Letters to the editor June 27
Overflowing garbage
The overflowing garbage from every garbage container in Whitefish is pathetic.
People try to do the right thing by putting garbage in the containers — but they don’t get emptied frequently enough—- or maybe not at all.
Sunday morning (June 26) on a walk to the coffee shop, garbage was everywhere — spewing over the top of long overfilled garbage containers. What message does that send to visitors? What message does that send to city of Whitefish taxpayers — are we not already paying a crap load of taxes? This is pathetic.
The Whitefish mayor and all of the officials of this town should be disgusted. I know I am! A couple of guys (or gals) in a pickup could/should make a route of all the garbage containers every morning, before our tourists come downtown to pay for all the inflated prices on goods and foods.
What the what is wrong with this beautiful place? What the what is wrong with our city leaders.
Pick up the garbage.
— Randy Decker, Whitefish
Free-market solution
Background checks, armed teachers, locked school doors, etc, etc, etc. This is nonsense.
We simply need to hold the manufacturer and sellers liable for their customer killing us.
Overnight, sales of military equipment to minors would grind to a halt. Not because of some unnecessary federal bureaucracy, but because of the free market.
Manufacturers and sellers will think twice about what they market. No different than the manufacturers and sellers of asbestos.
The world would be a safer place.
You are not safer because you own a more lethal weapon than me. If so, America would be the safest place in the world.
And my son would not be dead.
— Daren Moog, Helena
Invasive Species
There is a letter to the editor almost daily regarding all the people moving into Montana, specifically the Flathead, and how they are affecting our lives. The solution is simple, well maybe not simple because it would require the federal government and the state to do their job.
Executive Order 13112-1 signed by President Bill Clinton requires that a council of departments dealing with invasive species be created. The executive order is designed to prevent the introduction of invasive species and provide for their control and to minimize the economic, ecological, and human health impacts of that invasive species.
Furthermore, if one looks at the definition it defines in part; alien species, control, introduction, and species, which means a person who is not native to the State of Montana would be considered an invasive species (humans are considered a species, an organism, and an animal). This executive order does not differentiate between those from California, Oregon or any other state, it says species, and humans belong to the species Homo Sapiens.
I know what you are thinking, what about all the invasive species we currently have in the state. This is addressed by the Montana Invasive Species Council. On their webpage it states “Invasive species include plants, animals, and microorganisms that are nonnative to our ecosystem and cause harm to natural and cultural resources, the economy, and human health.”
So, between the federal government and the state of Montana they should be able to rectify the problem of all these invasive species moving into the state.
The state already has stations set up to check boats for Aquatic Invasive Species, so all they would have to do is check people coming into the state to determine if they are an indeed an invasive species.
— Daniel Smith, Fortine