Letters to the editor Nov. 24
Fire hazards
A recent Los Angeles Times editorial published in the Daily Inter Lake states that all of California’s recent fires are caused by (man-made) global climate change. If this is true why has Montana and other states such as Idaho and Wyoming had more than typical years of fires? Montana, Idaho and Wyoming have as much forest land as California. The answer is California government and environmentalists have prevented PG&E and Southern California Edison power companies and others from clearing trees, tree limbs and brush near power lines.
—Dexter Hamilton, Kalispell
Recycling contamination
“Clean and Green – Think Before you Throw.”
Recycle Montana, Inc., came up with this motto a couple of years ago to make people more aware about contamination of recycle material. There are obvious contamination issues such as the dirty, cheesy, greasy, pizza box you put in with your cardboard or the last two swigs of milk you leave in the container.
Contamination goes much deeper. Aluminum cans are very popular to recycle; however, it is very common to crush and store the cans in a plastic bag. This is all great until the plastic bag with cans is put into the recycle bin as the plastic will contaminate the aluminum. Take the packing peanuts out of the cardboard box and remove all liquids and rinse plastic bottles.
The reality is that you must own your recycling program and not assume that your local recycling plant will easily pull out the piece of contamination. These plants are held to very high standards in insuring that their end products have minimal amounts of contamination. If they cannot be successful in this aspect, then they cannot sell their material nor accept recycling materials from the local community. We own what is put in the bin, and most all of us can do a much better job of educating ourselves and family members about the importance of eliminating contamination from recycling.
—Kirk Treece is executive director of Recycle Montana
Election quid pro quo?
This letter is in response to Rep. Dan Bartel’s letter. If one takes time to investigate Dan Bartel and Greg Gianforte’s relationship, one would find that in the 2018 election season, Gianforte donated the maximum financial contribution to Bartel’s campaign. Gianforte recently received another endorsement from another state legislator, Sen. Cary Smith from Billings, who also received a maximum allowed contribution to his senatorial campaign.
Rep. Bartel claims, “Greg Gianforte is the only candidate who can win this election and bring about the changes we need in Helena.” This is a strong claim considering other Republican candidates like Al Olszewski are better liked and have more legislative experience in the state of Montana than Greg. I would also reference an Oct. 30 nationally published article from U.S. News regarding governors races stating, “… a Gianforte victory in the primary may afford Democrats their best shot at keeping the governor’s mansion.”
I find it interesting that Montana legislators who have received campaign contributions from Gianforte are now publicly throwing their support behind his candidacy for the Governor’s Office. Do they genuinely believe Gianforte is the best candidate or is it possibly a quid pro quo?
—Carol Nelson, Bigfork
Reporting with compassion
Mental health issues are around us in our families, workplaces and elsewhere in our community. It is a subject in which there are many conditions and aspects that affect us.
Yes, it is newsworthy, however, I think recent publications regarding those who are afflicted might have been reported with a lot more sensitivity and compassion. The reporters do their duty to report the facts, but I think it could be reported a bit more humanely and not so sensationalized “National Inquirer”-like. I’m not saying the reporting should be sugar coated or censored, just place it inside the pages and lose the large type headlines if you must report. Lose some of the less-important details. If I really want to know about the scenario of the event, I’ll do my own research. Some reporting recently is painful to read; that is my choice to read it or not.
I would hope that when the time comes to report an event involving a reporter and that reporter’s family, that sensitivity and compassion is exercised in that instance.
—Skeeter Johnston, Whitefish
Self-imposed pollution
On my way home from work today, I counted five different burn piles at various locations in the neighborhood of Foys Lake. This despite a “no burning” restriction for the entire day.
The mountains around where I live are shrouded in smoke, and my eyes burned as I walked my dogs in my neighborhood. Please people, pay attention! Go online or call before you burn. I for one am sick and tired of all this self-imposed air pollution!
Go here to find out when and when you cannot burn, or better yet, just look out your window...jeesh!
—Sheli Thomas, Kalispell