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| April 17, 2018 4:00 AM

Vote to stop bottling plant

Wherever bottling plants arise, so too does corruption and the defilement of public governance.

After months of rigorously adhering to the requirements to expand their zoning district, the Egan Slough neighborhood group faced off with the county commissioners. Along with the neighborhood group came over 140 other supporters who requested that the county give the community the right to determine their own local character, and the right to protect their own natural environment.

Instead, the commissioners, perhaps swayed by the Helena hotshot, big-money lobbyist employed by the bottling plant, decided they only needed to take into consideration the rights of the bottling plant owner to the exclusion of everyone else’s rights.

Now, a district judge has ruled that the commissioners abused their discretion — the commissioners warped the process of governance to impose an outcome only they and the bottling plant owner wanted. Which is to say, this bottling plant has, like everywhere else they are found, introduced the corruption that they always need in order to steal the community’s goods to peddle around the country for their own private gain.

The bottling plant will not bring community cohesion (it brings only strife), it will not bring jobs commensurate with the degradation it will cause to our roadways, waterways, and greater social fabric.

The owners don’t care about the community we live in, or the welfare of the people who will have to pay the costs incurred as a result of the plant’s operation. Their goal is to make their millions and to split town, leaving us just like everywhere else bottling plants invade — picking up the pieces after the carnage and paying the cost for their greed for decades to come.

Please stop the bottling plant — Vote For Egan Slough; Initiative 17-01 on June 5. —Steve Moore, Kalispell

Stop liberal school agendas

So, after several months of no response from an in inept school district management, there are signs in front yards AGAIN being posted to support another levy on the hard-paying taxpayers of Kalispell.

Is it not enough to draw a conclusion that schools and, the central union that supports them, is totally out of control. The citizens that have supported this community for years must stand up and say stop the abuse against taxpayers. Stop babysitting the liberal left-wing teachers and the out-of-state constituents that believe the rest of us will pay for their shortcomings and mismanagement. Come on people, WAKE UP. Time to privatize schools. If we don’t our taxes will become unbearable. It’s time to stop their abuse, period! —Steve Allen, Kalispell

Welzel in HD7

Regarding the recent legislative filings for House District 7, I am heartened and pleased to see a true and sound alternative to Frank Garner step into the fray in the form of Lt. Col. Robert Welzel, a former Marine aviator.

Mr. Welzel’s platform of limited constitutional government and fiscal responsibility is EXACTLY what is needed in Montana to stand against and reverse the slow, seeping encroachment of big government elitist ideology into our state, from both Democrats AND Republicans. I would also add that Mr. Welzel’s platform stands in stark contrast against the so-called “pragmatism” of the incumbent, gas-tax Frank Garner.

I for one look forward to ardently supporting Mr. Welzel in the coming election in his bid to unseat the incumbent, and the day that District 7 is again represented by someone who understands the principles of our nation’s Constitution, limited government, and sound fiscal and economic policy.

Semper Fi, Lt. Col. Welzel. You have my vote already. —Christopher Weil, Kalispell