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Our View: Chapter is over, Wisniewski is out

Ravalli County Commissioners have apparently wrote the final chapter in the public life of Jan Wisniewski, the county planning board chair.

Ravalli commissioners declined to reappoint Jan Wisniewski to another two-year term, even though they had no one in mind to replace him.

Wisniewski told commissioners, who were working on a deal with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, that during a factfinding visit to Havre, Hill County officials told him that the Hill County jails were full of “drunken Indians.”

Rightfully, Native American groups were incensed by the allegation. Commissioners apologized to Natives for the comments, though Wisniewski insists the commissions have no right to apologize on his behalf.

Equally upset were Hill County officials, who said they had never met Wisniewski.

Wisniewski is now out of the picture, some semblance of calm can be restored.

 

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