Letters to the editor May 9
Sidewalk credit
Let’s give credit where credit is due.
A recent Daily Inter Lake article about the ground breaking for sidewalks in Evergreen gave credit to Rep. Tony Brockman for the funding of that project. That is not the actual story.
Rep. Brockman sponsored HB 472, which would have designated $1 million for Evergreen sidewalks. That bill died in committee. It took other legislators to put the sidewalk appropriation into a long-range building bill. The credit for Evergreen sidewalk funding should be shared with the legislators that voted for that bill.
— Sen. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell
The root cause
The writer of the May 6 letter “Undocumented humans” says we are misdirecting our anger.
I wish to set the record straight. I am not angry at the immigrants, I am angry with our government. The government’s job is to enforce the laws passed by Congress. Congress is the voice of the people. The executive branch is the law enforcement power. The executive is not enforcing our laws. This is the root cause of the problem.
The problem will not be solved until we get an executive that has some backbone, integrity and honesty. We do not need any more laws to solve the problem. And we cannot live peacefully or safely until we elect a new executive that will enforce the existing laws.
— William Fry, Kalispell
Burdens of in-migration
Complements to the Daily Inter Lake for scolding elected officials who tried to score political points over the arrival of a family (or is it two now?) from somewhere south of the border. “Bluster,” the editorial rightly called it: the shameless posturing, the hand-wringing and finger-pointing and fact-stretching that have replaced meaningful political discourse in recent years.
Yes, there is a border crisis, a real one, an immensely complex one, but one that could be alleviated if Congress and the administration would look beyond partisan political gains and together address the human need.
No one, it seems, is above exploiting the issue. But forget for now the rants of the shriller voices, such as Rep. Ryan Zinke and his goofy conspiracy theories, Mr. Irrelevant Rep. Matt Rosendale, and Flathead County Commissioner Randy Brodehl and his quaint idea of human kindness.
Instead, consider the concerns raised by Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino, who until now has seemed less inclined to be a zealot than the other three and seems to have genuine (although misplaced) concerns. His worries include escalating housing costs that put a heavy burden on his personnel, “under the table” employment that short-changes the public coffers, language barriers, and a vague, general sense that law enforcement and other public resources are being stressed.
It’s true that in-migration burdens Montana. But it is not the arrival of one or two families or even “a group” of impoverished immigrants that has caused the cost of housing to spiral out of reach of so many in the last few years. Blame that, honestly, on the arrival of thousands of perfectly legal immigrants who’ve come to Montana from all around us, from Texas and Florida, from California, Oregon and Washington, from Minnesota and Arizona and Nevada and God help us, even New York. Drive around. Look in any direction and you’ll see a vast apartment complex going up, houses being framed up, farmland converted to subdivisions.
Be honest: That’s what’s stressing your resources, Sheriff Heino; more people, more conflicts, more emergency calls, more folks of every stripe crowding parks and campgrounds and using public resources. It’s called growth, and apparently we all have to accommodate it.
It could be that some of that growth and the demand for workers has encouraged “under the table” employment, for which the sheriff faults undocumented immigrants who might be avoiding an array of taxes. But that would not be possible without unscrupulous employers who by hiring undocumented workers manage to avoid paying their share of taxes for Social Security and workers’ compensation and who avoid withholding state and federal income taxes as required by law. Go after them, Sheriff. They probably speak English.
As for the language barrier, yes, it’s inconvenient. These days, civil discourse in any language, especially political discourse, is rare and often involves raised voices. But it’s not illegal to speak Spanish in Montana (which, by the way, derives from the Spanish word montaña, meaning mountain). They don’t speak your language, you don’t speak theirs. A translation app on your cellphone is not perfect, but it might help.
— Dan Black, Kalispell
Sheehy’s ranch
I just saw an article concerning hunting on Mr. Sheehy’s Little Belt ranch. For just $12,500 you could enjoy a five-day archery hunt.
You wont have to worry about much hunting pressure because he doesnt support the FWP Block Management program. I think Ill pass.
— Lewis Moore, Rollins