Trust-fund settlement overdue

It’s long overdue, but it appears that finally a agreement has been reached to settle a lawsuit on behalf  of Native Americans that was led by Blackfeet tribal member Elouise Cobell.

The lawsuit charged that the government had swindled billions of dollars in oil, gas, mineral and grazing royalties over decades. The case dragged on for years, but last year a federal judge ruled that Indian plaintiffs are entitled to $455 million, a fraction of the amount the tribes claimed to be owed. Not surprisingly, the plaintiffs decided to press the case ahead to the next level.

And that led to the settlement announced by the Obama administration this week, one worth more than $3 billion for the plaintiffs if approved by Congress and the courts. A settlement generally requires that opposing sides in a dispute are satisfied and that appears to be the case.

“Today is a monumental day for all of the people who have waited so long for justice,” Cobell said at a news conference in Washington, D.C., with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Attorney General Eric Holder and other officials.

It may not be an ideal solution for either side, but that’s why they call it a compromise.

IT'S ENCOURAGING to see both Kalispell Public Schools and the city of Kalispell engaging in some budget belt-tightening.

Although it’s never good news to see layoffs, the decisions by the school and the city to eliminate a couple of administrative positions seem to be steps in the right direction toward frugality and fiscal responsibility.

Private businesses across the Flathead have been paring away at expenses and payrolls for more than a year to weather the recession; it makes sense that our local governments do the same.

FINALLY, we’re glad to see the Food for Fines program back in play.

State lawmakers benevolently passed a law earlier this year allowing courts to once again accept food-bank donations in place of all or part of an offender’s sentence. The popular program had been an annual event — providing up to 10,000 pounds of food each year to the Flathead Food Bank, but it was put on hold last year when the Montana Supreme Court’s Judicial Standards Commission said it violated judicial ethics.

Courts in both Flathead and Lake counties are taking advantage of the Food for Fines program. Offenders benefit and so do struggling families whose cupboard shelves are a little bare in these challenging economic times.