Support troopers

To begin. A couple of facts. The rate of pay raises for highway patrolmen has lagged well behind the rate of inflation. 

Some legislators have it in their hearts to make our highways more dangerous by raising the speed limit. So they go to the highway patrolmen and say, “We’re willing to come up with part of the deficit in pay raises. All you have to do is violate you oaths and your ethics and keep quiet about the dangers of speed.” 

Then, if we look around, we can find a cartoonist who can’t stand it that dedicated people are out there 24/7 in all weather protecting him.

A few years ago, I was coming over McDonald Pass after dark in a snowstorm. I stopped at Avon for a cup of coffee, a snack and an eyeopener. I sat at the counter next to a highway patrolman. I said, “I’m just doing this once, and pretty soon I’ll be out of it. You are going to be out there all night.” He said, simply, “That’s the job.” 

I wish the legislators and editorial writers who whine about the pay of highway patrolmen could find out what it’s like out there. —Robert O’Neil, Kalispell