No headline

Whitefish to Mar-A--Lago

Thanks to the gentleman from Whitefish who so kindly explained the difference between a Democrat and a Republican (letter of June 18).

I presume his wife does not own pearls (Barbara Bush probably has extras) and that he has never imbibed in Chardonnay (there’s some pretty cheap stuff out there), but that he is a poor unwashed man sitting by a mosquito infested pond sipping warm beer and eating a stale sandwich.

I dare say that wishing for a qualified Democrat to serve in a government position is as desirable as wishing for a qualified Republican to serve as president.

Mr. Whitefish to Mar-A-Lago he will be treated to pate de foie gras and for a brief period (the president bores easily) he can enjoy the opulent lifestyle this Republican has become accustom to; and they can both thumb their nose at those uppity Democrats.

Since the gentleman likes the idea of sending the unqualified to Washington he must be deliriously happy at this time. —Diane Myslicki, Kila

Those left-wing letter writers

I have once again been inspired to write the newspaper to combat the sheer stupidity of the average Democrat or in this case the left-wing letter writers who unfortunately live in our community.

First to the one who thinks that real news is fake news. My guess is the only news you find credible is from the internet because if it says so on the internet it has to be true.

President Trump will, one way or the other, make the Mexicans pay for the wall — whether through taxes or any number of different ways.

Now to address the illegal voting of 5 million people. It has already been established that the 3.5 million extra popular votes for Hillary came from California. With 11 million illegal aliens, most of whom have a drivers license issued by that state, they have the same opportunity to vote that you have, and in my opinion most exercised that right illegally for Hillary. It has already been established that there was indeed voter fraud with the latest revelation coming from Virginia. If you ever read real news you would be aware of this. So no voter fraud ... Fake! Furthermore, all claims of Russian contacts have been supported by zero evidence. Fake!

Next if you ever went to science class you would have learned about evolution. If it wasn’t for evolution you would, at present, be camped out on ice because the ice age would still be here. Ice melts as it has for thousands of years. To think glaciers would last forever is just stupid. The earth is warming and has been for millions of years.

So in closing, to those left-wing letter writers, if you have a degree of any kind, please give it back. —Robert Barron, Kalispell

An overdue thank you

Last fall, my wife and I traveled from Michigan to Montana to participate in the Two Bear half-marathon. We stayed in Kalispell and drove to Whitefish Lake for the event. We were both struck by the raw beauty and overwhelming openness of the geography. It was more than we had expected. After trips to the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon, our expectations were high. The trip did not disappoint. The people and the environment were absolutely terrific.

I always hang onto the car keys. My wife always precedes me to the finish line, so I tend to be cautious about her being able to consider waiting at the hotel…

This time, I hadn’t trained as much as I should have during the summer, but was going to “tough it out.” I got as far as 9 miles. I knew that by then, my wife was at the finish line and probably worried about me. I walked up to the aid station and asked if someone could call Uber. A truly wonderful gentleman volunteered to “be my Uber.”

At the time, I didn’t realize that I was more than just tired. My year-long shortness of breath issue was systemic. I had seven doctors miss the opportunity to discover what was going on. When I got back to Michigan, I went to my primary care physician and explained, “Something is wrong and we need to figure out what it is.” After many tests, he had me return to his office so he could say, “I’m sorry.” Not something you ever want to hear from a doctor. In January, I was diagnosed with Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemea. Don’t feel bad if you don’t recognize the disease. Remember, seven doctors missed it. It’s a B Cell lymphoma that has no cure. Out of a million, only between 3 and 8 people get the disease. Thankfully, it is treatable.

What kills you with this disease is hyper viscosity of the blood plasma. Mine was about four times the normal viscosity in January. My heart was, in effect, pumping sludge. It incredible that I got as far as I did in the race.

Don’t think for a minute that this will overcome my life plans. I am working toward remission and did almost 3 miles two days ago and 2 miles today. Someone up there deemed that I would live on — I’m going to make the best of it.

So that fine man from Montana could well have saved my life. I’m not sure what his name was and I’m sure that he didn’t want any notice or recognition. All I wanted to say here was a sincere “thank you” to one very special man in Montana, and then to the rest of you for being so hospitable during out visit. —Bob Jenkins, Belleville, Michigan

Headed wrong way in city planning

The Kalispell planning commission is going in the wrong direction. One-way streets have become two-way streets. Vehicles are parked on both sides of these streets and the new decision to allow traffic to go in both directions makes them dangerous because the streets are too narrow for two-way traffic. Now that the tourist season is here, the problem is twice as bad. I do not know who made such a bad decision, but they should be fired. The streets in Kalispell are not being kept clean either. I asked for a street sweeper five times in the past two months to clean the short street where I live. Nothing was done. I even went over to the city manager’s office a week ago and talked to him about it. Again, nothing has been done. He should be fired first. The real problem in this city is the same one as in our nation’s capital ... no accountability! —Sinowa Cruz, Kalispell