Keep it civil in negotiations

Kalispell firefighters showed a poor choice of words and a poorer choice of targets last week during one of their orchestrated media events to protest upcoming layoffs.

A firefighters’ union spokesman railed against “some bean counter from Ohio” referring to City Manager Jane Howington. That personal attack — in addition to being unwarranted and unnecessary — overlooked the fact that Howington is acting on behalf of the City Council.

The firefighters’ attitude seems to be that if Howington wasn’t there, they would get all the money they wanted. That doesn’t appear to be the case. The council and city management are stolidly backing fiscal sanity for the city — and Howington is simply following their direction, as she is supposed to do.

HAVING A commemorative Glacier National Park quarter is a pretty cool thing, worthy of the special ceremony held at Columbia Falls High School this week.

Predictably, there’s a lot of local and statewide interest in the new coin, which bears the image of a mountain goat in front of Mount Reynolds on its reverse side.

For now, the quarters are most abundant at Freedom Bank in Columbia Falls, which is filling orders limited to $1,000 from other local banks. But those banks also are ordering from the U.S. Mint.

For those interested in getting the unique Glacier coin, our advice is to inquire with their banks before searching far and wide for the new quarters.

THE STORY of Charlie Trinh and his family is the all-American story of hard work and well-earned success.

Trinh has owned and operated the Charlie Wong’s restaurant in Evergreen for 12 years. During that time he has saved up to bring family members to America from Vietnam, which Trinh also abandoned to escape communism.

Charlie Wong’s has long been a favorite of local diners who enjoy Asian food, and now Trinh has opened a second restaurant in Kalispell — Charlie Wong’s Saigon Garden — where he employs many family members who are recent immigrants.

The love of America and the love of family have always gone together, and Charlie Trinh’s family proves that the American dream is still alive and well.