Page 28 - Flathead Beacon // 12.7.16

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK
TWO FOR THOUGHT SAME TOPIC, DIFFERENT VIEWS TRUMP’S CABINET
MOLLY PRIDDY
VISITING SEASON
IT’S FUNNY HOW YOUR PERSPECTIVES CAN change based on the seasons.
In the summertime in the Flathead, visitors are welcomed and necessary for our economy, but the visit- ing season begins to wear on the locals (especially those of us putting up family and friends in our houses as they explore the wonders we live in up here).
Enter fall, with its color changes and emptier high- ways, the shoulder season locals have taken back for themselves before the rush of those chasing the stoke on our valley’s ski hills. By the time winter gets here, the Flathead is a monochromatic-gray version of its sum- mertime self, and suddenly those colorful visitors are a breath of fresh air.
Here at the Beacon o ces, we have several regular visitors who tend to brighten up the workday, usually because they’re begging for snacks (and no, I don’t mean other journalists or our interns). Beacon o ce dogs have become a staple in our environment here, their four- and sometimes three-legged adventures enthralling even the most hardened types.
There’s Samson, an energetic red heeler with a pen- chant for chasing anything, and Ruby, a gorgeous black- and-white setter who is still learning how to be com- fortable around people. We’ve also got my dog Huck, a chihuahu mix who patters around on three legs and usually in a sweater, and then Mowgli, a puppy Bernese mountain dog who has claimed the hearts and minds of everyone who gets a oppy lean and kiss.
These canine agents of light tend to keep the mood elevated, and I can’t tell you how much it helps writer’s block to be able to get on the oor with a puppy.
But the holidays are also my favorite time of year at work because every rst Friday in December, we open our o ce doors to the public for the Downtown Kalis- pell Art Walk and Holiday Stroll. People stream in the doors all night as live music and free beer ow; kids and families and friends take pictures in the photo booth, and the food fuels a party that lasts late into the evening, and often into the next day.
Of course I appreciate a good party, especially one thrown by my coworkers. But what I really love about the Art Walk evening is meeting so many members of the community who I either write about or around or near, people who read our stories and pick up our paper and want to stop by to chat about anything and everything.
The connections we make there, with these visitors, inform us as a company and as community members. Shaking hands and trading pleasantries before diving into a deep discussion feels so much more natural than trying to type it out in a comment section or elsewhere online. The real-world interactions make me appreciate this community from the inside out, because meeting and talking to you, whether or not I’m on assignment, is the best part of my job.
Why do I enjoy it so much when I talk to people all day? Because I was once the visitor here in this valley, moving up after graduate school in 2009 to a place I’d only driven through, growing up in Missoula. Moving to a new place is hard, but this job immediately connected me to the people here, learning their stories of happiness and strife and what’s important to them.
Soon, those aspects of living here they cherished also became important to me: Neighbors being neigh- bors, people trying to work together, and kindness rarely taken for granted.
It’s in this spirit that I hope you stopped by the Bea- con for our Dec. 2 party. But don’t worry – if you missed it, stop by some other time.
Visitors are always welcome.
BY TIM BALDWIN President-elect Donald Trump chose Gen. James
Mattis as defense secretary. Congress will have to waive the legal requirement that the defense secre- tary be a civilian at least seven years prior to being defense secretary. To protect our constitutional republic, Americans have determined that military leaders should not ll the role of civilian leadership due to the risk of becoming a military state. In this volatile time in the world, is it wise to put a recent- ly-retired military general in this civilian position?
Some journalists think this choice will cause America’s involvement abroad to expand. President Barack Obama saw Gen. Mattis as a “war hawk” and cut short his tour in 2013. Contradicting Trump, Gen. Mattis favors enforcing the Iran nuclear agreement and wants to work closely with allies to strictly enforce it. Gen. Mattis advocates increasing troops in Iraq “only if it is tied to an overall strategy [to] defeat” ISIS in Mosul, and is expected to rebut Trump’s military plans when he believes they will not work.
Trump’s views on foreign policy were not exactly coherent and consistent. Determining if Gen. Mattis’ views lines up with Trump’s is di cult. Still, what seems apparent is that Trump chose a defense sec- retary whose foreign policy views are di erent than his campaign rhetoric.
BY JOE CARBONARI
War is the end product of failed diplomacy. Lest it be
turned to too quickly, we keep our military under civil- ian control –the president as Commander in Chief, the secretary of defense as director of the Joint Chiefs of Sta . A retired military o cer is barred from taking a senior position in the Department of Defense for seven years after leaving the service. One exception, by waiver from Congress, has been granted. It was to George C. Marshall after World War II. He had been a civilian for ve years. He proved to be a diplomat. It worked out well.
James N. Mattis has been selected as Donald Trump’s choice to head up the department in his administration. It looks like a good choice.
Mattis’ nickname is “Mad Dog,” which suggests that he is not reticent to ght. Neither, however, does he appear to be eager. He acquitted himself well as head of the U.S. Central Command but was removed from that position by President Barack Obama when he proved too hawkish on Iran. He does, however, support the contin- ued honoring of the Iran nuclear agreement and is con- sidered to be an informed, disciplined, strategic thinker with few illusions.
Mattis is in the proactive mold that Trump prefers and stands for. He is not, however, reckless, and would likely temper some of Trump’s own proclivities as well as those of his more aggressively oriented advisors. Mr. Trump will be president for all of us. We must help him succeed, for all of us.
GUEST COLUMN PETER AENGST
GIVING THANKS FOR OUR PUBLIC LANDS
Kootenai are recent case studies of Montanans com- ing together and doing what is best for Montana’s pub- lic lands, instead of what is best for partisan politics.
Montana is a place where all people are equal on our public lands. We all have the same ability to shoot an elk, catch a trout on a y, climb a peak or camp under the recent supermoon. We all have the ability to shape and decide how our public lands are managed, which is one of the greatest expressions of our democracy.
People from di erent walks of life are coming together to chart a future for our shared public lands right now across Montana. Vital wildlife habitat and storied places like Monture Creek on the Lolo National Forest where diverse interests have crafted the Black- foot Clearwater Stewardship proposal. Or Nevada Mountain at the southern tip of the Crown of the Con- tinent, which is in the midst of a travel plan revision on the Helena National Forest. In Bozeman, the wild back- yard of the Gallatin Range is currently part of the rst forest plan revision for the Custer-Gallatin National Forest in over 30 years.
Instead of lamenting over what “could” happen or fretting over the worst case scenarios for the next four years, we are focusing our energy and passion on where we have always found strength, solutions and common ground: our neighbors, our friends, our fellow recre- ationists and public land users. Here we will nd and cultivate what brought us all together under the Big Sky: a vibrant love of place. Here we will call upon our best strengths to bring citizens together to stand up for our public lands and against damaging proposals that might be coming. And for this, I am thankful.
Peter Aengst is the regional director at The Wilderness Society for the Northern Rockies and Alaska.
M
Y FAMILY AND I HAVE A HOLIDAY TRADI- tion, not unique to many Montanans. We
cook Thanksgiving dinner early, pack it in Tupperware containers, and spend the long weekend with family and friends at a local Forest Service cabin. Some years we ski, some years we walk, on the rare occasion we drive. In the past we’ve packed my now 8-year-old son in on our backs or pulled him in a sled. It’s a chance to put down our computers, our phones, our busy schedules. It gives us a moment to re ect on what we are thankful for.
This year, I’m thankful for my community amongst the mountains of Montana. I’m thankful for kind neighbors. I’m thankful for a shared love of our public lands and waters.
In the weeks post election, many who appreciate and care for our public lands are nursing burgeoning ulcers over what the new administration in Washington, D.C. might mean for our way of life here in the West. Many things changed on Nov. 9, but some things haven’t. Our broad, bipartisan support of our public lands will only continue to grow regardless of which politicians are in power. The Wilderness Society has always taken the long view. Our goal – now more than ever – is to main- tain the integrity of our shared public lands and waters.
This is not a time to mourn for what we do not have, or to walk away because the challenge seems too great, the odds stacked against us. Independent of who is in charge in Washington D.C., we have seen the greatest successes in Montana conservation over recent decades when diverse interests came together and focused on what we have in common, instead of what we don’t.
Places like the Rocky Mountain Front, the North Fork of the Flathead, the Blackfoot Valley and the
28
DECEMBER 7, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM