News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1178 - 1202 of 1423
Editor: I enthusiastically support the decision of Gov. Brian Schweitzer and the Montana Land Board to purchase for the state of Montana the large acreage along the upper Milk River and in the Sweet Grass Hills. For too long the striking scenery and historical significance of the upper Milk River has been overlooked. Even Captain Meriwether Lewis made a significant error of his expedition when he failed to trace the Milk River to its source in the Rocky Mountains. Lewis and his fellow explorer, William Clark, decided on an...
Editor: Anyone who knows me knows that I can only keep my mouth shut for so long. So here we go. When I first started reading about wolf (and beaver) trapping in the paper recently, I just could not believe what I was reading. At first I thought "Oh, they must be talking about live trapping and moving the intended target animal to a different location." Surely they are not talking about the ancient barbaric trapping of the past where the animal is caught by its leg and fearfully tries to escape while being in excruciating...
To my fellow Hi-liners: I am a proud member of the Havre Masonic family. I am an Eastern Star member and the daughter of a Master Mason. After reading the article "Tenants have to leave rooms in masonic building," I feel I need to shed some light on some of the issues surrounding this tragedy. It's true that the individuals living in the temple will have to relocate. Not because the Masons wish to displace them, but because the city is enforcing its building zoning codes. I know that these zoning statutes are in place for a...
Editor: It was very interesting to watch the recent Republican National Convention. Since I am an educator, I was particularly interested in the speech by a young black man from Florida who credited his academic success to former Gov. Jeb Bush for allowing him to choose which high school he attended. There was a lot of talk about school choice at that convention, and it has continued since even here in Montana. Rick Hill supports the same position. It is important to understand what school choice really means. In practice...
Editor: I was amused by the Dow "phone"y story Oct. 17 ("Dow cleared of cellphone violation charge," page 1, Havre Daily News). Officer Sayler, I'm sure, caught Councilman Dow with the goods, and Dow is trying to make it look like it's child's play. Come on, non-working child's phones, let me guess, they were pink or green with Barney or Elmo on them with more than one "sliding" around on the dash. And now to look important to my peers, while I'm driving I'm going to be looking like I'm texting, but I'm having a conversation...
Editor: The charter schools/school vouchers movement is picking up hot air in Montana from a majority of Republican candidates, miscellaneous columnists and even the occasional Democrat. Charter school mania is a fine example of the way thinking in slogans — privatization ... good, free choice ... yay! — can lead to really bad ideas. How bad? Despite the fact that charter school plans typically allow the charters to cherry pick students, and despite the assumption that competition is always good, the results do not show stu...
Editor: Although I personally support the Havre City Council ordinance that limits cellphone use for the drivers of moving vehicles, I much admire Rick Dow's defense which found him not guilty of violating this ordinance. His and his attorney's efforts prove once again the beauty of the American system of justice, which allows the innocent to defend themselves. A lingering problem of the system is the high cost of justice — for the individual defendant particularly. The remedy for that problem is difficult. However, I was d...
Editor: I attended Denny Rehberg's "Liberate Main Street" rallies in Chinook and Havre. He said at the outset that he was there to discuss solutions to the looming problems with government regulations imposed on business and agriculture of which slows job growth, Obamacare that is now projected to cost close to $3 trillion, and controlling the cost of runaway government spending. Denny responded to every question in Chinook, but it was a different story at the rally in Havre, when the radical arm of the Democratic Party...
Editor: Let us rescue our university from the administrators and bureaucrats. Less than one-third of all full-time employees in the Montana University System actually teach any classes at all. In our state's university system, spending on administration has increased much faster than spending on faculty and classes. the high cost of college nationwide is a direct result of the creation of an entitled class of administrators who are only accountable to each other. They engage in an astounding number of mind-numbing meetings...
Editor: The picture in Wednesday's Havre Daily News of Thurman Holdsclaw and Katie Christianson enjoying their moment of glory at homecoming coronation prompted me to write this letter. The smiles on the faces of these two make me think about so many of our students who are good kids, full of energy, enthusiasm and promise. One often hears adults talk about "kids today" and wonder what has happened to our youth. But from my perspective, the vast majority of our kids are good kids, doing what they believe is right, just...
Editor: I was very impressed by our band leader, Mr. Johnke, who brought back lots of enthusiasm to the game last Friday. Because the band played the whole game and it was great, the crowd, kids and players got fired up — heck, the band even cheered. The football boys picked up on the spirit of the band and the fans and the rest is history. Thanks gain, Mr. Johnke, it's great to have you here. Jo Jones Havre...
Editor: There is no question that our lawmakers must act to prevent our economy from being thrown into recession if nothing is done to prevent the fiscal cliff. But at the same time, let's hope they practice prudence in their decision making, particularly when it comes to tax increases. During these fiscal cliff debates there have been some tax hikes proposed that would be particularly onerous to Montana. Some have called for removing important tax deductions for energy companies — deductions that were put in place to e...
Editor: I grew up in Havre and every year I attended or participated in the Festival Days parade. Now that I have moved away and have a family of my own Festival Days has been an annual event that my family travels to. For years I have watched the parade and have been irritated that the band went so far down hill in terms of dress, they never matched. But all those years I have never been so inclined to write a letter to the editor until now. First to clear the record about the band, what I got to see was wonderful and kids...
Editor: During the high winds we had on Tuesday, a tree limb in our neighbor's yard fell onto the power line going to our house and pulled the junction box off the side of our house. We found out we were without power about 4:15 p.m., and we called NorthWestern Energy right away. Within half an hour, an electrician from NWE responded ,and we found out he had to completely cut the electricity to our house, and we would need to find and hire an electrician to repair the junction box and wiring before he could reconnect our...
Editor: Undoubtedly for this senior, this is the most expensive, longest and obscene election since Eisenhower's second term. Compare this to the Canadian system. In 2010, the prime minister of Canada called a national election. From that day, the election was held five weeks later. The campaign donation limit to any politician is $1,100 per citizen. With the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, Carl Rove's was able to bring in $11 million from out-of-state for Rehberg's campaign. During the previous two years, Rehberg...
Editor: Last spring, I did something no parent should have to do. I buried my son. Then came the task of finding a picture to put on his headstone. With only snapshots to work with, it became quite a challenge. Not expecting much, but hoping, I went to Helmbrecht Studio for help, and help me they did! Mr. Helmbrecht and his associate Heather selected the proper picture, called the company that was making the headstone to get accurate measurements, prepared the picture and emailed it off, all in an afternoon. Not only were...
Editor: About a week ago, we put out a request to the Rocky Boy community and team to arrive in Conrad for a volleyball game and help us Paint Conrad Pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month. Just to follow up, Rocky Boy and the Morning Stars rocked it and were truly stars. Having their team and coaches all in pink was memorable in our gym and, in fact, showed that our communities can unite for a great cause. But I wanted to tell your readers one more thing. We had a local breast cancer survivor speak briefly about her...
Editor: The upcoming holidays, Christmas and New Year's, are understandably times of celebration with family and friends. Many of these celebrations will include alcohol. Here are a number of essential tips for a safe holiday season: 1. If you are hosting a party, whether at your home or business, at which alcohol is served, have a non-drinking designated driver to help your guests get safely home. 2. Let everyone at the party know ahead of time about the availability of the designated driver and be prepared to insist that...
Editor: I want to commend the people of Havre for their generosity. I have seen it over and over again as neighbors help neighbors and reach out in some special way to those with needs within our community. What specifically motivates me to write this letter at this time is that during the Great Northern Fair I manned a booth in the Commercial Building for the Feed My Sheep Soup Kitchen. I had many enjoyable conversations with people who expressed an interest in the work of the Soup Kitchen. This letter is to publicly say tha...
Editor: Two letters to the editor have claimed that Democrats were unruly and disruptive — even profane — when they attended a rally that Republican U.S. Senate candidate Denny Rehberg held in downtown Havre. These claims are nonsense. We quietly held signs as Rehberg spoke. There was no yelling or other disruptive activity. No cussing either. We were there to call attention to the huge sums of out-of-state money being spent to influence the Montana electorate, particularly on Rehberg's behalf. Now, if you didn't attend the...
Editor: How do you like political ads now that lying and corruption are legal? In 2012, conservatives dismantled Montana's ban on lying in political ads. According to havredailynews.com, March 24, "Conservative groups asked the judge on Friday to permanently strike the false statement and disclosure laws, and rule constitutional a ban on corporate general fund contributions to independent expenditure committees." Conservatives, led by American Tradition Partnership, Montana Right to Life, and Beaverhead and Lake Republican...
Editor: I attended the street meeting with Rep. Denny Rehberg. I don't know exactly what words to use the describe the mayhem caused by the opposition. The bad language and rude, false accusations about what he had done or maybe what he will do. There was very little conversation going on about what we need to do in America to get people back to work and the national debt. I do realize and sympathize with the Democrats and the bad decision they made when they hung their hats on this president. But all the yelling and...
Editor: Documents allegedly connecting a SuperPAC to GOP politicians lands in the office of Montana investigators in March 2011. In the summer of 2012 Frontline then investigates and creates a 54 minute show titled 'Big Sky, Big Money' This show does not appear on PBS until Oct. 30, 2012. Exactly one week before the election and 17 months after the documents were first presented to Montana investigators? Just enough time to flood the news cycle without giving enough time to the wrongfully accused to present their side of the...
Editor: 501(c)(3) is the section of the IRS Code that deals with charitable organizations such as churches. The rules under this code allow those of us who contribute to these organizations to claim a deduction for such contributions when we file our taxes, if they meet certain thresholds. The church also is free from taxation on the contributions it collects. In exchange for this noninvolvement of government in church affairs (see Article 1 in the Bill of Rights) there are rules regarding the noninvolvement of the church in...
Major Thomas Brenan Editor: I was reminded by the feature article on the Hi-Line region in the January 2012, issue of National Geographic, about the photo below that Havre readers may be interested to see. Shown is Thomas J. Brennan, who was the trainmaster at Havre in the 1940s, until 1943 when he was swooped up for his experience and knowledge to do something else: leadership of a railway unit supporting Patton's 3rd Army. He was appointed commanding officer of a railway operating battalion that pushed its way across...
