Ok. I'm almost ashamed to post this question. I thought i understood, but OBVIOUSLY i don't.
Local Variables in parallel loops. I created a little test vi to show how local variable references and data value references would work better between loops then lLocal variables. I believed that reading a local variable multiple times in a second loop only updated the cnt local variable once per loop cycle.
Attached is a png of my little loops. I fully expected indicators cnt 2 and cnt 3 to display the same value... but they don't. The other loops displayed exactly as I expected.
So, please restore my faith.