A bypass by any other name

It appears that the long-held dream of a Kalispell truck bypass might be nearing at least partial fruition.

The addition of federal stimulus money to the funding resources has made it possible for the state Department of Transportation to speed up property acquisitions to build the southern half of the road, which will stretch from U.S. 93 near Gardner Auction south of Kalispell up to U.S. 2 near the Rodeway Inn west of town. The road project is scheduled to go to bid on Thursday.

Congratulations to those who have been dedicated to making this happen.

But now that it's nearly a reality, we hope that state and federal officials will listen to the concerns of some downtown business owners who are worried that the new highway really could encourage people to "bypass" Kalispell.

Instead of calling it the U.S. 93 Bypass, we hope that creative minds will come together to properly identify the new road for what it is - an alternate truck route. Downtown business owners fought for this concept for many years as a way to get logging trucks off of Main Street. Although there are fewer logging trucks than before, truck traffic is still heavy on U.S. 93, and it will definitely benefit the business environment of downtown to have a quieter, gentler Main Street.

But downtown businesses cannot risk letting tourists also be lured onto the bypass in hopes of getting to their final destination quicker. We need to help make downtown Kalispell a destination point.

So let's put our heads together and come up with a name for the new highway that sends the right signals: Truck traffic to the bypass, and tourist or local traffic to Historic Downtown Kalispell.

SOME EYEBROWS across the state must have been raised by the news last week that a new president had been hired for Montana State University.

The hiring was not controversial - it seems Waded Cruzado, the first woman and first minority to take the head job in Bozeman, has good credentials to lead MSU.

The questions surround pay. State Regents are going to pay Cruzado $280,000 a year plus benefits (including the use of a president's house, a vehicle and deferred compensation). That's a big chunk of change - tax and tuition money - to devote to one person's payday during these challenging economic times.

The $280,000 represents a substantial increase over the $205,000 previously paid to outgoing MSU president Geoff Gamble.

The high salary also doesn't quite square with later news from MSU.

The school received a financial boost from an enrollment increase, but because university leaders are bracing for tougher times ahead, much of the money has been put into a reserve fund.

We hope that Cruzado can prove to Montanans that their sizable investment in her is worthwhile.