Our View: Hi-Line darts and laurels

Laurel — Leroy Keller should make us all proud. He donated blood this week, just as he has done frequently for almost 60 years. As of this week, he has donated 35 gallons of blood. That's a record for the Havre area, and we’d bet it’s close to the record for Montana. Giving blood is not that difficult. It just takes a little while. It’s not painful. And people feel good after doing it. We hope more people follow Leroy Keller’s lead.

Laurel — Janna Hoehn of Hawaii has volunteered countless hours in an effort to locate photos of people’ whose names are on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. She wants to put a face to every name. It’s part of a national effort, but few people have donated the time or energy that Hohen has. She has located a photo for everyone who was killed in the military during the Vietnam War from her island of Maui. Now she’s turning her attention to the mainland, looking for pictures from California, Washington, Idaho and now Montana. Check out the names she looking for in last Monday’s Havre Daily News. You may know a friend or relative of the veteran who can help locate some photos.

Dart — A Montana House Committee is looking at creating a task force to study the idea of the state acquiring federal lands in Montana. There are lots of things worth creating a task force over. This isn’t one. The state doesn’t want to take over the lands and doesn't have the money to buy the lands or care for them once they got them. The federal government doesn’t want to give up the lands. It’s a bad idea. Federal lands in the state are a national treasure, and the people of the United States ought to be paying for their preservation. Bad idea all around. No task force.

Dart — The idea of raising the speed limit keeps coming up. Now the Montana Senate is looking at a plan to raise the speed limit to 80 mph. That’s not as bad as a proposal put forth by Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy which would have raise the speed limit of 85, but we still think existing limits are already pretty high.