Opinion

Editor,  Many thanks to all you good stewards who gave time and energy picking up the accumulation of trash along our roadsides this spring. Also, the bulb outs on Polson’s Main Street, the garden spots in Ducharme Park, and the downtown hanging flower baskets are the best they have looked in a long time. Thank you, dedicated volunteers and the Polson City crew.   The highway divider on U.S. Highway 93 at the east entrance to town is once again planted and is a bright pink petunia welcome to our community. Thank you Delaney’s Landscaping. All of these efforts reflect so much community pride and inspire the rest of us to pitch in and do our part.  C...

In response to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction’s recently published opinion and the opinion of the Montana Attorney General regarding critical race theory, the undersigned members of the Montana Legislative Indian Caucus offer the following response.  In 1972, the Montana legisla...

Editor,  There has been enough written, much of it in the national press, about Montana’s new restrictions on voting. These laws have been taken to court and will be decided there. Meanwhile, we might reflect on how critical the right to vote is to our democracy and our lives. Our form of go...

Editor, “Majority rule” is such a simple understandable message. There must have been convoluted arguments in attempting to create a “supermajority” dividing line. First, there is the problem of defending why there should even be a “supermajority.” Next comes the gar...

It’s been five months. Five long months, but there are still so many things to do. So many goodbyes left to say. Most of them are symbolic and silent, but they are goodbyes nonetheless. Between just him and me.  Everyone else has said their goodbyes in their own way. They were done long ago. I&...

Editor,  The big three: greed, fear and anger. It appears these three personal human responses are what is driving our political system.   Here is a breakdown: the first two responses, greed and fear, apply to our elected Republican congressional folks. The last two responses, fear and anger,...

I wanted you, and I had you. It was beyond wonderful. But you had to leave and now I am alone. It was so comfortable between us. There was never any question of tomorrow. When I called, you answered. When you texted, I texted back. We never doubted one another’s loyalty. You were there for the birth...

Editor,  I wish to thank the Board of Regents for voting unanimously to challenge HB102 in court following Wednesday’s listening session.   Two constitutional issues are at stake. The Montana Constitution gives the Board of Regents sole authority to manage the Montana University system,...

Editor,  The Treasure State. The Last Best Place. These monikers ring true partly because of the pristine waters in Montana’s lakes and rivers. Recently the legislature passed, and the governor signed, a bill that decreases regulations on nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants allowed to be disc...

Numerous enough to notice, infrequent enough to startle at seeing, they stimulate reverence, sorrow, sympathy, curiosity and caution. They affect us all to one degree or another. They are the white crosses marking the sites of fatal traffic crashes along the highways of Montana. For over 68 years, these whit...