Glow Run lights up Columbia Falls

A 5-kilometer run with a novel twist comes to Columbia Falls on Friday night.

Yes, that’s at night: The inaugural Glacier Glow Run will hit the road sometime after 8:30 p.m.

Runners travel the route in the dark wearing glow-in-dark accessories. Along the way, they are sprayed with colors that also glow in the dark when illuminated by blue lights.

This promises to be a fun, family-friendly event (it’s not timed) that will light up the night uniquely.

The Glacier Glow 5K will take runners from the Coop through River’s Edge Park and back to enjoy a flashy, pulsating dance party under the stars.

Proceeds from the Glow Run benefit the Columbia Falls Lions Club.

For more information or to register, go online to glacierglow.com.

In a town already noted for its Night of Lights Parade, Friday’s event promises to be another illuminating party for Columbia Falls.

Innocence Project to be commended for efforts

Richard Raugust spent 18 years in prison, apparently for a crime he did not commit.

The Montana Innocence Project had worked since 2009 to persuade a judge that Raugust’s conviction and life sentence for the 1997 shooting death of his best friend, Joseph Tash, was based on faulty evidence.

Last November, District Judge James Wheelis overturned Raugust’s conviction on the basis that prosecutors had suppressed evidence that was potentially exculpatory. After studying the case for several months, state prosecutors dropped their appeal, and Wheelis signed an order that prevents the state from re-charging him with the killing.

We do have to trust our flawed human system to provide the best justice possible, but we all recognize it is not perfect. In this case, the system has worked as intended, but only thanks to the persistence of Raugust and his attorneys against overwhelming odds.

Now, new evidence is being pursued in an even older murder case where two men say they were falsely convicted in the death of a Helena woman. There is no certainty who is guilty and who is innocent in any criminal investigation, but it is certain that no one should be denied the right to a full and fair defense at trial.

We applaud the Montana Innocence Project for working to make sure no one is wrongly imprisoned.