Letters to the editor June 15
Blame game
In response to the letter on June 11 about the Flathead Lake level. It probably didn’t matter to this person that we had a daily average of 12 to 17 degrees warmer in May. It doesn’t matter that our sites that collect snow data have reported low snowpack all over Montana.
This person is like many others just walking around with a pocket full of blame ready to throw it out there. It’s easy on Monday morning to say what you would’ve done on the game on Sunday. However, this person has not provided any real data or possible solutions. Just blame.
So like I say, blamers gonna blame.
— Jeremy Phillips, Kalispell
Dog days are here
It’s summertime again, when we regularly see dogs shut in cars with windows either up, or slightly cracked, barking and panting helplessly in parking lots on hot days.
According to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, even a few minutes in a hot car can be life threatening. On a 75 degree day, the temperature in a parked car can reach 94 degrees in 10 minutes, and reach 109 degrees in 30 minutes.
Dogs can suffer a fatal stroke within 15 minutes of being in a hot car. Dogs overheat quickly, even with a cracked window. Dogs cannot effectively regulate their temperature through sweat glands; instead they pant and that is not sufficient.
Additionally, the the society reports dog’s feet pads can easily burn on hot pavement. When it’s 77 degrees, pavement can be 125 degrees; when it’s 87 degrees, pavement can be 143 degrees. Dog’s feet pads can also burn quickly when they are confined in the back of a pickup on a hot day.
Please do your dog a favor and leave him home on summer days. It will save him from needless pain and suffering, and may even save his life.
— Ann Christensen, Kalispell
Priced out
My name is Maddie Grebb, and I’m here for Montana’s youth. I’m asking our decision-makers to consider the people who will live the longest with the consequences of their choices. To our Public Service Commission, stand up for Montana’s youth. Stand against NorthWestern Energy. Reject their proposed rate increase.
Montanans are trapped in an energy monopoly under NorthWestern Energy. The power that fuels our homes, schools and communities is expensive and dirty, while wind/solar prices are falling.
The average energy bill in Missoula is $112 a month — over $1,300 a year. At UM, tuition and rent total to over $20,000 a year. The average student job pays about $12 an hour. Working full-time year-round, a student makes just over $23,000. That’s barely enough to survive, let alone invest in a future.
Brian Bird, NorthWestern Energy’s CEO, made $4.81 million in 2024. That’s $2,000 an hour. In one hour, he makes what a student earns in a month.
You can’t tell us we don’t know what real life is like. You can’t tell us this doesn’t affect us. We are living it every single day. You can’t tell us to sit down and stay quiet, not when we’re paying more and getting less. Not when we’re doing everything right, and still struggling to keep the lights on.
We are not giving up. We are not backing down. And we will not be priced out of our own power.
— Maddie Grebb, Missoula