Letters to the editor Oct. 8
School support
At a time when school budgets across Montana are stretched extremely thin, high school sports face unprecedented challenges, and community support for them becomes increasingly vital to their survival. We would like to highlight one particularly outstanding example of that support.
Kalispell’s Northern Pines Golf Club recently hosted the 2024 AA State Golf Championship. For three full days, Northern Pines welcomed 119 of the best golfers from 16 high schools across the state. While the event brought thousands of dollars to Kalispell’s hotels and restaurants, Northern Pines sacrificed thousands of dollars by closing their course to the public for a full-day practice round and two full days of tournament play.
But their generosity did not stop there. Northern Pines charged the participating schools nothing for the privilege of using their outstanding facilities. No greens fees. Free range balls. Free motor carts for the coaches to support their players around the course. And their entire staff could not have been more supportive.
Unlike most other high school sports, golf relies on use of facilities that do not belong to the school districts. Our local Kalispell courses (Northern Pines, home course for Glacier High; Buffalo Hill, home course for Flathead High, and Village Greens, host for the annual Crosstown Cup and Junior Golf Tour events) make our sport possible. So a huge and heartfelt thank you to them all for their many years of staunch support, and an especially loud shout out to Northern Pines and its staff for their incredible generosity and hospitality: Tom Clary, director of golf; Patrick Clary, head golf professional, Rich Nickerson, assistant golf professional, Joe Arriaga, general manager, and head superintendent Ryan Freidly.
— Jim Ness and Roy Antley, Glacier and Flathead Head Coaches; Jeff Sherrill and Phil Jackson, Glacier and Flathead assistant coaches; Mark Dennehy and Matt Allison, Glacier and Flathead activities directors
Against CI-128
Ah love, your magic spell is everywhere. The dignity of man, the beauty of woman, the innocence and subtlety of love ... and now this?
I’ve’ been watching the political ads saying that abortion is a very personal and private decision of the mother and the family, with no place for the government to intrude and tell them what to do. The ads emphasize the freedom of choice of the mother. But what about the freedom of choice of the child?
In most cases, the mother has made her choice to conceive the child. So now, unless the mother’s life is at risk, the voice and choice of the unborn child must be heard. Yes, there is a demographic not being considered in this election. Even though, admittedly, the child isn’t old enough to vote, I think I can speak on their behalf and say unequivocally that each and every unborn child would vote unanimously against abortion, against CI-128, and vote for life.
— Sharol Birks, Kalispell
A pretty face
Tim Sheehy will shake the dust of Montana off his shoes once he gets established in the Washington D.C. political scene. Us Montanans will be just glints in his rear-view mirror.
On the other hand, Sen. Jon Tester has been here for us and will still be here for us.
Please, don’t throw him out for a pretty face. Vote for Jon Tester.
— Elizabeth Mitchell, Livingston
VP debate
Aha, now we can see why Kamala Harris picked Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate. As demonstrated in the vice president debate, she didn’t want to have someone smarter than her or more articulate than her.
— Duane Egan, Columbia Falls