Our View: Hi-Line darts and laurels

Dart — The Fort Belknap tribal courts and corrections system is steadfast in making sure that the public doesn't know what is going on with the prisoner who escaped from custody in Havre last week. Under pressure from a reporter, an unnamed spokeswoman agreed that Gabriel Arkinson was still in custody at Fort Belknap. What judge ordered him to jail? What exactly is he charged with doing? How did he manage to escape custody in the middle of Havre? None of the public’s business, was the answer, in effect.

Laurel — Community volunteers headed by Debi Rhines put on a Thanksgiving dinner for hundreds of people at St. Jude Parish Center Thursday. It is a great Havre tradition. People get to have a fine meal and conversation with both friends and people they never met. An anonymous donor provides the money, but it would not be possible without the volunteers who give up their time and donate their talents.

Laurel — Stone Child College put on a very informative program aimed at curbing suicide on the reservation. It is tragic that so many lives are lost because people feel hopeless to change anything in their lives. Throughout all of Montana, too many lives are lost by means of suicide. But on reservations, suicide is tragically epidemic. The college is expending a lot of effort on the anti-suicide program, and if it saves just one life it will be worth it.