Letters
Editor, Apparently, Representative Linda Reksten doesn’t think much of our Lake County Commissioners. In March of 2018, our commissioners decided to protect public health by including e-cigarettes in their Clean Indoor Air Act protections. As a result, people in our community are protected from aerosol vapor from e-cigarettes, as well as from tobacco smoke, when they are in spaces open to the public. But HB137, which Representative Linda Reksten supported, will take these protections away. These protections were adopted by the commissioners with the support of parents, teachers, health professionals, faith leaders and youth advocates. They exist because citizens o...
Editor, HB112, the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” requires interscholastic trans-athletes to participate within their sex assigned at birth. This legislation illustrates a remarkable lack of awareness of the current thinking in medical and athletic communities regarding transgender athletes....
Editor, The right to vote is under attack across the United States, and in Montana, one form of it is going against what the voters in 2014 clearly affirmed in a referendum. House Bill 176 would end same-day voter registration that has been law since 2005 and close late, in-person registration by 5 p.m...
Editor, I’m almost ashamed to be a fourth generation Montanan. I grew up with the belief that everyone had the right to personal liberty, earned by personal responsibility. Now, I’m seeing “every man for himself.” I’m seeing too many people choosing to stomp hard on ...
Editor, The Bread Basket Board would like to thank the over 225 individuals, families, businesses and foundations that helped support the Bread Basket in 2020. Strife can bring out the best or worst in people, and in this area of Western Montana, people really came through for the hungry, food ch...
Editor, Accountability can sometimes take longer than we want, but I bet we will know a lot more by 2022. Uncomfortable facts and awkward alliances are being exposed to the light of truth and, hopefully, coming to a neighborhood near you. Montanans have long held a fundamental belief in personal ...
Editor, Senate Bill 65, an act to revise civil liability law, setting conditions on civil actions for exposure to COVID-19, is being promoted as a new law to protect business from frivolous COVID-19 lawsuits; however, professional testimony in Helena confirmed zero frivolous lawsuits in Montana over...
Editor, Most state agency directors appointed by Gov. Greg Gianforte are getting paid at substantially higher salaries than their predecessors under the Bullock administration – some as much as 46 percent more. Public Health and Human Services: $165,000 – a 46 percent increase. Commerce: $1...
Editor, We should oppose HB102, An Act Generally Revising Gun Laws. Astonishingly, this bill would allow people to carry a concealed firearm without a permit in most places. Those with permits would be allowed to carry in state and local government offices and restaurants and other places where alcohol is...
Editor, When politicians call for an end to discord and for a new unity, it reminds me of an old story. A person was lamenting, “There is too much dissension. Why don’t the Christians join together with the Hindus, and the Muslims join with the Jews, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses joi...
