Highlands College’s Director of Business & Community Outreach, Evan Barrett, will be heard Friday, February 22nd on Montana Public Radio as part of the MTPR “Commentaries” feature, which runs on the evening news. Barrett’s commentary is a “remembrance” of Montana’s late Senator Lee Metcalf and coincides with the 35th anniversary of Metcalf’s death.
Senator Metcalf was born in Stevensville, Montana. After graduating from UM’s Law School, Metcalf was elected to the Montana Legislature, served as an Assistant State Attorney General, served in the military in World War II, was elected to the Montana Supreme Court, elected to Congress and then to the US Senate. And, of course, Metcalf is the namesake of the Democratic Party’s well-known annual Mansfield/Metcalf Dinner, as well as the Lee Metcalf Wilderness and the Metcalf Wildlife Refuge.
“Lee Metcalf’s story is a story of remarkable achievement,” said Barrett says in his Commentary. “Political achievement is most easily measured by the people you fight for … and those you fight against. Lee Metcalf’s record was one of fighting FOR the little people … and AGAINST the big and the powerful.”
Barrett was Executive Producer of a well-made 1996 video retrospective of Senator Metcalf. The video is now for the first time available for viewing on YouTube under “Remembering Lee Metcalf”. Among other things, the film tells of the critical, but little known, role Montana’s Lee Metcalf played in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“Evan’s remembrance of Senator Metcalf, in both the Commentary and the film, is heartfelt, well-written and inspiring,” said Dr. John M. Garic, Dean of Highlands College. “I am really glad that Montana’s public radio listeners will get to hear his remembrance of one of Montana’s greatest leaders and Montanans can access the marvelous short film on YouTube.”
For more infomation about this issue or any issue pertaining to Montana Tech or Highlands College, please contact Amanda Badovinic at 406-496-4828 or Dr. John M. Garic at 406-496-3714.