Spending stimulus money

To the editor,

Families all over Montana are tightening their belts and struggling to make every penny count. With a little effort, whether it be clipping coupons or carpooling, we can stretch a dollar to do more when it's necessary to make ends meet. Unfortunately, when it comes to spending stimulus dollars, the federal government doesn't show the same prudence. Lately, we've seen government recklessly spending money just because they have so much of it — which they've borrowed against our children's futures.

While I always said an economic stimulus needed to be timely, there's a difference between spending money quickly and wasting money quickly. In a blind rush to spend as much of your tax dollars as they can, federal bureaucrats are circumventing an open bidding process which limits employment opportunities for hundreds of employees of Montana's contractors. In fact, we are seeing examples of this lack of competition in the recent procurement awards for Going-to-the-Sun and our border stations.

On June 5, I sent a letter to President Obama, asking him to direct federal agencies to take another look at these hasty procurement decisions. When it comes to our tax dollars, we deserve a government whose focus is on how well our tax dollars are spent, not on how quickly those dollars can be shoveled out the door. To make Montana's stimulus spending more effective, Montana contractors deserve the chance to put their employees back to work.

Congressman Denny Rehberg

Billings

Why have two centennials?

To the editor,

Eighteen years ago during Heritage Days we had the Centennial of Columbia Falls. The year was 1991. It was a good parade and a fine time. Now it seems they're having another Columbia Falls Centennial this year.

I thought you could only have one of those. Maybe they can get more tourists or visitors if they have a centennial every so often. I liked being part of the oldest town in the Valley. Now I guess it's the newest. Kinda strange.

Tex Manus

Columbia Falls

Editor's note: The town of Columbia Falls was established in 1891 and the centennial was celebrated in 1991. Columbia Falls was incorporated in April of 1909 and this year is the 100th anniversary of the incorporation.

Not quite free of brucellosis risk

To the editor,

Recent news that the United States Department of Agriculture changed Montana's brucellosis status from Class A to Class Free was certainly met with great enthusiasm. This means cattle can move across state lines without certain restrictions, such as blood testing every animal before it can be transported across state lines — a costly and time-consuming problem. In order for a state to attain and keep its Class Free status, all cattle herds within that state must remain free of Brucella abortus for a period of 12 consecutive months.

This certainly was welcome news to cattle producers across the state. State veterinarian Marty Zaluski did his fair share of hard work to ensure that our class free status was restored, as did various other people in the industry. The Montana Farm Bureau and its members attended meetings, visited with officials and developed a own plan to ensure that not only the class free status was reinstated, but that producers near the park would be protected. However, even though the state is now considered class free, there are counties still at risk around Yellowstone National Park (YNP). YNP continues to serve as a reservoir for the disease, whether it's in elk or bison. Those counties around the Park are still going to have to contend with the risk and the problem.

Brucellosis not only affects livestock producers financially, as it causes abortions in cattle and causes the state to lose their brucellosis-free status, but the disease threatens wildlife welfare, because it also causes abortions in elk and bison. Until the disease is eliminated in wildlife, it will continue to be a threat to both wildlife and domestic livestock.

Let's support our cattle producers and see what our next positive steps are to eliminate brucellosis in our state and in YNP, and save wildlife in the process.

Bob Hanson, president

Montana Farm Bureau Federation

White Sulphur Springs