Letters to the editor Oct. 17
Kuntz for Ward 3
I served on Kalispell City Council for five years with Rod Kuntz. From the beginning of his first term he was knowledgeable of the needs of the community and demonstrated a heart for what was best for the citizens he served.
Case in point: Rod lives near Flathead High School. For years there was contention between homeowners and students who parked in front of their homes. No one was able to get the school district, homeowners and city together to solve the problem. Rod took it upon himself to canvas the neighborhood, gather data, formulate a plan and get all parties on board to solve the problem with a special parking district. It was one of the most successful endeavors I experienced in the 29 years I was on the council.
Rod researches issues that come before the council. He posits logical solutions and successfully solicits buy in from all parties involved.
It is a good councilman who does not have an agenda going into the position, who truly is interested in the well-being of all citizens as well as the long term health of the community. Rod has exhibited these attributes in the past and most assuredly will live by them in the future. He has my vote for Ward 3 Councilperson and, if you live in Ward 3, he should have yours too.
—Jim Atkinson, Kalispell
Hunter puts families first
Kalispell is a special place with a great future, but unfortunately, the City Council has a record of lost opportunities. Should not every kid in Kalispell have a safe route to get to school or the playground? I think so. So does Ryan Hunter, which is why I think he will make a great city council representative.
More than a decade ago, when the City Council was moving ahead with plans to develop Hutton Ranch commercial district and the play fields and Kidsports, our council promised up and down they would make bicycle and pedestrian-friendly routes connecting the core of Kalispell with “Pill Hill” and beyond. So where is that route? In some dusty file somewhere, no doubt. Meanwhile, kids, cyclists and people with disabilities are forced to take their lives in their hands and walk the narrow shoulder of U.S. 93. That’s unacceptable for a town as prosperous as ours.
I appreciate anyone who volunteers to serve on the City Council. But it’s time for a breath of fresh air. A candidate who will think of Kalispell families first and find creative solutions for our growth pains and other challenges.
Ryan Hunter is that kind of candidate. He brings youthful energy and community values to the job. Please consider voting for him.
—Ben Long, Kalispell
Eco-fascists
In his Oct. 3 letter to the editor, Bill Baum revealed himself to be a blindly devoted purveyor of the pseudo-theology of “climate change,” a masterfully marketed scam that has morphed into a doomsday cult. The quasi-political organization’s adolescent apparatchik, Greta Thunberg, has incredibly been proclaimed a “successor” to Jesus Christ by a Swedish church. Can you believe it? The teenager has been recommended to receive a Nobel prize. For what? Repeating the propaganda she was brainwashed with in public school?
Mr. Baum’s solution to anthropogenic Armageddon is a one-party system of government made up of politically and climate correct liberals to whom we must then pay dearly for our “future salvation.” Don’t you realize that zealous disciples like Mr. Baum are using intimidation and prevarications to push a political, not a scientific agenda?
Seeing children paralyzed with the fear of impending doom participating in a well-organized “climate strike” demonstrates the disheartening success of the sinister global effort to mentally and emotionally enslave naive segments of society.
To illustrate the absurdity of Mr. Baum’s remarks he advocates “...action we take to empty the atmosphere of greenhouse gas materials that increase the trapped heat from the sun.” Well, since water vapor makes up about 95% of the greenhouse effect, is Mr. Baum suggesting the banning of tea kettles? Since CO2 comprises only about 3.6% of total greenhouse gas and man-caused CO2 is just 3.2% of that amount, the effect of anthropogenic CO2 on the environment is clearly negligible.
So why is this even an issue? Because the entrepreneurial “global warming” enterprise is worth many billions of dollars to the politicians, businesses, academia and the news media that are promoting it ad nauseam. It doesn’t help the rest of us one damn bit. As Mr. Baum said in his opinion letter: “Money matters.”
The truth is the greenhouse reductions proposed in the Kyoto Protocol would yield statistically negligible results in terms of measurable impacts to the climate, however the standard of living for us and future generations would be severely and adversely affected. No, Mr. Baum, the human race is not, as you recklessly characterize; “careening towards extinction,” at least from the consumption of fossil fuels. And the world will not end in 12 years like other purveyors of the hoax predict.
However, the eco-fascists will prevail if you continue to help them garner absolute power and that fact alone will be of great concern to future generations.
—John Merlette, Bigfork
Plight of our birds
I just read Anne Millbrooke’s Sept. 29 opinion article on the plight of our birds.
I am so against the wind turbines because they kill so many birds and eagles. I wrote to the Rosebud County newspaper and made my thoughts known, BUT the county commissioners have gone ahead and allowed for a huge wind turbine farm to be built. I am just sick about this as our beloved birds are no match for the thousands of wind turbines that are now in, not only the USA, but throughout the world.
What on earth can be done to save our birds?
—Grace Larson, Kalispell