No headline

Rewriting history is absurd

What is it that makes rewriting history so glamorous and provocative to those who are offended by the truth? Turning urban legends into fact is not a presentation of the truth, it is simply a function of fulfilling a narrative. Why is it now “perfectly OK” to use semantics to smooth out the bumps of truth?

The Confederacy began as a dispute over economics and had nothing to do with the regulation of slavery between governments. The South was paid pennies on the dollar for their “material” and then charged dollars on the penny for products made from their raw material. The issue was interstate commerce. Slavery was added later to gain popular support for the Northern effort to stop the cessation of Southern states.

The Salish and Kootenai Tribes waited two years for the return of Isaac Stevens to negotiate for protection against the tribes that perpetually invaded them and settled for the reservation concept to achieve that goal. It took the Bitterroot tribes approximately 30 years to move onto the reservation.

The Union Army was not responsible for the “systemic destruction” of the American Indians; politicians of the day held that distinction. Montana’s landscape holds many tributes to past horrors, but few are actually related to non-tribal people. The various, warring tribes were more than capable of creating unspeakable havoc upon each other. Blaming the Union Army is a scapegoat offense.

Why not just remove ALL memorials — war by any name is an atrocity upon someone and has been committed by every culture, every ethnic group and every society for time immemorial! —Michael Gale, Ronan

AP skewed story on RV sale against Zinke

Re the Associated Press article implying that Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke did something wrong when he sold his campaign vehicle:

Ryan Zinke lacks only the cynicism to think that anyone would construe the sale of a motor home to a former colleague in state government and friend as an emolument.

What are the resale price factors for motor homes? Did anyone at the AP bother to get the details before running it through the NADA calculator? Do you have any idea what its odometer says today, not in 2011? Or whether it’s gas or diesel, the capacity of its electrical generator and air conditioning, electronics and kitchen appliances, awnings and their condition, stabilizers, air-assist suspension, exhaust brakes? These options can add or lower its value by thousands. How many times has it crisscrossed Montana during Mr. Zinke’s state and U.S. congressional campaigns as his mobile headquarters? Of course, this was not normal family vacation usage, e.g., to Lakeside three weekends per summer. Was that figured into the price? How many times has it been painted over from one campaign to the next? Was it new in 2011 when they paid $80K? I don’t know from your AP article. How has the undercarriage held up to the winter de-icing solution used on Montana highways? Was it garaged over the last six years? Did you note that the NADA resale calculator did not ask where the vehicle was registered or kept? Do you think an Arizona or Florida coach might maintain value better than a Montana one? Doesn’t the NADA calculator average them?

Even so, the low end of the NADA estimate is not necessarily what someone will pay, depending on all these factors. Consider that the AP is asking dealers, who buy and re-sell coaches for a living, what price they’d like to be paid for their inventory. Do you think there may be a bias in their estimate? Did the AP press any of the “several RV dealers contacted by the AP” to commit to a price in case Ed Buttrey decides to sell? One in writing will be fine. How about asking a bank to lend against the coach as collateral and see what their estimate is?

The insinuation that Secretary Zinke received political consideration for selling his coach to a friend and former colleague is pernicious nonsense. The Federal Election Committee needs to move its investigation of voting registration fraud along! It has better things to do. Some counties (not in Montana) recorded more votes in the last election than the number of citizens in their voter registration rolls! Start there! —Warren A. Sherman, Whitefish

Modern medicine outpaces public infrastructure

Kalispell’s nonprofit, community hospital and its related for-profit enterprises in the H-1 zone are transitioning from a semi-­rural campus to an urban medical complex. The Immanuel Lutheran Home facilities have also expanded. Sophisticated medical services, high-­density residential housing, day-care clients, The Summit, and commercial uses are among the varied uses in the hospital zone.

The growing regional patient base has dramatically increased staffing, maintenance and construction activity, service deliveries, short- and long-term visitor numbers, parking demand, emergency response traffic, and other transportation impacts. Unfortunately, the dysfunctional street system and poor pedestrian access in this area have changed very little.

Kalispell Regional Healthcare has shown only reluctant interest in spurring public infrastructure improvements in its master planning. In a series of Planned Unit Development ordinances (including Nos. 1226, 1689, 1787) and amendments that began in 1995, the hospital has sold off land for housing, commercial development, offices owned by others, and altered Sunnyview Lane from a straight street to its present arc. SIDs paid for Sunnyview and Heritage Way improvements. Ordinance 1787, passed by City Council on March 20, created a retroactive omnibus Planned Unit Development covering approximately 97 acres.

Two conditions in Ordinance 1787 address traffic infrastructure: No. 5 requires a north-­south connection between Windward Way and Conway Drive to “be constructed at the time the existing Medical Arts Building is demolished and a new building is constructed in its place. The connection shall be open to the public for vehicular access and pedestrians.” Such a “connection” may replace the vehicular use of the existing private alternatives, the Medical Arts parking lot or Surgical Services Drive, but it is not required to be a dedicated public street. No. 6 states, “The proposed east-­west pedestrian connection south of Brendan House and Alert Building, as general shown on Appendix G, shall be complete within one (1) year of final approval of the PUD overlay.” This replaces and weakens PUD Ordinance 1689, Condition 13, passed in 2011, that required a pedestrian path on the east side of the hospital prior to issuing a certificate of occupancy for phase 2 [emergency room expansion].

The city of Kalispell cannot ignore critical traffic and connectivity issues in the H-­1 zone. Kalispell Regional must participate through SIDs, payments in lieu of taxes, or other means to meet its obligations as a good neighbor and advocate of public safety. —Margaret Davis, Kalispell homeowner