Protesters line up outside Daines' keynote speech

Demonstrators were undeterred by the snow and slush Thursday as they gathered at the side of U.S Highway 2 outside the Havre Inn & Suites to protest Sen. Steve Daines.

Daines was in Havre Thursday to speak about rural economic development at Bear Paw Development Corp.'s 47th Annual Meeting Luncheon.

The protestors did not get a chance to speak to Daines, but chanted "Traitor Daines" as he drove away from the meeting.

Police said they counted 20 protesters at the scene and that there were no arrests.

People who stood at the side of the highway touted signs about causes that ranged from women's health to public education and expressing anger at Daines for not holding public town halls during his congressional recess.

Daisy Sherman of Havre said that she was motivated by Daines voting to support Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. She said that the family of DeVos has in the past contributed  $70,000 to Daines' campaigns.

"He said he represents Montana, he doesn't represent Montana," Sherman said.

Opposition to the transfer of federal public lands to state control brought Lindsey Bennett of Havre out, she said. The policy, Bennett said, would force states to manage lands for which they lack resources to do. She added that states then might have to end up selling off that land.

"They say that they want to give local and state governments more control of public lands, but in effect what they would be doing is putting us in a position to sell (them) off," Bennett said.

Bennett said she sent Daines an email asking his position on the issue and she said he supported the land transfer.

A sign with the words "serious concerns" was held by Kris Martens, a retiree from Havre. Martens said she is worried that lawmakers are not making decisions based on facts and that things in Washington are moving too fast. She described last year's election as "high drama."

"I paid attention as much as I could but by the end of it I understood nothing about anything," Martens said. "The Trump people say that they were elected in and that is what everybody wants; I am saying nobody really knew what the heck anything was at the end of that campaign, it was just more high drama."

Havre City Council member Caleb Hutchins said that if he had a message to send Daines it would be to hold a town hall meeting in Havre with his constituents.

"Come down here, we want a town hall, invite the whole city to come," Hutchins said.