Page 30 - Flathead Beacon // 5.4.16

LIKE I WAS SAYIN’
TWO FOR THOUGHT SAME TOPIC, DIFFERENT VIEWS TRUMP’S RUNNING MATE
KELLYN BROWN
BEAR STORIES
DURING THE FIRST WEEK OF THE SUMMER season in Yellowstone National Park, the main- tenance crew chief told a group of newbies gath- ered in a run-down cabin what to expect working for the National Park Service. He played a couple tapes in a VCR (this was 2001). The rst involved steps to take to pre- vent catching the hantavirus, a sometimes fatal disease often contracted from rodents.
Then he played a video about bears, speci cally what to do if you run into one. There were some fundamen- tal tips, like don’t run and act big and carry bear spray. This advice would come in handy, I gured, because I was on the garbage crew and assumed bears would fol- low our stench around the Yellowstone Lake region. I paid attention. As a 21-year-old, I had never seen a bear.
As it happened, bears don’t chase garbage trucks. I did see a grizzly within days of hauling trash. At a safe distance, a mom and two cubs were enjoying the park in May before the hordes of tourists arrived. Most of us who have spent any time in bear country have a bear story. And here’s mine:
On a day o during that rst summer in the park, another summer employee and I headed out for a day- trip in Hayden Valley. My hiking companion was from New Jersey (he claimed to surf there) and had landed an internship in Yellowstone studying plants. Nonetheless, he was less prepared than me as we set o along a trail hugging a tree line.
We chatted and laughed and the sun beat down. Hik- ing on a clear afternoon is about as good as it gets. After covering a few miles, we began out-and-backing to the trailhead. Not long after, I nearly ran into him (or her, I’m not sure). The bear certainly saw me rst. He was just a few feet o the trail and was apparently trans xed by the daydreaming hiker slowly walking toward him. When I noticed him, I screamed and forgot all of the pro tips the Park Service had taught me. I didn’t act big. I for- got my bear spray. And I sprinted from the woods down a nearby valley.
My companion also screamed and ran. We were lucky. The black bear was young, small and as scared as we were. Following our screams, he had clumsily scram- bled over a tree and dashed o into the woods.
Since then, I am more prepared in the backcountry and have heard my fair share of bear stories. A friend of mine often recounts a run-in with a mother grizzly with cubs nearby who confronted him near the top of Mount Siyeh in Glacier National Park. When he details the bear’s smell and sound she made as she pounded the trail, it makes me shiver.
None of this means a hiker should be scared in bear country. Instead, it’s smart to be prepared. When you do, from safe distance, there is nothing really like it. The Montana woods wouldn’t be the same without the chance to see the animals with whom we share the ter- ritory. Without bears, Montana is that much less wild and that much more like everywhere else.
Bears, especially grizzlies, have been in the news a lot lately as wildlife o cials review whether to delist the population in the Yellowstone area. Some environmen- tal groups have opposed the move, but the federal gov- ernment argues that grizzlies have recovered and lifting threatened-species protections is long overdue.
Over the last 40 years, the grizzly population has grown from 136 to more than 700 in the Greater Yellow- stone Ecosystem. In our backyard, in the Northern Con- tinental Divide Ecosystem, which includes Glacier, the number has grown from a few hundred to nearly 1,000. Whether those numbers are sustainable, both regions are wilder than they’ve been in decades.
BY TIM BALDWIN
The Washington Post named ve most-likely vice
president choices for Donald Trump if he wins the GOP nomination: 1) Marco Rubio, 2) John Kasich, 3) Joni Ernst, 4) Rick Scott and 5) Chris Christie. The National Review adds to those 1) Je Sessions, 2) Jan Brewer, 3) Scott Brown and 4) Sarah Palin. Who would be good for Trump –and America?
Trump’s popularity comes largely from disenfran- chised Americans who like him for no other reason than he appears anti-establishment. While this has served Trump well in the primaries, he needs a broader base for the general. Only picking a more establishment type will serve that purpose. So, Palin or Brewer seem unhelpful.
Sessions has quali cations, but Trump doesn’t need help winning Alabama. Rubio and Ernst have been very harsh against Trump: they seem an unlikely t. Christie supported Trump, but he is a miniature ver- sion of Trump. Trump needs more diversity of person- ality. Kasich, Scott or Brown seem most helpful: they hold respective credibility with establishment voters and would appeal to some centrists and independents.
Put winning aside momentarily. The vice presidents of American history have a less-than-monumental existence, but if Trump were elected, the vice president may prove especially needful in shaping domestic and foreign policies that were both constitutional and dip- lomatic, to avoid harsh reactions from Americans and foreign countries. Releasing political pressure is good for society, but not in the form of an explosion.
BY JOE CARBONARI
Top Republican politicians have to let their feel-
ings about Donald Trump be known. Trump needs a running mate, a vice-presidential candidate. Many of the better known possibilities have expressed their distaste for the association. It risks their reputation. The vice presidential nomination has been likened to a deck seat on the Titanic with an uneasy feel about the trip.
The problem is that the country needs a good one.
It is conceivable that Trump could win. Unlikely, but conceivable. What then? Donald Trump, clearly, would need help. Who he gets it from, how good they are, and how well they would work together would determine how successful a team they made. We need a good team. So does the world.
Character and leadership will be required. Many may disapprove. It may be safer to keep one’s distance and a ect the high road. I believe that Donald Trump would bene t from a strong moral compass, and the country would certainly need it if circumstance should put a Trump V.P. into the presidential o ce. Moral uncertainty could lead to chaos.
Of those mentioned neither Newt Gingrich nor Chris Christie leave me comfortable. John Kasich would be my choice. He is knowledgeable, solid, and safe. Donald Trump’s V. P. choice should not be a trip into the unknown.
It is our responsibility to help make our govern- ment work. We need to rebuild some good teams. Good people must participate lest others prevail.
AMERICAN RURAL DIANE SMITH
HELLO CHINA. NICE TO MEET YOU.
A
Columbia Falls to super-populated China. The Kalis- pell Chamber of Commerce organized the trip; it was fun, fascinating, and hugely eye-opening.
I’d been to Asia before, but not China. Before this trip, I assumed from our media depictions that China was gloomy and over-crowded with a censor on every corner and a palpable sense of fear of its government among its citizens. I also gured since it’s a communist country, China wouldn’t know much about successful capitalism and innovation. Boy, was I wrong.
Let’s get some facts out of the way. China’s 2013 population was 1.357 billion, compared to the United State’s 316 million. Despite the 4X population disparity, both the US and China have about the same land mass. In other words, there are a lot more of them jammed into our same amount of space and it shows in the high- rise apartment buildings that go on for miles in every major city.
In 2015, China’s economy grew larger than the USA’s. It was the rst time the USA was knocked o our perch as the world’s largest economy since we overtook Brit- ain in 1872.
China wasn’t gloomy and while it was way more crowded than I’d opt for, the people were cooperative and pleasant with a “we’re all in this together” kind of attitude. The port city of Shanghai is one of the most
beautiful cities I’ve seen and “Chinglish” is common. China blocks Facebook, Twitter, and most of Google. Digital downloads of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, or the Washington Post were intermittent. Fortunately though, I could download the Flathead Beacon each day!
The Chinese speak openly about most topics includ- ing its one-child policy, awful air pollution, and a 2000- plus year history that’s lled with stories of concubines, enslavement, conquest, and resilience.
Communist China’s embrace of capitalism was a surprise. Already a major force in the global economy (when 1.3 billion people are turned loose on a project we shouldn’t be surprised at their success), but I didn’t expect that they would all be so good at nance, sales and marketing, and people management.
I don’t have much idea yet about how China is going to a ect our lives and those of upcoming generations. What I do know is that a country of its scale and abil- ity could a ect us profoundly, even those of us living beyond the major cities. And that’s why this trip was important and why I’m so impressed with the Kalispell Chamber for making it happen. With a population of about 21,000, the entire city of Kalispell could probably t in a few high-rise apartment buildings in Beijing. But just because we have plenty of elbow room doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get to know our way-more-crowded global neighbors. Thanks to the Kalispell Chamber and all our fellow travelers for such a memorable introduction.
LONG WITH OVER 100 OF OUR MONTANA neighbors, David and I recently traveled to
China. That’s right; we went from small-town
Learn more about Diane by following her column here or visit American Rural at AmericanRural.org.
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MAY 4, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM