Opinion
Editor and Ronan community members, As you’ve likely experienced first-hand, there are a lot of changes underway along Highway 93. The Ronan-North construction project is making progress, but many travelers are avoiding that stretch of highway by taking alternate routes. As a result, the businesses along that stretch of highway are experiencing significant downturns in customer traffic, during the start of what is typically their busiest time of year. According to a recent article in the Char-Koosta, Stella’s Bakery & Deli reported a 50% decline in sales since the start of the project. While we support infrastructure development and recognize growth comes with growing ...
Construction continues on our library building. You can check out progress photos on our website. The crew is doing an amazing job and we are so happy to see progress on the new entrance, reading areas and windows for the new children’s area. Please remember that you absolutely cannot enter the buildin...
Editor, Growing up in a grounded family, I learned a lot about common sense. My mother taught me moderation in all things. One brother taught me that a swinging pendulum always returns to a balanced center. My other brother taught me to love and respect ALL sentient beings and plants. My father taught me ...
The ability to transcribe and share information has impacted the progression of technology and society immeasurably. So much of our daily lives revolve around reading and writing, thus most of us learn these skills from a very early age. I still vividly remember the practice sheets of paper with the dotted l...
The United States’s health care system is a mess of complex regulations and layers of bureaucracy. It’s also expensive. But Republicans in the Montana Legislature have made great strides in recent years to address what problems we can at the state level. We’ve emphasized improving ...
Editor, The church of Christ of Lake County is the church Rich Coulson needs to investigate in Ronan. We have no convention, diocese, or conclave we must answer. The Bible alone is what establishes the doctrine we follow. The church of Christ is focused on community outreach with door-knocking campa...
Editor, Last week my wife and I attended our grandchild’s kindergarden music program. The kids were so excited to see their families in the audience. The children were ready to perform for us, it was so cute. You could tell they hung on every cue from the music teacher, striving to do their be...
Editor, After reading this weeks’ ‘A word in Response’ by Sen. Hertz, it is so disrespectfully and blatantly presented it drew my ire. His says the current elected Republican supermajority is proof and evidence of what direction the citizens of Montana want our state to take. He ch...

In a recent op-ed published in several newspapers, Montana Democrat minority leaders claimed, “the harm done by a Republican supermajority drunk on power will continue to be felt for a long time.” The Democrat leaders should remember that it was Montana voters who gave Republicans a supermajority...
Editor, With our present politics, our democratic system of government is in danger. Our Republican party is seriously divided. Trump’s autocratic leadership style and present campaigning has attracted many supporters and divided this political party. The Trump base is a notably large voting bloc. W...