publishes all nonlibelous letters it receives on topics of public interest. Each letter must be written and signed by its author for the Tribune only, and not longer than 250 words. Letters should contain the author's full name, home address and daytime phone number. Letters are subject to editing for clarity, taste and brevity.

Readers are welcome to write for publication every 60 days. Write to Great Falls Tribune, R0. Box 5468, Great Falls, MT 59403. Fax us at (406) 791-1431 or e-mail us at tribletterssofast.net. GUEST OPINION Environmental groups abuse access law Some ground crews are pruning around a few homes so those filing lawsuits for monetary gain say wildfires will be prevented.

What bunk! Anyone who has watched crown fires knows cutting a few branches around a house will not stop the force of catastrophic wildfire. The Alliance for the Wild Rockies is quot- .1 ed as saying I 1 "Instead of sub sidizing com- merciai logging, we' thev should put By ELLEN ENGSTEDT The story regarding the most recent lawsuit filed by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, the Ecology Center, and Native Ecosystems Council needs a response. The purpose and driving force of the actions these few people take appealing and litigating Forest Service timber projects is money. The latest lawsuit was filed to stop the Clancy-Unionville timber harvest outside Helena, a collaborative effort by area residents, Forest Service, and BLM to enhance water quality and forest conditions and to improve travel management activities. Local residents are anxious to move forward because this area was threatened in 2000 when fires broke out near Boulder and raced toward Clancy and Helena, and the forest conditions have only gotten worse.

Of course, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are not residents of Clancy or Unionville so their homes and loved ones are not placed in harm's way by their action. Our economy suffers a blow every time these people file a lawsuit to halt a timber harvest with the double insult of ensuring Montanans are stopped from earning an honest living. Montana's timber industry is in the value-added segment of the economy providing 9,300 of 25,000 Montana manufacturing jobs. These jobs put $331 million into the state's coffers last year. Each dollar produced in the timber industry has a multiplier effect of five times.

The mill jobs are well-paying by Montana standards at an average of over $33,000 annually along with benefits. What of a positive nature do the litigants provide? The effects of their actions produce unsafe watersheds, smoke filled air, and scorched wildlife habitat. And, this will continue until the spigot is shut off from the taxpayer funded Equal Access to Justice Act being misused by those who are only "in it for the Ellen Engstedt Is executive vice president of the Montana Wood Products Association, 0. Box 1149, Helena, MT 59624. Part of the lawsuit filed on this and every other project by these people asks for an award of costs and attorneys' fees under the federal Equal Access to Justice Act.

You as a taxpayer will foot the bill for this lawsuit and the myriad of others filed over the past several years if the U.S. District Court in Missoula grants them even part of a victory. The EAJA was enacted as a means of permitting persons to obtain reimbursement of expenses incurred in the course of court actions and certain administrative proceedings involving government agencies. Prior to the act those expenses were borne by the person taking action and the framers believed because the resources of the government are greater than an individual, persons were often deterred from seeking review or defending against adverse government actions. The EAJA was passed with good intentions.

It was never envisioned that EAJA would become a cash cow for obstructionists and their attorneys. more money into this kind of Engstedt work" meaning, I guess, the pruning. Let me tell you who is subsidizing whom and why these people continue to sue the Forest Service. It is not to represent "the public," because their memberships are practically nonexistent. And it obviously is not to "protect the environment" because their actions are extremely harmful to Montana water, air, and critter habitat.

The real reason they sue is money. ct9Hcwtoon1.com wJa.