Letters to the editor Jan. 30

Dear new residents

Welcome to our beautiful valley! I hope you are enjoying the wintery goodness here. Driveway ice skating is my kids’ current favorite activity, and watching the snow beautify the earth is mine.

As you adjust to the pace of life in our towns and farms I thought I would invite you to be true partners with keeping this place wonderful.

I don’t know what reasons you chose to move here, but I can guess that it had something to do with choosing a slower pace of life. To that end a considerable amount of quiet volunteer work happens. Our community is built by kind, generous, hardworking folks who want to support each. From school PTOs to volunteer coaches, as well as the majority or first responders are volunteer.

If you are lucky enough to work from home I hope that you also have some margin in your life to connect with the communities volunteer groups. The people running them are intelligent and passionate about gathering new ideas. A slower pace of life does not make us backwards or ignorant. If you came here and think that you need to change us, you have not taken the time to actually get to know us.

Making a true difference in this community is about building connections and having conversations. I hope you are making the time to build relationships in your new chosen home.

— Caitlin Mallery, Kalispell

All in this together

With the extraordinary stressors that we have today, many of us are circling the wagons and thinking of others as outsiders. Some politicians are all too willing to use this human tendency in order to put together a base of support and to keep it motivated.

Lately, I have been following the online public pages of our elected representatives. It is disheartening that most representatives follow partisan talking points and put up misleading arguments. People who comment follow suit, and the conversation is anything but civil.

In fact, people often urge those they disagree with to leave the state. Of course, this will not happen. We will all be living here for many years yet. How much better to understand each other’s ideas and experiences, and to work out solutions that we can all live with.

We must conclude that our representatives owe us a better presentation of ideas. We citizens owe more respect for their office in our comments — and we all owe one another a serious hearing. We need to understand how policies impact the lives of our neighbors — however different from us they may be — because we really are all in this together.

— Gail Trenfield, St. Ignatius

Fourth Estate and the library

Having begun and ended my newspaper career at the Inter Lake, (albeit as a paper boy), I believe the ongoing library kerfuffle offers some enterprising reporter an excellent chance at a Pulitzer. I for one am dying to know the answers to questions in the following areas:

Background and history. How was the library founded, what was its mission? How many patrons use it every year? How many physical books are housed? How much in budget percentage is provided by Flathead County Taxpayers? How many actual dollars is that? What percentage of the total County budget does that comprise? What does that work out to on a per taxpayer basis?

Policy and governance. Do the commissioners and the trustees agree with the mission of the library (according to its website): “Our job is to provide safe and fair access to books and information. With hands-on activities and experiences for all ages, we work to transform vision, dreams and desires into reality.”

What have the commissioners tasked the trustees with as objectives? What policy changes are under consideration? What role does the public have in these decisions? Ultimately, how should the organization be measured and how might we as citizens hold all of them accountable?

Politics. Is this an issue that will affect upcoming elections? If it continues to grow as a public debate, what are the political ramifications near and long-term? What prompted the initial book challenges? Did the books accidently fall into someone’s bookbag causing damage or harm when they were later discovered at home? If not, how did the complainants find out about the books, is this a locally or nationally instigated debate, are similar efforts going on more broadly in our state or nation, is this part of a bigger movement?

Legal. Is this truly a First Amendment issue? What are the expert opinions around obscenity laws? Does Montana’s Open Meeting law apply to public officials in this matter in any way? Are there legal implications associated with book or staff selection decisions, policy changes etc.? What if any legal risks might taxpayers assume?

I am not in any way criticizing the coverage by the press to date, but we the public, depend on it to ask the questions that we can’t so we can make informed decisions. In addition to potentially winning a Pulitzer, covering this issue in more detail might sell more papers, supporting the next generation of paper delivery professionals. Also, I propose that the movie rights and royalties be split between the intrepid reporters, the library and any quilters I may have accidently offended in an effort to get a laugh.

— Bob Lopp Jr., Kalispell