Good morning and happy Santa Lucia day to our Swedish readers.
The Beacon is chock full o’ news this morning. Keriann Lynch writes about the lawsuit filed against the county by a group of Lakeside residents over the Eagle’s Crest subdivision there. Another showing of the controversial documentary, “The Fire Next Time,” prompted many of the Flathead residents featured in the film to comment on how the community has evolved since then. A well known Whitefish bank swindler snuck out of court when it dawned on him he was about to be arrested. Ski film-making legend Warren Miller writes about the rise in lift ticket prices, while Whitefish political observer Dave Skinner has a decidedly more skeptical view of the path his town is taking than his counter-columnist, Wild Bill. Regardless of what you think of Whitefish’s future, the holiday stroll Friday night looks like it’s going to be fun.
Attorneys for W.R. Grace & Co. made arguments yesterday appealing a pretrial ruling in the government’s asbestos case. A proposal being pushed by the Department of Interior to impose fees on filmmakers and photographers on public lands came under heavy fire from media organizations and lawmakers at a hearing in Billings. The director of a juvenile detention facility in Maryland was found to have abused juvenile offenders while running a military-style facility in Montana. President Bush yesterday vetoed the latest legislative attempt to expand children’s health insurance. And in Hamilton, a man charged with three felony counts of indecent exposure was, amazingly, sentenced to 225 years of prison.
And finally, the New York Times today lays down the etiquette for people a little bit too attached to their pets, and how to handle the holidays around those folks. Have a great day.