The H-T editors got one thing almost right in Friday's editorial about the political scandal surrounding County Councilman Scott Wells' arrest on charges that he drove drunk, pissed in public, resisted arrest, and struck a police officer in downtown Bloomington one Friday evening last September. As the editors said, this sordid affair is indeed "making a martyr out of Wells."

But after reviewing the evidence in this case, I take their conclusion a step further. I predict that, when all the facts are a matter of public record, Scott Wells will be a bona fide Bloomington folk hero. What he has endured these past nine months, up to and including the H-T's insulting pox-on-both-your-houses editorial last week, is the stuff legends are made of.

Two prominent Indiana Democrats - Joe Andrew and Lee Hamilton – have had me thinking lately about the relationship between the people and their government, for a couple of reasons.

Both have shown interest in The Bloomington Alternative. Andrew personally called me a couple weeks ago seeking help in understanding environmental issues. And I'm assuming that the lhamilto at Indiana.edu who joined the Alternative mailing list last week is former Congressman Hamilton, who now runs the Center on Congress at IU.

Scott Wells opened a new checking account under the name Scott Wells Legal Defense Fund last week with $5,305 contributed by more than 250 citizens at last Monday's benefit at the Encore Cafe.

When Karyn Moskowitz left her home in Oregon to move with her husband to the forested hills of Southern Indiana, she thought she had left her days of political activism behind. Then, one afternoon, an Orange County highway truck showed up in front of her house.

Against her expressed wishes, the county had sent a crew to chip-and-seal the gravel road in front of her home. Moskowitz, her husband, and six-month-old daughter blocked the trucks with their bodies, reawakening her activist journey, which stops in Bloomington this week.

County Councilman Scott Wells will be allowed to do more than just prove in court that he was not driving drunk and did not strike a police officer last Sept. 27. Under a ruling issued by Special Judge Frank Nardi last week, Wells will be permitted to show that his arrest and subsequent mugging by Indiana State Troopers were the products of a malicious character-assassination attempt.

In the trial scheduled for next month, Wells will be allowed to introduce evidence that shows he was set up by a cabal of right-wing extremists, whose cell includes a state trooper, elected and influential Republican Party operatives, and his arch nemesis, Pedigo Bay developer Steve Smith.

As a long-time admirer of Don Moore's work in the Monroe County Democratic Party, I took special note of the comments he posted in response to the "Lesser of two evils" piece I wrote two weeks ago. It became clear that some elaboration is in order.

First, and most importantly, the piece was not intended to say that voting for Mark Kruzan over Fred Prall would be choosing the lesser of two evils. That's the choice in the Democratic race for governor, so far. I hope to vote for Kruzan in November.

Anyone who has followed any small part of the I-69 debate these past 15 years has inevitably pondered the question: Are they liars, are they fools, or do they just get off on insulting our intelligence?

I'm referring, of course, to the economic development junta that rules Bloomington/Monroe County. The one who envisions Bloomington-future as a piss stop on the NAFTA highway. The one led by the colonel and funded by city and county taxpayers, with generous propaganda support from the editorial board at the Howard-Times.

Indiana's 2004 gubernatorial race is a year-and-half away. But Hoosier environmentalists already are bracing themselves for an age-old Indiana electoral ritual - holding the nose while voting for the lesser of two evils.

The catalyst for recent discussions on this most discouraging subject has been Bloomington Democrat Vi Simpson's candidacy for governor and her sellout on Interstate 69. Here's what one attendee at the recent Jefferson-Jackson Day Democrat dinner in Bloomington recently wrote me:

Dear friends,

Well, the experiment in independent media called The Bloomington Alternative is eight months old now. And after a two-week hiatus, this seemed a good time to consider where we've been and where we might be going.

I'll start with the news. Due to other professional commitments, the "Daily E-Mail Headlines" will be published in the early afternoon, Monday through Thursday, for the next six weeks. I hope to resume daily morning publication in late June.

The upcoming Primary Election hasn't received much attention in these internationally turbulent times. But there's a bundle at stake on May 6 for citizens committed to progressive social change in Bloomington.

In the four-way race for at-large City Council on the Democratic ticket, progressive standard-bearer Andy Ruff could find himself under stealth attack from yet another alliance of Business Democrats and right-wing Republicans. Progressive voters must carefully consider their votes in the at-large race.