Miracle worth another thank-you

A little boy and the doctor who helped save his life were magnetized Saturday night, unable to move away from each other for very long.

The active, healthy, happy little boy and his grateful family may be one of the best illustrations ever of the value of the ALERT rescue helicopter from Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

Saturday night's fund-raising banquet for ALERT featured the story of Jacob Feightner, who was 3 when he drowned in the Flathead River last May. The lifeless little Ohio boy was plucked from the water by a Glacier National Park ranger. ALERT helicopter and its highly trained flight crew were there within minutes, rushing the boy to the hospital while administering drugs and keeping alive hopes that he could be saved.

At the hospital, Dr. Scott Rundle took over. Two hours after CPR began, Jacob's heart fluttered back into motion, in what some people call a miracle.

Saturday, Jacob and his family came to the banquet to thank Rundle and the staff of people who gave all they had to help resuscitate a powerless little boy.

The reunion was unforgettable for many of the people who saw joy and gratitude and love in breathtaking amounts.

The Feightners came from Ohio to say thank you to ALERT. We in the Flathead echo that.

A glimmer of hope has arisen regarding the soon-to-close Owens & Hurst Lumber Co. in Eureka.

An out-of-state company has expressed interest in buying the mill for processing hardwoods.

Without a sale, the Eureka sawmill is scheduled to close May 31 and the planer will close in August.

It's still premature to predict that any transaction will preserve jobs for Owens & Hurst workers, but this is at least a hopeful sign that some timber operations may survive in Eureka.

It would also be premature to predict what will happen in the 2006 Senate race for the seat held by Republican Conrad Burns, but it's not too early to start talking about it.

This week, State Auditor John Morrison, who has Whitefish connections, announced he will run for the Democratic nomination. The state GOP denounced him on two fronts, first because he started his career as a trial lawyer and second because he was only recently re-elected as auditor.

We hope this will not set the tone for the election. Morrison is an able and likable politician and he certainly deserves a chance to prove himself before he is subject to the usual slings and arrows.

If the GOP wants to ask questions, maybe it should start with Conrad Burns. When originally elected, he promised Montana voters he would serve just one term, then he said his second term would be his last. Now that he's nearing the end of his third term, with every indication that he will run again at the age of 70, Montana voters might just mistake the one-time cattle auctioneer for a professional politician.