Our View: Hi-Line darts and laurels

Laurel — The American Society of Civil Engineers did a study of Montana’s infrastructure. It came to the obvious conclusion. the state of Montana’s roads and public infrastructure is pretty sad. We suspect if they did a detailed study of the state of the infrastructure on the Hi-Line, the report would be just as bad or worse. Having a quality infrastructure would do much to improve the state’s chances of attracting new businesses and new jobs. It also makes life far more pleasant for residents. It’s time the federal government started a nationwide program to help improve the streets, highways, airports and water and sewer facilities.

Laurel — The Montana Public Service Commission has begun an investigation into the landline telephone service provided to the area by CenturyLink. Running a landline service these days is a difficult task, but CenturyLink has a responsibility to its rural customers. When CenturyLink bought the local service, it was aware that Havre is certainly not downtown Manhattan. It will be interesting for see what the PSC finds.

Dart — We would like to have heard more from CenturyLink about their side of the story, but the news media was handed a statement that amounted to a “no comment,” saying that the PSC probe was “ongoing.” That doesn’t mean the company doesn’t have a right to presents its side of the story.

Dart — A lame brain or group of lame brains thought it would be a good idea to shoot and kill and abandon the carcass of a mule deer buck near Fresno Reservoir earlier this month. There seems to be an increase in poaching, and that’s disturbing. We hope anyone who knows anything about this incident will call Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.