The Daily Sentinel from Grand Junction, Colorado • 4

Commentary 4A The Daily Sentinel Friday, December 1, 2000 T1IR DAILY Sentinel Cm Kememm Oriwt, Editor and PuNnhet Dwh Umf. Managing Editor Bud WlasW, Operations Director SHWmwgsf, EdiUxial Page Editor More R. ItaJarrar, City Editor Lmthi Ibyw IMt, Eiitonal Board Editorials A welcome truce in Montrose County For almoet 20 years, Louisiana Pacific Corp. and Western Colorado Congress have been at war over the way LR operates its wood sheeting plant near Olathe, In light of that history, the agreement announced this week between the environmental group and the national corporation is a remarkable step toward conciliation. What's more, the willingness of LP to voluntarily reduce pollution at the Olathe plant substantially below the levels allowed under the plant's state permit demonstrates how much the corporate culture of LP has changed substantially for the better In recent years.

Before company founder and former Chairman 1 tarry Merlo was forced out in HUG. LP regularly th unified its nose at state and federal regulators and its neighbors. The company seemed more illing to accept fines and court cases than it was to dean up any of the pollution its opera turns created in Olathe and other parts of the country. Since Merio's departure, however. P's operational phi losophy has been decidedly different The company has worked much more cooprativoly with Colorado Department of Health officials an effort to eliminate pollution violations at the Olathe plmt.

That doesn't mean everything has torn perfect. Tlie com-pany has continued to anger envininmentalists by request-ing additional timber from area national forests to feed ns Olathe plant, something it said was necessary to keep the plant in op'ratmn. And, as one Western Colorado Congress official noted, there are ongoing concerns about alleged safety violations, allegations has contested Still, the accord reached this week between the company and Western Colorado Congress which includes an agreement by the environmental group to notify company officials before Issuing public statements about problems It perceives at the Olathe plant is a marked Improvement over the fractious discord which has historically defined the relationship between LP and the environmental community. Both sid(s are to be commended for genuinely sis-king to redefine that relationship, presumably in a way that will enhance the common good of everyone in Montrose Diunty and the surrounding region. Graciousness in defeat Story on Dewey Bridge man as a refreshing change Editor Kudos to Rathel Sauer for her fine hiuiun-interest article on Bullard Harris of Dewey Brid, r.

Ituh What a refreshing departure from the moronic cliptrap tlut currently iwws for journalism, electronic or print. After what we Live enduml from politicians this past year, it is good to be assured that there are still real people holding down the far corners of the country'- A bit more than eight years ago, one of tlwse tin horns assured us "I fm- your pain." I doubt this guy ever knew anyone as real as Mr Harris, let alone felt his pain or his triumphs, either. Ms. Sauer's article did all of us "regular folk" a great service by reminding us if people like Bullard Harris GORDON SMITH Grand Jam Uun Opport uni tics still available for local Christian radio Editor It has lieen several weeks since the announced sale of Christian stations FCJOL-Crand Junction, and KDKJI Glenwund Springs, by Colorado Chiistiun Iniversity in laikewtxxt to Eiluca tional Mmlia foundation of Sacramento. Calif, (known as lane) Since tlut tune, I have Ixx-n imindaiml with calls, letters, nulls and p-r-vifu! expressions of concern for me, the stall and the future of Im al Chr Mian radio on the Western Slop- It has b-x-n tth humbling and gratifying and is not permitted to enter the I'metco prop erty in I'ravan In respmse lo a personal rmiiet from San Miguel County Commissioner Art Goodtunes, Cmetno's CEO.

Dirt Sealy. made a personal exception to company rule and permitted Amy Lup-r and others from Western Colorado Congress to tour the I'metco property on Aug. 1 At that time. Amv Lpr was permitted to see a small area of I'metco' property that contams contamination, whkh was in the pnxvs of being deaius! lpn obtaining ain-ss to this area, Amy lop-r deliU'nitelv revered herself with ammonia alu nunum sulfate residue, the strongest pillulanl oh this site, a pillut.mt less toxic tfun many chemicals one can purchase at a local hardware store I'pon accomplishing this, she had to be forced to wash her hands and vacate the Cmetpo propTty. The Daily Sentinel coverage of this and West em Colorado Congress attorney s' use of this "incident" in Env Harare's ongoing attempt to fabri cate a public health crisis in Montrose, reflects the continued highly biuvd and deliberately inflammatory coverage by the Sentinel of Umetco, 'our community's Lrgest taxpayer and employer.

Western Colorado Congress and its corporate spmvir, Knvinxare, have deliberately rest our an-a miliums of dollars in lost education funds, medical funds and infrastructure funds Envtro-care has further cost taxpayers many millions of dollars through a documented, illegal payment to a Utah state official and resulting inflated charges for state dean up rests JOHN C. WEAVER Sutunta to see the level of concern on the part of so many caring people While the sudden change in format for KJOL and KDRH was a shock. those who desire a return to a similar format need to be aware there are vme viable option Eor those who are seri ously interested in establishing a local Christian radio ministry. nweting has bm-n called for Monday. Ik-c.

11. to discuss a positive approach to the issue, as well as to pray for God's direction in any endeavor we might undertake That meeting will take place at First Assembly of God church. Fourth Street and Grand Avenue. Grand Junction, at 7 m. It is my hi that anyone interested In pursuing future opjiortunitii-s ill nuke every effort to attend this meeting It will be lmort.int to be able to clearly assess the level of interest and commitment to the future of local Chrtstun radio A strong turnout will be a great "springboard" to that future KEN ANDREWS.

Manager KJOL and KVia Grand Juru turn Coverage of Umetco dispute unfair to company, West End Kali tor. As a former I'metco employee who worked in 1'ravan In the past years, and a longtime resident of the West End of Montrose County. I feel I'm familiar with and qualified to comment on the aivurary of stories atxmt tlut workplace Knvinxare. the Cl.ih wastedispos.il romptny, has suppirlml Western Colorado Congress and executive Amy Ltpr. But she Is irresponsible Al Gore may be down, but lies not yet out Pinkerton Ben Alexander demonstrated this week that he is no Al Dire.

Alexander, a Republican former state senator fmm Mi introse, lost his election bid to retain his seat on the Colorado State Board of Education to Jaml IolLs, a 20 year -old Internet entrepreneur from Boulder. In the Initial count for the Nov. 7 election. Democrat Rolls won by just 1.211 votes out of more than 1 6 million ballots cast close enough to require an automatic mount. When that recount was completed this week, the margin of victory for Bolts had dwindled to only 90 votes If Alexander were to take a cue from Vice ITesident Al Dire, he would demand another recount, this time by hand, and he wouldn't be satisfied until every chad and dimple had been Interpreted.

Instead, Alexander graciously conceded to Rolls. "The mat hines countid them once, and counted them again." Alexander noted. "That's where it's going to stop as far as I'm concerned. I congratulate my opjxment." What a refreshing change from the antics in Florida However, the race for the state board of education did demonstrate one disturbing similarity with the tia! election In Florida: problems ith voting systems. In Denver duo votes were Included In the recount that hadn't Non tallied In the original count because the com puter misread them.

Arapahoe Dainty election officials reset their vote reading machines because they had lieen Improperly set for Nov. 7 and didn't count all of the votes. As this comer has noted, it is time In Colorado and stab's around the country to replace outdated voting systems with more modern technology. In the meantime, congratulations to Rolls for his razor-thin victory and to Alexander for his grai lousness in defeat. on't count Al Gore out As his primetime spxx Monday night ik'inonstnit ed.

tie a weak advtx ate for his own cause But. fortunately for him. he has an army of far more efhrtne advocates sitting atop th commanding heights of it icy the media and the law Did you notice how Gore kept smiling at old tum-s dui tng his six flag -over Washington spxxh Ik evi-n -ax-imxl to thtakle outnght when he said, "Tills Is America When Votes are cast, we count them Whats so funny almut tfuit laits To start ith, on F.trx tion Night, the nctwoi ks aimnunml him as the inner, and then the loser, Ix-tore the real (allots Were t.dlnsl In Honda But whats funniest of all Is Gores promise that Just one more count under his terms, of course will in tually div me the true ill of Sunshine Staters when they traveled to the pills or madid In their alecntee ballots wh-Ks ago tain? tuxxl a tweak Ills sense of the ridiculousness of the whole process threatens to melt his relmtir veneer, undermining the grav tty of his presentation But, for all his deRxis, Gore has thtee (lungs going for him list, the Demm rat ic tradition of hardball pd-tiles Demm tats, alw seat i lung for a "rule for government." natur-dlv t.iketopihtus fm m.tnv p-trtv ai tiv ists, government is not only wlut thev 1 heve in, It how they make their III mgs James Sm-ond. the midia Repirfers are not overly fund of Gore, but they are even less fond of Republicans Expel an endless stream of articles and books on GOB "thuggery" In Hurl da. hut don't expel many repirts on the rich history of vote fraud In Ix-mm-ratic Miami Dade, for example, and not much Coverage of some Gt In Bosnia hose vote as rejected Thud, the courts You can't ms- how a judge could give the eks-tton to Gore May lx you didn't notice how Judges in the pist conjtinxl up sthmil busing or fmonill fumhxl pimngrnphtc "art Judge N' Sanders Sauls' rejection of the Gore ratnpiign's nspiest to start recounting about 1-1 on) dispuiid ballots right away was sm-n as a dele.it for the vke president But the mere fact that Sauls orderid those ballots true kid to Talla has-a-e gives them a spx lal sign idea nee.

distinct from the other 6 million ballots cast Somehow, someway, they will eventually lx "counted" for Gore And. of course, zillions of other lawsuits are p-nding. sw tiling over the final n-sult like i hails waiting lo bo eaten Ah. hut so what, you sav. if the certification of the slate for Bush ultimately stands You mean the certification bv Katherine Hams, th.it Never minding the fact everyone In Florida pditics Is a partisan, Ik-mmrats will claim that anything she dm-s Is reversible in the courts, the Electoral College anil Congers Whoa, you sav.

The courts, may lx Bui the Elixtoral College Congress If Hush holds on to Florida, Fie has 271 electoral Votes out of 5-18 Whu Ls lo say. if the Gore inn citing lurid tales of voter abuse and brandishing any either kind of cajolery, ran "turn" three Bush eh'ctors they win Imgume Democratic op'iative Bob Iks kel mvs he Ls trying to do Just that Gore has said he would not accept the volt's of "faithless (Tm'tors Even If all the electors stay intact for Bush, they fare another hunile (kith houses of Congress, meeting, by law Jan 6. ran Join and reject electors from a given state The new Senate will lx split 50.V) Ix-tween the pirties The debt eaker. of ctrnrM', is the president of the Senate and. until Jan 20, that's Gore As for the new House, it ill elhctlvely lx 221 Republicans and 211 Demmrats Cairo Co apparently figure that, by mustering all their pilittcal.

media, ami legal muscle, they might px-1 away four GOlers. Rep Connie Morelia, Md whose suliutlian DC, tllstiict went heavily for Gore, has indtcatid that she would vote with the Democrat In sm a showdown. So, like Arnold hwarzeneggi-r In the movie 'Terminator," Gore kis'ps grinding forward. You may not like him. hut you have to take him seriously, Yes, that lad rolxg In the movie was ultimately defeatixl.

hut he would have won if he could leave demandixl a recount every time he was klllixl. I winy Boies, Gore Lieberman law firm may be pressing case in January who hose not to vote (ot either presidential candidate, or a ballot carelessly ttilslundlml hv smiimme who did not la Ing minimal diligence that Is reasonably cxpxMml to the task of voting Gote hop's for tlie presidency hang hv several very thin threads, one of wlili Is his attempt to get court to (lum Palm lleai County lo Intuit i vi lv interpret ns votes thousands of ballots Ith dimples and even lesser m.uks But Bush's p-tiiimi to the US Supreme Court stresses that in Balm Ik-aeh County the following not ice, pi luted in Ixild tvp-, was pimnmenllv alfixml to every voting station AFTER voting, chuck yocr bauuotcardto bf: scrf: your voting ark Cl.KARI.Y AND CI.F.ANUY AND TIIKRK ARK NO (TUIS I.F.FT HANGING ON Till-; BACK OK THK CARD Think of this notice wlmn m-M Die fiim of Ikiies, Gore Si laelx-iman waxes soiiowful alxatl Florida's Imp'diments to imsisut Ing "the will ol the pxiple." rtshii)Kin iHtt VS i tiPtu I.itMip et another extension of the counting deadline, consider wlut Jonathan Ram ot the Bt'xikmgs Institution wt ties the cm rent New Republic In anv eleilion, the first count mg of ballots Is, he s.ivs. the only count that l.s "double blind Voters and vote rmmtms can imlv guess at the elb-cts of their di-el sums mi the elm lion's outcome After the Initial count, eai side knows exactly how many addition.il votes it would lake to till the elm turn for or against ttsi andidate "When partisan elm tmn officials know for a fact that a few' votes could i h.inpe the mill mim, they can't help but Ik teinptml to tilt their tm mints act dmglv," Ham notes Now. given all this, consider how shpp-ry is the image of Holes, Gote l.ielx-i ni.iti when sjx-, iking ol Tim Ida "votes" that voting mat limes failed to count Actually, ot emu sc, when a mar blue rejm ts a ballot, the nt.u blue has not tailed" at anything, least of all at cmmlmg a Validly cast vote Rather, tic machine has smiiiihil Ideniilv mg either a ballot hv someone WILL Countv ounti Ik-neatll sill lesull ot lentisl law Vers' aft 1st lilt ks a UK Ions premise It Is that i asling a ballot is a la -k so halleng tng for many voters that the task cannot lx-completed without the intem-ntioii of lawyers as Intuitors This soft bigotry of low exps t.itlnns lldllsed Ai (Hite's r- lisps Mond.iv evening He s-nil "It the xsipli- (lo not In tlie end I limsc me, so lx- It Noll' the tense lie assumes the eis in the ampalgn, even Is still going oil Ik- assumes "(lie pxiple" me not done hosts mg Well ot i outse, how i until thev lx- assumingthat "the xsiie'' ill not lx- done llixismg until the pi lest Inxid of mtmlots Is done mluiling Whnli Is whv fiiMliiv, -is pinviiM hv lloi Ida's law tore tli.it st. tie's Supreme mill shredd'd it.

mallets The best vote count. 111 tei ms of actual and p-pelved intigiitv. Is almost always the mm done mi eleilion night Given Gore's reiteration on Tuesday of hls request for vet aitothei a thud count of all of 1 lot Ida's votes tins tune manually, mid Ins request (or GEORGE hisulint, 7 be UndmH figure in small proap turn of horn ami of hunt mils it is xeifiivi knoti that mum nsr numln-r of Itu ir iniuitnmrn did md uant am them for 1u stih Ambrose (ii-ire, 7 hr Ik i il I in tumary As Gi-otee Bush is inaugurated Jan 20, the law firm of Holes. Hire laetx-rm-in may lx clusierret in ftont tlie pl.iilurm waving legal hr lets pur puling to demonstrate ieg imp-i In lions in the wav the "will of the p-ope" was measured Hot nl.i where Ixitli the inni-t anil the loser rn etvixl the suppiit of 27 jx'ieent of "the p-ople" of Florid. i understixxl as that state's eligible voters But despite tlie suppised soplus tlcation of Ikues, Gore l.lelx-tman.

all its atguments have resil'd on two bt aided assertions ear too we ik in gain significant strength (torn the braiding Fust, anything done with ballot a last vole Second, no vote can lx' considered counted until a presidenti. tl Intent has lieen a -uilK-d to it, even it the ascription Involves intuiting the niemlngol "m.uks barely dis ettuble to the hnm.ui eve1 (the winds of Judge hat les Button, wild piesldeil oi-r Palm ,11 II I I.