LETTER: Lowery for commissioner

The election of the best county commissioners is of crucial importance to us all and the future of the Flathead Valley. We have a choice on Nov. 8 when incumbent Pam Holmquist faces challenger Eileen Lowery.

Holmquist professes to be a staunch defender of property rights. Just what does that mean? She has failed to act on the zoning change issue before the commission regarding the preservation of the agricultural zoning in Creston, which has tremendous public support. She and her fellow commissioners have backed away from involvement in the water-bottling plant, saying it was a state issue when there are ways to prevent the water theft from happening here.

If Holmquist is really in favor of property rights, then she should support the public property rights in the water underlying our valley rather than allowing corporate interests to rape the water supply, and make just one property owner mega rich.

She should be in favor of preventing the clogging of our highways with truck traffic, which will raise our costs to maintain these roads, and of preserving our property values.

These are property rights. Why hasn’t she put the matter on the agenda for a vote following the public comment where there was a landslide of support to make this change, which would stop the water theft?

If she really cares about the economic development of this valley she should recognize that our prosperity depends on tourism and 18-wheeler water trucks plugging our roads every day of the year is a sure way for tourists to stay away. Is she waiting for the election to be over and then make a decision contrary to the public will?

I, for one, will be voting for Eileen Lowery. Lowery is against water bottling and its huge negative impact on our way of life here in the valley. We need someone with new thinking and an open mind not encumbered by ideological constraint. Vote for Lowery for commissioner. —David Eychner, Kalispell