A French journalist, Gilles Biassette of the Paris daily newspaper La Croix, took in a Great Falls City Commission work session June 17. Headlining the meeting was a lively discussion of the proposed Highwood Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant planned east of Great Falls.
La Croix, which is French for "the cross," is affiliated with the Catholic Church.
Montana was the first stop for Biassette on a whirlwind tour that also is taking him to Oregon, Arizona and Alabama. Biassette said his story idea was to take a look at the United States after two terms by President George W. Bush.
"I want to explain that America has changed," Biassette said.
The choice to start in Big Sky Country was a bit random.
"I just decided to go to Montana," he said. And he got to witness a slice of the bitter debate over the coal plant.
When I first met Biassette, I polished off my college French and introduced myself to the Frenchman in his native tongue. It turned out I wasn't the only one to have that idea.
"Everyone here speaks French," he said with a mild smile.