J.P. Donovan of U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns' office called in response to my column about politicians who ignore weekly newspapers. He said that the Missoula Independent's complaints about Sen. Burns' refusal to speak to Independent staffers precedes his time on the senator's staff. Independent reporters have, in fact, talked to Burns since then, he said. It's a fair point, and I should have noted in the column that the complaint was from sometime back. J.P. also noted that the Outpost always gets news releases from the senator about matters relevant to our area. That's true, as far as I know, and it's also true for the rest of the congressional delegation. My column took no shots at any members of the delegation, and I hope no one inferred that it did. They've all done a pretty good job of keeping us in the loop since the beginning.