Great ideas can be diminished by the way they are carried out.

Such it is with the program, College Goal Sunday.

The Finance Authority of Maine will hold seminars at 12 sites around the state for families navigating the maze of college financial aid. Experts will help seniors, their parents and other college-bound adults fill out all the paperwork necessary to apply for financial assistance to pay for college.

It’s just the kind of program the state needs. For families sending their first child to college, understanding the system is one of the biggest stumbling blocks. The forms can be complicated and advice from experts can make the whole process less painful – and potentially more successful.

The problem is in scheduling. The seminars are scheduled for the same day as Maine’s Democratic caucuses, Sunday, Feb. 8.

For a family trying to figure out how to pay for college, there’s no choice about which event to attend. Financial aid wins out over participatory democracy. It’s a pocketbook issue, pure and simple.

But families shouldn’t have to choose between two such important things. There’s room on the calendar for both.

Helping students pay for college is a worthy goal. These seminars should continue. We hope, in the future, more consideration will be given to other important activities that compete for attendance.


Caught again


Halliburton is really starting to get our goat.

On Monday, the Pentagon announced that the company would repay the government $27.4 million that it overcharged for food services at military bases in Iraq and Kuwait.

That’s on top of the $6.3 million that the company has already repaid the government after it was discovered that a couple of employees were lining their own pockets with kickbacks from a subcontractor.

And who can forget the allegations that the company overcharged the government $61 million for gasoline it imported into Iraq?

Now, toss on the pile a report by New York Times columnist Bob Herbert in January. In his column, Herbert examines Halliburton’s tax records back into the 1990s. His findings were disturbing.

Halliburton and its subsidiaries are incorporated all over the globe, taking particular advantage of several well-known tax havens, such as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Trinidad and several others.

According to Herbert’s reporting, Halliburton paid $15 million in federal taxes for 2002. It sounds like a lot of money, but considering the company’s size and revenue, it’s just a drop in the bucket.

This multinational company is bilking the country on both sides: Overcharging for services provided to the military and paying almost nothing in taxes.

It’s enough to drive a taxpayer crazy.


Open invitation


Lewiston has rolled out the red carpet for the New England Patriots. Hopefully, they’ll stroll down it.

In a preemptive strike, the city sent an official invitation to the Patriots, touting the fan base in the Twin Cities. The city is trying to get on the list if the team takes a whistle-stop tour of the region.

We’d like to add our own invitation. The visit would be great for the area, great for football fans and great for the team. We hope owner Robert Kraft and the players will consider a quick stop.

How great would that be?
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