| February 4, 2010
Editorial
Don't let a dog drag you into trouble
Jim Blow/Valley Journal
A curious dog steps very close to the edge of an ice hole used for ice rescue training at Lake Mary Ronan last March. Curious dogs can lead to perilous situations for them and well-meaning people who want to save them. The best way to save a dog is to stay the heck away from the ice and call 911, where dispatchers will send out emergency crews like this Polson firefighter that are adequately trained and equipped to conduct ice rescues.
Editor
I marvel at how my Labrador retriever loves the water, even when it's close to freezing over.
 Jim Blow
When Rita and I run by an irrigation canal or creek, she often stops and sniffs the frozen surface, then looks at me with a forlorn look that hints of her disappointment. She just doesn't seem to understand why such a perfect swimming spot has to be so inaccessible.
Every time she goes through that inspection process, I'm reminded of the dangers of venturing out onto the ice. Dogs, you see, are one of the primary reasons so many people drown in the winter.
Here's a predictable series of events that lead to disaster. Dog sees ice. Dog ventures out on ice. Dog falls through ice. Man sees flailing dog. Man's heart sinks at the sight of a drowning dog. Man decides to rescue dog before it succumbs. Man falls through ice ... and then it gets really, really sad.
It's not easy to slow down when you see a dog or person struggling to stay afloat in near-freezing water. But just as the panic rises up in your throat, you need to take a big gulp of calm-down, get to the closest phone and call 911.
Tell dispatchers where you are, what your phone number is and what the situation is. They won't hesitate to put a call out to the appropriate rescue team that will probably be on the way before your call ends.
You may not realize it but all of the fire departments in our valley, as well as the county's Search and Rescue team, have all of the equipment, suits, tools and training to rescue anyone from icy waters. They can do it safely, quickly and react to the scene much more quickly than you might think they would.
Your firefighters love dogs, too. Let them save the pup. Not only are they good at it, they love doing it, especially if they don't have to drag a person out with it.
Do not crawl out onto the ice. Do not try to calculate the thickness or safety of the ice. Immediately call 911 and direct rescuers to the scene. That's the smart thing to do.
Don't compound the tragedy of an animal struggling to stay upright in freezing water by becoming a person flailing next to it.
Letters to the editor
Help make the aquatic center a reality
Editor,
Lake County will soon have an amazing resource available to all who live here — if we all get behind it. It's a large, indoor aquatics center on the hill across from Safeway in Polson. Have you noticed the future home sign? I did. I called the number on the sign and joined the group of locals who are working to make this a reality for us.
Why is an aquatic center important? Look at a map of our county and you'll see it is chock full of blue lines and blue circles denoting water — lots of it. Full of plenty of water for anyone to drown in who doesn't know how to save him or herself.
That's the number one reason for an indoor pool in an area where the lake is mighty chilly most of the year. Secondly, anyone with a joint or muscle injury will heal far better with water exercise and those still in good shape can remain so with regular exercise done in water. Not to mention how healing warm waters can be to our psychics in all seasons, but especially the long grey.
Autistic children and others with disabilities thrive with water therapy. And lastly, those future Olympians reside among us and they just don't know it yet because there is no pool in the county to grab their imagination of what they could become with focus and work.
I urge you to get involved. You'll be impressed with how much has already been accomplished towards bringing us Mission Valley Aquatics. Please visit www.mvaquatics.org or call 883-4567.
Karen Ryan
Ronan
You will always harvest what you plant
Editor,
In the past few months, the American public has been deeply disappointed by the people who have been celebrated in one way or another as icons or at least as respectable citizens. One of those so called respectable people campaigned for our nation’s highest political office. Even during the public debates of the candidates, he alleged that he would bring honesty to the American people, that he cherished the relationship he had with his family and at that time he was honored as “Father of the Year.”
Many of us followed America’s top golfer, the highest paid athlete in the world as he walked the fairways and with clenched fist and raised arm celebrated another victory on the 18th green.
Remember the ball player who testified before a Senate committee just a few years ago that he had never knowingly taken a substance that would enhance his playing performance. Just recently he confessed that he had lied.
What about the governor who declared that he was going on a backpacking trip for a few days. He really had something entirely different on his mind, deceiving both his family and his constituents.
The media has told at length the exploits of a few television preachers who while calling people to follow Jesus, were not practicing what they were preaching.
Think about the greedy people who have stolen the investment funds of their clients — particularly the life savings of elderly widows.
America is experiencing an epidemic not only of obesity, but of stealing, lying, and adultery.
What’s my point? First, sin will be exposed. Numbers 32:23: “But if you fail to keep your word, then you will have sinned against the Lord, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.”
Secondly, we reap what we sow. Job 4:8: “My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same.” And, Galatians 6:7: “Don’t be misled – you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.”
Thirdly, Jesus offers everyone a better way. Luke 5:32: “I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”
I heard Jesus calling me to a life of a repentant and forgiven sinner when I was a Polson High School student many years ago.
Thank you, Jesus.
Harvey A. Town
Polson
Charlo has lost a great coach
Editor,
This is a letter of thanks to a great coach. I was disheartened to hear that Coach Love has stepped down as coach of the mighty Charlo Vikings football team.
I will miss seeing you walk up and down the side line; sometimes jumping for joy at a great play and other times hanging your head for a play gone wrong. It is easy to see that you love the game and that you always strive to win; putting in the best players and taking the heat from parents when they don’t agree with the call.
I can say as a parent of a player, that I fully support the calls you make and stand behind you and the other coaches. Your enthusiasm is contagious and Friday nights in Charlo will not be the same without you on the field. Charlo has lost a great football coach. We will miss you Coach Love.
I pray that your career from here on out is a successful one.
Neoma Cox
Charlo
Being spiritual is very different than religious
Editor,
I was watching the PBS special on national parks, right after the state of the union speech on Jan. 27, and the story of John Muir, American naturalist and explorer. A comment captured my attention. It was approximately this: "John Muir was a very religious man, capturing the spiritual essence of nature and man's relationship to nature."
My antenna went up on the use of the words religious and spiritual.
Recognizing that this may offend the sensitivities of some, possibly many, who see no real difference in these terms, allow me to put a rather vivid contrast of interpretations on them.
Firstly, my Funk and Wagnalls does not use the word God, even once, in its rather lengthy definition of religious. In the definition of spirituality, however, the word God is used.
Secondly, religious has the immediate connection with religions; the immediate connection with denominations; the immediate connections with dogma and creed; the immediate connections with differences in sacred texts; the immediate connections with opposing views and differences in church service structures; etc.
Thirdly, spirituality, on the other hand, has none of these divisive characteristics. Spirituality is all about our connection with a higher loving power, whether we call it God or by some other name.
What does this tell us? Why even bring this up? Well, I think it is a very important distinction to think about.
Muir, in my opinion, was much more than a religious man, he was a spiritual man. And this says a whole lot. He was out there in nature, above all the divisiveness of religious bickering and posturing and just being his spiritual self, communing with nature, feeling close to the same higher power which originally birthed all religions, until man got in there and decided one religion was better than another and started the whole string of religious wars and divisiveness.
And, I guess a question for each of us is who am I, and what do I live by?
Bob McClellan
Polson |
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