X-treme-ly talented on the slopes

It's not often that someone from the relatively rural and sparsely populated Flathead Valley rises to become, arguably, best in the world at anything.

But that's what has happened with Kalispell native Tanner Hall, who started as a skiing phenom on the Big Mountain and has since ascended to become a genuine, widely known icon of freestyle skiing.

At the X-Games in Aspen last week, Hall won an unprecedented third straight gold medal in the superpipe competition. It was also a record-setting seventh gold for Hall in the X-Games - more proof that he has reached the pinnacle of freeskiing.

Added to the evidence is the testimony of the world's top skiers, who flatly declare that he is the best all-around skier on the planet.

Now that's something he could crow about quite a bit, but he doesn't, because he's modest and often has praise for his closest rivals. So we'll crow for him. Congratulations, Tanner Hall.

Once again, Elouise Cobell has prevailed… and once again the government of the United States has been made to look foolish by its refusal to acknowledge responsibility for Indian tribes losing hundreds of millions of dollars in oil, gas and other royalties.

Cobell is the Browning woman who has been the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit demanding that an accounting be done by the Department of the Interior and that reparations be paid.

The court ordered just such an accounting earlier, but on Wednesday a federal judge said "the required accounting is an impossible task" for Interior to handle. Nonetheless, he said, "a remedy must be found for the department's unrepaired, and irreparable, breach of its fiduciary duty over the last century."

Strong words, but important ones. If the United States wishes to have the trust of the world in the 21st century, it must make good on its promises to a variety of Indian tribes in the 19th.

When it's state speech tournament time, you can bet that Flathead Valley schools will be at or near the top.

Last weekend was no exception.

Columbia Falls High School speakers and debaters notched the school's third-straight Class A state championship (and the seventh title in nine years for Columbia Falls). Whitefish was second in Class A speech and debate, while Polson took the title in drama.

At the Class AA level, Flathead High School took second place and Glacier High placed seventh against statewide competition.

The runner-up finish followed a five-year string of state championships for Flathead.

These results prove again that when it comes to speech and debate, the Flathead Valley continues to set the standard of excellence in Montana.