Great Falls Tribune from Great Falls, Montana • A1

PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 2021 GREATFALLSTRIBUNE.COM No. 257 Volume 136 Home delivery pricing inside Subscribe 888-424-8742 $1.50 QEAJAB-09450qTesting reset: Biden pushes newnational plan to combat COVID-19. 2A Check out more online See the latest photo galleries and videos at greatfallstribune.com. Weather High Low Cloudy. Forecast, 6A Montana Dems roll out 3 bills to cut taxes MONTANA, 3A Lady Bison handed loss of the season SPORTS, 1B Legislative Republicans debuted the of their propos- als Friday with a bill to end Election-Day voter registration in Montana, which has been on the books since 2005.

The sponsor, Florence Republi- can Sharon Greef, said a necessary solution to the long lines and hours-long waits on voting day in the last and prior elections and something that could reduce the burden on the county that oversee polling places. of our biggest problems is try- ing to run an election in a decent way that is organized when you still have people coming in to register to vote (on Election said Doug Ellis, the top elections (as well as clerk, re- corder, treasurer and superintendent) in Broadwater County, in support of the measure. But several opponents of the bill tes- that the solution to administrative burden at the county elections level to restrict voting, especially if it means cutting late registration the Friday before election day, as Greef is propos- ing. need to end register to vote (on Election Day), we just need to invest in more open, and more free and fair said Keaton Sunchild, the political director of Western Native Voice, an organization supporting civic engagement among indigenous people in the Western U.S. Native American resi- dents are among the many communi- ties that from same-day regis- tration, opponents of the bill said.

Tribal reservations are huge and often lacking in infrastructure. Plus, Sunchild said, become de facto among many Indig- enous Montanans to vote and if nec- essary, register on Election Day. Students, who often change their ad- dresses, the elderly, those with disabil- ities and those in long-term care facil- ities have also come to rely on late regis- tration, opponents said. Beth Brenneman, an attorney for Dis- ability Rights Montana, said her or- charge to help people in en- vironments like those get registered and vote on time. Having Election-Day reg- istration provides needed to that end, she they register late, we help she said.

Greef said just trying to make sure that voters and election workers can focus their Election Day on keeping everything running smoothly, arguing that voters have a whole year to GOP debut bill Proposal would end Election-Day voter registration Arren Kimbel-Sannit Daily Montanan See BILL, Page 4A CADOTTE PASS This is big country up here on the Continental Divide, even bigger if searching for the skid marks of an 1865 UFO. Whether or not James Lumley, old Rocky Mountain was telling a tall tale when he got back to St. Louis, his story thrust this low crossing over the main spine of the Rockies into a national spotlight of sorts. Newspapers from east to, well, the Midwest reprinted the St. Louis Demo- account in the last three months of 1865 as news of the Civil War subsided.

Today Cadotte Pass is all but forgotten, tucked on the Continental Di- vide Trail between Rogers Pass and Highway 200 three miles to the south and Lewis and Clark Pass seven miles north. Travelers from the east can catch a glimpse or two of the barren ridge of Ca- dotte Pass as they near the top of Rogers Pass. But back in the 1860s, and for cen- turies before it gained the white moniker, it was a route du jour to and from country on the eastern plains and the Big Blackfoot, Clark Fork and Bitterroot rivers. push a bike up the west face in a minute, but tale. Around the middle of September 1865, the Democrat reported, he was trapping in the neighborhood of Cadotte Pass.

after sunset one evening he be- held a bright, luminous body in the heavens, which was moving with a great rapidity in an easterly direction. It was plainly visible for at least seconds, when it suddenly separated into parti- cles, resembling, as Mr. Lumley de- scribed it, the bursting of a skyrocket in the A meteor, right? A few minutes later Lumley heard an explosion that jarred the earth, followed by a rumbling sound a tornado sweeping through the There fol- lowed a strong wind and a peculiar sul- fur smell that the air. Lumley was impressed but said he have thought much more about it. But the next day, two miles from his camp, he encountered a path several rods wide as far as he could see.

A rod, Barney Google tells us, is feet, a fact we presume require further explanation in 1865. The trail of destruction had been cut through the forest, uprooting or break- ing giant trees near the ground, shav- ing hilltops and plowing the earth. and wide-spread havoc was every-where the newspaper related. OK, again a meteor that turned into a meteorite when it hit the ground. But here the story turns weird.

(Cue theme music.) Jim followed this of deso- to an immense stone driven into a mountainside. The rock was di- vided into compartments and carved with Lumley said he was sure the pictographs were the works of human hands. Fragments were of a substance that resembled glass, and here and there were dark stains though caused by a stone itself, although but a fragment of an immense body, must have been used for some purpose by animated Lumley ruminated. Maybe this helps explains 2020. was evident that the stone which he discovered was a fragment of the meteor which was visible in this sec- tion in September the Democrat reported.

will be remembered that it was seen in Leavenworth, Galena and in this city by Colonel Bonneville. At Cadotte Pass in Montana looking west from Sunset Mountain KIM THE DAILY MONTANAN A meteor, aliens or just a view? A tale from the Cadotte Pass Kim Briggeman Daily Montanan Rogers Pass on Montana Highway 200. COURTESY MDT See PASS, Page 5A SALT LAKE CITY Republican law- makers in several more states want to loosen gun restrictions by allowing people to carry concealed without having to get a permit, con- tinuing a trend that gun control advo- cates call dangerous. Fifteen states already allow con- cealed carry without a permit, and lawmakers in nine others have pro- posed allowing or expanding the prac- tice. GOP governors are backing the changes in Utah and Tennessee.

An- other bill expanding permitless carry in Montana has passed the state House. Most states require people to do things like get weapons training and undergo a background check to get a permit to carry a gun hidden by a jack- et or inside a purse. Groups like the National Association and state lawmakers who support gun rights ar- gue those requirements are and undermine Second Amendment protections. The proposed changes come after gun sales hit historic levels last sum- mer in FBI background checks amid uncertainty and safety concerns about the coronavirus pan- demic, the struggling economy and protests over racial injustice. Since then, a violent mob stormed the U.S.

Capitol. Against that backdrop, the to loosen concealed carry requirements are a frightening trend for Shannon Watts, founder of the gun control group Moms Demand Action. is dangerous to allow people to carry hidden, loaded handguns possi- bly without a background check or any she said, adding that the an- nual rate of aggravated assaults with a has increased in Alaska since the state became the to al- low concealed carry without a permit in 2003. The proposal in Utah would allow any U.S. citizen 21 and older to carry a concealed weapon without the now- required background check or weap- ons course.

The bill does allow gun owners who want to carry a concealed weapon out of state to get a permit to do so after a background check and safety course. Newly elected GOP Gov. Spencer Cox has said he supports the idea, in contrast to his predecessor and fellow Republican Gary Herbert, who vetoed a similar bill in 2013. Supporters of the change argue that other state laws against such things as felons having guns and anyone carry- ing a while intoxicated are enough to ensure guns are used safely. States pushing concealed carry of guns without permit Republicans put proposals on table in 9 more states Lindsay Whitehurst ASSOCIATED PRESS See GUNS, Page 4A.