Letters to the editor Dec. 26

Doom and gloom

The GOP has gone from representing America as a “shining city on a hill” to relentless doom and gloom.  Inflation! Recession! Immigration! Crime!  

But the do-nothing Republicans in Congress don’t want to improve anything, they just want “issues” with which to cudgel their opponents.

If they really wanted to solve overwhelming immigration, why didn’t they do so when they had all the power? When Democrats offer immigration reform negotiations, what do they do? Run away like Ted Cruz on a Cancun vacation!

 Currently inflation is under control, recession is not imminent, the stock market has hit record highs while gas prices and crime rates are going down.

The disgraced former president wishfully foretells, with all evidence pointing to the contrary, that Biden will bring a “depression the likes of which we’ve never seen!” In 2021 Biden faced an unheeded pandemic, a world no longer trusting in America’s democracy, and a country reeling from an ongoing attempted coup and the big lie of election denial. The only way to stop this chaotic nonsense is to turn our collective back on those who enable and promote autocracy over democracy.

Doom and gloom is just plain dumb and glum.

— Wanda LaCroix, Missoula

In support of hydropower

I saw the Daily Inter Lake’s article about Flathead Electric Cooperative’s stance on the Snake River dams. I completely support everything they have stated and personally know the fight they have waged.

I am a proud native of Libby. My parents and many people I know live in that part of this great state. This proposal, treaty and law will make a huge difference in how many people live in Northwest Montana.

It is very apparent that cheap hydropower is not an important topic in the Biden administration; in fact I fully believe he has no idea what he is signing.

This topic will start with the lower Snake River dams, then move east. Hungry Horse Dam will be next, then Fort Peck Dam east of Glasgow.

Under the guise of “fish recovery” the Fort Peck Dam will have to deal with salmon, and sturgeon as their topic and excuse to remove it.

I wonder how and why more people were not angrier about this topic? 

I am a firm believer that even “the one” voice can make a difference, as I communicate with my parents, friends and mentors in the Libby area.Every communication I had was met with excuses, or complaining about the topic, yet no personal action taken.Why?

Every person who read the article from the Daily Inter Lake and saw the fight the Montana Electric Cooperative’s Association was putting on, should have made a stand.

Easy to complain, harder to solve. In fact, a good friend of mine in Libby once told me at the plywood plant many years ago, it’s all about 90% planning and 10% doing.

Yes, Bruce Foss, I remember and will never forget this very important statement, which is very true.

So, what are the plans for anyone that this article does reach? What is your 90% planning going to produce and what is your 10% doing?

What are you going to do?

Yes, I am in the northeast corner of the state and running an Electric Cooperative, so why does this concern me?

It concerns me because it affects people. People I care about cannot afford to pay two, three or even four times the rates they are paying now for energy.

The dams go away, and what goes in their place? Wind, solar or some other idiotic installation, all in the name of taking out a huge renewable source of energy.

For some reason this does not compute for me.

Time to stand up and be heard, in any way you can find, and be a voice of reason.

— Scott Westlund is general manager of  the Sheridan Electric Cooperative in Medicine Lake