October 17 2002

Of deregulation, Enron and chickenhawks
PAT DAWSON, Montana Unplugged

Excerpt: Four years ago, I wondered how somebody with a draft lottery number of 23 could escape the 1970 call-up and go on to law school for three years. So I contacted the U.S. Selective Service national headquarters in Arlington, Va., and asked for Marc Racicot’s draft board proceedings, which are a matter of public record.

Fine, they answered, but where was he registered? I assumed it had to be either in Lincoln County (Libby), where he grew up and went to high school, or else Lewis and Clark County (Helena), where he attended Carroll College and his father coached basketball.

Weeks later, on Nov. 24, 1998, they called back: a search turned up no record of Racicot registered for the draft in those counties, according to the Selective Service.

I found my own records from Lewis and Clark County, and those entries end when I was conscripted into the U.S. Army in May 1968. The records show others of my age group who were also drafted, deferred for medical reasons, or had enlisted. But no Marc Racicot.

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