Coal protesters are way off base

Protesters who live in a land of pixie dust and unicorns occupied the state Capitol in Helena early this week to make their opposition to coal and gas development known to all.

Led by a Missoula group called the Blue Skies Campaign, the protesters are against an expansion of the Bull Mountain Mine, which involves a $3.5 million bid the state Land Board is considering.

They also don’t want to see development of the state’s Otter Creek coal tracts. Otter Creek work is pending after a St. Louis company paid the state a lease fee of $159 million.

Last summer, a group opposed to the Keystone XL pipeline showed up at Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s office, only to interrupt their meeting with him by playing old-time tunes on a piano and dancing on a historic conference table.

These people want to be taken seriously?

The hard facts are that the state Constitution requires the state to maximize returns on state trust resources (such as Otter Creek), that coal will remain a cheap source of energy here and abroad for decades to come, and that most people do not have coal or pipeline phobias.

Rational people know that natural resources are a source of wealth and jobs that are sorely needed in the Treasure State.

Streetside dining may get a new twist in Kalispell’s core area with the possible advent of “parklets.”

Downtown businesses are being give the opportunity to temporarily expand into street parking spaces in front of their businesses.

The so-called parklets could be used “to create outside seating and dining, provide additional bike storage, or potentially provide businesses with additional space to display products for customer perusal,” according to an informational handout from the city of Kalispell.

The parklet plan follows requests from downtown businesses that wanted to extend dining operations into the street.

Now, with a new city permit, they will be allowed to do that.

The parklets concept is not new although it will be new for Kalispell. This is the kind of change that might make downtown more inviting.

A different kind of roadside attraction is open on Garland Street in Kalispell.

The Little Free Library — a row of books inside a small shelter — has been set up in a miniature cabin by longtime Kalispell resident Rusty Halaas.

The book nook at 120 Garland St. is modeled after a Norwegian-style cabin, replete with shingles, red trim and rosemaling — plus a glass door behind which the books are displayed.

The idea behind the little library is to serve as a book exchange. Patrons take a book and leave a book in its place.

The Kalispell book stop is No. 2754 in a worldwide network of tiny libraries, all designed to get more people reading and visiting with their neighbors.

Those are both laudable goals.