Letters to the editor Oct. 2

An outrageous response

Seriously, the federal government is punishing our medical first responders by threatening them with the loss of their jobs if they cannot prove they have been vaccinated. Actually they are already being fired.

These unselfish, self-sacrificing people were on the front lines since the pandemic began, risking their health and lives and that of their families to help those who became infected with Covid. No one knows the countless number of lives they saved nor the first responders’ lives lost in doing so.

And the response of our government is to fire them? This is so outrageous and totally unacceptable.

Data has evidenced that those individuals with antibodies may very well be more protected than those who have received the vaccine, yet that is not even being recognized or considered in the governments dictates. When are we going to say enough is enough?

Let the health officials advocate what’s best and not the politicians who are trying to control the citizenship with absurd rules and regulations.

—Lyn Mogolis, Bigfork

Same-day voting

In response to Montana Federation of Public Employees lawsuit regarding same-day voting. First, I would support same-day voting only if the following rules were met.

First, show proof of U.S. citizenship. Second , prove you are a valid resident of Montana. Under the current Montana constitution these are valid requirements. This is not an unreasonable request from the real voters in Montana that want a safe, secure voting system.

Us real citizens want a safe, secure voting system. We will not tolerate, a socialist, Marxist system where anyone considered an illegal immigrant can vote. Notice I said illegal versus undocumented? Gee, let’s think!

—Steve Allen, Kalispell

Drama county

Thank you for your article about the resignation of a health care official here in Sanders County. As a resident of that county, and based on your article I think it’s time for a name change for the county. The new name? Drama Queen County.

—John Marshall, Hot Springs

Anti-science views

In the recent opinion letter by Rep. Amy Regier, R-Kalispell, she revealed a lack of fitness to govern, let alone be a registered nurse.

Rep. Regier is using her elevated platform to promote dangerous actions on the public. She calls her views critical thinking. Instead, supporting parents to place a child in public school without proper masking is a critical hazard increasing the risk of this deadly viral infection spreading to all children and staff.

CDC guidelines are evidence-based: If you are not fully vaccinated and aged 2 or older, you should wear a mask in indoor public places. (That includes schools.) In areas with high numbers of Covid cases, consider wearing a mask in crowded outdoor settings and for activities with close contact with others who are not fully vaccinated. (Only 44% of locals are immunized.)

Flathead Valley qualifies as a high-risk location with our hospitals over-flowing with numerous ventilator patients. Crisis care standards are next - when patient care volume can no longer be met and patients most likely to survive are treated but others allowed to die.

This is a pandemic. This is a crisis. This is not a hoax. It’s time for our legislators and governor to protect everyone from the deadly virus by instituting mask and vaccine mandates. What is it the unvaccinated don’t understand when 674,000 Americans have died of Covid? What don’t they understand when over 95% of Covid ICU patients are unvaccinated? What don’t they understand when billions of people have been safely vaccinated?

Anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers do not have the right to impose their anti-science views on the public. It’s time to remove Republicans from office.

—Betty Kuffel, Whitefish

Held hostage

Yes, thanks to the Biden Administration’s American Rescue Plan Act our Montana legislators passed HB632 enabling billions of dollars to funnel into our state. We are told they had to vote yes or lose the money. So let’s get this straight. We The People must sacrifice the Covid manipulations of “control” and “compliance” in exchange for numerous better ways of life in Montana.

Let’s examine the appropriated funds for these much-needed millions upon millions of improvement dollars as cited in HB632: $462,689,925 for water and sewer infrastructure projects; $275,000,000 for communications; $150,000,000 for economic transformation, stabilization and workforce development; $213,859,768 for housing programs; $365,595,000 for public health and human services; $391,260,656 for education. No worries, grants associated with many of these appropriations are just taxpayer funded money to begin with.

There’s even $944,721 allocated to the judicial branch to support court operations impacted by Covid.

Are you feeling liberated in Montana by the pandemic-caused $1.8 billion funding? Are you content to be a hostage of the American Rescue Plan Act?

—Kathleen Hassan, Trout Creek