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Editor,
Forty-three years ago the Reservation was settled in Federal Court. No one who has a deed to property on this reservation has any need to worry about confiscation. To confirm this look up 437 F.2d Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes vs. The United States.
Many of us enjoy living here very much. Some of us chose to move here from other parts of Montana and are comfortable and happy here. Sometimes people are forced to move from places they like. Usually they can expect to get a fair price for their home. Unfortunately, myths that negatively affect property values have a way of migrating and being repeated out of the neighborhood that is under attack from unfounded rumors. The further from the maligned neighborhood the myth travels, the less likely there is to be any incentive to seek the truth and the easiest path for the shopper is to just say “I won’t even look there.” When someone spreads fiction disguised as fact in a letter to the editor they are making it harder for local sellers to get fair prices for their homes. They are also making it harder for local people who work in real estate and at law firms and title companies to make a living. Spreading rumors based on myths can have serious and harmful consequences.
If you believed there was a chance your property would be confiscated, would you not sell out and flee while you could still get something for it? Perhaps Michael Gale believes what he writes. But I think that all of us, including Mr. Gale, owe it to our neighbors and ourselves, if we value our integrity, to do some research before we write.
Bob Stone
Polson
