I read recently where Kalispell’s mayor and city council could not come to a decision on the city airport, so they are going to “let the voters decide.” So, what do we get to decide? Whether we pay for the improvements to the airport with taxes taken directly from our wallets by the mayor and […]

Your May 23 issue contained two back-to-back articles about national parks written by the same reporter. They should have been linked or blended, for they demonstrate a perfect example of the Christmas tree approach politicians take in federal spending policy. The first article describes Glacier National Park officials’ concerns about insufficient funding for the park’s […]

Dave Skinner allies himself with dubious reasons as to why gay marriage should not be legal (May 23 Beacon: “Out of the Closet”). Many opponents of emancipation and women’s suffrage also claimed that their opposition was not based on any racism or sexism or on wishing to disenfranchise those people, but rather on “reason” such […]

There are some citizens who are disappointed that the Kalispell City Council did not make a final decision on the Kalispell City Airport on May 21. I am also disappointed, even though I made the motion to put to the vote of the citizens of Kalispell a referendum on the November general election ballot that […]

Last month Sen. Jon Tester voted with President Barack Obama and his Big Labor cronies to allow the controversial new “ambush elections” rule from the NLRB to take effect. This rule was widely opposed by small businesses because it would severely shorten the timeframe (as little as seven days) allowed for a union organizing election. […]

If you disagree with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, claiming that corporations are people, be aware of some facts concerning the case. The decision reversed over 100 years of constitutional law based on principles established by this nation’s founders. After all, we fought the Revolutionary War in part to achieve independence from […]

The Keystone pipeline debacle is symptomatic of a deep systemic problem in the United States. The federal environmental laws and regulations created since the 1960s act as barriers to progress. In the case of the Keystone, progress would look like reduced dependency on our enemies for oil, breathing time for the development of significant domestically […]

As a former small-town journalist, I know that one major role of the news-media – especially in a small community like ours – is to “herald” the outstanding citizens who make this valley the wonderful place that it is. I was disappointed in a recent article that failed to accomplish just that. “Montana Beef, it’s […]

How many congressmen does it take to connect two dots? A historic oil boom is underway in North Dakota. Unemployed Montanans are moving there for jobs. New businesses are booming in Williston yet the same massive Bakken oil formation lies in Montana, just 20 miles away. What is wrong with Montana oil? Ask yourself this […]

Most of us do not like it when one person controls things, controls our actions, blocks us, and holds power over our heads. But an interesting psychological phenomenon takes place even in such rather blatant abuses of our freedom to make our own choices. Case in point: Grover Norquist’s hold over the Republican members of […]

Do you know how much the secretary of defense makes per year? It is just a hair under $200,000. Now I want you to guess how much the postmaster general makes per year. Until lately he made almost twice what the secretary of defense makes. Sen. Jon Tester got a bill passed to reduce the […]

As contractors, we rely on predictability and certainty to grow our businesses, especially as construction season gets underway in Montana. Without a long-term plan to rebuild our infrastructure, contractors like us won’t be able to put more Montanans to work upgrading our roads and bridges. Without a long-term extension, we can’t sign new contracts, hire […]

The rhetoric and misinformation produced by the Democrats to fool the public in their expanding efforts to divide our society and win votes through class warfare, racial dissension, and now its war against women are appalling! The latest falsehood is that Republicans are opposed to the Violence Against Women Act. Passed in 1994 with bipartisan […]

The conservative organization ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) has seen a rapid exodus of many of its business members. Recently the following companies have severed ties with ALEC: Mars, Inc., the Arizona Public Service Company, Kraft, Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Coco-Cola, Pepsi Co, Intuit and the Gates Foundation. It will be interesting to see if any of […]

Here we go again! As someone wrote last week, “When will it end?” I’ve been here now two times now stemmed myself against the realization that as Norb Donahue and also Clarence Krepps, former city manager, who even then were aware of the fact that the location of the present city airport carries too many […]