ICE disappears more than 100 in Gallatin County.

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

Folks, let us be the first to welcome you back after a Fourth-of-July weekend that seemed to be the epitome of summer. Most of Montana experienced blue skies, hot summer sun and the fireworks seemed constant. Seriously, what a country!

And that’s why it’s jarring to report that as we were planning to celebrate freedom and our rich national history, Immigration and Customs Enforcement was in Gallatin County and picked up at least 100 people … maybe more. Why this vagueness with numbers? Those people aren’t recorded and tracked, and the Department of Homeland Security isn’t saying anything.

An annual poll of Montanans shows that a large majority of Montanans support increasing the tobacco tax as a way of curbing smoking and underage tobacco use. Montana’s cigarette tax lags behind neighboring states.

Despite triple-digit heat and an anemic response to the Great American Fair in Washington, D.C., for the nation’s 250th, which is easier than saying, “bisesquicentenial,” people turned out in the nation’s capitol and across the country to celebrate the founding of America, and the holiday that is synonymous with summertime.

If being American has come to mean anything, it’s that we rarely miss an opportunity to merchandise. However, there has been a tension and pull between the America 250 products and celebrations, which were created by an act of Congress, and the Freedom 250, which was a private merchandising and event organization created to benefit the Trump organization.

Meanwhile at a speech on the eve of July 4th, President Donald Trump delivers an ominous address at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota as he warns against the encroaching threat of communism, a theme he highlighted in an odd delivery late, late on July 4, after turbulent weather subsided in D.C.

Even though Trump has been accused of backing of, or “chickening out,” of many things, as his critics would claim, recently he’s becoming more and more stubborn and resolute to engineer a way to pass election laws, or mandate changes nationwide, which is, in turn, worrying election officials that he will meddle in the midterm elections.

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Today, as a sort of palate cleanser, we’re going to feature three stories from the Smithsonian magazine, which covers a fascinating array of historical, natural and current topics. We begin with purloined art: A stolen work of Pablo Picasso has just turned up outside of Paris in a drug raid.

While so much of our country has changed since Abraham Lincoln was in office, but if you want to see the place where his inauguration ball took place, as well as where the Declaration of Independence was first held, you can still visit that building.

Finally, scientists explain that the deadly back-to-back earthquakes in Venezuela have historical precedent. Also, they explain how and why those rare and ultra-deadly earthquakes happen.

If you’re a subscriber to one of Montana’s Lee newspapers — and there’s a pretty good chance if you take a daily paper in the Treasure State that it’s owned by the company — you couldn’t help but see an immense three-story feature on the relatively new chairman on the board, David Hoffmann. (Papers owned by Lee in Montana include the Missoulian, Billings Gazette, Montana Standard, Ravalli Republic and the Helena Independent-Record.) The story package is interesting on several different levels for the beleaguered newspaper company, which has been through bankruptcy twice and staved off a series of other financial troubles. (In full disclosure, I spent 17 years as an editor with Lee; three-quarters of the Daily Montanan staff are also former Lee employees.)

It is interesting because more than just former employees took note. Before the story even printed, it was already roiling journalism circles. The Poynter Institute, which is the standard bearer of journalism ethics and a fair reporter on the state of the industry, did an entire story about the series of stories, pointing out, through email and interviews, that Lee corporate bosses were mandating the stories run in every Lee paper during the Fourth of July weekend. Lee’s union members weren’t pleased, and journalists questioned the ethics of running not just one, but three flattering pieces on Hoffmann — mandating their placement on A1, and having little ability to dictate the content or the placement.

You can read the Poynter article here.

After the story hit, even I was surprised at the enormity of the pieces, which were breathless and effusive in their praise. The image below is the how The Billings Gazette looked during the weekend. Notably, it pushed a fascinating historical piece about George Armstrong Custer, and the battle that is celebrating its 150th anniversary of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, to the side. I didn’t go through the machinations to figure an exact word count, but the thousands of words spanned three newsprint pages.

From a journalistic standpoint, it would be a challenge to find any critical or even neutral voice in the three stories. In fact, most of the sources are either family members or rely on Hoffmann for a job. The approach is even more telling. In the lead story, Hoffmann is portrayed as the man who will save your local newspaper. In another story, it begins with a comparison of Hoffmann drawn from the Gospel of Luke in the Bible. Despite the laudatory tone throughout the pages (including graphics that illustrate Hoffmann’s own success and benevolence, as well as family pictures), I sincerely hope that he and others will turn local print journalism around. And, Hoffmann’s dedication to no layoffs is refreshing as it is admirable. Having had to conduct dozens of layoffs at Lee’s behest during my tenure, I can honestly say that it’s traumatic for all parties and ending that alone would be successful.

Montana readers may note something else that other Lee readers would not — a familiar byline. The author of these massive stories is none other than David McCumber, the former editor of the Montana Standard as well as the onetime regional supervisor who oversaw editorial operations in Montana. He recently announced that he was stepping down as the editor of Lee’s Tucson, Arizona, paper and taking on national news projects, apparently including writing extensively about his boss’ boss.

Honestly, with my aging memory and my ability to say just the right thing often moments after the time has passed, I can’t believe I remembered this song. I have literally been waiting years to use it on “The Hook.”

2026 was one of the years that we can call attention to one of the most famous rock lyrics in popular music history: “Saturday in the park/I think it was the Fourth of July.”

The song, of course, is Chicago’s “Saturday In The Park,” which was a smashing success for the band in 1972 off their album, “Chicago V.”

The story dates back to July 4, 1971, when Robert Lamm of the band was walking through a Chicago park on the Fourth of July and he saw all sorts of community celebrations, including a celebration of different ethnic backgrounds. He heard different languages being spoken. What hit him most was that people were truly having a great time and enjoying being together. It was, as he would later write in the song, “a real celebration.”

Can you dig? Yes, I can.

He was so inspired by the events that he knew he had to write about it. We’re going to run the lyrics below because it’s one of those popular songs that everyone seems to like and sing, without noticing it maybe one of the most underrated anthems celebrating America’s diversity and our ability to celebrate a number of cultures as our own.

And just in case you’re curious: The next opportunity that you’ll have to spend a Saturday in the park on the Fourth of July? 2031.

Saturday In The Park

Saturday in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July

People talking, people laughing
A man selling ice cream
Singing Italian songs
Eh Cumpari, ci vo sunari
Can you dig it? (Yes, I can)
And I've been waiting such a long time
For Saturday yeah

Another day in the park
It looks just like the Fourth of July
Another day in the park
Look just like the Fourth of July
People dancing, really smiling
A man playing guitar (play the song, play the song, play on)
And singing for us all
Singing for us all

Will you help him change the world (thank you there)
Can you dig it? (Yes, I can)
And I've been waiting such a long time
For today

Slow motion riders fly the colors of the day
A bronze man still can tell stories his own way
Listen children, all is not lost
All is not lost, oh, no

Funny days in the park
Every day's the Fourth of July
Funny days in the park
Every day's the Fourth of July
People reaching, really touching
A real celebration
Waiting for us all

If you want it, really want it
Can you dig it? (Yes, I can)
And I've been waiting such a long time
For the day, yeah, woo

If you have a song that you’d like to share, or would like to get in touch with us, please send us a note at [email protected]

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