Opinion / Letters To Editor


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  • More empathy required in reporting

    Leslie Lee, Santa Cruz, California|Aug 27, 2020

    The article “Pulling Your Hair Out” published Aug. 13, 2020 about trichotillomania contains inaccuracies that should be clarified. This is a debilitating disorder, and to refer to it as something people do because their plans fell apart furthers stigma and shame that prevent people from seeking help. Trichotillomania is a mental health disorder affecting at least 2% of the population. It often begins in puberty, but toddlers and babies may compulsively pull their hair as well. Contrary to the information in the article, it is an obs...

  • Another property for Missoula's insatiable appetite hurts County residents' pocketbooks

    Alan Ault, Missoula, Montana|Aug 27, 2020

    Well, I see the city council has approved the purchase of 19 acres on Scott Street using $10.7 million dollars of TIF money, including bond issues. Let me put that into plain English. Of that $10.7 million dollar property tax money you paid into, around $3 million would have gone to the County. In other words, the city of Missoula should thank the taxpayers of Condon, Seeley Lake, Bonner, Frenchtown, and the other 10 or so forgotten towns in Missoula County for the money. And my opponent said nothing. Anytime you read Missoula uses TIF money...

  • Tom Browder? Really? YES!

    Cheryl Thompson, Seeley Lake, Montana|Aug 27, 2020

    Yes, of course! Tom lives in Montana House District 92. He is the secretary of the Seeley Lake Community Council, president of the Double Arrow Land Owners Association, and a board member and volunteer for the Seeley Lake Historical Society. Tom lives in Seeley Lake, the center of the district, and through his volunteer associations, visits with and listens to so many people. He hears our concerns, visions and needs. He sees how decisions at the state level affect us as rural people. He will speak to our needs and benefits as opposed to the...

  • We support Melissa Romano

    Helena educators, Helena, Montana|Aug 27, 2020

    We are a group of educators that collectively worked for more than 160 years at the Office of Public Instruction (OPI) for five state superintendents of both political parties. We are proud of the role that OPI has had in supporting local public schools and in providing leadership to ensure our Montana schools offer the best public education available anywhere. Melissa Romano is the candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction that we believe has the energy, expertise and vision needed to lead public education in Montana. Romano is an...

  • Cooney works for Montana

    Paul and Ellen Gayle Clifford, Three Forks, Montana|Aug 27, 2020

    Mike Cooney for Montana Governor is our candidate to vote for Nov. 3, 2020. Cooney has released his, "Keep Montana Working Plan" for Montana's future. www.cooneyformontana.com/jobs Cooney supports Public Education, unlike his opponent that is for our tax dollars going to private school. Cooney stated at a press conference on July 14, "He would defend Montana's public lands against politicians and powerful interest groups seeking privatization." Cooney will fight for Social Security, Medicare and Healthcare for Montana residents, unlike his...

  • Bennett protecting the things Montanas care about

    Jennifer Cady, Missoula, Montana|Aug 27, 2020

    The Montana Secretary of State has several critical duties and functions in service to the people of Montana. Chief among those duties is interpreting state election laws, overseeing elections and serving on the Montana Board of Land Commissioners. I am supporting Bryce Bennett for Montana Secretary of State in this November’s election because he will protect all Montanans access to the ballot in both urban and rural parts of the State and because he will protect our cherished public lands. Bryce is currently a Montana State Senator and also s...

  • Support Mike Cooney - He has a plan for Montana's young worker

    Michele Herrington, Helena, Montana|Aug 20, 2020

    It was heartening to read Democratic governor candidate Mike Cooney’s Keep Montana Working plan, which will create and expand career opportunities for Montanans. As a professional who works in Montana rural schools, I see many young people graduate from high school with few job prospects, despite the fact that employers are seeking skilled workers and resorting to hiring workers outside Montana. Mike Cooney’s plan addresses the deterrents that prevent Montanans from gaining those skills, including incentives to start childcare businesses, cre...

  • Say it like it is, the lions were killed

    Lori Micken, Livingston, Montana|Aug 13, 2020

    Andi Bourne’s headline on the front page of the July 30 Pathfinder should have read “Four young mountain lions killed at Seeley Lake” or maybe “shot” or “slaughtered?” The euphemism “dispatched” was used once in the article. I do not understand why Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and others don’t “tell it like it is,” and say “killed.” Bourne assured us four times that “human safety is the priority” in such incidents. I would like to see an in-depth article from FWP on why, “in Montana they don’t relocate [lions].” Do other states? The repo...

  • A Republican vote is a vote for jobs

    Edwin Johnson, Gardiner, Montana|Aug 13, 2020

    Montana governor candidate Greg Gianforte has brought high paying private sector jobs into Montana. Greg’s opponent Mike Cooney and his mentor Steve Bullock are lifelong politicians. Neither knows how to create private sector jobs. They never have. Sending Washington DC another politician to join Schumer, Pelosi, Bernie, A.O.C. and the Socialist Squad will not create jobs for Montana’s hard working families. Montana’s choice is clear. We can go with: more government, fewer jobs, open borders, sanctuary cities, defund the police, adopt cance...

  • Let's get back to the drawing board for the sewer

    Don Larson, Seeley Lake, Montana|Aug 6, 2020

    Missoula County Health Department Specialist Jim Erven doesn’t seem to get it. The residents in the Seeley Lake Sewer District fully understand the Health Department is a bully, it does its work poorly and the $40-million sewer project it is pushing will further impoverish us. Let me explain further. The Board has never fully tested the area aquifer to accurately determine the “need” for a sewer. Lake water quality remains virtually unchanged over the past 40 years I have resided in this community, despite considerable growth. The Board has nev...

  • Restart with one plan to cover area

    David Whitesitt, Covallis, Montana|Aug 6, 2020

    Reading about the proposed sewer makes me want to tell the residents of the Sewer District the truth. Even thought I no longer have any financial interest in the district, I have friends being affected. The proposed sewer will not have any affect on our water quality in the lake or river. Potential for water pollution is from state lots and other properties close to the river and lake where there is a high water table. These lands are not in the Sewer District. County officials pushing the sewer plan want to add the problem lands to the Sewer...

  • Romano best candidate for Superintendent of Montana's Office of Public Instruction

    Elizabeth McCambridge, McAllister, Montana|Aug 6, 2020

    I was a public school teacher for 35 years in Minnesota. Retired, my husband and I have lived in Montana for six months a year for the last 11years. I am supporting Melissa Romano for Superintendent of Montana’s Office of Public Instruction because I believe she is the BEST candidate who will protect and promote quality public education for all students. With emphasis on “all,” she is a strong advocate for early education. Research shows that when we invest in our early learners with public preschool, those students do much better in eleme...

  • Who is really racist?

    Gary Fitzpatrick, Lewistown, Montana|Aug 6, 2020

    Racism: the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. 2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race. Democrats have always used race to obtain power. At first they championed slavery and divided the country and after the civil war they used their political and police power to pass laws and actions denying blacks basic human and civil rights. After Supreme Court rulings, Republican legislation, Republican president Eisenhower sending federal troops, and a sea change...

  • The disabled still want to enjoy public lands

    Cindy Morris, Missoula, Montana|Jul 30, 2020

    I am writing about the letter from Mr. Bob Rathman in the July 16 Pathfinder paper. Mr. Rathman says in his letter that the National Forest Service roads aren’t really closed because you can just walk around the gates. I can’t really believe that Mr. Rathman is really so selfish and self-centered that he doesn’t understand that many taxpayers who support the National Forest Service are not capable of walking, riding a bicycle or horse. Many of us are disabled but still want to enjoy the public lands we support, including our veterans. If Mr. R...

  • How Montana's Swan Valley is turning the tide on problem bears

    Jessianne Castle, Marion, Montana|Jul 30, 2020

    A bear’s nose knows when the smell of food wafts through the air. It’s integral to their survival, this tool for finding food, and is the reason why one resident of Montana’s Swan Valley has made it her summer’s work to pick up other people’s trash. Kathy Koors has spent nearly 40 years living near Condon, Montana, in a pocket of the Treasure State defined largely by water and trees. Larch, lodgepole and Douglas fir mingle in dense stands around azure lakes squeezed between the Mission Mountains and Swan Range. It’s a place sprouting w...

  • Do your part to keep area and bears wild

    Kathy Koors, Condon, Montana|Jul 30, 2020

    Many of you know that during past summers I have volunteered to check several of the Swan Valley’s dispersed campsites, clean up garbage and visit with campers who have questions about food storage in bear country. Thanks to a winter fundraiser, ongoing donations and local support, this summer I am paid part-time by the Living With Wildlife Foundation in partnership with the Flathead National Forest, Swan Lake Ranger District. These organizations are helping me and the community strengthen and improve our education efforts. The Forest Service a...

  • Are Federal lands really open to the PUBLIC ?

    Ken Kronsperger, Seeley Lake, Mont.|Jul 23, 2020

    I see we have another member of our community that cherishes the beauty of this area. There are millions of acres of federal lands that have been preserved in such a way that if visitors were able to time travel to us today from the mid eighteen hundreds and go to these areas they would have to say, “Nothing has changed”. That is right, folks, millions of acres of public lands have been preserved and protected from incursion of the likes of the elderly and handicapped. Those folks are NOT part of the PUBLIC; they are the refuse that just hap...

  • A message of healing

    Annick Smith, Potomac, Mont.|Jul 23, 2020

    Listen up! Montana is our home, and we love it. From the mountains to the prairies, from trout-streams and lakes to sagebrush hills and big-sky grasslands, we praise its beauties and natural bounty. We are proud of our friendly cities and small-towns, our Native American and cowboy cultures, our schools and great universities, and the hospitals and rural health care centers that dot our vast state. I live on a homestead up the Blackfoot where some of my neighbors are Trump supporters, some are survivalists and some progressive Democrats. But...

  • Let's focus our energy on how to fund the sewer

    Walt Hill, Seeley Lake, Mont.|Jul 23, 2020

    SEELEY LAKE - The preceding sewer boards have put together an amazing financial package to fund this project. It includes over $10 million of grant money, with approximately $6 million of loans in a package that will fund the building of the treatment plant and the collection system. To construct the treatment plant and collection system plus hookups in Phase 1 (subdistrict 1) will cost each residential unit no more than $54.25 per month (Resolution #201725235). This is the least expensive, most feasible plan we have investigated or that has...

  • Words of encouragement for the community

    Betty Dustin, Seeley Lake, Mont.|Jul 23, 2020

    My dear friend John Ulberg from Helena, Montana wrote this poem and I found a lot of encouragement in it during these challenging times. I hope you do as well. CERTAINTY While we hear only the litany Of virus and dangers lurking around, We must keep our perspective And know hope still does abound. People are what is important And anything that supports good life, Doing what we can for each other During these times of major strife. Your faith is still with you Your faith is still strong, Relying on your God Will never lead you wrong. So as we...

  • Congress has the power to curb another Great Depression

    Josh Decker and Mark Anderlik, Missoula, Mont. and Billings, Mont.|Jul 23, 2020

    Fifty million unemployed workers, 25 million families evicted or foreclosed on, 15 million small businesses gone bankrupt: this is what another Great Depression could look like. And we are on the brink of this very thing. Decisions made this month by Congress will decide whether we tip over into depression or not. At the beginning of the pandemic, Congress enacted and the President signed, the CARES Act. It was designed to address the economic stress from a short shutdown of the economy to fight COVID-19. The additional $600 a week for the...

  • Open Federal Lands rebuttal

    Bob Rathman, Seeley Lake, Mont.|Jul 16, 2020

    In the July 2 Pathfinder there was a letter to the editor claiming that Federal lands are not open to the public. Just because there is a locked gate or other road closure does NOT mean the lands beyond are not open to the public, they are, you just have to get out of your rig and walk around the gate. You just aren’t allowed to DRIVE wherever and whenever you please. Roads are closed both year round and seasonally for multiple reasons, among them wildlife and habitat protection but also because the Forest Service doesn’t have the funds to mai...

  • Timber industry decimated by environmentalists

    Ellen Chaussee, Missoula, Mont.|Jul 16, 2020

    In response to opinion columns printed in the Missoulian by Adam Rissien titled “Our National Forest are more than Crops” dated June 28 and George Wuerthner’s column printed June 5 titled “Keep Carbon in the Forest.” Once again some of our environmentalists from the University of Montana are attacking the Trump Administration Policies delivered by Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. Personally as a 93-year-old great, great grandmother born and raised in Western Montana, I am pleased to see some reasoning sprouting from the Departmen...

  • Tourist organizations encourage mask use

    Glacier County Tourism organizations signed below|Jul 16, 2020

    As the number of COVID-19 cases rises in the state of Montana, we, leaders at Montana’s chambers of commerce and destination marketing organizations, join our business friends and colleagues throughout the state in calling on the public to wear masks or cloth face coverings to protect the health and viability of the communities we represent. In order for us to continue reopening or remain open as a state, it is imperative that we slow the spread of COVID-19. The CDC recommends mask-wearing to help slow the spread of the virus, which in turn c...

  • Daines continues opposition to Stewardship Act

    Klaus von Stutterheim, Seeley Lake, Mont.|Jul 9, 2020

    It’s time for Senator Steve Daines to get with the program and be a real champion for Montana’s public lands. Daines likes to talk about how supportive he is of our outdoor way of life but we see right through it when he refuses to support common-sense measures like the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act. This made-in-Montana solution would protect nearly 80,000 acres of beautiful Montana wilderness while boosting access to recreation areas and creating jobs. A bipartisan group of stakeholders from all around Montana -- from sportsmen to ran...

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