VP comes back to valley

Vice President Dick Cheney arrives in the Flathead Valley late Wednesday afternoon for a free political rally at Majestic Valley Arena, but those attending must have a ticket in hand to be admitted.

The Montana Republican Party is giving away 1,000 tickets at its Kalispell office at 155 Main Street on a first-come, first-served basis.

Tickets may be reserved by calling 257-6279, but any tickets not picked up by 3 p.m. today will be made available to the public, event coordinator Stacey Graham said.

Five volunteers are taking calls at the Kalispell GOP office and Graham said she expects to run out of tickets.

It's the vice president's second trip to the Flathead this year. Cheney spoke at a mid-August fundraiser for Republican incumbent Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., at The Lodge at Whitefish Lake. Burns is in a tight race for re-election against Democrat Jon Tester.

President George W. Bush will be in Billings on Thursday for a similar political rally to support Burns, Congressman Denny Rehberg and other Republican candidates.

Wednesday's Flathead rally, which starts at 4:30 p.m. at the arena north of Kalispell, is billed as a Republican "victory rally," paid for by the state Republican Central Committee and authorized by Friends of Conrad Burns and Rehberg for Congress.

Doors open at 3 p.m. and those attending are asked to arrive before 4 p.m.

Cheney will arrive at Glacier Park International Airport about 4:30 p.m. and is expected to address the Majestic Valley audience at 5 p.m. He'll spend a little over an hour here; his plane is scheduled to depart Edwards Jet Center at 5:50 p.m.

SECURITY WILL be as tight as it was for Cheney's brief August visit. The Montana Highway Patrol will assist the Secret Service with the vice president's motorcade from the airport to Majestic Valley Arena. For Cheney's first visit, the Patrol allocated 17 uniformed officers and a helicopter from Helena.

The Sheriff's Office will have as many as nine on-duty officers available for the event, Undersheriff Mike Meehan said. Meehan doesn't anticipate paying any overtime for the extra patrol.

A COUPLE of advocacy groups for peace are taking a different approach to getting their message out this time around. During Cheney's August visit, more than 100 people marched for peace in Whitefish and protested the war in Iraq.

On Wednesday, the local chapter of People for Peace invites people to meet at Moose's Saloon in Kalispell from 5 to 6 p.m. The group will go door to door in Kalispell with a message of peace, spokeswoman Joan Ehrenberg said.

The group will sponsor a free showing of Robert Greenwald's new film, "Iraq for Sale," at 7:30 p.m. at Flathead High School. The film calls attention to the GOP's alleged failure to reign in contractor abuse and fraud connected to the war in Iraq.

The Montana division of Veterans for Peace will sponsor a free showing of the same film at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Rocky Mountain Lodge in Whitefish.

"We're encouraging people to go door to door," Ehrenberg said. "It's just too dangerous on Highway 93."

An expansion of U.S. 93 is currently under way for several miles north of Kalispell, and the construction zone goes past Majestic Valley Arena.

The peace protests during Cheney's August visit were conducted with "all sorts of complications," Ehrenberg said. Protesters were upset when Secret Service agents closed the Whitefish railroad viaduct to marchers when the motorcade passed over it.

State Sen. Greg Barkus, R-Kalispell, said he hopes there won't be a repeat of the August protests that he said were an "embarrassment" to Flathead County citizens.

"What happened in Whitefish was an absolute atrocity," Barkus said, adding that regardless of political views, people need to "show some respect."

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.