Mural battle signals need for change
Inter Lake editorial
There's much ado about an ice-cream shop mural in Whitefish, where city officials say Mrs. Spoonover's owner Judy Scallen must take down her colorful painting to comply with the city's sign law.
Scallen plans to bring scores of supporters with her to a hearing on Tuesday during which she will make her case to keep the sign.
At first glance, it would seem the city is being heavy-handed in its enforcement of sign laws, picking on a shop owner who's just trying to make a living. But city officials maintain they told Scallen before she had the mural painted that it would put her in violation because it exceeds her allotted sign square footage. She apparently didn't heed the warning and went ahead with the painting.
Though it seems unfair to ask Scallen to remove the sign, Whitefish officials are doing their job to make sure the law is administered fairly and equally for everyone. If the public feels strongly that murals advertising products sold at a business should be allowed, the City Council should be asked to amend the sign law to make it a little more home-town friendly.
Over the years, several Whitefish business owners have criticized sign regulations they feel are too restrictive. Perhaps the time has come for a thorough review of those rules.
Mozart was a big hit in the Flathead Valley.
The inaugural Festival Amadeus put on by the Glacier Symphony and Chorale during the first week of August was a huge success.
Attendance for the six days of musical events was more than 2,300 people - some 500 more than expected - capped by an enthusiastic standing-room-only crowd at the festival finale.
Festival organizers estimate the week of classical music produced an economic impact of $250,000 for the Flathead Valley. Add to that the immeasurable cultural impact of top-quality music and you have a most successful venture.
We hope this year's festival is the springboard to subsequent musical events to enliven summers in the Flathead Valley.
There's a novel traffic deterrent prowling the roadsides around Lakeside: a dummy patrol car along U.S. 2.
The brainchild of a Lakeside couple, the car is real but the trooper inside is a mannequin (although a realistic one decked out like Burt Reynolds).
The car provokes a pretty standard response: motorists hit their brakes and slow down - which, after all, is the main objective.
The Lakeside patrol car serves its purpose of slowing down traffic that tends to zoom through the town. Even drivers who know it's not a real law enforcement vehicle slow down, perhaps as an instinctive reaction.