Article published Feb 22, 2008

Civil discourse topic list grows; 'elephant' is in the lead

Mea culpa.

The Tribune is surveying readers on their choice of a topic for the upcoming conference on civil discourse, and the topics we're surveying are generally good ones, suggested by readers.

You can participate online at greatfallstribune.com/CanWeTalkTopicsor by calling (406) 791-6560 and leaving your choice in the form of a message.

The "mea culpa" above is because we missed some readers' topic suggestions until it was too late. Had we picked up on them, we'd have had a couple of more topics than we reported in last Sunday's editorial .

It turns out that a dozen e-mailed reader submissions had been collected by a staffer, unbeknownst to me, and stored in a remote corner of our computer system. They didn't come to my attention until a different staffer came across them and moved them to a more accessible part of the system.

Fortunately, most of the delayed e-mails suggested topics similar to three of the topics we're already surveying: the coal-fired electricity plant, management of the animal shelter, and the canceled Running speech in Choteau.

Others focused on the writers' particular pet peeves or opinions, but not necessarily polarizing issues — things such as:

 

Ending daylight-saving time;

 

Too-loud background music in some area businesses;

 

Inconsiderate dog owners who don't clean up after their pets;

 

Subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) media bias in reporting political matters;

 

The overuse of and ecological damage caused by plastic shopping bags, and

Those are interesting topics — in fact I agree with the writers' opinions on several of them. But they're not really the type of intractable, divisive issues that the organizers of the conference were seeking.

Beyond those, Carol Collins chose the power plant as her first choice, but she also suggested our community's "excessive dependence" on Malmstrom Air Force Base as a possibility.

Richard Liebert, active in opposing the Highwood Generating Station, didn't pick the proposal as his topic. Instead, he zeroed in on the First Amendment implications of the city's time limits for public comments at Commission meetings.

That's a good topic, and it would have made the survey list.

Another good topic suggested by a reader was snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park.

Katie Kotynksi had several good ideas that easily could have been on the survey, starting with the Lewis and Clark National Forest travel plans.

"It would be great if the wilderness and the motorized-vehicle folks could work at a plan that makes everyone happy so we can all enjoy the outdoors," she wrote.

She also listed municipal golf-course fees and how the city uses the proceeds from selling park land as possible issues, and they, too, are good ones.

However, judging by the results of the survey so far, I'm pretty sure none of these topics would have usurped the power plant as the readers' choice.

The power-plant issue, described in an earlier editorial as the elephant in the roomful of topics, is the runaway leader going into the home stretch of the survey, leading the others by a margin of 5 to 1.

I bring all of this up by way of, once again, looking forward to the conference on March 6.

Called "Can We Talk: A Conference on Civil Discourse," the daytime event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at MSU-Great Falls College of Technology.

According to organizers, the conference will feature historical and philosophical background before introducing "the concept of Gracious Space as a tool for learning to listen, respect opinions, and 'invite the stranger' to arrive at solutions for common problems." The author of the concept, Patricia Hughes of Seattle, will be there to facilitate.

She also will be present that evening, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Great Falls Public Library to apply the concept to a topic being selected through the above-mentioned survey in the Tribune.

As I've mentioned, it's not too late to participate in the survey, online or by phone.

Nor is it too late to register for the March 6 conference. The daytime session costs $40 and registration forms are available at the library or online at www.greatfallslibrary.org/CanWeTalk.pdf. The evening session at the library is free of charge, but space is limited.

If you're interested in the Gracious Space method and in the idea of civil discourse in public affairs, I'd encourage you to sign up and attend.

If you submitted topics for possible inclusion in the conference, thank you; if your suggestion was among the delayed e-mails, you have my apology.