Sad and ugly actions mar end of Evan's long career.

Like hyenas circling a wounded animal, Lane Evans' brothers, the Dispatch/Argus, the Associated Press and of course, several lawyers, are all contributing to a greater or lesser extent to making Lane Evans' increasingly difficult struggle against Parkinson's Disease even more stressful, sad, and demeaning.

Evan's challenged his two brother's attempt to make their guardianship permanent, and that issue was resolved fairly quickly and apparently with a minimum of rancor or conflict. That's the good news.

A judge hearing the case assigned personal guardianship for Evans to Dennis King, Evans' friend since college and chief of staff and financial guardianship to American Bank & Trust.

When the Dispatch/Argus and Associated Press, not wanting to leave any scab un-picked, requested they be able to have access to the proceedings, the judge rightly ruled against them by noting they had no standing in the case.

Now they plan to petition the court for access to the records of the proceedings.

They've already gotten full details of the agreement, statements from the lawyers involved who can legally discuss it, and have reported every minute detail of the figures involved and their roles and backgrounds.

Yet this is not enough. They want the juicy bits. The personal. The embarassing. They want the court records containing confidential and detailed reports on Evan's health issues and the evidence used by the judge to base his decision that Evan's required guardianship.

They want the dirt, in other words.

The argument is made that due to Evans' public stature, that health records normally considered strictly confidential in any other case should be made available to the public. Some argue that Evans should resign if his condition would require appointing guardianship.

The right and apparently the Dispatch/Argus are salivating at the chance to further demean Evans while he battles for his life at the end of a long and honorable career. They're ready to go to battle for the right to kick a sick man while he's down, even though there's only a relatively brief time left in his term.

Personally, I don't know how they justify it.

They even sunk to reporting with an arched eyebrow, "[Evans] was consoled by Mr. Winstein and a woman who would only identify herself as 'a friend.'" Ooooh la la! Scandalous! Evans has a female friend. STOP THE PRESSES!

If Evans has any reason to weep, it's that creepy jackals of the press are bound and determined to strip him of all dignity while he's struggling to avoid sliding into a debilitated state.

I'm sure we can look forward to similar reporting on Evan's funeral on that hopefully distant date, complete with hints of scandal and inuendo about who attends, who crys, and how much the casket cost.

Of course, they might be expected to sue for the right to exume the body to examine it themselves as well.

The way the Dispatch/Argus is covering this story is nothing short of tasteless, graceless, utterly unecessary, and crude.

If only they'd exibit such bulldog tenacity and drive to get to the bottom of things on the many underexamined follies of local Republicans and developers, they might have a leg to stand on.