LETTER: Juras wrong on stream access

As a lawyer on the stream-access cases in the mid-1980s (Dearborn and Beaverhead Rivers), I have a concern about the upcoming Montana Supreme Court election. Several years ago, the “Montana Growth Network” spent substantial monies on the court race. Although initially secret, it was discovered that two of America’s richest men, Charles Schwab and James Cox Kennedy, both of whom own Montana property on rivers and who had been actively litigating stream access, contributed a total of $400,000.

Before becoming a Supreme Court candidate, Kristen Juras criticized the stream-access cases and the publics’ right to use our rivers, saying these cases amounted to a “monumental” erosion of property rights. Recently she attempted to muffle her criticism with an op-ed piece, arguing that the law is settled, (implying she would not have to consider the issue if elected).

Not true. My firm has been handling a case involving access on the Ruby River in Madison County for the past decade.

Setting stream access aside, Judge Dirk Sandefur is the better qualified candidate. He is a former policeman and a highly respected district judge in Great Falls. He is smart, decisive, and fair minded.

Juras, on the other hand, has little courtroom experience. I urge the readers to vote for Dirk Sandefur. —Jim Goetz, Bozeman