Letters to the Editor
Editor, Currently there are six ballot initiatives approved by the Secretary of State for signature gathering. Several are sponsored by single individuals. One by a young teenage girl. These are Montanans. None are sponsored by out-of-state corporations like the marijuana initiative was. Montana is one of several states whose constitution allows for individual citizens to sponsor a ballot initiative to change or amend an existing law. These initiatives go through a strict process of legal and constitutional review by the Attorney General. Initiatives are usually the result of the failure of the legislature or other regulatory agencies to do the will of the people. This is someti...
Editor, The response from our government to the COVID-19 crisis will be second-guessed and cross-checked for years to come. Some decisions made sense while some were egregious oversteps. One decision made by the federal government was to put a pause on state governments looking at the qualifications of in...
Editor, Recently, while sitting our family’s fictitious library room, I read the Legislative Notes, those by Rep Usher. His article brought up an important subject, Montana judges. He said that in spite of their apparent impartiality they “...are in fact politicians.” Unfortunately...
Editor, I grew up in Butte and attended Christian (Catholic) schools there for 12 years. To pay tuition for 7 children, was not easy for my parents but they felt the commitment was important. And although they chose this path, they never ceased to remind us children that though our education was a bit dif...
Editor, Re: “Enough already” (January 24, 2024). Contrary to the suggestion in the letter, heading off the worst effects of climate change need not require any restrictions on personal liberties. Neither scientists who’ve provided our understanding of the issue, nor advoca...
Editor, One of my favorite TV news shows early Sunday morning is “This Week With George Stephnopaulos.” I especially like the segment with Donna Brazile and three others discussing the subjects Stephanopulos brings up. Brazile is great. This 65-year-old political strategist and analyst is clea...
Editor, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” (Martin Luther King). And so I write. As we celebrate the legacy of MLK this month, reflection might be valuable. If he were alive today, what could he teach us about slavery and the Civil War? About Jim Cro...
Editor, It’s unbelievable that newspapers across Montana are singing the climate change mantra. Our state is the laughing stock of the nation after our courts allowed kids, backed, funded, and coached by a leftist law firm out of state, to sue the state with absolutely nothing but anecdotal evidence...
Editor, As retired Montana judges, we join to endorse Judge Dan Wilson of Flathead County in his bid for election to the Montana Supreme Court. This year, Montanans will elect two new Justices to our state’s highest court. Chief Justice Mike McGrath and Associate Justice Dirk Sandefer have announced...
Editor, I believe John Steinbeck’s quote is prescient in 2024: “I think because they trusted themselves and respected themselves as individuals, because they knew beyond doubt that they were valuable and potentially moral units-because of this they could give God their own coura...
