When the books are in the black and coffers are overflowing with tax revenue, cities hold sway over developers. In boom times, a steep upfront fee is a small price for potential commercial tenants to pay to do business within a thriving city. Well, times have changed. At a Kalispell City Council meeting last week […]

“Black Friday,” traditionally known as such as a ledger reference for retailers making profits on pre-Christmas sales the day after Thanksgiving, has now acquired another meaning as well: “black” as in death. At a Valley Stream, N.Y.,Wal-Mart, “A temporary Wal-Mart worker died after a throng of unruly shoppers broke down the doors and trampled him […]

I’m not madly in love with their mailbox. Really, I’m not. You’ll see. Last week, my comments about direct mail mistakes were far from complete. We could discuss that stuff for days, maybe longer. None of us have time to do that, but I do feel obligated to elaborate a bit. Stamps vs. Indicia While […]

Recently, television commentators, pundits and bloggers have started to blame low-income homebuyers for the problems the mortgage and financial markets face today. These same folks are suggesting that the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) also played a hand in creating the problem. Nothing could be further from the truth; not in the nation and especially not […]

I was getting the edges sharpened on my five-year-old, end-of-ski-season, 50-percent-off skis, when I ran into my old ski buddy Obie Fast. He is almost 75 years old, and I asked him how he will get into shape for the upcoming ski season that is just around the corner. Here is his story: As you […]

Don’t you wonder who sent you all that election junk mail this year? Groups you’ve never heard of? Will never hear from again? Me too. Until 2006, requesting hard copies of campaign paperwork from the Montana Commission for Political Practices, an expensive pain, was the only option for the curious and annoyed. Now, we can […]

As a recession takes root, it’s an ominous time to break bread and reflect on that for which we are most thankful. From plummeting 401(k)s to skyrocketing jobless claims, a litany of concerns squeezes a general public already feeling pinched. Add to that the stress of the holidays – mall crowds, picky spouses and plump […]

It’s easy to waste a lot of money by making a few simple mistakes when sending direct mail. Here are five common mistakes that are particularly costly: Using pre-printed postage (indicia) instead of real stamps The first goal for anything you mail to someone is to get it opened. Not read. Not replied to. Opened. […]

As Semitool, Columbia Falls Aluminum Company and Plum Creek Timber scale back their respective operations, many of our Flathead Valley neighbors are carrying pink slips in their pockets. It has been a brutal couple months. The stock market has fallen off, banks have failed and mortgages have gone unpaid. Yet the vast majority of locals […]

The U.S. Constitution requires that all people receive the equal protection of the laws. “Equal Justice Under Law” appears over the main entry to the U.S. Supreme Court in our nation’s capitol. If folks cannot reasonably access their courts, I believe it goes without saying that equal protection of the laws and equal justice under […]

This is an excerpt from a book that I am writing about how to spend your senior years living every day to its fullest: I believe that another good way to achieve good health is humor. There have been many documented examples of patients who have laughed themselves well. Here is my experience with a […]

As winter settles into the Flathead and hunting season reaches its midpoint (OK, at least one of them has), almost every business is scanning the street for more customers. It’s particularly the case in markets that serve people’s hobby, pastime or even luxury items. Hunting, fishing and camping gear is one area that comes to […]

As prominent Republicans began gathering in Washington, D.C. last week to brainstorm the best way to revitalize their party’s brand – after losing the presidency, at least 19 House seats and six Senate seats – a similar, albeit less high-profile, group gathered at the Red Lion Inn on Kalispell’s Main Street. For Republicans in the […]

For most of history in most of the world, power has only changed hands as the result of violence. In the modern era, still only in a minority of the world, democracy has changed that. Democracy makes real change possible by a peaceful process of elections. In the record-breaking and historic election that just occurred […]

Steve Stunning, of the Ajax Advertising Agency, has spent every day since the Fifth of July working on television spots for the three most important retail merchandising days of the year. All them arrive within 60 days of each other: Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. In the malls behind the costumes and the weird masks are […]