News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 176 - 200 of 1418
Editor, The Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act currently being debated in Congress is a piece of legislation that is critical in order to further protect and sustain Montana’s public lands for recreational enjoyment for all Montanans. Specifically, the bill authorizes protection of an additional 79,000 acres of land in the vicinity of the Bob Marshall Wilderness area, opens an additional 3,800 acres for mountain biking, 2,000 acres for snowmobiling, and authorizes further access of recreationists to Lolo National Forest t...
Editor, I have been following the debate over the beaver situation in our Hill County Beaver Creek Park. We are losing a tremendous amount of trees and access to the creek itself by a common rodent. The beaver. Now that the anti-trapping people and other humane special interest groups have been called to graciously help solve our problem there have been many questions left unanswered. 1. How much will these Beaver Deceivers, pond levelers, cost? (I was told it was $12-15,000 each. 2. What is the effective range of a Beaver...
Editor, Hopefully most of the citizenry of Havre have become aware of the billboard along the highway east of Havre. If not, please check it out. The billboard was paid for by an anti-trapping organization, “Trap Free Montana Public Lands” based in Hamilton. Their anti-trapping activity has been concentrated mostly in the western part of the state. It seems coincidentally suspicious that a billboard with a message to “Protect Beaver” appears in Havre while meetings addressing the management of beaver in Beaver Creek Park th...
Editor, As the Havre-Hill County Library is slowly opening after the COVID-19 shutdown, the library staff has discovered another hurdle. The passenger elevator can no longer be repaired with a quick, inexpensive repair. The cylinder at the ground level no longer has solid footing. The Havre-Hill County Library Foundation has voted to help the city/county cover the costs to repair the elevator. In the next few days, many of you will receive a postcard in your mailbox asking you to renew or to become a member of the Havre-Hill...
Editor, What will free-roaming bison do? This is a hotly debated question in Montana now. But we can look to Utah for an authoritative answer. In 1941, 18 bison from Yellowstone National Park were released in the remote Henry Mountains in southeast Utah. The animals were set free in the arid desert known as Robbers Roost. But the bison were allowed to wander where they would. Within a few years, the herd, now growing in size, wandered closer to the mountain terrain where the grass was more plentiful. Soon they crossed the...
Editor, My name is Jessica Kennedy-Stiffarm. I am a candidate for the Havre Public Schools Board of Trustees. I am a mother of three and my children attend school in the district. I am married; my husband’s name is Pete. We both grew up on the Hi-Line and we have lived in Havre for the last 14 years. I am a public health nurse and I will be graduating with my master’s degree in Public Health this summer. I am very passionate about education. I am now at a place in my life where I feel I can give back to the community. I can...
During the past year, federal employees nationwide and 12,898 active federal and U.S. Postal workers of Montana have dedicated themselves to keeping our country running while weathering a global pandemic. They continue to provide essential financial services, processing stimulus payments, tax refunds, small business loans, Social Security checks, mortgages and student loans to keep the economy churning and households operating. As they do every day, they have kept us safe, tracking cyber threats, protecting the food supply,...
Dear Editor, I’ve never written a letter to the Editor before but I have an issue that has been bothering me for some time. Why do we have to climb a hill to get in the clinic to see our doctors? When it’s icy it’s very difficult to walk up or push someone in a wheel chair up the hill. Why can’t the first parking lot be brought up level with the clinic doors? I’ve talked to my neighbors and friends and they all agree, something needs to be done to level the 1st parking lot. Then we all can get in and out without much diff...
Editor, As faith leaders in Montana, we encourage you to receive the COVID vaccination if you are able. We believe we have a personal responsibility to get vaccinated as good stewards of God’s creation — our bodies. We believe we should get vaccinated out of love for our neighbors who may be physically vulnerable and not able to withstand the side effects of COVID-19. We believe we have a responsibility to get vaccinated to actively collaborate with our community to preserve life. We invite people of faith to join us as we...
Editor, Thank you to Karen Jelly, our mortician, and my friend, for the excellent job she is doing during this pandemic. She has seen it, done it and lived it from day one. She deserves our greatest gratitude. Sincerely, Faye James Havre...
Editor, How can they? … Is it not enough that they control our House, Senate and governor’s seat? … They now demand total political appointment of judges and 10 percent of all state jobs? When we voted “More jobs...less government” did they mean “More jobs for political pals. … Less service for people?” How can the party of “less government” dictate who can vote and what you can smoke? Force you to pay and burn coal and smother solar? Glorify guns and snare traps but withhold funds from facemasks? Pick what women shall we...
Editor, My words are addressed to the people of Rocky Boy, who are my brothers and sisters and relatives. Please remember that Rocky Boy and Little Bear worked together to secure a homeland for all of you and all of your descendants. The key words are “worked together,” so all of you must work together to keep the Creator’s gift to you to be a vibrant, healthy community. You must “help each other,” in the same spirit of togetherness. As long as I am able, I will pray to the Creator for you. Gerard Vandeberg Billings...
Editor, The Montana State Senate is considering House Bill 273, with implications that concern all of us. This bill would repeal Initiative 80, which requires developers of nuclear generating facilities built in Montana to post a bond toward insuring against future liabilities, assume full liability for injuries resulting from their operation, show how the radioactive waste produced will be contained with no reasonable chance of escape, and show how similar systems have performed in actual operation. If those provisions are...
Editor, We do not want the federal government placing illegal immigrants in Montana. That’s what Joey Biden is planning. Write, email, tweet your senators, congressman, and the governor and tell them not in Montana. The White House created this mess, and they can uncreate this mess, send them illegal immigrants home. President Trump had the border well in hand, and with the stroke of his feeble pen Biden created a mess, so he can just get get out the mop and bucket and clean it up. Don’t pass the buck to us Kent Shepard Hav...
Editor, How can 57 Republican legislators support a bill to privatize schools in Montana, House Bill 329? They agree with this bill, requested by the Governor, who has a big stake in an exclusive private school, and would benefit from school privatization. Montana will become a regulatory nightmare if this bill passes, especially with regard to the education of our children. This bill is likely unconstitutional. Which agency will regulate the giveaway to rich people who want to start their own school? With no regulation of...
The current debate surrounding SB 99, Planned Parenthood, and sex education in schools awakened old memories. While researching teenage pregnancy as a nursing student in 1977, I interviewed a pair of junior high school principals. Both 40-something men were visibly uncomfortable talking to me and acknowledging there was no sex education curricula in their schools. One shared an impactful anecdote. After a student had unprotected intercourse, she took one of her mom’s birth control pills. The student did not become p...
Some folks may not be familiar with the extreme state budget cutting measures that took place in “The Kansas Experiment,” look it up. That experiment was a disaster. Montana’s legislature is now trying to take us down that path. Trickle-down economics are proven to rig an economy against the average Joe. When public services are cut, rural health clinics, emergency services and schools suffer, and roads go unrepaired. The tax cuts go to the rich, and the tax incentives to create good paying jobs with good benefits have been g...
To the editor: I’d like to thank state Sen. Russ Tempel for his vote on SB 273, which would have given farmers the right to repair and diagnose their own farm equipment. The largest equipment manufacturers brought in their most expensive and high-powered lobbyists to kill a bill that advanced 10-1 in a bipartisan fashion out of the Senate ag committee. This bill would have put farm equipment on a path similar to automobiles, large trucks, boats, you name it, wherein a local mechanic or repair shop can diagnose and repair a v...
Editor, Throughout Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, he vowed if elected he would unite a deeply divided country. The reason behind an obvious national division could be up for a reasonable debate. And this letter is not meant to address that. But briefly, one always must consider who directly benefits from any division, which may purposely be maintained. This morning I wrote “American fellowship” in an email, and it was as if lights came on. I can’t remember seeing this term used anywhere. “Fellowship,” I have heard in te...
Anyone who watched or participated in the FWP committee meeting on HB 505 last week had to be amazed at the people who introduced the bill, those who showed up as proponents, and the opponent’s logical arguments. First Rep. Wylie Galt spoke, then WFP Director Hank Worsech, then Chief of staff, Quentin Kujala. By now everyone probably knows the specific bill details. What really stood out was while Worsech and Kujala were explaining the bill, Galt was standing in the doorway right behind them. Evidently he was making sure they...
Editor: With his rumpled suit, his old-school haircut, and his folksy ways, Sen. Jon Tester would have us believe he is a friend of working Montanans. Do not be fooled. When Sen. Tester had a chance to vote to raise the minimum wage, he voted no and told the working people in Montana that $8.75 an hour was good enough for them. Trust me, the senator’s corporate handlers were pleased with their boy, Jon. John Snider Ashland, Wisconsin...
Editor, Thank you to the staff at Northern Montana Hospital, the volunteers, and everyone who has played a part in delivering the COVID vaccine to our community. We recently received our vaccinations and found the process to be incredibly organized and efficient. The staff was super friendly, helpful and caring. You are offering a wonderful service for Havre’s citizens and we appreciate your dedication, hard work and sacrifices. Thank you! Jeannie Schlotfeldt and Helen Bebee Havre...
Dear Editor: Since there was no non-partisan transmittal legislative update in north central Montana, here is the update for your readers from my viewpoint of what went on, on the other side of the aisle — Democrats. There were a lot of good bills and proposals presented from the minority, but most were tabled in committee. In the House, of the 98 bills on the floor the last two days before transmittal only 16 were sponsored by Democrats. This is my 10th session in the legislature since 2003, and it’s by far the most hyper pa...
Editor, I applaud the defeat of right-to-work legislation in Montana, where the House of Representatives voted 62-38 in a bipartisan rejection of the anti-worker bill-HB 251 Right to work sounds good on paper, but in reality it means lower paying jobs, fewer benefits and more dangerous workplaces. It is being pushed by out-of-state special interests who believe workers do not deserve a say in the terms of their employment. Plain and simple, it’s a corporate giveaway at the expense of everyday Montana families. I’m thr...
Editor, We are just past at the halfway point in the 2021 legislative session in Helena. I am impressed with the speed in which the Republican-controlled Legislature and the new Republican governor have ushered their agenda through the committees and on to votes inn the House and Senate. I guess it is easy with large majorities and there is no need to accommodate other positions. I noted that one of the first bills passed was one to expand concealed weapon regulations. More guns on college campuses, bars, restaurants and...
