Letters to the editor Dec. 14

Grateful for care

A year ago this month I was diagnosed with inoperable Stage 3 pancreatic cancer according to the doctors. The best of people walked into my life. The oncology nurses at Logan Health are simply amazing. This note is for them and a reminder to our community there are angels that live among us.

You probably don’t remember every patient, but I’ll never forget you.

I remember:

The way you smiled with your eyes above the mask when I was terrified.

The quiet “You’ve got this” before each push of chemo.

The extra blanket you brought without me asking.

You didn’t just start IVs.

You carried hope when I had none.

You fought for me when I was too weak to fight.

You saw me — not just the chart, not just the cancer.

Because of you:

I rang the bell.

I get to hug my wife, kids and grandkids again.

You gave me courage to seek a second opinion and the inoperable became operable.

I woke up cancer-free this morning.

I’m praying for you.

For rest after long shifts,

For strength when the days are heavy,

For joy that overflows into every room you enter.

You are seen. You are loved.

You are irreplaceable.

You make a difference that impacts more people than you can ever imagine.

With grateful hearts,

— Chris Baker, Columbia Falls

Fix Our Forests Act

First of all, where was Steve Gunderson’s letter (It’s time to fix our forests, Nov. 30) when DOGE was tearing apart the federal land management agencies and the impacts to the fire organizations in particular? I think that kind of makes him like the neighbor that didn’t care. Hypocrisy maybe?

I guess my first question is, when did the agencies start needing a permit to suppress a fire? I spent 45 fire seasons with the Forest Service and never had to get a permit to suppress a fire. So, Steve needs to clarify what he means.

If I am not mistaken the agencies already have the authority to use prescribed fire. The agencies also have the authority to plant after a fire. So I don’t understand what is inferred.

Montana is fortunate to have a firefighter (Tim Sheehy) in the Senate. Maybe in the loose interpretation, he is a pilot who flies water scoopers. As far as I can determine he has never actually been an on the ground firefighter, but has appointed himself an expert in the field. That would be like me claiming to be an expert in the air tanker industry because I ordered a retardant drop. Or I played a video game and now can be a Navy SEAL.

Fix Our Forests Act is getting a lot of press from folks like Mr. Gunderson who have no idea what the actual impacts will be. The devil is in the details, but I am sure the air tanker industry is happy with what our Montana firefighter is promoting. No one has indicated what Fix Our Forests Act is going to cost the American taxpayer as the wheel gets reinvented. In the interest of brevity, I will leave it there.

Perhaps Mr. Gunderson should stick with those things where he is an expert, like putting an open cut gravel pit in your neighbor’s yard or defending a Canadian mining company as they dump selenium into the Elk River and then the Kootenai and Lake Koocanusa. 

— Jay Adams, Libby