Jobs are good news for valley

President Obama held a jobs summit at the White House this week, but for the Flathead Valley the good news about the economy was closer to home.

TeleTech announced that it would be filling up to 100 jobs by March. The Kalispell call center held a job fair at Gateway Community Center this week, and saw dozens of candidates for the positions.

TeleTech this month celebrated its fifth anniversary in Kalispell and currently employs more than 500 people, making it one of the valley’s largest employers.

It’s easy for cynics to point out that good-paying jobs are being lost at the Columbia Falls Aluminum Plant and in the local construction industry, but that only tells half the story. To people who are out of work, the chance of employment at TeleTech could mean a new beginning and new hope.

No matter how much talk comes out of the president’s summit, it’s jobs that pay the bills. We are glad that TeleTech has been a local success story, and wish them well in the coming decade.

THERE PROBABLY are a few disappointed hunters out there after the 2009 general hunting season ended with paltry success.

This season was the slowest since 1997 for deer hunters. There were many fewer antlerless deer tags available this year because of the declining whitetail deer population.

The population drop is due to a variety of factors, primarily two successive harsh winters and substantial impacts from predators such as mountain lions and wolves.

But the bottom line is fewer hunters bringing game home.

We hope this winter is a kinder one for fawn survival so the deer population can rebound.