Letters to the editor Sept. 20

Treasurer’s office ‘too busy’ to help

It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.

Elected officials set the values for our community. I have watched the valley grow since my 1990 home purchase. The Flathead has turned into a place that has lost a warm kindness that once existed here. We could use more “nice” in the Flathead.

Mistakenly, I overpaid my tax bill. The county Treasurer’s Office assistant informed me the office was too busy to accommodate overpayment. They can’t refund an overpayment? I am wondering what the treasurer is so busy doing that she cannot find time to help taxpayers. I can’t believe I heard this!

Did you know when you vote for an elected official, no one oversees their work? What a surprise to learn that Flathead County Treasurer Adele Krantz dictates her office practices with no recourse for her decisions. Red tape costs taxpayers money. I contacted the commissioners, the Montana Department of Revenue, the governor’s office, the attorney general’s office, the Flathead administrator, and the county attorney. What an incredible waste of taxpayers' money. You are paying for this.

I have taken time from these officials to assist with an overpayment. To no avail, I have not achieved assistance for my overpayment. I have been informed that no one can intervene with an elected official's decision.

Voting is important. Did you vote for Krantz? Why? I thought elected officials were supposed to help constituents.

I will be paying more attention to votes for the county treasurer in the upcoming election. I hope you will too.

We can make the Flathead a better place to live by electing officials who want to make this a better place. Officials who are kind and fair, and not “too busy” to help the citizens of the Flathead.

It’s more important to be nice.

­— Cheryl Boksenbaum, Whitefish

Litterbugs

Where has the respect gone with the citizens of this town? When did it become acceptable to leave trash in parking lots, litter at schools, and throw our trash out of cars into the streets?

Who has dropped the ball at teaching respect for our surroundings and homes?

I have been picking up bags of trash in the parking lot on the corner of 17th Street and First Avenue West for over a year. Razor blades, needles, used condoms, miscellaneous food trash, cans, water bottles, etc. It has been a never-ending cycle.

Why, you might ask? Because I don’t want to see it when I look out my office window and I have pride for my community.

Yesterday I took a stroll through Legends Stadium. I was horrified at the amount of trash throughout the stadium. Oh, there are trash cans, but apparently, many folks don’t know what they are intended for.

Why don’t all of us feel and understand that as decent human beings, we need to take accountability for ourselves? We need to teach our children to not litter but to use a designated trash can. I am dumbfounded at the blatant lack of respect.

If anyone has the answer, please feel free to share.

— Leslie Brown, Kalispell

Events overlooked

I wish the Daily Inter Lake had better coverage of meaningful events going on in the Flathead Valley. I have watched many wonderful events come and go with little or no attention paid to them.

Last weekend is a perfect example of this. The Flathead Celtic Festival is an amazing gathering with vendors and competitors from all over the northwest region. There were Irish dancers, Celtic game participants, musicians, and much more.

That same night at the fairgrounds there was an amazing fight production put on by Hard Knocks Boxing. There were several professional fights and thousands of people in attendance.

Neither of these events was written up in the paper.

There was much coverage of the local football games, including pictures of both boys and girls football teams, but there was no mention of the Celtic Festival or the boxing promotion which brought thousands upon thousands of dollars into local coffers.

I hope that the events that are bringing this community together and adding to our local economy will begin to get coverage by the Daily Inter Lake.

— Thomas Gutschenritter, Kalispell