Good intentions go awry in cap conflict

Last weekend, an unusual incident marred graduation at Flathead High School. A Native American student intended to wear his graduation cap that had been decorated by his grandmother with a native-themed painting. Seemed innocent enough except that Flathead, unlike some other high schools in the area, has a policy against decorating graduation gowns and caps.

The student was allowed to wear a feather, but not the painted cap, even though he showed school officials the new state law that allows Native Americans to wear traditional native regalia at public events.

When we heard about the incident, our first question was “Why didn’t the school follow the law?”

But our second question was, “Is the law legal?” It seemed, after all, to be according special rights to one class of citizens in conflict with the concept of equal protection under the law. Indeed, as written, the law potentially could be subject to challenge on a number of grounds.

We sympathize with the family who sought to celebrate their Native American heritage by following the law, but we also sympathize with the school, which merely wanted to treat all students the same. Ultimately, the law needs to be revisited — or it could easily be struck down as unconstitutional.

Israel visit may pay dividends for valley

We were interested to read about Kalispell Chamber President Joe Unterreiner’s recent visit to Israel as part of a program created by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Did you know that Israel was the No. 1 export target for Flathead-area manufacturers? We certainly didn’t, but now that we do, we think it was wise of Unterreiner to take the lead in building bridges to our Mideast ally that can pay big dividends in the future.

Applied Materials, the high-tech firm that acquired Kalispell’s Semitool, already has an important relationship with Israel, since its research facility is located there, but there are extensive opportunities for other manufacturers to piggyback on the growth of high-tech industry in Israel.

As Unterreiner noted, “By better understanding the environment our manufacturers are marketing and selling into, the Kalispell Chamber is better positioned to serve Flathead Valley business growth and success.”

In the future, that could mean more group visits to Israel sponsored by the Chamber, as well as developing contacts that can broker deals between local companies and the Israeli market. This could be an important component of diversifying our own economy.