Honor Montana

There is no doubt that roads would negatively impact the shrinking wilderness. Where else but wild Montana can you see a black wolf looking at you from the cover of a lodgepole stand? Where else can you sit on a boulder above a stream running clear and clean down to a wild, clean river?

The more wilderness is available, the more it will attract people who aren't interested in taking care of it. I once stood on a little bayou where it ran into the Gulf of Mexico and found bobbing in the water an auto coolant can, a shoe, a Styrofoam cup, a brassiere, several bloated fish, a plastic trash sack and candy wrappers, and on the shoreline a syringe.

Let's do the honorable things for Montana — all of us hikers and fisherman, hunters, campers, poets, artists and everyone else who loves these great outdoors — keep roadless areas intact.

Carol Vuchetich

Whale Creek Estates

Flag flap

On May 20, I paid my first visit to our beautiful brand new Super 1 Foods store and was impressed with this new addition to Whitefish's shopping option.

Then I noticed that there was not an American flag in sight anywhere. Curious about this, I sought out one of the store's senior executives to ask about this obvious "oversight."

What I was told not only angered me, but made me regret that I even lived in this city. The exec told me that they had wanted to fly our nation's flag, but was denied that right by the city of Whitefish.

Yes, the city of Whitefish denied their perfectly appropriate request to fly their large American flag, a Super 1 Foods tradition at their stores everywhere. Apparently the only time such a request was ever denied them throughout their chain.

On a personal note, I did not even know that one had to have a "permit" to display our national flag. I fly mine all the time, and believe me, it would not be wise for anyone to try and tell me to take it down.

Now back to the issue at hand. At a time when it is "legal," and even accepted in some quarters for people to burn, spit and otherwise freely desecrate our beautiful flag, we have our supposedly "learned" city authorities compounding those disgraceful acts even more so by refusing to allow a major new business to proudly fly our nation's flag. Unbelievable.

As a veteran and a resident of Whitefish for over 47 years, I am sickened, appalled and ashamed of this nefarious so-called "decision" made by people who should know better.

Now in my 60s, I am tired of watching our nation's precious traditions and proud values being continually hammered by vacant-minded automaton bureaucrats.

If there are folks here that dislike our flag so much, perhaps they might want to consider Canada, or better yet, Mexico.

Mike Gordon

Whitefish

Editor's note: Whitefish City ordinance 17.100.040 No. 19A, based on a Presidential declaration, limits the size of flags hung from a building to three-by-five feet and from a freestanding flagpole to five-by-seven feet.