State flapjack bill flops in committee

HELENA - Lawmakers in the Senate Agricultural Committee voted 6-3 to table a bill that would make the whole-wheat huckleberry pancake a Montana state symbol.

Sen. Carolyn Squires, D-Missoula, sponsored Senate Bill 232 on behalf of third- and fourth-grade students in her district who thought that whole wheat and huckleberries represented the whole state.

Opposition to the bill said it was an unnecessary use of Montana's time and finances.

- by CNS correspondent Molly Priddy

Hold the huckleberries: Pancake bill has its critics

HELENA - Lawmakers were treated to whole-wheat huckleberry pancakes after a hearing for a bill that would make the pancake a state symbol.

Sen. Carolyn Squires, D-Missoula, sponsored the bill on behalf of third- and fourth-grade students in her district who thought that whole wheat and huckleberries represented the whole state.

The only thing as sweet as the syrup on the pancakes was the opposition of Helena's Ticknor family children, ages 9 to 17, who asked the Senate Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Committee to table the bill as an unnecessary use of state time and money.

- Photo by CNS correspondent Molly Priddy