Letters to the editor Jan. 22
Unfair critique of mayor
No one has all the answers. It is, however, crucial to the human experience to remain curious. So, out of curiosity, Kalispell Mayor Ryan Hunter recently posed a question to the City Council about keeping public bathrooms open during the winter, acknowledging “it’s a complicated, difficult question.”
Actually, the question is easy: “Is there something we can do to ... provide bathrooms for folks who are living out on the streets but also being aware of the risks of vandalism, drug use and everything else?” It’s the answer to the first part of his question, “Is there something we can do?” that is difficult.
But what a wonderful question for a public servant to pose. It is curiosity as much as solutions that is needed from our leaders to stimulate discussion and debate about answers to such questions. It is likely that the risks of opening public bathrooms in the winter without some sort of expensive monitoring, control and maintenance may be too risky and/or costly. But that is just an opinion from this former mayor.
On the same page of the Daily Inter Lake appeared a letter to the editor suggesting our national divisiveness is a product of decisions, based in large part upon peoples opinions, lack of curiosity, or disagreement over facts. The writer from Essex concludes his thoughtful critique of people who claim to have all the answers: “We can’t fix problems we can’t even see let alone clearly identify.”
As Mayor Hunter finds his voice in his new role I hope he continues to ask questions, even if he doesn’t have immediate solutions to the problems raised by his questions. However, to criticize him, as he was on Sunday’s editorial page, for being curious and asking, “Is there something we can do?” seems unfair.
If there is a critique of Mayor Hunter’s question, it’s that he took a shortcut to identifying and solving a bigger problem: public defecation. That is understandable given the larger questions Mayor Hunter, the City Council and city administration need to ask: how to bring down the cost of living — some might say the cost of surviving — in our special place on Earth.
The Inter Lake’s critique leans on the famous quote from Teddy Roosevelt: “Complaining about a problem without proposing a solution is called whining.”
However, a quote from James Baldwin is more appropriate to Mayor Hunter’s questioning: “Recognizing a problem doesn’t always bring a solution, but until we recognize that problem there can be no solution.”
— Roger Hopkins, Columbia Falls
Thoughtful rebuttal
May I commend the writers of the Jan. 6 letter to the editor slam dunking on fellow frequent writer David Myerowitz.
Todd Clear and Dina Rose of Kalispell wrote a marvelously fact-based letter on the Gaza war. Per usual, Myerowitz had taken the extreme far right tack, like every letter he submits, positioning his opinion as if it should be middle of the road, understandable fact.
Any thoughtful reader can see right through Myerowitz’s bizarrely narrow, sad scope of the world. Clear and Rose make it clear, they’re Jewish yet are highly critical of Israel’s genocidal tactics after it was attacked Oct. 7, two years ago. One can debate all of this forever. But I found their push-back on Myerowitz comforting, as that man gets so much ink for letters that inflame hatred and division.
His latest Jan. 19 letter on the ICE invasion of the Twin Cities, typifies his twisted views. He cheers on ICE, damning anyone who calls its tactics Gestapo-like. Really, David? They bust down a man’s private front door, pull him out of the house in his boxers and then later release him because, oh man, he is a bona fide U.S. citizen. Oopsy.
Pumped bullets into a woman’s car, killing her. Oopsy. No federal investigation needed? Nope. Nothing to see here, David.
— Mark Suppelsa, Bigfork