No debate: Speech teams shine!

Five straight Class AA state championships for Flathead High School - and nine out of the past 10 years.

Two straight Class A state championships for Columbia Falls High School - and nine state team titles overall.

These impressive achievements in speech and debate competition leave no doubt about how dominant Flathead Valley students are when it comes to the spoken word.

Flathead and Columbia Falls added to their speech dynasties last weekend by topping their respective classifications.

And it wasn't even close. Columbia Falls had a 161-to-87 point advantage over the No. 2 school, while Flathead racked up 187 points to runner-up Bozeman's 108.

Flathead captured seven individual titles, highlighted by double state winners Mara Mercer and Treza Hirsch. That's a first in the august annals of Flathead speech.

Columbia Falls had three individual state champions, and two other valley schools - Whitefish and Bigfork - each had a state champ as well.

All the speakers and debaters who contributed to such sterling achievements deserve a big round of applause.

They make us all proud.

While the state championships are a worthwhile validation of the hard work and excellence in elocution these youths demonstrate, we also should remember that they are honing valuable skills that will serve them well in life.

The abilities to speak in public, demonstrate poise and composure and perform under pressure should not be underrated. These speech students will go far.

A shiny new symbol of Montana is entering circulation this week.

The Montana quarter, featuring a bison skull, mountain landscape and the motto "Big Sky Country" became the latest state quarter to be released.

It's only a coin, but it's also a sparkling emblem of the state.

"This quarter captures the sense of our history, our culture and the truest sense of allure of our 'Big Sky Country,'" said Whitefish's Gary Marks, who chaired the Montana quarter design selection commission.

You might want to put a few Montana coins away for the future: Although 500 million will be minted in the next 10 weeks, no more will be made after that.