Letters to the editor Feb. 20

Toxic leadership

No leadership course can redeem the library board members; they are toxic. Putting lipstick on a pig still doesn’t change the fact it is a pig and neither will a crash course in leadership for this board.

Commissioners must demand all of their resignations before any further damage results to ImagineIf. Taxpayers voted for commissioners who would serve as fiscally responsible officials.

Doug Adams thinks turning $30,000 away from a resource which is not the Flathead County taxpayer is all wrong. He will ask commissioners to provide the lost $30,000 meaning “us” the taxpayer. How can Commissioners be responsible fiscally to “us” by doing this?

Unable to find a qualified director, this library board settled for one who doesn’t even have a BA degree. To assume this position is equivalent to an office manager only serves to illustrate the total lack of understanding this board has of how a library system runs. There is a reason an advanced degree is required; almost every library in the other counties in this state know this.

Other Flathead county boards who could not initially find a qualified candidate did not throw up their hands and lower the qualifications of the position. They studied what other Montana counties were providing salary and compensation wise. Not this board, they can’t even follow practices of our other county boards facing similar employee search issues.

This is not about agreeing or disagreeing with a board’s decisions; it’s about removing a board that has lost its way, unable to function without harming the patient. Businesses moving here want educated, qualified workers - why would our county want less? Commissioners must step forward to fiscally protect taxpayers and the library asset from a board myriad in political agendas instead of responsibility and service to taxpayers. Remove them all now.

— Karlene Khor, Kalispell

Backward or forward?

This past year has been challenging to say the least. If we painted a watercolor of our experiences, would it be with a broad brush or a narrow one? Is that our thought process also? Are we better off today or are we wandering around in our homes out of fear? The main topic of discussion for most has been Covid, mandates and vaccines.

Over a year ago in a submitted letter, I thought our election was all about democracy versus socialism, not Republican versus Democrat. Have our blinders been on for decades while our freedoms have been slipping away slowly before our eyes? Are we going backward in time or advancing forward as leaders of the free world? Or are we leading any longer or falling behind?

We can all agree we are blessed to be Americans and thus far, able to use our First Amendment right for free speech. What is in the best interest of our children, grandchildren and we the people? So many of us are afraid to express ourselves for fear of offending friends and family because we have opposite points of view. With open minds, let us compare which is better for our family and our country:

Inflation OR Affordability

Open Borders OR Legal Entry

Mask Mandate OR Freedom to Choose

Censorship OR Free Speech

Abortion OR Adoption

EUA Vaccines OR Proven Therapeutics

Drop Boxes OR Signature Verification

Product Shortage OR Surplus

Mass Psychosis Or Independent Thought

Feed the Addiction OR Treat the Illness

Gas lighting OR Informing

War OR Peace through Strength

Defund the Police OR Support Lawmakers

We must contact our elected representatives to ensure Montana has fair elections, requiring signature verification. A movie produced by Dinesh D’Souza is coming out this spring called “2000 Mules.” This movie is enlightening, and it is our American right and duty to stay informed.

— Bette Vinson, Kalispell

Statistics

As I read the letter from Ms. Farr I was kind of wondering what was the point of her letter? Maybe she went to the same statistics class I attended years ago where the first day the professor said “Statistics is the art of making numbers say whatever you want them to say” Ms. Farr obviously took that to heart.

So unless Covid is the only reason for an individual’s demise that is the only statistic that matters. So if a person happens to have an underlying health condition, ie heart, diabetes, cancer etc. and they contract Covid and pass away it was not because of Covid. Am I the only one that sees the idiocy in that way of thinking?

What if I am a diabetic, step off the curb and are hit and killed by a car. What killed me? The car or diabetes?

—Jay Adams, Libby