Letters to the editor June 12

Heritage Place getting better every day

I live in Heritage Place nursing home and write with words of praise and gratitude for everyone here who helps me live my life as fully as possible.

I have lived here almost four years. It is my home. My son and daughter have also been residents here, so our positive experience is extensive. All of us here have experienced Heritage as a good place with a caring staff who love us and care for our needs efficiently, thoughtfully, carefully and professionally.

The staff is well-trained. The kitchen is under new management and working hard to please our taste-buds and our nutritional needs.

There have been negative articles and rumors against Heritage Place, spread by disgruntled former employees that simply are not true. Do not believe the negative words said!

The original facility was built by the Lantis family, but after the death of the patriarch was sold to Welcov. The new owners ran the place into the ground. In August of 2018, the Lantis family repurchased the facility with the daunting task of restoration.

Administration and staff have been working arduously to restore all facets of the facility, making tremendous strides. It is getting better every day. Pay raises are being given, more new qualified staff are coming aboard and the kitchen is under new management. The staff are pulling together as a team. This is one of the few state facilities that accepts unrestricted Medicaid.

The negative marks by the state were given to the former owners in 2017. Lantis did not repurchase the facility until August 2018 so they do not deserve the blame. We are not part of the six homes under supervision.

This is a good place for you or your parents. You are welcome! Do not hesitate to join us.

—Judith Schenck, Kalispell

Pursuit of life, liberty and happiness

My understanding is that this government or any government should be in power for the sole purpose of protecting the rights of the people in their pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.

Since when are people elected to help us achieve these goals allowed to put laws in to effect that hinder its people from achieving these. Now I know we all have different views on what each of these basic rights are and how they effect our daily lives; but we should be concerned when they force us to live outside of these views, because they do not agree with us. As long as our individual style of living does not physically hurt others; these laws are wrong.

Now maybe I’m the only one to have this view; and my views go a lot deeper than what I have stated here. I’m willing to listen to other people, but to have their views forced upon me or any other person is not right.

I may have views on different subjects, but they would probably change as I acquire more information. Now I did not say facts, because facts change.

We are constantly finding new and old information, and I have seen our politicians and news stations be hypocritical about the world around them.

Example: Fox News just the other night was complaining about the Democrats saying Trump should go to jail, yet many times during the campaign the Republicans were saying basically the same thing about Clinton. (LOCK HER UP).

Who has an answer for this dilemma that we find all over the world?

—James Keller, Kalispell

Just say no, Whitefish

I would be embarrassed to have any connection to a new development in Whitefish on Wisconsin Avenue called “The Quarry.” First the developer removed all the affordable housing that was once the Big Mountain mobile homes. Then they removed every tree. Then they put up “modern” cabins that look like match boxes. How many of these match boxes will we drive by each day? Eventually 102. How much do they cost? $350,000 to $650,000! And will they be used as permanent residences? No, for the most part these odd match boxes will become vacation rentals.

Adding to the above mentioned issues, the development will have a private pool for its 102 units, not to mention the water to be used within the 102 proposed units themselves. Where is the water coming from for all these units, as well as for all the other housing and subdivision units being built across the city? Already the state has shut down new water taps in Whitefish due to concern for ample reserve water supplies. 

Whitefish has responded with a request for variance from the state’s ruling, and newly publicized ordinance(s), yet the city permits more subdivisions and tries to sell more water and sewer hookups. When will it all end?  Already Whitefish Lake — a source of some of the city’s water — is at an all-time low. Wasn’t there a former campaign and ballot issue that passed for the preservation of water and wetlands in Haskill Basin with the slogan, “Just say yes to water?” This was to keep growth away from those precious lands. But when will the city stop saying yes to developers. Isn’t it time to “just say no” to greed, and this unprecedented speed of development?

— Marguerite Kaminski, Whitefish

Chuck Baldwin tells the truth

We find it highly offensive and outrageous that Alec Willis called our pastor, Chuck Baldwin, hateful and anti-semitic in a letter to the editor (June 2). Pastor Baldwin has also been accused by conniving, lying individuals of being racist and a white separatist/white supremacist. This could NOT be farther from the truth!

We have attended Liberty Fellowship for five years and, as adoptive parents of six children of “color,” including three from Africa, I guess we would see and know if our pastor didn’t embrace, love and care deeply about our family.

Chuck Baldwin tells the truth and does not make statements that are not thoroughly researched. The truth does indeed set us free if we love and seek the truth at all costs. Sometimes, as occurred in Pastor Baldwin’s life, that search for truth requires letting go of long-treasured false beliefs.

—Kelli and Anthony Estrella, Marion