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Letters to the editor April 25

| April 25, 2024 12:00 AM

Support the Evergreen levy

Our March membership High Noon luncheon highlighted the Evergreen Fire District with Chief Craig Williams bringing us up to date on what is happening in the district and the challenges being faced in Emergency Services.  

Here in Evergreen those challenges are several fold in the post-pandemic world.  

For example, with Logan Health now doing the majority of their inter-facility transports a large funding source for Evergreen Fire was lost, in fact those numbers reflect hundreds of thousands of dollars no longer coming into the district, dollars that had been used to compensate personnel. Other outside funding options have also decreased, all while day-to-day operational expensed continue to rise.

Evergreen Fire responded to 2,314 incidents in 2023, a number that has been increasing annually — this is not a time to be faced with staff reductions as the increase in call numbers will continue.   

Your Evergreen Chamber believes that it is important that all residents and business owners in Evergreen be knowledgeable when it comes to who provides emergency services and how that Service comes to you. One sure thing is that a timely and well-staffed response is critical when it comes to lives saved and property protected.

We encourage you to take the time to learn about your Evergreen Fire District and how emergency services come to you when you dial 911.  

The district is asking for the community’s support by voting for the upcoming levy request. Further information can be found at evergreenfire.org.  

For the overall betterment of our Evergreen community — our health, welfare and safety, this support of Evergreen Fire Rescue is important. None of us want to pay more in taxes, however, this small tax increase will bring substantial benefits to not only Evergreen but to the surrounding areas as well.  

Take the time to learn more before you vote by May 7, 2024. After examining the circumstances that have resulted in a real financial short-fall, we strongly encourage your support for this levy. Please vote yes.

— Connie M. McCubbins, Executive Director, Evergreen Chamber of Commerce

Free will

One would think that a nation and its people who just celebrated Easter would have some clue about what that recognition entails. Or not. Maybe it is all about ham, candy and bunnies rather than proof of an afterlife and a judgment to come. 

It seems Arizonans in 1864 knew the difference. Perhaps something former President Trump, the Democratic Party, the Montana Supreme Court, Planned Parenthood, the Trial Lawyers Association, the AMA, the MMA, the ANA, and a host of others should keep in mind. 

A certain group of gentlemen in the Flathead valley would also do well to remember it, as they attempt to rid the Legislature of those elected who know that difference and stand up against the destruction of innocent human life, permanently maiming children because of faddism, and inflicting sexual turmoil upon the youngest generation by altering the primary process to achieve “compromise.”

Free will is only the ability to choose to do good or evil, not the ability to determine them. That ain’t up for a vote; it has already been decided for us.

— Michael Boharski, Kalispell