Letters to the editor Feb. 25
Feeble responses
Just when I think it’s not possible for our elected representatives to get any more out of touch, I read the comments made by Gov. Greg Gianforte and Rep. Ryan Zinke in Sunday’s Inter Lake concerning the impacts of the mass firing of Forest Service employees on the Flathead National Forest.
Approximately 360 Forest Service employees in Montana including 40 on the Flathead and 48 on the Kootenai National Forest were sacked without warning via an email stating fraudulent reasons such as poor performance. These were good paying, permanent jobs with health and retirement benefits that accomplished needed work such as timber sale preparation, fuel reduction, weed spraying, trail and campground maintenance and fire fighting. Jobs like these are invaluable to the economic and social well-being of small communities like Hungry Horse, Bigfork, Eureka, Libby and Troy.
The unemployment rate in Lincoln County is the second highest in the state at 5.9% compared to a statewide average of 3.1%. In response, Gianforte said he’s “glad the Department of Government Efficiency is taking a look.”
Taking a look? That’s like discovering that deer you just shot was a doe and not a buck. Too late, once the jobs are gone, they’re gone since President Donald Trump has decreed only one job can be filled for every four eliminated.
Likewise, Zinke made the asinine statement that there were “a ton of fantastic job openings in Montana timber, construction, biosciences, agriculture, outdoor recreation and other industries,” for recently terminated federal workers. I would hazard a guess that Mr. Zinke hasn’t been to Lincoln County in a while.
Sens. Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy, meanwhile, are just hiding out, refusing to answer phone calls and emails, let alone make a public statement that they might have to defend to their constituents.
As much as I am outraged by the havoc that Trump and Elon Musk are wreaking across the federal government, I am even more upset by the feeble response from our elected officials — all of them Republicans that are scared to death of Trump.
Throw the bums out!
— Tom Maffei, Libby
Free speech
In today’s climate, I find myself reluctant to speak my mind in public for fear of violent response, and yet, as long as freedom of speech is still the cornerstone of democracy, I feel obligated to use it.
Perhaps those on the right felt this way during the past four years, but I have never experienced any one of them being shy or acting intimidated to offer their opinion and expect me to listen.
I only ask the same courtesy as long as America is still a constitutional republic.
— Roy Blokker, Lakeside