Letters to the editor Aug. 22

Retirement is an option

You don’t have to be a retired neurologist like me to know that elderly folks aren’t as sharp and energetic as people in their 50s, the average age to become president. A majority of Americans decided long ago that Joe Biden and Donald Trump were both too old. Trump is the oldest presidential nominee in history, is overweight and doesn’t exercise much. A recent coronary CT scan ominously revealed heart disease, according to CNN.  

Is Trump running to continue a long career in public life? Trump avoided Vietnam due to heel spurs, and weirdly was the first president with zero prior experience in public service, so that’s not likely. Does he understand that being president should be the world’s most exhausting job and carries risk? He confuses Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi; Biden with Obama; and fiction with reality in his long, rambling  speeches and interviews, so maybe he actually can’t understand. 

Simply retiring to Mar-a-Lago with his trophy wife to chase golf balls and other women would still be legally risky. If Trump becomes president again, perhaps he’ll abuse the office to avoid prison. He should instead seriously consider fleeing to Abu Dhabi, like former Spanish King Juan Carlos did after his tax fraud and extramarital affair case. The wanna-be king and disgraced king have so much in common they could be buddies! How much better to cower in Abu Dubai than to wear an orange jump suit. The desert heat might also help his heel spurs.  

-- Jerome Walker, Missoula

Keep up the fight

Excellent letter, JoAnn Vitovec. Excellent letter to the editor (“Wildlife crossing,” Aug. 1). I, for one, appreciate you having taken the time to express your concern for our precious wildlife. Trying to encourage drivers, whether it be newcomers or locals, to drive in a more cautious, slower manner, is a real challenge. Years ago, most people did adhere to the posted speed limits and most people were usually driving with the utmost care. However, those days, sadly, seem to be something of the past, especially in areas known for wildlife attempting to cross the roads. 

Woodland Avenue has always been an area where deer are almost always seen darting across the road. And now, with more foreign traffic on the roadway, it would be simply awesome for our road department to post more signs in specific areas where wildlife are often present. However, that is often scoffed at. I know, because I, too, have begged and begged for signs to be posted on Columbia Falls Stage Road where McWenneger Slough exists.  

So many critters try to cross in the posted 35 mph zone from the slough to the huge field to the east. Many are slaughtered by drivers speeding through the area without the least bit of concern or regard for anything that lives, trying to cross.   

Besides speaking with the county commissioner for the area and the Flathead County Road Department, I have even called the local office for Sen. Jon Tester with my pleas for some kind of signs. Anything to maybe, just maybe, get some of these lead-foot drivers to observe the 35 mph posted signs ... and to perhaps drive with utmost caution in this specific area.  

Like you, my attempts have gone by the wayside. I have been told from some that signs don’t work and that people don’t care. How sad that we’ve come to that especially here in our state known for its many species of wildlife. However, I will continue to strive towards achieving my goal of getting something done.  

Good luck to you and thank you for your special concern, and also for doing your best to create your own sign to somehow, some way, save more of these beautiful animals given to us by our creator.  

--Brenda Anderson, Columbia Falls