We have three Supreme Court candidates this primary. Can you name one, or explain what sort of judge they’ll be? Tick, tick, tick, time’s up! Don’t feel bad … you’re not supposed to know what’s going on. Our judiciary, from Justice of the Peace all the way up, is all elected. Supreme Court justices (one […]

I’ve already made up my mind for the primary election, so I decided to peek at what ballot issues we might be deciding in November. I’ve never favored direct-vote ballot issues as a regular means of doing “the people’s business.” I prefer to elect someone (with a clue) to do all that on my behalf. […]

The Flathead County commissioners won’t be renewing county planner Jeff Harris’s contract. I’m sure the Citizens for a Better Flathead cadre are watering their wine with tears, while American Dream Montana members are doing handsprings and cartwheels. I’ll confess to smiling a little – but not much. The intensity of reaction from both sides makes […]

By now, you’ve probably heard of the flap over Governor Schweitzer’s release of infrastructure grant monies … about $5 million authorized by the Legislature and scattered around the state, including the Mennonite Road improvement in the Flathead. The funds first became available because federal “stimulus” funds (opposed by conservatives) could be dumped into the general […]

Last week I caught a story in the Edmonton Journal about a new group of grizzly-hating Albertans, “No More Grizzlies.” It was nothing more than a “free media” stunt by the usual suspects, created by Calder Bateman, a big Edmonton public-relations firm for an Alberta green group. Press “coverage” mentioned a Web site with a […]

The North Shore Ranch (east of Somers) was first proposed in 2006, at the height of the boom: 375 homes on 367 acres east of Somers. As expected, the “sprawl” crowd stiffly opposed North Shore. It was denied, rightly so, for some technical shortcomings. In the spring of 2008, after redoing their homework, North Shore’s […]

It’s been comical to watch environmentalists bludgeon each other over Jon Tester’s wilderness bill, the so-called “Forest Jobs and Recreation Act,” FJRA for short. The extremists are demanding 6 million wilderness acres all at once. The incrementalists respond by saying FJRA’s million acres of wilderness and “wilderness lite” are really, really just a first step […]

Love politics? Well, you’ll have more to love soon now that the Supreme Court recently knocked down a major hunk of “campaign finance reform.” Conservatives are treating the ruling like the Second Coming, while liberals are acting like the Supremes shot their puppy. The issue was the federal McCain-Feingold 60-day blackout period on “independent” expenditures […]

Now that our timber beast friends have morphed themselves into money beasts, let’s take a look at why it matters. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is about to close on a $14 million buy of 41,000 acres of former Plum Creek land in Mineral County, the Fish Creek country around Tarkio. This is yet another […]

Last month, bankrupt Smurfit-Stone announced it was done in Montana. However, a more-important news item passed with little notice the next day. On Dec. 15, Weyerhaeuser’s board of directors “determined that conversion to a real estate investment trust (REIT) would best support the company’s strategic direction.” CFO.com reports the conversion should occur by Dec. 31, […]

There I was, casting about for a brilliant topic upon which to declaim, finding zilch, zip, nada … a big fat zero. That’s it! Is there any better way to name the past decade? The Gay Nineties, the Roaring Twenties, the Dirty Thirties, the Nifty Fifties. Because they were periods of war and upheaval, the […]

Last time, I wrote about how Congress’ idiotic “black liquor” tax credits were inadvertently helping keep Montana’s timber industry alive. Well, liquor or not, Smurfit-Stone dropped the other boot, announcing Dec. 14 it will close its Frenchtown pulp mill on New Year’s Eve – goshawful news for those of us who still give a rip […]

Ever heard of black liquor? No, not Jaegermeister. Black liquor is a byproduct of the paper making process. In a nutshell, trees are made mostly of cellulose and lignin. To separate cellulose (for paper) from lignin, paper mills cook the wood in a caustic-soda potion. The liquid left over is called “black liquor.” Lignin, a […]

Last summer, I met Montana Department of Natural Resources (DNRC) Kalispell Unit forester Brent Kallander at the Whitefish rifle range. He was inventorying the ground where the range is located, the Spencer block of state forest southwest of Whitefish. Job No. 1 for DNRC is managing state trust lands for long-term revenues to support education, […]

The Beacon recently ran Christian Science Monitor writer Todd Wilkinson’s timely story on President Obama’s new National Park Service (NPS) director, Jonathan Jarvis. Jarvis has a tough row to hoe, leading an agency that can’t even agree on why it exists. The debate centers on a philosophical question: Are parks for people, or do parks […]