Entering Lake County quickly reveals, based on the signage, which election is most important. While small campaign signs dot the landscape supporting potential state lawmakers, those are overshadowed by the 4-by-8 foot behemoths supporting one of the three candidates for sheriff. When I covered the cops and courts beat about seven years ago in Gallatin […]

Bill Schneider’s column of (Sept. 22 Beacon: “Tear Down the Border Stations”) regarding the vicissitudes of crossing the border into Canada brings to mind a travel story of my own: When I entered Botswana a couple years ago, the woman at passport control asked me how long I planned to be in her country. When […]

The term “the good old days” keeps replaying in my head triggered by recent news stories about the economy. Having been born and raised in Butte surrounded by mining activities and tramping through the woods and enjoying the rivers my entire life gives me a pretty good perspective. The state of the economy both nationwide […]

Last week, I got in your face about your responsibilities as both employees and employers. These two groups have been in conflict forever, something that continues today – despite the fact that they desperately need each other’s help. Both groups should avoid the temptation to continue that wasteful practice. The current employment/economy situation in general […]

I disagree wholeheartedly with Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s characterization of how he keeps our state solvent (Sept. 15 Beacon: “The Montana Example”), especially with regard to school funding. He has essentially accepted the federal supplemental money for schools, and used it to take the place of money already allocated to each district. The net gain for […]

Following the 2008 election, I visited a Pachyderm meeting at the Red Lion Hotel in Kalispell. Despite winning a coveted seat for county commission and a solid showing in local legislatives races, there was reason for concern among Republicans. They were still standing in the wake of what was then determined to be a national […]

I have read, with much amusement, the most recent attempts to vilify the Tea Party Movement and Conservatives in general. Maybe it’s time we take an honest look at what makes up a Conservative. First, Conservatives do not believe in bartering our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren into indentured slavery in order to fund […]

It’s like a bad horror movie where the monster keeps coming back no matter how many times you think it’s been killed. With the fall of Judge Donald Molloy’s gavel, the gray wolf was re-listed as an endangered species. It happened a year after the slaughter of 120 sheep on a single weekend at the […]

As I sat in the Montana House District 3 candidate forum at Discovery Square listening to candidates talk about jobs, the economy, taxes, education, roads and on rare occasion, things that only politicians seem to care about, they reinforced what I’ve said previously about the role of government (and the people) when it comes to […]

Two weeks ago, I attended a session of the Whitefish/Flathead County interlocal agreement negotiations. Someone should have brought doughnuts, or at least popcorn. It appears that Flathead County will have 12 months to review the 65 land-use ordinances imposed upon the doughnut (and the city itself) since 2005 when the interlocal was implemented, and request […]

Dave Skinner’s article concerning a potential national monument in eastern Montana (Sept. 15 Beacon: “Brainstorming Rural Cleansing”) implies that full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is a vast government conspiracy to take over private land. I read Skinner’s article while flying to D.C. to ask our congressional delegation to support full […]

Outside of Montana, it has become increasingly common for political candidates to ignore the press and snub editorial boards. And more of them are finding out that there are fewer consequences for instituting a media blackout and “talking directly to the people.” White House correspondent Peter A. Brown wrote a recent column for the Wall […]

The Flathead lake trout gill netting proposal should be thwarted (Sept. 15 Beacon: “Is Gill Netting the Answer?”). While certainly bull trout numbers or survival will increase as lake trout numbers decrease, the goal of re-establishing a fishable bull trout population in Flathead Lake is most unlikely. Clearly, lake trout have the ecological advantage in […]

Thursday night at Discovery Square in Columbia Falls, three HD3 candidates met to discuss the issues in a candidate’s forum organized by Columbia Falls’ First Best Place task force. Independent Shawn Guymon and Democrat Zac Perry sat down with incumbent Republican Jerry O’Neil to take questions from the crowd and moderator (and CFHS’ 10 time […]

On July 27, Sen. Max Baucus announced that he was introducing an amendment to our United States Constitution. We should all be very proud and appreciative that our senator does not try and circumvent the Constitution when he sees a problem. Baucus is setting a great example by working within the established procedures when he […]