| April 22, 2010
Editorial
Invest it now, or pay for it later
Jim Blow/Valley Journal
Dust kicks up along a county road near Ronan last September. Maintaining roads is becoming more difficult as old equipment wears out and requires more maintenance, which is why Lake County commissioners are asking voters to approve a six-year mill levy to fund the purchase of new road equipment and road oil.
Editor
Good things don’t last forever, at least not without some serious investment.
 Jim Blow
What works with careers and relationships also works with the things we own and prize. We can keep using that favorite hammer for as long as we want, as long as we keep it out of the weather and out of our neighbor’s toolbox.
But then, the more complicated the tool and the more we use it, the more difficult it is to maintain.
And so it goes with the equipment that’s used every day of the year to maintain our county roads. As you read in last week’s article in the Valley Journal, the county road crews are utilizing some fairly old equipment. The newest road grader, for example, is 14 years old.
The hard work they do every day is transparent to most of the taxpayers in the county — we just don’t see them out and about on roads we don’t drive every day — but we eventually drive over the results of their labor. Their role is one that isn’t readily appreciated by the average taxpayer — we might not fully recognize the work that went into a washboard section of county road that was fixed before we drove over it. But that doesn’t mean we don’t benefit from it.
Finding money to pay for this necessary infrastructure work is the real challenge. Clearly, taxpayers don’t want to pay more taxes, yet as costs go up, the county must trim back services, find new ways to fund necessary services, or do both.
Like most counties in Montana, the Lake County Commissioners are struggling to find enough money to devote to all the county’s needs, including the major reinvestment that is required to purchase new graders and trucks, as well as match the extreme growth in road oil cost that’s gone from $195 a ton in 1996 to $740 a ton in 2009, according to commissioner Paddy Trusler.
And, as Trusler explained, the commissioners have run out of options in finding other fund sources within the county coffers. With the caps set by the legislature on mills and taxes that can be collected, the only realistic option appears to be asking voters to approve a “sunset” levy, one that runs for a specific period, that would fund some new equipment, much needed maintenance and purchase of road oil to resurface 20 miles of road each year.
The proposed levy would last only six years, for 20 mills over the first five years and five mills over the final sixth year. A property owner with a $200,000 house would pay about $74 a year over the first five years, then $19 in the sixth year.
That’s a lot of money out of anybody’s pocketbook, but the benefits of the investment are clearly worth strong consideration.
It may seem easier to just keep fixing old equipment on the fly, but that short-term outlook will catch up to you quickly. Our county road crews sorely need some new tools to keep our roads maintained year-round.
The need is a valid one and I encourage you to help fill that need by voting for the six-year levy on the June 8 ballot to get our county caught back up with maintenance and replacement equipment.
Letters to the editor
Firefighters are firefighters
Editor,
This letter is in response to recent statements to the press made by Alison Meslin that the Polson city firefighters may not be the best “ones to control the Rural District resources.” Although I am unclear what she thinks is being controlled, I feel it is important to clarify some misstatements.
Here are the facts: There are no Polson City Firefighters. There is no Polson City Fire company. There are only members of the Polson Fire Department. All Polson Fire Department members are also Polson Rural District Firefighters. The membership is comprised by a large majority of volunteers who live or work in the rural district. We do not draw distinction between “city” and “rural” members, as we are all firefighters working together on the same department, with the same goals in mind. When a call for help comes in from anywhere in the rural or city area, we all respond.
I have been responding to calls in all areas of the Polson Rural Fire District for six years. There are volunteers with over 20 years of experience responding to rural calls. These firefighters are now being labeled “city firefighters” so they can be separated politically and their contributions discounted.
As a member of the Polson Fire Department, I am personally insulted by Meslin’s allegations that I am only a “city” firefighter and that I do not have Rural District priorities in mind.
Why would she assume that I would not have the Rural District interests in mind when I am the one that actually provides the service? Ms. Meslin makes the statement that “volunteerism is down” yet continues to refuse to acknowledge that the majority of volunteer firefighters currently serving the Polson Rural Fire District, those that respond out of Polson Station #1, are, and always have been, rural firefighters.
It is these kinds of attitudes expressed by members of the board that have actually served to discourage people from wanting to become involved.
As firefighters, our primary interest is the ability to continue to provide quality fire and rescue response to all of the areas we protect.
Please vote for Beth Hoel and Steve Stanley on May 4 and bring about positive change for the Polson Rural Fire Board.
Jodi O’Sullivan
Polson
Keep the dirty politics out of it
Editor,
In the past few weeks I have noticed that the political rhetoric has turned to what we would call “dirty politics of name calling, etc.”
I find this quite out of context given the nature of our Lake County.
This might be condoned back east or in the Pacific time zone but please not here in our valley or Lake County.
I believe each candidate should be judged not by the innuendo or word of mouth or printed advertisements, they should be judged or gauged by what they bring to the office they are seeking and working to get.
What experience do they bring with them?
What working knowledge do they have for the post they are seeking?
What do they know of the people they are asking to support them?
What do they believe they will bring or add to our wellbeing as a community?
These are just a few pertinent questions that should be asked. These are the important questions that concern the citizens of Lake County.
Keep the dirty politics out of our decision-making and look at the candidates not by the party they belong to but what they will bring to us as citizens of Lake County.
Connie Plaissay
Charlo
Big Arm Fire Station is a valuable asset
Editor,
As the only two members of the Polson Rural Fire Board to be elected by the rural residents, we are concerned about recent statements that have been circulated regarding the upcoming Fire Board election. Among other things, it has been suggested to voters that if Steve Stanley and Beth Hoel are elected, the Big Arm Station will be closed. Not only is this blatantly false, it is an example of the scare tactics that we all see permeating the political landscape.
To set the facts straight, in 2006, there were no volunteers to respond to the Big Arm Station. Accordingly, the board, at that time, told the community that without volunteers, the station could not function and would need to be closed. In turn, members of the community came forward, became trained, and re-established the Big Arm Fire Company.
This has been and continues to be a valuable asset for the entire rural community with three engines currently housed at the Big Arm Station. There has not been even so much as a suggestion by the board that this station should be closed, nor will there be. To suggest otherwise is just plain false.
Similarly, contrary to what is being circulated in the community, the board has not considered moving either the tender or the engine that is in Big Arm.
We hope that you, as voters, set aside the fear mongering and cast your vote on May 4 based upon the legitimate issues that confront us all.
Fred Nelson
Jack Clapp
Polson Rural Fire Board Trustees
Polson
Don’t confuse anger with fear
Editor,
Fear is a very powerful emotion. Anger is one of the resulting behavioral patterns coming from the emotion of fear.
We are seeing this all over America today — the Tea Party movement being one example. People are simply fed up and angry with how things are going in their lives. They are angry that our federal government is too involved in our lives, and when involved is not doing the right things anyway. We see slogans and signs that read, “Keep government out of my life.”
Now, if I replace one word in that slogan, and substitute “greed” for “government,” I’m beginning to get to the heart of the problem. To the basis for the anger, which is a result of the deep-rooted fear I feel for any number of reasons.
So, the slogan is now, “Keep greed out of my life.” Now I have replaced “government” (an entity) with “greed” (a behavioral pattern) and this is quite a different and more accurate way of looking at what is stressing me out. Suddenly the focus of my anger shifts, because I have identified that it is a way of thinking and a behavior pattern that is really bothering me and not an entity.
“Keep greed out of my life” now shifts my attention onto my own life, right where I am, and how greed might just figure into the equation of my problems. And if “greed,” is actually one of the forms of “fear,” which it is, then what can I do about it?
So, the whole subject of how to let go of fear can now become a very attractive and personal subject, indeed. And it all starts with me, myself and I, being willing to identify my fears and learning how to let go of fear.
Is it possible that just by me changing my mind that I might change my life? Is it possible that I might not only see everything around me differently but also be an “agent for change” simply through my interactions with others? Is it possible that by looking at and changing myself, over which I do have control, I can give up blaming others or governmental entities over which I have no control? What a relief.
Does this sound intriguing? Well, I do know it works. And what’s the alternative? Think about it.
Bob McClellan
Polson
Thank you for highway cleanup
Editor
The Big Arm Association once again offers a big round of applause to the many local residents who volunteered this past Saturday morning to clean a six-mile stretch of Highway 93.
We filled dozens of garbage bags with all kinds of trash and junk. We did have fewer bags this year so we also thank the general public for being more responsible with their garbage.
Big Arm is not alone in our efforts as many other residents have been cleaning highways throughout the County. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to keep our beautiful surroundings free of litter.
Alison Meslin
Big Arm
Election season kicks off
By Brent Matson
for the Valley Journal
To those of us that are avid political system observers the upcoming election cycle is an exciting time to be involved in the process. The current climate is supercharged with change and possibility. The effect is similar to that of any organized sport in all of its passion and excitement.
It is so easy to get wrapped up in the moment as the players square off against each other with the public assuming the role of referee and scorekeepers. The signs, the ads, the speeches, the activity is frantic and the excitement level is high.
It can become easy to dismiss all of this activity as disingenuous and nothing more than mere politics, not to be taken seriously.
As a citizen of Lake County having awoken to the realities of our present political situation in the last few years it has been glaringly obvious that like the frog that doesn’t jump out of the water when it is heated slowly we have become complacent as citizens to the pomp and circumstance around us.
A little introspection might be appropriate.
A famous quote from President James Garfield says, “Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption.” I don’t know about you but this quote really hits home with me as being one who has railed against the excesses of a bloated government, the mounting debt and the loss of individual freedoms, not to mention the gross moral decay of our values.
I came to realize that politicians came to be that way, because “We the People” didn’t hold them to a higher standard. We have tolerated the “Win at all costs, don’t stand for anything” mentality that creates career politicians and rewards those that easily compromise their morals to gain political points.
That will never stop until our elected officials are held accountable to us and to a moral standard that requires them to do what they have sworn to do when they were elected into office. The problem though is us, the voters of Lake County. Until we stop voting for the candidates that run negative campaign ads and use personal attacks to make themselves look better by tearing down someone else, we get what we deserve. We as voters have a solemn duty to choose the best leaders that we can to represent us, to fight for us and our future.
If we don’t require our Public Servants to take the high road during their campaigns then why in the world would we trust them not to do something as equally wrong as an elected official?
Be a good neighbor and vote on principal and character, and educate yourselves on the issues. Don’t be fooled into thinking that just because we may not agree with a candidate that we are justified in destroying his signs or starting rumors to discredit them. Let the people decide and just vote them out.
Please join with me in doing our part in holding our elected officials accountable and working to make Lake County a place we can all be proud of.
(Brent Matson of Polson is the Chairman of the Lake County Republican Party.)
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