Visit Glacier; 2.2 million others did!

Official numbers released this week underscore the continued popularity of Glacier National Park.

Glacier attracted nearly 2.2 million visitors last year, making 2013 the fourth-busiest year on record for our neighboring national park.

The most popular entrance station as usual was at West Glacier with a whopping 1 million visitors. Interestingly, only the west entrance and Two Medicine stations had visitor increases over 2012.

The west-side dominance no doubt had plenty of benefits for the Flathead Valley as the gateway to Glacier.

By the way, if you can’t wait until summer to make your next trip to Glacier Park, be advised that the park has free admission on Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. If you happen to have the day off, it would be a great opportunity to see wintry Lake McDonald!

Quick thinking, brave heart

Smith Valley area resident Chris Irlbeck deserves plenty of credit for his actions that likely saved a woman and her son from an early-morning house fire on Kila Road this week.

Irlbeck was driving by the house when he noticed a glow behind it. Rather than driving on, he had some curious concern about it and discovered there was a fire. Seeing no one outside and no lights on in the house, he took action to find out if people were inside. He ended up rousing the mother and boy from sleep and got them outside. And in the nick of time — Irlbeck estimates the house was fully engulfed in flames within 20 minutes of his arrival.

The rest of us should hope that others would act the same to help us, and that we would render assistance to others who are in peril.

Another kind of stolen valor

We were saddened — along with thousands of our readers — to hear about the heartless act of theft last week which resulted in the disappearance of a war veteran’s medals and uniform.

It’s hard to imagine what the thief could have been thinking. The framed collection had huge sentimental value to Greg Smith because it represented the life and character of his deceased brother, James D. Smith, but it would lead only to trouble, not riches, for whoever stole it.

Authorities are working several leads in the case, and hope to find the missing mementos soon. Whatever happens to the thief, it is important to restore these items to the family and return them to their place of honor.

Editorials represent the majority opinion of the Daily Inter Lake’s editorial board.