Letters to the editor Nov. 18

Mother Nature is undefeated

After reading the article about Flathead County commissioners asking the Department of Interior to intervene on water levels in Flathead Lake, I have to wonder are there any adults left in Flathead County? 

I say this because over 50 years ago when I first moved to Flathead County, which was at that time primarily an agricultural county, I met many farmers and ranchers whose livelihoods were constantly dependent on the weather. They always hoped for plenty of moisture in raising the foods and the flesh that help sustain all of us. 

In the years it didn’t happen, did they go complain to the county commissioners about how they didn’t get enough rain or snow that year or the previous year? Did they write the Department of Interior letting them know they needed to do something about the situation of lack of moisture coming from the sky? Did members of Montana’s congressional propose legislation to right this wrong? 

None of this happened, because those farmers and ranchers understood you can’t predict the weather, and you do the best you can with the hand you’re dealt concerning the moisture coming from the sky, or lack of, in any given year.

Contrast that with today. It is as if all of the people complaining  about Flathead Lake water levels have lost all sense of reality. That reality that Montana farmers and ranchers have known since the inception of the state. Now the idea is that mankind can and will make the weather, nature, do our bidding. 

It’s a fool’s game, and obviously a game many in the Flathead, including members of our congressional delegation, think they can win. Good luck in your efforts to defeat mother nature.

— John Marshall, Hot Springs

Out of pocket

I would like to extend my thanks to Will Hammerquist for his Oct. 28 letter to the editor. From it, I discover that my elected representative, Rep. Debo Powers, is alive and present in Montana. I had thought there must have been an abduction, or some family emergency.

I’ve been trying to reach Powers about defending every individual’s right of assembly and free speech. 

It turns out, Powers has been railing against unresponsive elected representatives and protesting for rights for an unappreciative audience of one.

How ironic.

Maybe when Powers is done protesting, she will check the phone for any constituent phone calls to return. 

We’ll get those dastardly kings and queens.

— Nelson Roosendahl, Whitefish