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Monday Buffet: Snow Ghost Book, Heating Costs Climb, Drunk Wheelchair Driver

By Beacon Staff

Good morning; on this day in 1868 the patent was issued for the first practical typewriter with a QWERTY keyboard.

On the Beacon this morning, Myers Reece reports on a new children’s book about the mystical Rocky Mountain snow ghosts. Flathead County Public Libraries are using bugs to get kids to read this summer. This year’s Flathead cherry harvest will be the latest in 15 years – a competitive advantage. A U.S. Senate committee has set aside $750,000 to build a law enforcement training facility in northwest Montana. Steffanie Ann Schauf of Kalispell was sentenced to ten years Friday for driving after drinking and causing the death of a Bigfork man in a 2006 accident. And Beacon food columnist Chef Jim Gray praises peanut butter.

The top state news story predicts a huge jump in natural gas heating costs for the upcoming winter. Long-shot libertarian Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul spoke at the state GOP convention this weekend, though Montana’s nominating delegates will go to McCain. The convention drew a record crowd, despite being held in the Democratic stronghold of Missoula. Sen. Max Baucus said he inserted language into a bill to protect the term “Last Best Place” from being trademarked. Baucus, along with Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, is also proposing adding an additional $5 billion to the federal highway fund to prevent shortfalls. And a strip club in Billings opened promptly this weekend in order to avoid a restrictive zoning ordinance the city council planned to pass tonight.

And finally, a man in Australia was arrested when he was found asleep in his wheelchair after taking it out onto the highway drunk. Have a great day.