Carnival gets a serving of Seuss

Sneetches, Wockets and Nizzards will march alongside the yetis, penguins and divas at the 58th annual Whitefish Winter Carnival this Saturday.

Parade-goers can expect a colorful display of floats and costumes with this year’s theme “One Fish, Two Fish,” offering a nod to American children’s book author Dr. Seuss. Opportunities for creativity abound in classics like “The Lorax,” “Cat in the Hat” or “Green Eggs and Ham.” Fittingly, parade grand marshals will be some of the valley’s finest librarians.

The carnival fun kicks off with the icy Penguin Plunge at 11 a.m. at City Beach, followed by the always delicious pie social at St. Charles Catholic Church. The hour-long Grand Parade procession down Central Avenue begins at 3 p.m.

County should pursue pawn-shop ordinance

The idea has been floated for a countywide pawn-shop ordinance that would work in tandem with the city of Kalispell’s requirement for pawn and secondhand shops to connect their inventories online with the local police department. It makes sense for the county and city to collaborate on a way to make it more difficult for thieves to pawn stolen goods and provide a network that can help authorities recover stolen items. Kalispell has recovered close to $50,000 worth of stolen goods through the LeadsOnline software that connects pawn-shop inventories with law enforcement.

The Flathead County commissioners say the ball is in Sheriff Chuck Curry’s court to bring them a proposal for such a measure. The county already subscribes to LeadsOnline, so solidifying a formal process shouldn’t be an enormous task. The county attorney’s office has reviewed a draft of a proposed countywide ordinance. We encourage the sheriff to follow through with this in a timely fashion to give Flathead residents an extra measure of protection.