Giving meth a bad rap

We are serious connoisseurs of rap and hip-hop around Montana Headlines. Well, OK, maybe not serious connoisseurs.

But there was a good story in the Billings Gazette today about Charles "Apache" Mitchell of Busby and his unique approach to the art-form:

The 16-year-old has funneled that passion into a career as a motivational rapper, graphic designer and music producer. He is signing artists to the family label, On The Cut Records, which is based at the family's home in Busby.

In a time when music can encourage misconduct, Apache takes pride in his work being clean. The music does not glorify gang participation, partying or demeaning women, he said.

"You don't need to have all that to have fun," Apache said.

The family is developing a "War on Meth Hip Hop Tour" to take its version of motivational music across the state, including to reservations.

The music targets meth and its deadly impact on families.

"It's the modern-day plague," Apache said. "We want to use talent to keep youth away from drugs."

The Mitchell family knows the pain methamphetamine causes. Apache has a tattoo of a cross with his brother Salah's name in the center and the phrase "See you at the gates."

Salah, 21, was an up-and-coming musician when he committed suicide last September. At age 16, Salah began using meth and was hooked for two years. He was clean, but struggling with the heavy emotional after-effects of the drug, said the boys' dad and On The Cut Records CEO Waymon Mitchell. Salah "was a meek and humble young man," he said.

Anyway, read the article and listen to the MP3 sample. There are any number of acts that we've heard that try to do rap with a positive message, but all too often the lyrics don't flow and the delivery falls flat.

If this clip is representative, Apache can't be accused of that -- he's doing some pretty good stuff, especially once he gets rolling.

The house that Ron Tussing built

We're only hearing one side of the story so far, of course, and Steve Feuerstein sounds suspiciously like a whiner -- most guys would just move on to something else, and let the Billings Police Department do their thing. After all, do you really want someone as your cop who can't handle the bumps and scrapes of police department politics without filing a lawsuit?

But even taking all of that into consideration, the story coming out in Feuerstein's suit against the BPD doesn't sound pretty, and has a ring of truth. Favoritism, intimidation tactics, dishonesty -- well, it does seem to confirm every caricature of now-mayor Ron Tussing and his leadership style (or lack thereof.)

The alleged mishandling of confiscated drugs by BPD officers and Tussing's failure to investigate properly the complaints brought by Feuerstein were among the proximate causes of Tussing being paid to leave. In return, he agreed not to seek to be on the payroll of the City of Billings any more. (Not that he had enough personal honor to keep that agreement.)

We'll see how the trial goes.

Fred Thompson leads in two more national polls

Until now, only the Rasmussen national polls have had Thompson in the lead over Rudy Guiliani.

Now, both the most recent Zogby poll and the most recent Harris poll have Thompson with a narrow lead. As noted before, he is doing remarkably well as a non-candidate.

The downer is that he will be expected to do even better when he is a formal, working candidate -- a point that has yet to be proven. The fact that the Dems are attacking him on all fronts, though, is an encouraging sign.