Letters to the editor May 23

Conservative values

Those enlightened voters who want to preserve and protect Montana values need to vote for Speaker of the House Matt Regier for state Senate District 5.  

Matt has devoted more than a decade to defending conservative Montana values in the political arena. He is a young man of integrity, charisma and compassion who has worked diligently to protect taxpayers, the unborn, young people and retirees on fixed incomes. 

In contrast, his opponent — a carpetbagger supported by the wealthy elite — has done nothing for the sovereign people of Montana. I urge you  to support Speaker Matt Regier for Senate District 5.

— Sen. John Fuller, R-Kalispell

Curious claims

I’d like to thank Daily Inter Lake News Editor Derrick Perkins for continuing to pursue the facts related to Rep. Ryan Zinke’s curious claims about one OR maybe two immigrant families who may OR may not have encountered the Flathead Sheriff on May 1 OR May 2, and who were sent here by either Gov. Greg Abbott OR President Joe Biden, then given refuge by either a good-Samaritan group OR a dark-money cabal, and who either had no documentation OR were never asked to present it.

It’s obvious Mr. Zinke is hell-bent on preserving The Last Best Place for the last best people. So that begs the question, why does he still refuse to live here?

 Perhaps he secretly feels Santa Barbara is his last best place? And perhaps he secretly feels that Santa Barbarans are his last best people? And if so, perhaps he’s better suited to represent Californians than Montanans?

— Greg Mueth, Creston

The best is yet to come

I am writing to recommend you vote for Rob Tracy for HD 11. I’ve known Rob for almost 20 years. Rob became a volunteer when I was chief of the Bigfork Fire Department. He was one you could always trust and count on at any hour of the day or time of year. He was enthusiastic, attended all training classes and became an emergency medical responder. He encouraged and recruited cadets from Bigfork High School to join the department who went on to become firefighters and EMTs.  

Rob helped orchestrate our annual Fourth of July barbecue fundraiser. He was the recipient of the Joe Nelson (founder of Bigfork Fire Department) award for that volunteer member who shows positive nature and goes the extra mile for friends, neighbors and fellow firefighters, a “premier volunteer, as one who offers themself for service or duty.”  

Rob went on to serve as transportation director for Bigfork School District. Since his retirement, he has joined Bigfork School District’s team of drivers to help fulfill the need to drive routes and activities.

I know of no other candidate who can serve Bigfork and surrounding communities better than Rob Tracy.

Please vote for Rob.

— Wayne Loeffler, Bigfork

Respect our wildlife

I found Warren Illi’s May 16 column “Handguns and bear spray” utterly offensive in his complete disregard of the very thing that is celebrated in our artwork, school mascots, in part, our identity as Montanans ... the grizzly. Our wildlife is a gift to be treasured and protected, not a nuisance to be dispatched for the comfort and convenience of an ever increasing population.

When these magnificent creatures “emerge from their dens and see the lush Flathead Valley,” they are peering down on their backyard, not yours, which no longer bears the open spaces for foraging the roots and berries on which they would traditionally feed. Their former feeding grounds are now covered with houses, all manner of fences, people, pets and trash.

If you don’t like grizzlies, you don’t have to live here.  You can go someplace they aren’t — like the apartment building Mr. Illi referenced, “a thousand miles away.”  

And, please don’t make excuses for carrying handguns into a national park or wilderness. One is just as likely to injure a bear with a gun as kill it and suffer the consequences of a frightened and now enraged and wounded creature. 

These animals value their lives as much as we value ours and are as equally interested in living peacefully as are we. They are not out to kill people but fear brings out the worst in people and in animals and like anyone who is startled and/or threatened, their instinct is going to be to defend themselves. 

We need to learn to live with and respect our wildlife and this land. We’re really going to miss them when they’re gone because when they go, we go.

— Kathryn Berg, Bigfork