Vote as if your future depended on it

With few contested races in Tuesdays city elections, it may be tempting to shrug off a trip to the polls in this off-year election.

The truth is, this election is extremely important in choosing the city council members who will lead this valley through some of the toughest growth issues in its history.

In Kalispell, there are contests in two wards. Ward 1 incumbent Bob Hafferman faces challenger Steve Davidson, and in Ward 3, incumbent Jim Atkinson goes up against Jayson Peters, a former council member.

Whitefish has plenty of election excitement, with the first contested city judge race in 20 years. Incumbent Bradley Johnson is being challenged by county court clerk Valarie Eve.

In the Whitefish council race, four hopefuls Shirley Jacobson, Norman Nelson, Nick Palmer and Nancy Woodruff are running for three open seats.

Columbia Falls has no contested races, but even those running unopposed need votes to make it a valid election.

Do your civic duty, get out and vote.

With the recent completion of the David Olseth Memorial Skatepark, Whitefish has added another spectacular element to its repertoire of fine public facilities.

This project has been a decade-long labor of love by a solid group of supporters who simply refused to give up on the idea of a skate park for their town.

Through the years they were bounced from one proposed location to another until the city stepped forward with land at Armory Park and agreed to spend $50,000 on landscaping. Community support paid for most of the $375,000 park.

The 15,000-square-foot concrete park is further evidence that private-public partnerships are not only alive and well in Whitefish, theyre flourishing as never before.

Championship season is upon us in high school sports, and local teams are bringing home the hardware with two state titles in soccer and one in cross country.

Flathead boys teams have claimed Class AA championships in cross country and soccer. Meanwhile the Columbia Falls Wildcats notched another state title in boys soccer (a title the Cats seem to win every other year).

Congratulations to these newly crowned champions.

And good luck to the teams still playing.