Letters to the editor Sept. 26

Ballot ‘error’

Everyone who has worked in sensitive government positions or for sophisticated contractors knows that “huge” mistakes simply don’t happen. 

Omitting the name of a top presidential candidate from such a short list is not a mistake. It was intentional. I know because for nearly 20 years I worked alongside numerous county auditors and two secretaries of state in Washington. Ballots are typically checked by at least four sets of eyes: staff, any contractor staff and all candidates campaigns. Internally, at the staff level, it is not uncommon to have several teams review all ballots and disbursement procedures.

So, for Montana Secretary of State Jacobsen’s office to not identify it as an error or for Secretary of State candidate Jesse Mullen to call it a “gross error” is simply incorrect. Such events are intentional. If a software system uploads something incorrectly it does so completely, it cannot arbitrarily omit a single candidate’s name. 

No error here, only voter fraud by a very unqualified and highly partisan public official. Shameful!

— Pat Malone, Columbia Falls

CFAC cleanup

I was able to attend the most recent Coalition for a Clean CFAC on Sept. 18. My wife and I have been able to attend most of the Coalition meetings but also most of the public informational meetings that have been held within the past year in regard to the cleanup of the toxic residue of our residual aluminum plant site. We were not able to attend the most recent meeting of the Columbia Falls City Council.

We are grateful for the patient explanations of alternatives by various parties. However, at a relatively early stage of discussions over the past year or so, the alternatives seemed to boil down to transporting toxic materials from the site to an Oregon site (either by truck or train) or containing the toxic materials on site (in a capped enclosure surrounded by a slurry wall).

We are convinced that transporting these materials away compounds certain problems and is not practical for a variety of technical reasons that have been adequately explained. But there does appear to be an on-site alternative to the slurry wall solution that has been employed at some other sites for longer than the slurry wall solution. While more expensive, this alternative has at least the possibility if not the likelihood of being a technological solution of greater and more assured permanence. That is worth continuing investigation.

It is clear that public interest is not waning in this compelling issue as there were 40 people in attendance in which Coalition leaders and technical advisor, Karmen King, presented their most recent researched information before encouraging community members to engage in focused conversation.

We are gratified that EPA has provided an independent liaison to our community regarding the decision-making process EPA uses and how factors are or may be weighed as the decision moves forward. That person appears to be a keen listener, albeit not one who will engage in any way in a final decision. It has been in some ways a rather thankless and tiring task the Coalition has undertaken but citizens are taking note and are engaged as well as appreciative.

— Larry D. Williams, Columbia Falls

Protect babies

We sing God Bless America without realizing that CI-128 is on the Montana ballot this year to create a constitutional right to abortion for all nine months of pregnancy.  

This is called health care. Don’t be fooled. In the case of an unwanted baby, there are three people involved. The solution is not to kill the innocent person.  

Jeremiah 1:5 confirms that life begins at conception; … “before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I consecrated you.”

Other options such as adoption are available. Our constitutional republic is based on our belief that life is our first and greatest right. We believe that morally we should take care of people who can’t take care of themselves, refuse to work or even commit a crime.  

Vote no on CI-128 to protect babies.

— Verdell Jackson, Kalispell

Moses of the Senate

The battle for the Senate is about more than just the two men in the race. This competition is about you. It’s about how the economy has improved in the last 60 days. How food cost escalation has toned-down. How inflation and interest rates have curtailed. It’s about the reality that you are truly better off than you have been in the past.  

Still, Montana and America are facing ever increasing challenges. Is this candidly the time for a newbie in the Senate? 

In these times of discord in the House and Senate might it be better for you to have a statesman in our camp with rank, tenure and seniority? A legislator who understands how to trek through the dry desert of Capitol Hill. Someone who knows all the oasis’ that bring both sides of the aisle together at the watering hole of consensus.  

Sen. Jon Tester is that sage Moses of the U.S. Senate. He is a true man for Montana. Ask yourself this — isn’t it better for you to have a Senator in your camp with wisdom, power, and influence?

— Mike Mace, Missoula