Bachman still belongs behind bars
The Daily Inter Lake
There is still time to e-mail the Montana Board of Pardons about the possible release of Karl Randall Bachman, but you have to do it today.
There is still time to e-mail the Montana Board of Pardons about the possible release of Karl Randall Bachman, but you have to do it today.
Bachman was sentenced for the 1973 murders of Jessica Westphal, 9, and Karen Tyler, 11. Their gunshot bodies were found by hunters near Bitterroot Lake about three years after they disappeared from Marion.
Bachman was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences for the murders.
He was considered for parole in 1991, when the board turned him down because of the severity of the crime and an outcry from the community and criminal justice officials.
The board should hear from the community if it still believes that Bachman is where he belongs in Montana State Prison.
Much has changed in the Flathead Valley since posters of Westphal and Tylers pictures went up on every available space and their heart-broken families begged for information about what happened to their girls.
Two things that have not changed is the grief that their survivors have been left with and Bachmans complete unsuitability to be out in the community.
The board would like to receive sentiments about Bachmans parole by the end of today. The boards e-mail address is corbopp@mt.gov
The hearing is Oct. 28.
You know its a serious hurricane season when you run out of names for tropical storms.
Hurricane Wilma, the latest menace in a long, destructive season of storms, has used up the last letter in the storm-naming alphabet.
There are 21 names in the hurricane alphabet system (Q, U, X, Y and Z are skipped) that has been used for the past 60 years.
If any other storms develop, they will get names from letters in the Greek alphabet, starting with Alpha.
And unfortunately, there may be more storms to tax the alphabet-naming system: Hurricane season runs until the end of November.
Its not often that the mention of U.S. Senate and money in the same sentence is good news.
However, on Tuesday senators tentatively agreed to give up their annual pay raises as their part to save the government money.
The move would suspend senators 1.9 percent cost-of-living increase that otherwise would automatically take effect.
That will save the federal treasury about $2 million. Granted, thats not a lot of money when Congress is trying to figure out a way to save $50 billion to make up for hurricane spending.
But its a start.