Letters to the editor Dec. 27

Election integrity committee

In the Christmas edition of the Daily Inter Lake, the front page headlines with the GOP forming an election integrity committee, with four members from the GOP and two Democrats. On page A6 one can find coverage of the final report of the Jan. 6 commission. Read the report and watch the hearings.

Former president Trump can question the results of the election and pursue legal means to do so. He filed more than 60 lawsuits which were all meritless. Efforts beyond these court cases are illegal and have been fueled not only by Trump, but his GOP colleagues.

The persistent lies and deceptions normalize this behavior. We can not tolerate this erosion of our democracy.

I feel that our state legislators should focus on the needs of Montana, and not feed the perpetuation of unsupported claims of election fraud. If an election integrity committee is necessary in our state, it should be nonpartisan.  

— Karl Oehrtman, Kalispell

Keep Montana Scrappy

It used to be to live in Montana you really had to want to live in Montana. You had to be scrappy to make it work. The saying used to be, "Montana has so many jobs, I have three of them." With the advent of teleworking, it's not so necessary to have three jobs to get by to live the dream life in Montana.

It used to be if you wanted to "get out there," you had to be tough and scrappy. The trails were left to those who could climb every mountain, who could read a map. With the advent of trail-finder apps and GPS, anyone can go out there, and if they get lost, make a phone call, hitch a ride with our search and rescue and come home unscathed.

Now a purposed tram up Columbia Mountain! Absurd. Don't turn Montana over to the softies. With this cold snap, there were a lot of warnings to the watchers of "Yellowstone": "Thinking of moving here? This is what it's really like" with a list of the subzero temps from around our state.

What's next? "Thinking of moving here?" with a picture of a "hiker" sipping a mimosa while riding the tram up the hill side? I don't think so. Keep Montana Scrappy.

— Gretchen Brown, Kalispell