Letters to the editor June 7

Smashing success

The Bigfork Summer Playhouse has opened with “Crazy for You” and it’s easy to see why this Gershwin triumph ran for four years on Broadway and garnered three Tonys including best musical.

The playhouse cast is excited, Avital Asuleen’s brilliant choreography is snappy, and the inspired and pitch-perfect dancing of Jeff Gallup and Abby Scalici will quickly remind you of old movies with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

But don’t wait too long to get tickets. When the summer tourists hit the Flathead, this show will sell out quickly.

— Andy Palchak, Kalispell

Government efficiency

This is in response to Leland Walbruch’s letter in the May 21 Daily Inter Lake, in which he asks us to “honor the invaluable contributions of our nation’s public servants” and applauds the fact that the first week in May (an entire week!) has been designated “Public Service Recognition Week.”  

I don’t know Mr. Walbruch, nor his motivation, but I emphatically disagree with his blanket approval of all “public servants.”

Yes, without a shadow of doubt, we owe huge debts of gratitude to our law enforcement personnel, as well as to those at our fire departments, emergency services, teachers, road maintenance crews and the like.

However, my experiences with the “white collar” public servants at our state and national agencies frequently left much to be desired. On multiple occasions office phones remained unanswered, or offices were closed before 4 p.m, or staff failed to return voice mails, or failed to respond to emails, and one even told me that regulations allowed them 12 weeks to act on requests and, by golly, that’s exactly how long it took. I often wondered what the department heads were doing while so many of their staff were underperforming — maybe attending meetings, having business lunches and playing golf?

Contrary to Mr. Walbruch’s desire to laud every public servant, I believe we should develop a way to randomly check on the efficiency of government departments and the work ethics of those who are employed there. It should also include the ability to show the door to those who don’t put in a full day’s work.

— Colin Sellwood, Whitefish