Our View: Hi-Line darts and laurels

Laurel

The Montana educators, at their annual conference, have given Havre Public Schools an award for technology, innovation and infrastructure. The award was one of two such prizes handed out at the conference last week. The award is well-deserved. The school had made great use of technology in education by providing iPads to students and encouraging other kinds of technological innovations. It upgraded the infrastructure by making tremendous improvements in Sunnyside Intermediate School and Havre High School. Congratulations to the HPS staffers who helped win the award and to community members who have financed the many activities that made this award possible.

Laurel

Montana State University-Northern received gifts totaling $3.1 million Saturday, as local businesses and partners who benefit from the tremendous auto and diesel technology building opened up their pockets. The school needs about $1 million more and construction can begin. It‘s been a long haul, but if the building can be constructed, it will be a major leap forward for Northern.

Dart

The Fort Belknap tribal government andt the Blaine County government came to an out-of-court settlement on the tribe’s effort to get a mobile registration and election center opened on the reservation. But the reservation failed to get the formal application to the county until four days after the deadline. So, this gave the county an out. It doesn’t have to do something it didn’t want to do in the first place. Dart to the tribe for not getting the request in, and dart to the county for not giving the tribe a little leeway. We think the idea of mobile centers in remote areas is a good one. Montana has great laws enabling people to register and vote at their convenience. But that doesn’t mean much if you live in Lodge Pole and have to traipse off to Chinook to register and vote. Fort Belknap officials should have gotten their request in on time. And Blaine County officials should have been a bit more reasonable.