It’s time for a ‘do-over’
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Editor,
The current status of the Reserved Water Rights compact for the Flathead Reservation is about as distorted as an image in the fun zone mirrors at a county fair; we couldn’t be further from the truth. Media reporting, with wonderfully tainted articles full of half-truths and non-truths, appears to have served only one purpose: “incite to riot,” and if left unchecked, might only result in an outcome that nobody in their right mind truly wants: civil unrest that will make the “taming of the West” look like a child’s game.
Without a doubt, this has the potential of becoming “Gov. Schweitzer’s Watergate” and will follow him the rest of his life. The state-appointed commission has chosen not to negotiate, but rather to capitulate (to finish the last reservation compact in the state and throw a party), and have buried their lack of ethics with the most unconstitutional and unprofessional acts displayed in public forum witnessed in recent history – Western Montana burns while Schweitzer fiddles and watches his and the Attorney General’s office appointees throw the citizens of Montana under the bus. How does it feel to have your Constitutional rights taken from you as the major element of a back room deal to settle the final Indian Reservation Water Compact in the state? You know, rights that were yours, by residence and citizenship, but have now been “negotiated” (wink, wink) away.
It’s time for a “do-over” to reset this disastrous train wreck before it morphs into whatever is coming next by the nature of its current status. It’s time to begin anew, if “negotiation” is honestly the task and if “fair and equitable settlement” the goal, with new folks who actually bring honesty, integrity and a big dose of common sense to the table. The current pretend politicians, scientists and lawyers have mucked it up beyond recognition. Talk to your state legislators; silence is no longer an acceptable solution.
Michael Gale
Ronan
