News you can use
News you can use
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I received a call late Sunday morning from my daughter Amanda, and the fact she wanted to talk to me before her mother seemed odd. Amanda told me our friend, Larry, had taken his life and after exchanging small talk about how much we would miss him, we talked about our concerns for his family, the son he left behind and how she had lost touch with him in recent months. She finished our conversation with comments about how suicide seems to happen far too often around the holidays. I handed the phone to my wife to discuss...
Hang on, this is going to be a two-parter because in order to understand my Christmas, you have to know the background, the dark side of the story. Think about it. If you didn’t know Ebenezer Scrooge’s cold-hearted, skin-flinty past, present and future, you wouldn’t be awed by the miracle of his Christmas generosity. You would think, “Why did that ridiculous old fart wait until Christmas morning to buy his turkey? Procrastinators like that are a pain in the baster.” Then you would go on with your day, never awed, never hav...
California just made history by passing legislation to increase the amount of renewable resources powering that state to 50 percent by 2030. So why is NorthWestern Energy’s CEO Bob Rowe lamenting that America’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan is a “steep cliff?” It requires Montana to reduce CO2 levels from fossil fuel power generation 47 percent by 2030. NorthWestern already produces “nearly 60 percent” of its power from “carbon free” wind and hydroelectric generators. Therefore, it shouldn’t be difficult to reduce the remaining 40...
My daughter made arrangements to fly me to Montana so I could attend a family funeral last week. The previous week Dee Dee had undergone total knee replacement (it seems to run in the family). So blame the medications. Four airplanes? Count them. Mazatlan to Mexico City. Mexico City to Houston. Houston to Denver. Denver to Billings. Under the best of circumstances modern air travel is no fun. A straitjacket might be more comfortable than the crowded airplane seats which effectively immobilize one, but I’ve yet to try one. N...
To know me is to know that I have a contrariness to my nature. For better or worse. From birth till in death do I part. Some piece of me will yin to another’s yang, will yes because there was a no, will advocate the devil’s side. Yes, it will even prompt me to speak nice of my old nemesis, winter. I know that sounds like crazy talk from me, the person who once said that winter is a boil on the backside of existence. But I can assure you that, yes, I said nice things, genuinely...
This morning I sat waiting in the pulmonia outside the Mercado in Historico Old Town Mazatlan. The streets swarmed with carts, buses, autos, pedestrians and bicycles. I squinched my eyes and reduced the sights to kaleidoscopic colors, brilliant in the sun. I could smell meats on the grills across the street, guavas and oranges from the cart behind me. Shouts of vendors, of laughter, voices conversing in several languages filled my ears. Tears for no reason ran down my cheeks....
Gov. Steve Bullock says he will look favorably on Middle Eastern refugees settling in Montana unless there are concerns about them posing a threat to our safety. Other governors have also made their opinions known regarding Middle Eastern refugees in their states. The reality, though, is that state governors have little actual authority in terms of foreign refugees. This would be true even if the governors were attempting to enforce laws on immigration enacted by their legislatures. We are one nation in terms of foreign...
I would first like to wish everyone a very happy holiday season from the Chamber Board of Directors and the Chamber staff. During this time of year, many people give unselfishly of their time to make the holidays a little more special for all of us. And we are very grateful to their efforts and time. Sometimes thank you just doesn’t seem to be a strong enough expression of one’s gratefulness. As I proceed you will soon see what I mean. It takes many people willing to give unselfishly of their time to make something hap...
This morning a rainbow arched over Bird Island and plunged into the rocks at the southern edge, the most intense rainbow I’ve seen in years. I sat at the window wall in our 21st floor suite at the resort and watched for half an hour; just watched the rainbow. Eventually, the rainbow extended a perfect reflection onto the Pacific mirror, creating a three-quarter circle. Sandra, the current hurricane of our prolific Pacific series, huffed and puffed off the coast earlier this week. We in Mazatlan yawned with complacency. E...
Outdoor recreation is the wave of the future. While hunting and fishing is barely holding its own, visitation and recreation at our state parks is up. The 2.255 million visits last year set a record for the second straight year. In the first six months of this year, visitation was up 21 percent over the same period in 2014. Current visitation is over three times what it was in 2000. People all over the country are flocking to the great outdoors for their recreation, whether it is hiking, trail running, mountain biking, campin...
Before Thanksgiving we had a hearing in the House Natural Resources Committee about the Land and Water Conservation Fund, or LWCF. When talking with my colleagues from all over the country about LWCF, I ask them to imagine America without iconic national parks such as Rocky Mountain, Grand Canyon, Acadia, and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks. All of those parks were created by the LWCF. Since Americans first set eyes on the natural beauty of our country, it has been one of our shared values that those lands must be...
Melinda Barnes Winter has arrived, and with that comes snow. Most Montana communities have some kind of ordinance requiring snow removal from sidewalks, typically requiring the property owner or tenant to remove snow within a certain amount of time. Even though not required, property owners may begin clearing the sidewalks before the snowfall stops or even on the same day, and in fact that is a nice thing to do. Consider this: what would happen if roads were not plowed until after the snow stopped and 12 inches accumulated?...
When I was 11, 12, 13 and 14 I wanted to join a cloistered order of nuns. It was either a good thing or too bad that any order where I could have boarded for school and preparation was out of my reach. By 15, latent puberty had taken over my mind and emotions. I was rather backward. In those days it meant something special if I said, “He looked at me.” In a modified way I got my wish when I moved to Mexico. I live in a small casita by myself. In the months when the sno...
We serve up the word “traditional” a lot when talking about Thanksgiving dinner, but it’s now clear that our grade school textbooks lied to us about the origins of this holiday. Or maybe you went to a better school than I did. Smithsonianmag.com writer Megan Gambino tells us that the official, federally recognized holiday of Thanksgiving comes to us thanks to the remarkably persistent efforts of Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of what was in the early to mid-1800s a popular women...
The author of the opinion piece entitled “Montana and Havre should welcome refugees” makes some thoughtful and valid points regarding available work and housing in our community and encouraging the residents of Havre to be welcoming and neighborly. Well and good. However, I disagree with the main premise of his argument as reflected in the following statements: “The Old Testament tells us to show justice and mercy to the foreigner seeking refuge among us, because the Israelites knew full well what it was like to be stran...
“You must treat the foreigner residing among you as if they were native-born. Love them as yourself, for you once were foreigners in the land of Egypt.” — Leviticus 19:34 In 1939, a German ocean liner called the St. Louis set sail from Hamburg, Germany. On board were 937 Jewish refugees seeking asylum from persecution by the Nazis. The ship first went to Cuba, because the passengers had previously acquired Cuban visas. But when they arrived, the Cuban government refused to allow them entry. The St. Louis sailed to the Unite...
“Gawd, I’m [blanking] awesome!” my husband said after helping me in the kitchen. I had just made a big pot of stew and was in the middle of kneading dough for a batch of homemade Middle Eastern flatbread to go with it, but thank gawd(!) he was eager save the day with his innate cooking prowess. He poured olive oil into a bowl until I said when. Surely the meal would’ve been a complete loss without this awesomeness. In almost every photo I’ve seen of John from his youth, he...
What would it take for Montana to produce electricity in a way that reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 47 percent? It’s not a hypothetical question. It’s the mandate set for the state in the Environmental Protection Agency’s final version of its Clean Power Plan, released in August 2015. And compliance with that mandate — which requires a larger percentage of CO2 reductions in Montana than any other state — is more than a technological or engineering challenge. It could involve walking away from assets that have provided...
The last time I went to a phone store (such a thing!) and asked for a dumb phone, one that just made and received calls, the young clerk looked at me with such pity and compassion, bordering on grief, that I should be so clueless. Indiana never was a forerunner for national cultural/industrial progress. The first telephone from my childhood was a darkly stained oak box solidly mounted on the kitchen wall. The black conical-shaped speaking tube flared from the center. One...
As a leading source of news in an era of “lamestream” media, Pamville News strives to maintain a solidly ethical and impartial reputation among its readers and peers, but I am going to endorse political candidates anyway. In my position as editor of Pamville News, I do not undertake this endeavor lightly, nor do I do it to sway readers to any politician’s political stance. I do this to give us all hope for the future, a future in which someone has to be elected presi...
When you think about the future of Havre and other Hill county communities, what do you visualize and hope for? Dreams for a vital, thriving community are wonderful but we all know that funding is a critical barrier to actualizing these dreams. Year after year, it becomes increasingly more difficult to support local libraries, senior centers, parks, theatrers, museums and more. On the other hand, few of us may be aware of the vast wealth currently leaving our state. In 2010, The Montana Transfer of Wealth Study was sponsored...
Fear is a mind killer. Take my latest foolishness. My friend Lani, who lives in Etzatlan near Guadalajara has invited me to hop the bus to visit numerous times. I’ve always conjured excuses. I like Lani. Fear held me back. Cousin Nancie is in Etzatlan visiting Lani. The two of them flanked me, out maneuvered me, forced me to face my fear. Stupid fear. Fear of getting on a bus, alone, for the trip into the mountains of Jalisco. My neighbor Ted asked me, “Were you afraid whe...
Wednesday is Veterans Day. In November 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nation." Many...
Montana has a strong military tradition unparalleled by almost any other state in the nation. Nearly 1-in-10 of us hears the call to serve in the armed forces, and in the sovereign nations the warrior spirit is even stronger. Last month, I visited Wolf Point and spent time with the family of Michael Bell, a young man from the Fort Peck tribes who was also a Navy SEAL. Surrounded by friends, family and officials from tribes as far away as North Dakota, I helped honor Michael with a memorial service and naval ceremony. I knew...
All across the U.S. last weekend people were celebrating Halloween and mourning the start of Christmas advertising season. Poor, simple fools. One thing and one thing only mattered: the end of daylight saving time signaling the start of flashlight season. The long cold months of double darkness when both morning and evening chores are completed without aid of sunlight. Daylight saving time changed to battery spending time, if you will. For weeks now I have had to use a...
