Time for change
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Editor,
I wish I was smarter than I am but since I keep being ineffective at initiating change maybe I should become a politician.
For years we keep re-electing the same Lake County Commissioners despite the fact they have told us they don’t have a jail solution problem. They voice the same yearly concerns and issues for our county. They seemed surprised when the dam changed hands and income dwindled. We continue to dangerously share the road with DUI repeat offenders for lack of a better solution. Here, change seems viewed as a swear word.
The last time Mr. Decker ran for re-election he was saying he would pull tribal lands out of their protective status and get us tax money for the jail. He of course got re-elected and we of course got, well, the same problems.
Now we’re suing our state (that’s ourselves as well) for $4 million for expenses only Lake County has acquired when it chose to take over civil and criminal obligations from the tribe under PL280. Follow that 1953 act to here and see this is the record, not an opinion.
Cost must be the reason we are the only county of the four the tribal lands cover that are doing this work by choice. In 2018 Hertz sponsored HB450 - a bill to require the state to repay us. That bill died. Now we’re suing for that amount? Our taxpayer money pays for that suit and diverts Lake County resources in staff, material, and re-assignment of duties away from other more service-oriented efforts.
We live in such a beautiful place with so many God given gifts all around us. How do we not work toward keeping that protected and enriched with an eye to the future living with the diversity around us? Accepting that we share, not dictate, control or abuse, our land or our neighbors whose views, likes, habits, may indeed bring changes to our own lives or understanding.
Maybe later, if we lose, we can even toss any reference books to this issue from our libraries.
Rich Bell
Polson
