Slow down on courthouse couplet
Courthouse couplet or U.S. 93 bypass?
That’s a question being raised by state highway officials as they reopen consideration of widening the couplet around the historic county courthouse in Kalispell to four lanes.
U.S. 93 narrows to a single lane each way around the courthouse and is the last stretch of highway between Whitefish and Somers that needs to be converted to four lanes.
State officials, pointing to a supposed bottleneck there, say the traffic volume justifies four lanes around the courthouse. Maybe so, although we don’t remember traffic ever backing up there much more than it does elsewhere downtown.
Couplet construction could be years away because of funding, although one of the more immediate funding options could be money expected to build a bridge on Three Mile Drive that would be part of the northern segment of U.S. 93 Alternate Route.
The idea of diverting money from the bypass reminds us that the bypass was originally intended to divert truck traffic from downtown Kalispell.
Doesn’t it seem ironic that just as we are close to completing the bypass after decades of discussion, the state is interested in making a change that will almost certainly encourage more truckers to drive back down Main Street?
Maybe this one needs more thought.
Investors get welcome help
Commissioner of Securities Monica Lindeen deserves thanks for her efforts on behalf of investors who were swindled by two Polson men running a Ponzi scheme a few years ago.
A law that was improved in the recent legislative session allows Lindeen to collect small fees from the securities industry to pay for a restitution fund to benefit victims of fraud.
Twenty victims of the Ponzi scheme run by Cornerstone Financial are going to collect most of the $240,000 allotted from the fund last week. That’s just a fraction of the money they lost, and the best protection against fraud remains caution, but it’s nice to know that there is some help available for the usually vulnerable victims of con men.
It’s also satisfying to know that justice has been served, and the two men who were operating Cornerstone Financial are now doing time in federal prison.
A tall accomplishment
It’s good to have people around like David Steele, the 24-year-old Kalispell man who recently reached the summit of Denali, North America’s highest peak.
The old saying about why would you climb a mountain (because it’s there!) doesn’t really apply to Steele, who views his Denali expedition not as a matter of conquering the mountain, but challenging himself.
Whether they are pursuing art or science or physical challenges, it is people like Steele who push the envelope, inspiring us all and oftentimes achieving significant breakthroughs by never being satisfied with “the ordinary.”
And reaching the 20,320-foot summit of Denali is an extraordinary accomplishment indeed.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of the Daily Inter Lake’s editorial board.