Guard unit again called to serve

Local soldiers shipped out last week for a new deployment.

But this deployment is for a slightly less-foreboding mission than when the Headquarters 495th Motor Battalion was last called up - in early 2003 to serve in Iraq.

This time around the mission for our local Guard is a humanitarian one, delivering the necessities of life to hurricane victims in Louisiana.

So instead of Fallujah it might be the French Quarter for the 495th (supplemented by a handful of volunteers from another local unit, the 639th Quartermaster Company).

As the commander put it, "We'll be taking care of our fellow citizens."

And the community should be no less proud of the efforts of the Guard doing relief work after Katrina's epic natural disaster than we were when our neighbors served with distinction in Iraq.

Once again, we salute these troops for their service to their country.

After 43 years in the automotive business, Jim Dowen is leaving the car lot for the life of a retiree.

Jim and his wife, Darlene, have been fixtures on the local car scene for years - the last 21 as owners of their own dealership.

They also have been valuable members of the community with involvement ranging from United Way to the Chamber of Commerce to high school sports.

We wish them well in their retirement.

The anticipated fireworks over John Roberts' nomination as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court never really reached the explosiveness that many people expected.

Perhaps part of the reason is because of people like Montana Sen. Max Baucus.

Baucus, a Democrat, was one of the earliest to announce he would vote for Roberts. In the end Baucus was one of 22 Democrats in the Senate who voted Thursday to confirm Roberts' nomination.

That's a pretty substantial crossing of party lines in what had been hyped as a bitter ideological battle over the soul of the high court.

Baucus is to be commended for ignoring the partisan viewpoint and going his own way.

Let's hope the debate over filling the next Supreme Court vacancy will be similarly civilized. After all, we are picking a justice, not a political operative.