Police must use force against threats
Inter Lake editorial
In a perfect world, police could disarm people who pose threats with a few wise words or a cinema-style shot to the trigger finger of anyone who is a menace.
In the real world, officers have split-seconds to save their own lives and the lives of people around them when someone is pointing a loaded gun and seems intent on using it.
Kalispell Police, perhaps for the first time ever, according to Police Chief Frank Garner, are dealing with these issues in the wake of having to use deadly force against a man.
How easy it is to say that the police did something wrong. The reality is, officers were faced on Thanksgiving with a dangerous armed man. He had already wrestled with a teenage boy who tried to take away the weapon, and a woman had called police for help, fearing for her safety. Police tried verbal commands and then a taser shot, but the man kept advancing with a loaded rifle/shotgun combination.
Police are not trained to wing a deadly threat in the ear or leg or wool socks. They are trained to shoot to stop the threat. Fortunately, that training rarely has to be used in this part of the world, but in this case, lethal shots were fired.
The Kalispell officers' actions will be reviewed by a panel of ordinary residents at a coroner's inquest next month. They will decide if the officers' actions were warranted. It's a good check-and-balance on the unique authority given to law enforcement to take a human life.
Let the system work. Go to a good action movie if you want to see gunfire stunts. But don't expect real officers to be superhuman in their efforts to protect others and themselves.
A warm holiday tradition will glow this weekend at luminaria displays in the Kalispell area.
One tradition that has been going on for more than 15 years is the neighborhood effort to light Rose Crossing. This tradition will be rekindled at 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve when 1,500 luminarias - votive candles inside sand-filled bags - will line Rose Crossing between U.S. 2 and Whitefish Stage Road.
A separate holiday display will be Saturday night at Stillwater Estates, when more than 6,000 luminarias will be lighted at the subdivision north of West Reserve Drive. Show time is 5 p.m.
And on both Saturday and Sunday nights, Friendship House in Kalispell (606 Second Ave. W.) will illuminate its annual Light the Walk Fundraiser with luminarias.
The luminarias offer a peaceful, glowing indicator of the holiday season that are well worth an evening drive to enjoy.
There's a wave of excitement in Whitefish over the expansion of the resort town's aquatic and fitness center. The Wave opened in February 2005 and has been so popular the center has embarked on a $750,000 addition that will expand the weight, cycling and exercise areas.
About 4,300 members use The Wave consistently. That's 1,300 more users than a feasibility study had projected would join by the end of the third year.
The fitness center is one of numerous private-public partnerships that have put Whitefish on the map for its extraordinary fundraising. Such early success for The Wave demonstrates that this is a community that knows what it wants and goes the extra mile to support its many fine amenities.