Letters to the editor Sept. 30

What about Whitefish?

Modern pirates do what Blackbeard and the boys did 200 years ago; they take what they want without consideration for victims or the environment.

Whitefish City Council needs to realize (and probably already does) that giving the pirates permission to “improve” the town does not guarantee reasonable results.

Too often the developers just do what they want to.

Anecdotes of bullying and cheating consistently float along the village pipeline — they can’t all be imaginary.

These “growth projects” need to be closely monitored by building inspectors of unquestioned integrity. The council faces a difficult and not altogether pleasant challenge, but we are at a crossroads that will be painful. Do we continue down the neon highway or make the hard decisions that will keep our beautiful town a beautiful town?

Yo ho ho.....stay tuned.

— Jean Jones, Whitefish

Park pooch patrol

Last Thursday I was pleased and relieved to read of the “bark ranger” program introduce in Glacier Park in 2016. For the uninformed, this program uses a barking dog to prevent close contact (photo range) between tourists and the aggressive and unpredictable mountain goat, deer and bighorn sheep. It worked with me – I’m not getting near that dog.

This program appears to have worked so well at preventing the tourist from viewing said wildlife that I suggest it be expanded to include the backcountry trails inhabited by the grizzly bear – but then that would probably require a much bigger dog (as well as periodic ranger replacement).

As a frequent visitor to the park I have had occasion to witness the aggressiveness exhibited by these unpredictable ungulates. On one occasion I observed a tourist being chased up a tree by an especially nasty bighorn sheep (until then I had not realized sheep could climb trees) unfortunately for the tourist, he fell to the ground and was instantly killed before the animal could reach him – the sheep seemed satisfied and departed. I got some really good pictures.

On another occasion I witnessed a rather large group of Japanese tourist about to photograph a pair of mountain goats. It was obvious to me that the goats were about to charge as the group was standing on a patch of their favorite grass. I was about to shout a warning just as there was a loud barrage of clicking from the hundred or so cameras within the group. This startled the goats and they fled. I’m sure a smaller group with fewer cameras would not have been so lucky.

There have been other occasions where I have been able to prevent loss of life or limb by shooing these dangerous animals from the front of that ubiquitous camera lens.

So, you can see why I am so pleased to see the park has invested a considerable amount of its dollars to assure no other tourist will be endangered by the sheep, deer or goat while attempting to view and/or photograph same. Oh, and of course, this lets the biologists and other park researchers spend their time “studying” these animals without the interference of that annoying tourist; after all, why should we, the tourist, be allowed to experience the wildlife as the park employees do.

Just who do they think the park is for, anyway?

— Phil Frey, Bigfork

Divided we fall

United we stand, divided we fall. Abraham Lincoln was our first Republican President and believed that keeping us united was the only way we would survive as a nation. Thoughts, words and deeds do matter and were attributes he held dearly. In his communication to this nation and world he took his time in both his writing and speaking. His thoughts and words needed to be weighed because they mattered to him, our nation and the world. He also took responsibility for deeds that occurred during his presidency by him and his staff. He pledged his allegiance to this nation and our flag. Let us stand together united as a nation and discourage any divisiveness we encounter, pledging allegiance to our country and flag (we already are a great nation). May President Trump start following President Lincoln’s lead.

— Linda Edwards, Kalispell

Lies and half-truths

Abortion is the most cruel of any separation of children from their family. All the lies and half-truths of border security are nowhere close to abortion. The things that are happening now at the border are no different than Obama’s, but for some reason the radical left is terrorized about it now that they in charge.

Everything that President Trump does has been condemned by the left — these are the same ones who always say peace and love. But they spew nothing but “hate” to the President and call us who support him deplorables. And I am one of the deplorables.

— Dexter Hamilton, Kalispell

Attacks on Kavanaugh absurd

This attack on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is absurd. It displays politics at its worse and reflects abject sexism in the extreme. In addition, it is injurious to the reputation of women everywhere.

The allegations presented by Dr. Ford are 36 years old. For some reason she can’t remember the exact date, the exact location or even why she was there. Astoundingly she told no one, not even a girlfriend about the incident until 2012 which, in my experience, is highly unlikely.

It’s the perfect allegation in today’s seamy world of politics where sexism is running rampant. Many very passionate left-leaning women say Ford must be believed. Why? Because she is a female. It’s just the opposite for Kavanaugh. He can’t be believed because he is a male. That’s ridiculous and shows what happens when emotions are left to run wild. Hopefully, most people believe that sexism against men is just as onerous as sexism against women.

Further, there are many female left wing political figures who say Kavanaugh’s career and essentially his life should be ruined even if there is no evidence whatsoever these events ever happened. That’s not just emotions gone amuck, it’s insanity. Such displays reinforce the notion that women base too many of their decisions on emotional feelings leaving rationality behind. Fortunately, there are many rational conservative women who are speaking out vehemently about the injustice of such actions.

If Ford cannot produce any evidence or collaborating witness testimony regarding her allegations, they should be dismissed and Kavanaugh should, without further ado, be voted in as our next Supreme Court Justice. After all, the same thing happened to Justice Clarence Thomas and he has proven to be one of the best Justices we have ever had.

— Mark Agather, Kalispell

Out-of-staters are at it again

Readers of the Flathead Valley, congratulations on the discontinued use of all plastic products. You are truly like California with banning plastic straws! Ha! What a joke.

If you are serious about “saving the valley” then stop using any and all products that use plastic. Yes, go back to using cloth diapers and not the throw aways. Yes, the pollution is a problem just look what we throw into the landfills and oceans every day.

Oh, its the water usage that bothers you? Well just look around at all the waste of water as well. Fancy homes being built on productive agricultural ground with lush watered lawns, as a small example.

How about banning all plastic products in the valley? Going back to reusable glass bottles? No wait that requires sanitization requiring water as well?

Real Montanans would go back to the older way of receiving products, conserving water, building on non-agricultural ground, etc. Seems the out-of-staters are at it again bringing problems from wherever they came from and now want to change Montana to the mess they escaped from. Work together to find an equitable solution to your perceived problems. Better results will come forth.

— Ron Albrecht