Letters to the Editor
Editor, NWE and the MT PSC must do better. The Public Service Commission and Northwestern Energy (NWE) have made news, again, and yet again, for something done to—and not for—Montana. In 2014, NWE acquired the Hegben Dam from Pennsylvania Power and Light and with that purchase came an understanding NWE would maintain the dam and its infrastructure. We now know that NWE has been negligent in their maintenance of the Hegben Dam, causing the deaths of untold numbers of fish as water flow into the Madison River below the dam went from 650 cubic feet per second (cfs) to merely 195 cfs. This massive decrease was discovered by a fisherman who went to a local sh...
Editor, After reading your article about “Vaccine mandate injunction” I want to comment. This is not a comment about getting vaccinated, vaccination is a personal choice, but how it could affect our hospitals. If the federal government stops CMS payments to hospitals, we will lose both f...
Editor, Our Montana legislature has made voting more difficult for many groups - including Native Americans and other rural voters, people with disabilities, younger and student voters, people with inflexible work schedules, and those who discover a problem with their registration at the last minute. This...
Editor, Our nation and our world are presently fac- ing a most critical point towards continuing living our lives together here on earth. There are two outstanding very present and important issues. 1. Climate change. We must properly activate our technologies and techniques to maintain human life a...
Editor, To cat lovers – there’s one in-town colony with 21 kittens. All I can do is feed them to stop starvation. Just a few years ago Life Savers helped to keep the Polson feral cat population somewhat in check. I’m still feeding some survivors from that time. At that time the trap-neut...
Editor, I give Senator Jon Tester a hearty Montana thank you for sponsoring and pushing the recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act with bipartisan support. The Act will create jobs for Montana men and women across the state and will build roads, bridges, airports, and critical water projec...
Editor, As I write this letter, Catholic doctrine is “front and center” right now with the controversial draft document the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is expected to vote on. This has to do with President Joe Biden and other Catholic politicians who publicly support abortion rights, a...
Editor, I recently read a paper titled Intellectual Arrogance, by Allesandra Tanesini (Aristotlean Society, Volume 90, Issue 1, June 2016. Page 71-92). To paraphrase: Intellectual arrogance may foster timidity (fear of voicing differing ideas) and servility (going along to get along) for those who do not ...
Editor, I am addressing my efforts to have the Ronan Volunteer Fire Dept. (RVFD) air raid siren use discontinued. I have been very clear to Ronan officials that I’m not anti-RVFD. I have been on two volunteer departments myself and greatly appreciate/understand their need. The issue is the unnecessa...
Editor, Last month’s numbers for Covid deaths show an alarming trend along political party lines. Nationwide, in counties that voted for Trump in 2020, there were three times the number of Covid deaths (25 per 100,000) as there were in counties that voted for Biden (7.8 per 100,000). The death tally...
