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Several years ago I was involved in a severe single-car auto accident when a left front tire blew out on a country road. I was intentionally placed in a coma for a few months as my body worked to recover from multiple spinal fractures and other broken bones. My doctors treated me with opioids. Upon release from the hospital, I continued to control serious pain with Oxycodone daily for a few years. I never developed a high from the drug and no addiction. When I no longer needed it, I simply stopped taking it. Fast forward to today. Because a...
Representatives and Senators, HELENA - Senate Bill 260 was signed into law on April 3, 2019, establishing the Trenton Johnson Memorial Highway, for the sake of honoring the risks wildland firefighters accept in order to save the lives and property of others, and especially those who pay the ultimate price for their service, like Trenton did at only 19 years of age. Senate Bill 260 passed with a vote of 47-3 in the Senate, and 90-9 in the House. I can’t imagine the reasoning behind the “Nay” votes, but that is far from what bothers me the most....
An Open Letter to Montana State Legislators and Governor Bullock: As former and current Montana Public Service Commissioners, we represented Montanans across this great state in balancing the needs of utilities with the needs of consumers. We took our oath of office seriously and worked tirelessly to faithfully perform the job to which our constituents entrusted us. We often disagreed as Commissioners, and still rarely agree on many issues. Yet we are writing this letter because we share grave concerns about Senate Bill 331. While we may...
Americans pay the highest brand-name drug prices in the world. Congress, the Administration, and importantly, our own Montana State legislators must take action now to lower prescription drug prices, the root cause of this problem. That’s why AARP is launching a national campaign urging federal and state policymakers to Stop Rx Greed by cracking down on price-gouging drug companies. AARP’s goal is to help lower drug prices for all Americans through decisive actions and solutions aimed not only at the Federal level but also at the State lev...
This week, our republican and democratic state legislators notched a victory for Montanans. Working together with the Governor's office, they agreed on legislation that would permanently reauthorize Medicaid Expansion. This is good news for Montana and a triumph for bipartisanship. Republicans and Democrats were able to find common ground on this issue because both parties recognize that Medicaid Expansion works for Montana. Since its passage in 2015, the Montana HELP Act has provided affordable health care to more than 96,000 working...
In Robin Hood’s time the rich (government) were rich at the expense of someone else. Everything was limited. A coat might take 100s of hours to produce. The rich had food, others had to starve. Gold, silver and land belonged to the king (government) even coins of the realm were limited by primitive production methods. Rich or poor life wasn’t a party, but rich was a whole lot better. Skip forward. Understand that money has no value other than trust. It is a storage instrument. $1000.00 might buy a cow, television, gun, etc. Point being, the...
Traditional Medicaid was created to lend a hand to our most vulnerable populations. Unfortunately, the governor, Democrat legislators and more than a few Republican legislators are trying to prop up an entitlement program for the able-bodied, Medicaid Expansion. Expansion is the brainchild of the Obama Administration and the gateway to a socialist and broken single-payer healthcare system like Canada’s. Socialism is a repeatedly failed ideology (Venezuela) and destroys the principles of freedom and liberty that have made America great and that...
Sexual assault knows no boundaries of age, race or social class. It is a plague on our society, endangering people from all walks of life. For more than two decades, my professional career focused on helping survivors of sexual assault in various ways: hearing stories of violence as a YWCA domestic violence advocate; seeing the immediate physical and emotional harm caused to survivors as a registered nurse; helping survivors seek justice through the court system as a deputy county attorney and also as an attorney representing crime victims; as...
The current Republican majority in the state legislature has been proud in following its idea of no new or increased taxes. And they have expressed initial satisfaction in “cutting fat” from various department budgets while “retaining indispensable state services.” The Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) is one agency especially targeted for the Republican budget treatment, as it is the largest agency in the state government. By defunding over 100 DPHHS positions, which have remained vacant for more than a year, the Republi...
SEELEY LAKE - If you have been unable to attend a sewer meeting since November 2018, you will never know what has gone on if you read the notes taken at the meetings. They do not give you any detailed information. I know the past president made sure the minutes were detailed for the public to read and be informed. I recently spoke with the sewer’s lawyer asking him about information on the Users’ Agreement. He said he couldn’t share with me, as it was a confidential matter. He said he edited the agreement and sent it back to the board, assum...
Why should someone who works and cannot afford insurance pay for the insurance of someone else who does not work at all? Continuing to fund Medicaid Expansion with tax revenue from Montana's struggling workers lacks real compassion. Try not to confuse Medicaid with Medicaid Expansion. Medicaid already covers profound disabilities and people who truly cannot enter the work force. Medicaid Expansion on the other hand is a deceptively named redistribution scheme that takes taxpayer money to give healthcare to nearly 100,000 other Montanans; many...
Editor, Without access to broadband internet, students are unable to keep up in the classroom, patients are denied the promise of telemedicine tools and rural businesses are locked out of the global economy. Thankfully, Senator Daines stood up for rural America when he wrote a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about the issue this week. In the letter, Senator Daines asked the FCC to remove the regulatory barriers holding TV white spaces back – a technology that wirelessly delivers broadband connectivity to underserved c...
There are rivers and streams every angler holds dear. We wince when their names are mentioned in public, fearing that the word will get out on our secret honey hole and that our next fishing trip will feature fewer trout and more people prodding its banks. For me, the North Fork of the Blackfoot River is such a place. It’s a place I don’t even like to mention because the fishing is that good. However, I care far more about protecting this water than keeping its publicity to a minimum. This is why, against my fishing instinct, I publicly urg...
It’s helpful to be at the same line of work long enough to be able to be proven wrong. I’ve been working with NAMI Montana to improve Montana’s mental illness treatment system for the past ten years. We’ve been really active on the local, state and national levels. That amount of work has brought plenty of opportunities to be wrong and we haven’t been able to avoid them all. One of the biggest times that I was wrong was on Medicaid Expansion during the 2015 legislative session. NAMI Montana fully supported Medicaid Expansion, but I personall...
Warning signs are all around us and our wishy washy and spineless ways, are blinding us to the truth. We already have Isis members in America and they keep coming over our borders. Hoda Muthana, other Isis brides and other Americans who turned their back on America and left to fight with Isis, are daring to ask to come back to America. Now they want us to let them back in. They are traitors! We must not let them in to again spy and promote recruits to kill Americans. It would be like letting a poisonous snake in your house and hoping you and yo...
SEELEY LAKE - First, I want to express appreciation to the staff of the Seeley Lake Post Office. They have undergone a complete transformation in the last several months with a new postmaster and 100 percent new staff. Now they are learning our area and our box holders and addressees, all while operating with a shrinking budget and declining staffing, over which they have no control. And yet they try. The challenges are many and the frustrations are climbing. Most of us deeply appreciate what you do. Many of us do not have street delivery of...
Tucked in the valleys and mountains that surround Ovando and Seeley Lake are the many creeks that feed into the Blackfoot River. Among them are North Fork of the Blackfoot, Monture Creek, Morrell Creek and West Fork of the Clearwater. These tributaries are the lifeblood of the Blackfoot watershed and its fishery, as explained in a recently released short film titled “Hallowed Waters: The Legacy and Lifeblood of the Big Blackfoot.” To protect the Blackfoot River long-term, we need to start with protecting these key tributaries. That’s what...
As a conservative, I am used to Liberal Democrats accusing me, or the people I vote for as: sexist, bigoted, misogynist, racist, xenophobe, homophobe, climate denier, hater and dumb. I admit, I don’t know what some of those big words mean, but I never thought, until now, that they were right about me being dumb. Liberal Democrats just introduced “The new green deal.” Its brilliance caused me to doubt my intellectual capacity. I never knew eliminating cow gas could help stop climate change. I have thought if you eliminate people gas you could...
SEELEY LAKE - The problem with the local US Post Office in Seeley Lake is that the current postmaster has installed a policy of returning any letters or packages that do not have a post office box number in the address. This is against the Montana postal policy of “local knowledge.” “Local knowledge” means that the postmaster and postal clerks use reasonable effort to make sure that the mail is delivered to the appropriate box. Having spoken at length to the postmaster and not getting a satisfactory response, I asked, and received, the number...
If zebra mussels are allowed to gain a foothold in Montana waters, it could cost Montanans hundreds of millions of dollars per year. It might seem dramatic, but it’s true—certain invasive species of mussels could do a massive amount of damage to Montana lakes, rivers and water supply. If we don’t do anything about it, it’ll be Montanans footing the bill. The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation released a new report outlining the enormous economic damage to Montana’s economy if invasive mussels were allowed to prolifera...
SEELEY LAKE - At the Sept. 24 work session of the Seeley Lake Sewer District Board, Great West Engineering gave a presentation and asked for a few decisions regarding the route of the main sewer line, etc. After the presentation, the three board members present Beth [Hutchinson], Troy [Spence] and Davy [Good] voted unanimously to instruct Great West to design the treatment plant and Phase 1 of the collection system to 90 percent. They had 120 days to submit those 90 percent plans to DEQ for approval. The Board expected the project to be approve...
SEELEY LAKE - I thought that I would expand just a bit on your article from last week as to the history of the Seeley Lake Biathlon. Having a biathlon was the brain child of Lynn Carey. He spoke of the fun of participating in such a race out of Missoula years before with instruction from his mentor Werner Probst, a transplant from Germany and a former biathlete. He got Steve and I excited as to the possibilities and how a biathlon would complement the culture of Seeley Lake. As your article indicated, the first race in 2008 was sponsored by...
Miracles To experience a miracle all you need do is go to the grocery store. Here in the middle of winter in Montana, you can buy fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, bread, fish and almost any kind of food item you can think of. Than you have drugs, beer and wine and way too many other things to list here. The same miracle can be experienced at other stores where you can buy a huge variety of items you want or need. If that’s not enough you can use your computer or phone to buy anything from around the world and have it delivered to your door o...
SEELEY LAKE - This is to help clarify the recent letter by Mike McGrew titled “No Dogs Allowed” concerning conflict with dog owners printed in the Jan. 24 issue of the Seeley Swan Pathfinder. The misinformation leading to the situation was an example of someone not familiar with the area recommending a recreation opportunity on a California national website. Confusion reigned about the dogs because the title of the trail shown on their website map was “Seeley Creek Nordic Ski Trails” which are EAST of Seeley Lake while the map location was for...
SEELEY LAKE – As you all know, I resigned from the Seeley Lake Sewer Board for multiple reasons. I couldn’t sit on a corrupt board that told lies to the people of Seeley Lake for years. The time I did serve I was bullied by the former president and was threatened to be sued for not pushing a plan through that the town neither needed or wanted. The three newly elected board members after two meetings were accused of not moving forward. After research, it was the previous board members who had no idea of what needed to be done or what they were e...
