Letters to the editor May 30

Hospital communication

Something lost in the current community discussion about the crisis at KRH/Logan Health is the nature of communication between Logan Health, the nurses who have banded together, and the Flathead community at large.

It is unfortunate that many in our community don’t realize that the voice speaking for KRH/Logan Health, through their full-page ads for example, is largely the voice of one person, Logan Health CEO Craig Lambrect. The whole point of forming a collective bargaining arrangement, as these nurses have, is to join many voices as one to address a common issue at KRH/Logan Health that both relies on and supports the community. Back and forth conversation is a way of holding all parties accountable and helping each other through today’s health-care maze.

As a member of the community, it’s frustrating to see repeated “communications” from Lambrect that are actually more like advertisements than a hand, extended for discussion like we see in the letters to the editor sections between doctors, nurses and the community. I wonder how the rest of leadership at Logan Health feels about their company’s inability to negotiate in good faith.

As members of the community, it would be nice to know that the many individuals that make up Logan Health leadership can work together with the nurses (both union and non-union), and our community to create the future of health care together.

—Jay Cummings, Somers

Enforcement at Blankenship

I read with interest the May 23 editorial “Forest Service decision on Blankenship camping shortsighted,” but was disappointed to see that neither the Daily Inter Lake nor the Flathead National Forest referenced the current camping regulations for Blankenship.

Per the current regulations dated 2015 (but the requirements go back nearly two decades), a fire pan or fire blanket are required at Blankenship SW, as is the requirement that “solid human waste must be self-contained and packed out to an approved disposal site during overnight stays at locations without public toilet facilities.” Finally, there is a three-night stay limit at this location.

The issues at this site are not due to the presence of people, but due to people not following the rules for fires, waste and the stay limit; and due to the Forest Service not enforcing their own current regulations. This site can be used and enjoyed for ethical dispersed camping, but this is not happening.

Both the North Fork Flathead and Middle Fork Flathead and their confluence are listed under the National Wild and Scenic Rivers designation, but in fact neither of these sections is designated as “wild” or “scenic,” but rather “recreational”.

Education is good, and the majority of people should comply. Please Forest Supervisor Steele, write some tickets to the people who ignore the regulations and education, and who willingly trash this place for everyone else.

Shortsighted is the public failing to read up on the regulations currently on the books, the Inter Lake not investigating or reporting those regulations, and the Forest Service not enforcing them.

—Shawn Baker, Kalispell

The church and public policy

Say what? The op-ed penned by Dick Pence (Conservative church needs to engage in political issues, May 23) begs the question: Where in the world has the good pastor been for the past half century? Certainly not in the USA, where conservative Christian ministers and their followers in countless evangelical congregations have had a profound effect on public policy and the election of ultra-conservative politicians.

Is Pastor Pence ignorant of the Reverend Jerry Falwell’s “moral majority” movement and its significant influence on politics in this country, including a decisive role in the election of Ronald Reagan to the presidency, among other victories for religious conservatives since the late 1970s?

Doesn’t he recognize the fact that Donald Trump would not have been elected in 2016 without the support of 75 percent of conservative Christian voters? Is he oblivious to the annual prayer breakfasts in Washington, D.C. for elected leaders – an activity many contend is in clear violation of the constitutional principle of the separation of church and state?

Can he seriously look at the controversial legislation authored by conservative members of the recent Montana Legislature and not see the heavy hand of conservative churches at play?

Pastor Pence should count his blessings. Much of what he claims is not happening is actually fruit in full flower. Clearly, he and others of his ilk will not be content until the U.S. ceases to be a secular nation and becomes something akin to a theocrasy serving his sect’s beliefs. Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, Jr. will be happy. Will you?

—Mark Holston, Kalispell

Flag protocol

Senator Daines,

I am having a very hard time trying to understand why the Black Lives Matter flag is being flown over our embassies around the world. Who is authorizing this?

The only flag to be flown over any of our embassies should be the “Stars and Stripes” in recognition of the sovereignty of our nation, the United States of America. It is imperative that you, Senator Daines, take immediate action to set this right.

—James Malone, Kalispell