<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">The main difference I see here is that when Ms. Pall made her offhand remark to (I believe) a member of the Thompson family, she was already a member of the city council. Mr. Ament's comments were made in his capacity as a private citizen before he was elected to office. There is a difference there, however slight.<DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>SB<DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><DIV><DIV>On May 2, 2006, at 7:44 AM, g. crabtree wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"> <DIV><FONT face="Arial" size="2">Last nights city council meeting had one interesting and unexpected moment when the honorable Linda Pall recused herself from involvement in the rezone hearing because of a very mildly disparaging offhand remark she made regarding the property in questions largest potential occupant. She did not refer to Wal-Mart employees as "androids." She did not personally insult Sam Walton. She did not disparage Wal-Mart shoppers with unnecessary insults. She merely expressed her opinion that her preference was that Wal-Mart not locate there. What are the odds that this will set a precedent for future council meetings, where other council persons may have been even more vocal (and much more unpleasant) in the remarks they have made regarding topics that come before them? Topic's where it is clear that there will be no objectivity in that council persons decision making process and no backing down from previously held biases. Anyone for holding their breath?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial" size="2">G. Crabtree</FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_____________________________________________________</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>List services made available by First Step Internet,<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN><A href="http://www.fsr.net">http://www.fsr.net</A><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN><A href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com">mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com</A></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ</DIV> </DIV><BR></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>