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Three low-cost ideas for downtown Kalispell

1. Invest in a snow blower for city sidewalks.

If the city thinks it has hundreds of thousands to rip up perfectly good sidewalks, it should be able to spare a few thousand to maintain the sidewalks it already has!

2. Install people-friendly city benches that face each other with a small table between them. An inlaid checker board would be nice. Some benches can be as small as two feet wide. There is room for these on the EXISTING Main Street sidewalks as well as the various corner plots where anti-social single benches now sit.

3 Have an adopt-a block program for local service organizations — both children’s such as Girls Scouts and adult such as Lions — to be in charge of beautification and cleanliness similar to adopt a highway programs. Have plaques installed giving the names of the organization, individual or business responsible. —Fran Tabor, Kalispell

Real environmentalists shut out of Whitefish Range Partnership Plan

I am writing to set the record straight for the general public that does not know the truth about the Whitefish Range Partnership Plan at the core of the Flathead National Forest Service management planning report.

I will repeat the names of these people who proudly signed their names to the many falsehoods in a February op-ed in the Inter Lake and in the previous plan itself that they produced with the inspiration and incentive from Joe Krueger of the Flathead National Forest, while meeting secretly, along with others, by invitation only, for over a year: Amy Robinson, Paul McKenzie, Don Sullivan, Bill Walker, Larry Wilson, Heidi Van Everen and Noah Bodman. Their interest in personal fame, power, and successful career paths is notable for its absence of caring for the survival of wildlife within its necessary habitat. The animals are not a natural resource to be manipulated for fun and profit, but rather they are living, breathing organisms that deserve to share the planet with humans.

As I write this, the true environmental groups and individual wildlife biology consultants are finishing up on their latest re-write of the Flathead National Forest Management Plan with its illegal inclusion of the Whitefish Range Partnership Plan at its core. I say “latest” because they have been providing their management plan corrections for many years, using their vastly superior knowledge of forest ecology and wildlife biology to that of politicized Forest Service personnel, even as those plans went unheeded. Politics trumped science. It always does.

The Flathead National Forest team is comprised of several staff members who publically plan for and provide multiple “wreckreational” use for bikers, snowmobilers, various other motorized vehicles, and also for loggers, et al, however nary a one staff member is dedicated to speak out publicly for the survival of wildlife.

This travesty of lies and false news reminds me of the Donald Trump era that has taken over America. People need to comprehend this attack we are all under … especially in order to save the wildlife. Show your outrage and lend your voice against false news and lies. If you don’t, the bad guys will win. —Bill Baum, Martin City

Jesus taught self-defense; maybe we should, too

A letter by a Mr. Miller was somewhat critical of Dinesh D’Souza. He quotes a comment made by Mr. D’Souza after the tragedy in Parkland, Florida. Mr. D’Souza stated “Worst news since their parents told them to get summer jobs.” He later apologized for the comment, and that comment was apparently made regarding the students’ reaction to the Florida legislature rejecting gun regulations.

Mr. Miller brings Jesus Christ into his discussion. Jesus did teach comforting those who mourn, and we should sorrow for the tragedy suffered by these students and sympathize in their grief; however, their insistence on following their indoctrination in gun control is sad.

In an earlier letter, I mentioned Jesus’ stance on self-defense. In Luke 22:36 Jesus told His disciples, “Then He said to them, ‘But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one,’”

In addition, consider John 18:10-11 when Peter went to defend Jesus and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest. That’s when Jesus said to Peter to put up his sword and that it was Jesus’ time to drink the cup His Father had given Him. It was Jesus’ time to be taken and offered up as that sacrifice. Those swords Jesus ordered His apostles to purchase were to be used in self-defense. As Jesus had pointed out in His parable of the Good Samaritan, many of the roads that the apostles would be travelling on were dangerous.

So it is evident that I don’t agree with Mr. Miller’s attempt to use Jesus in his attempt to defame Mr. D’Souza and I believe evidence points to the fact that when people arm themselves that in those cases when they do, violent crime takes a real nosedive.

Mr. Miller makes the comment, “These people watched classmates die.” It has been pointed out that armed individuals were situated outside the school but made no attempt to enter and stop the killing. Would lives have perhaps been saved had these individuals entered and confronted the gunman instead of letting him continue his slaughter?

So the answer, to which the left would never agree, is to arm those teachers that would be passionate about protecting those students under their care or hiring enough armed guards to do the job. The answer is not destroying the Second Amendment. We well know what happens when citizens are disarmed and not able to defend themselves as the tragic events that occurred in Europe well testify. —Robert Tebeau, Kalispell

City’s planning process was a big let-down

I attended the March 5 Kalispell City Council meeting as my last hope that the massive 324-unit apartment complex off Two Mile Drive would be denied as proposed. I believed that the request by the property owners to have their property annexed into the city limits was a reasonable request. However, to link this request to an RA-2 zoning, I did not believe was reasonable.

The massive height and density of this project is simply too large for this area. Over the previous four months, the concerned citizens of Kalispell had attended every Planning Board meeting, and finally the City Council meeting, to express their concerns about this project. Not one citizen spoke in favor of this project.

I had heard the saying, “You can’t fight City Hall,” but I still hoped and believed that my city officials would fight to protect the citizens of Kalispell that they are supposed to represent. Instead, the multi-millionaire out-of-state builder was granted 100 percent of everything he wanted. The citizens and property owners of Kalispell, were given zero percent of anything they asked for. There was no compromise, no meeting part way, no scaling down, no direct answers to our questions and concerns. We left the final meeting wondering why we had wasted our time.

I looked at the city’s explanation of the purpose of the Planning Department:

“The Planning Department provides professional planning assistance to the city and serves the public interest by providing a forum for open dialogue, identification of issues and goals, creative problem solving, plan development, and implementation. We work to educate, coordinate and facilitate strategies that protect and maintain property values, public investment, built and natural environment, and the quality of life.”

I guess the mission statement failed miserably this time. —Marilyn Driscoll, Kalispell

Barn Cat Program needs some common-sense restrictions added

As a cat lover and volunteer for the Flathead Spay/Neuter Task Force I have a few observations on the County Shelter’s Barn Cat Program.

On the surface this looks great but we must go a little deeper to make sure this works to the best advantage of all involved.

1: You must be sure these cats are truly “free roaming” and not someone’s loved, lost pet.

2: Do not give them away for free. A small adoption fee would discourage those looking for bait kitties to train their hounds.

3: Do not tell adopters they only need a warm place with water. Barn cats need more than mice for food! Please insure that these kitties have good, nourishing food available and there is no rat poison on the premises.

The county would benefit from studying the work of the Task Force and KittyMom’s Rescue in how they very sucessfully handle feral cats. They have done amazing work in this valley without using taxpayers’ money! — Julie Tobey, Whitefish