Page 28 - Flathead Beacon // 11.26.14

28 | NOVEMBER 26, 2014 OPINION
LETTERS
WHITEFISH CAN DISOWN BIGOTRY
Richard Spencer has managed to generate a large amount of national publicity linking our town of Whitefish with bigotry. To counter this will require overt public action, indeed governmental action.
The Whitefish City Council now has the difficult job of devising an ordinance that will separate our good name from his racist views but still be constitutional. This is not impossible. There are limits on the rights of free speech. For example, falsely yelling “fire!” in a crowded theater or libeling someone are both not protected by the First Amendment. But even if constitutional issues cannot be overcome, we can still make a strong statement of values that disowns the ideas of Richard Spencer and his National Policy Institute.
Tom Kuffel Whitefish
MONTANA WOULD LOVE A HEAD START
Serving on interim committees is a lot of work but also solves many problems during the off year, saving time during the regular session. I served on the State Administration and Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SAVA) when I was a state representative. I watched the SAVA Committee meeting recently, which was chaired by Sen. Dee Brown. You, too, can watch the committee hearing from the state website: leg.mt.gov. Click on Interim, then watch the 8-hour meeting, or go directly to 7-hour, 34-minute mark to watch a discussion of an idea that would be of great benefit to Montana and our congressional delegation.
The idea came up late in the afternoon when Secretary of State Linda McCulloch came before the committee to answer a couple of questions regarding this month’s elections. The crash of the website on election night was disturbing to many of us, but the other question was an even bigger one. Why didn’t the secretary of state set up a special election with the general election to have the voters weigh in on a huge question: Since the temporary appointment to fill the vacancy until the election (state law 13- 25-202) was finished at 8 p.m. on Nov. 4, why wasn’t there wording on the ballot to appoint the winner of the general election to finish out the former Sen. Max Baucus’ term?
The secretary of state’s lack of special election wording will keep newly elected Steve Daines out of the Senate until other candidates take office in January. With our small delegation, Montana would benefit from a head start and possibly
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better committee assignments.
Actually, former Gov. Tom Judge
recognized this situation in a similar election when Max Baucus won the general election in 1978. Judge had appointed Sen. Hatfield who lost in the primary to Baucus. Hatfield then submitted his resignation, which allowed Judge to fill the brief vacancy with Baucus in the Senate seat. We know as Montanans that Baucus’ seniority served us for several decades, including the chairmanship of the powerful Finance Committee.
Although our chief election officer Linda McCulloch did not recognize the benefit to Montana, I hope the sitting governor will do the right thing for Montana. By appointing Sen.-elect Daines and Rep.-elect Ryan Zinke right now, it will serve us well in 2014, just as the temporary appointment served us well in 1978.
Sen. Verdell Jackson Kalispell
GOP’S AMUSING ANTICS
If only we were on better terms with Russia. Then Kalispell Sen. Bruce Tutvedt would be on his way to Siberia. That’s probably a much more desirable solution than just a censure. It is really amusing to watch the antics of the Flathead County Republicans. They bear a strong resemblance to the Stalinist purges of yesterday. Either you follow the party line 100 percent, or off you go to Siberia. Please keep amusing us – a good laugh is healthy for everyone.
Peter Daniels Polson
You did not include the following milestone (Nov. 5 Beacon: “150 Years of Montana”): November 2000, Montana takes away the rights of elk farmers.
Elk farmers, after investing labor/ capital funds and satisfying regulations/ statements are ordered to stop selling elk for hunting. It didn’t matter that they were not interfering with the rights or property or livelihoods of others. Rather, the special interest groups convinced Montanans with clever well-financed media ads that elk should only be hunted/ killed in the wild where they can escape.
It should be criminal to take away a person’s business for no good reason other than for the approval of the negative elk ads. Too many Montanans did not care about the accuracy of these claims or the effects of putting the elk farmers out of business.
When an elk is maimed or wounded it can escape into the wild to a slow and painful death. Unlike “farm elk,” which were provided to hunters in an enclosed wooded area (say 40 acres) and were shot and killed in the shortest time.
The opponents of elk farmers were never interested in treating the elk in a
better humane manner, but only killing them in the wild. The farmer treated the elk better – not only by allowing the shot elk to die in the shortest time but in helping to protect the genetic quality of the wild elk by reducing the number of trophy herd bulls killed.
The Montana Supreme Court upheld the new law and more than half the farmers have since gone out of business. The hunters continue killing the best breeding bulls that they can find in the wild.
James Weber Marion
ATTACKS ON EPA MISGUIDED
The recently declared “War on the EPA” and particularly carbon emission controls by Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and fellow Republicans is in my opinion badly construed. It is one thing to enhance capitalism by externalizing environmental costs; it is another thing when such behavior threatens global food supplies, water and people’s ability to grow food.
With a few exceptions, climate change scientists around the world concur that atmospheric pollutants plus the burning of fossil fuels, is having a major impact on global climate. Carbon dioxide levels are higher than at any time in recorded history. We’re seeing increases in sea levels and global temperatures, and an increase in the frequency and intensity of weather shifts. In 2014, we saw the devastation of one of our country’s most important fruit and vegetable growing areas in central California due to recent drought. As is, our food crops have not evolved to withstand major shifts in weather patterns within short time periods. In western Montana, we just experienced record setting heat in August, and subzero temperatures in early November. The latter weather shift by itself is not unusual for Montana, but all of these things taken together are unusual.
When certain political ideologies, i.e. Republicanism, ignore the evidence in front of their noses and continue to promote policies that exacerbate climate change, thus threatening world food supply, it becomes a moral issue. Renewed attacks by Sen.-elect Steve Daines, Rep,- elect Zinke, and state Republicans on the EPA and state environmental regulations, thus allowing more pollution, is straight out of the Republican playbook. Freedom to make profit or create jobs does not give one the freedom to pollute another’s air, land and water, be it in this country or around the world.
Kirwin Werner Ronan
MISSING MILESTONE
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