Litter has gotten out of control

We received a letter to the editor about litter the other day, and it got to making us wonder whether other people are as upset about the problem as we are.

If you don't think there is a problem, then all you have to do is volunteer to join one of those fine groups cleaning up our highways to see how wrong you are. Sacks and sacks of garbage are collected along each mile of roadway. Some of it is the result of people actively littering; some of it comes about as a result of people using the back of their pickup truck as a traveling garbage dump. Attention, drivers: When you are flying down the highway at 70 miles an hour, your trash is also flying - out of the back of your pickup and onto the roads of our beautiful Flathead.

So what's the solution?

Law-enforcement officers will ticket anyone they can catch who is flagrantly violating the law, but we think the community needs to take a more active role, too. It shouldn't be up to Boy Scouts and other civic-minded organizations to clean up after us either, although their efforts are appreciated.

We need to plan a campaign to increase public awareness that this is a real - and growing - problem. How about more signs along our major thoroughfares that say "Littering is a Crime - You Will be Fined."

And speaking of those fines, how about raising them? In Canada, fines are as high as $2,000. That ought to get the offenders' attention. If it takes legislative action, then let's put it on the agenda for the next session.

This is our home. Let's take care of it, folks.

Freda Ostby, the namesake for a popular West Glacier watering hole, died at age 89 earlier this month.

Few of the patrons at the bar known as Freda's (located at the West Glacier Merc) are probably aware that it got that nickname after Ostby's tenure managing the bar in the 1940s.

Ostby went on to teach in the one-room school at Essex and was actively involved over the years in many Canyon-area community organizations and activities.

So the next time you're slaking your thirst at Freda's, raise a glass in honor of Freda Ostby.

Evergreen children ought to benefit greatly from the new flagship headquarters for Boys and Girls Club of Glacier Country.

The after-school program is up and running in the revamped Shady Lane Roller Rink, which will become a permanent place for a host of children's activities.

It has taken a large measure of community help and the determination of Boys and Girls Club organizers, but the roller-rink promises to be a commendable center for children.

The new center will offer a full complement of recreational activities, plus it has easy access out the back door to a 20-acre tract of state land for nature activities.

It should be a great addition to the Evergreen community.