Can horse racing return to fair?

Inter Lake editorial

Not surprisingly, attendance at the Northwest Montana Fair took a hit this year without the popular horse races. A preliminary gate count showed about 7,000 fewer people attended this year, despite nearly perfect weather for the six-day event.

To its credit, the fair board attempted to provide substitute entertainment for fair crowds by adding a powwow to the Indian relay races and beefing up the draft horse competition.

It's not cast in stone that horse racing is gone forever. A nine-member task force is looking at several ways to save horse racing in Montana, including new or improved training facilities, more frequent race dates and better entertainment options. Flathead County suspended the races this year, with the possibility of renewing them in the future.

The commissioners will ultimately have to decide if the amount of fair attendance garnered by horse racing is worth the money spent to run the races. That's the way it looks now, and you could also hear many in attendance at the fair lamenting the lack of races this year, so attendace could fall even further in the future.

Horses are a valued part of Montana's history and experience, and we sincerely hope that there is a way to restore the decades-old tradition of racing at the fair.

Happy Valley residents are rightly concerned about a dwindling water supply in the water district that serves a majority of the homeowners in the subdivision south of Whitefish. Sprinkling restrictions are in place and they face the possibility of having to bear the cost of a new well.

The silver lining in this scenario is an uptapped resource called the Midwest Assistance Program, a nonprofit group that helps rural subdivisions find money to upgrade their water systems. Bill Leonard of Whitefish, a consultant with Midwest Assistance, said he's ready and willing to help Happy Valley if asked.

We encourage the water board of District 8 to seek Leonard's assistance and look into other assistance programs that could potentially soften the blow to homeowners if a new well becomes necessary.

It's always nice to see the many ways that our young people contribute to the community.

This summer, 18-year-old Flathead High School senior Cory Ravetto has been helping Justice Court update its computer records. This isn't just a matter of convenience, but will help court personnel be able to track who has and - more importantly - who hasn't paid their fines, some dating back as far as 1994.

The steady stream of new business at the court has made it difficult for the staff to work on the old cases, so Ravetto's volunteer work was crucial to getting the job done. The dividends will benefit both victims of crime who are due restitution and the court itself.

Thanks Cory, for putting order back in the records of the court.