Letters to the editor

Sincere thanks

from Bill Beck

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported me in my bid for House District 4. This campaign was not a total loss - I met a number of kind and interesting people who made my endeavor well worthwhile. This, undoubtedly, was a life-learning adventure. Again, thanks for being there and sharing this experience with me.

Bill Beck

Whitefish

Congratulations Freshman Football Bulldogs

I would like to say Congratulations to the Freshman Football team.

This is to congratulate the rest of the team that was not mentioned in the original article. It takes the entire team to make a good winning team. Unfortunately those that practice just as hard and are there for the starters don't get mentioned. These players (most of them) have been there since fifth grade also. These players work real hard to practice with the starters to make them great. If the starters did not have a good team to practice with and against they wouldn't be the starters they are.

Congratulations! Douglas Prideaux, Michael Samdahl, Jake Scheel, Steven Kibe, R.J. Beasley, Ian McKay, Collin Fuller, Joe Engibous, John Cummings, John Kelley. Thanks for being part of a great team and thanks to you coaches!

Becky Cannon

Whitefish

Patron ski passport

good for business

I am writing to encourage the purchase of All-Season Patron Passports from the Whitefish Community Foundation. Cathy and I, as managers of Crestwood Resort, have purchased two of these All-Season Patron Passes for the last three years. These fully transferable Big Mountain Ski Passes have greatly improved our relationship with guests who stay at Crestwood Resort. In addition, we have used them frequently as a means to say thank you to our wonderful employees.

We have frequently noticed the very positive comments received from our guests when we sent them up skiing "on us." For the last twenty-five years, Resort International Corporation (RCI) has classified Crestwood Resort as a "standard resort." Since participating with the Whitefish Community Foundation and purchasing these two passes and sharing them with our guests, our favorable comments have significantly increased. Perhaps it is just coincidence, but after our first year of participation with this worthwhile program, Crestwood Resort was named a Resort of International Distinction.

I would encourage other lodging facilities to purchase these fully transferable passes and periodically send your guests up skiing as a measure of appreciation. Nothing is as important in the lodging business as "repeat" business. We now have our guests calling us in advance to see if they might be able to use the passes.

I would encourage other businesses in Whitefish to consider purchasing a couple of these passes. I know I would be impressed if my bank, credit union, clothing stores, restaurants, etc., or any of the other wonderful businesses that Whitefish supports would return the favor—and support the Whitefish Community Foundation. What a wonderful way of saying thank you to your customers or employees by letting them have a day or two of skiing on you! If you are interested, please give the foundation a call at 863-1781 or contact them by email: info@whitefishcommmunityfoundation.org

Tom Muri

Whitefish

Whitefish Rotarians help kids in Kathmandu

Jerry and I send our most heartfelt thanks to all of the members of the Whitefish Rotary Club for their contribution of the proceeds of the International Gift Auction to be used by our non-profit corporation for the education of two poor children here in Kathmandu, Nepal.

We are committed to the belief that the only way to help this impoverished country is through the education of its young people - and the Rotarians have certainly joined us in this endeavor.

The two boys who have been selected to be the beneficiaries of this wonderful gift are Santosh Nepali and Kamal Lama. Both boys are presently in grade six.

They were both born into extremely poor families. Education in Nepal is not free so, without financial assistance, neither boy would have been able to attend school.

Kamal was born in jail and since there were no other family members to care for him he remained in jail with his mother for the first five years of his life. We have seen dramatic changes in this young boy in the seven years during which we have been involved in his life.

Santosh was abandoned by his mother when he was young. Before we knew him, he was being raised by a very poor grandfather who works seven days a week just to be able to have enough money to put food on the table for himself, his wife and the three grandchildren who have returned to him for care.

Santosh's grandfather accompanied us when we first took Santosh to school. His parting words to his grandson were, "Go, my son, and become a better man than I."

We believe that, thanks to the generosity of the Whitefish Rotary Club, both of these young boys will indeed become "better" men than would have been possible for them to become without the education they are receiving.

They will be able to break the cycle of poverty into which they were born and will be able to provide better lives for themselves and for their future families. Their futures have been made bright thanks to the help they have received from the wonderful men and women of Whitefish.

Jerry and Judy Golphenee

Kathmandu, Nepal

Editor's note: The Golphenees moved to Kathmandu eight years ago, and currently help fifty-eight children with their education expenses. The Whitefish Rotary Club raised over $8,000, and included a fifty percent matching grant to add a total of $12,000 to the education fund.

Expecting more of Whitefish

Concerning the educational literature that some spineless, uneducated portion of the population anonymously distributed in your

community: Is your city council member Erik Garbreg delusional? To quote him he'd like to "pretend it never happened and hope it goes away." How naive can you be? We are living in dangerous times. Confront them right on Central Ave., in broad daylight, in front of the entire population. That's what you do.

Tell them loudly there is no room in your, or any, community for that type of intolerance. Confront them with education, not by ignoring them. They want you to be afraid. They are like cockroaches. Turn on the light and see them run. Definitely don't keep it quiet, whispering is the worst. Hiding your heads in the sand in what they want.

The president just won reelection by telling the population to be very afraid - be frightened of terrorism and of those in this pluralistic society who may have thoughts, beliefs and values that differ from your own. I expect more of Whitefish. I lived and worked there from 1978 to1990. I worked seasonal jobs and real ones. I sat in the Great Northern many days and nights. I worked with Andy Feury and Buck Love, building Kandahar.

I was in Marketing on Big Mountain at one point working Norm Kurtz. I was Coordinator of The North American Ski/Yachting Championships in 1986. A whole slue of things that I am proud of and things I am not so proud of. However, one thing I wanted to add, was that if the population wanted a lesson in tolerance, all they needed to do was look no farther then Muldown School. I knew Mully, and that guy risked his life in helping Jews escape Europe as the Nazi's marched on Austria (great story, one you should ask more about) I did a video interview with Mully that took weeks and he would turn over in his grave if he knew people in his community were intolerant. I am sure of it. I'm keeping my eye on you guys. P.S. Tell Andy he is doing a good job.

Alan Ross Oratz

Portland, Ore.

Thanksgiving a perfect time to donate tissue

The Thanksgiving holiday is an ideal time for families to celebrate abundance, generosity and each other. It's also the perfect time of year to talk about organ and tissue donation. This community has been touched by a number of people already receiving the gifts of life, sight, and health through organ, corneal, and tissue donation. In Montana, over 2,000 transplants took place in the last year.

"ThanksGivingDay - Give Thanks. Give Life." is the theme of a new national program intended to put the life-saving issue of organ and tissue donation on the holiday table alongside other turkey-day traditions. During this year's holiday, we encourage families to discuss donation and their wishes about being donors. Many people will spend the holiday with the family members who would most likely be approached as next of kin in the event of their death. A day devoted to giving thanks for their own blessings is a good time for families to discuss how they might give life to others.

Unfortunately, it is a discussion that all too often never takes place.

The National Coalition on Donation reports that close to 90,000 people are awaiting life-saving heart, lung, kidney, pancreas, liver and intestine transplants, with an average of 17 people dying each day from lack of available organs. More than 900,000 tissue transplants, life-enhancing procedures using donated skin, bone, heart valves and connective tissues, were performed last year, as well as 46,600 cornea transplants to improve and restore vision.

To take part in the program, participants are encouraged to first visit www.donatelife.net/thanksgivingday where they can find more information about the ThanksGivingDay program, as well as facts and figures about organ and tissue donation, including the steps necessary for committing to donation in their areas. The Web site also has tips for talking to family members about donation and a downloadable Donate Life Guide. You may also call your local donor program.

On a day of national thanksgiving, what better way to celebrate life than by giving others a second chance to live? Just as your conversation could save someone else's life, someone else's conversation could someday save yours.

Jens Saakvitne

Executive Director

RTI Donor Services, Western Range Division

Missoula, Mont.

Break-in at Smith park hurts kids

A small sentence in the law enforcement section of a Daily Interlake last week read, "Whitefish police are investigating a break-in at the concession stand in Smith Sports Park."

I would like to provide readers with the rest of the story and ask for assistance from our community in solving this crime.

As many know, the Smith Sports Complex in Whitefish has been created through the generosity of many local individuals and businesses. While the complex appears to be complete, there are always projects for volunteers to finish, as well as continued maintenance and improvements.

Last Wednesday evening there were at least five volunteers from our community at the fields laying sod and pouring concrete. When one volunteer returned the next morning, he discovered that the concession stand had been broken into.

Missing was a brand new PA system with a built-in CD player that had been purchased by a local business to be used for the Whitefish High School soccer games. It had been used once at the last home game of the season.

The players were excited to be able to have the national anthem played before the game and have players from both teams introduced prior to kick off. It was a step toward recognizing the hard work and dedication of the athletes on the soccer field and the first class program at Whitefish High School.

While those of us who volunteer our time and our money feel as though we have been kicked in the gut when things we've worked so hard to accomplish are stolen or damaged, the people who really loose out are the kids in the community. This PA system was donated with only the kids in mind - and now it is gone.

I would ask members of the community to look around, be aware of what is happening in our valley. If you see or hear of a new large music system, ask questions. Please contact the Whitefish Police if you think you may have information about this theft. The 2004 soccer players and our future high school players would like the PA system back. It was for the kids!

Linda Hobbs

Whitefish

Montana a "Red" state? Look again

According to the television networks on election night, a sea of red swept across the Deep South and flowed over the states of the Rocky Mountain West. That brightly colored presidential election night graphic made for easy viewing but it grossly over-simplified the diversity of our political choices.

Montana's Big Sky turned bright "Blue" on Nov. 2. We elected a Democrat governor, a state Senate with a clear Democratic majority, and our state House moved from a six-vote Republican majority to a tie of 49 to 49.

Democrats enjoyed a near sweep in the other state races as well, winning four out of five from Attorney General to Superintendent of Public Instruction, and now hold a clear advantage on both the important Public Service Commission and State Land Board.

These gains for Democrats are not limited to Montana, but are also found in other of the so-called "Red" states of the Rocky Mountains. In the past two years, western voters have chosen Democrats as governor in Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming and now Montana. More than half the states of the Rocky Mountain West are now led by "Blue" chief executives.

The same picture emerges in our local elections. Democrats hold the mayor's office in most of the major cities in the Rockies from Santa Fe and Phoenix to Salt Lake City and Missoula. The largest city in Republican Idaho, Boise, now has a Democrat mayor. Every strategist understands the importance of building political strength at the local level.

The vibrant political hues and often schizophrenic choices of Montana and other Rocky Mountain states demand attention. To consider us as "Red" is not only incorrect, but also limits understanding of our political choices and thus our aspirations. Throughout our history Montana's election night results have reflected our ticket-splitting independence. Two notable examples from almost 50 years ago are: Montanans chose a conservative, Zales Ecton, as U.S. Senator by 54 percent, while in the same election sent the Democrat Mike Mansfield to the U.S. House with 58 percent. In 1952 we voted for the Republican Eisenhower for president but chose the liberal Democrat Lee Metcalf for the Congress. Every election since, Montanans have split our ticket between red and blue.

No state in America is all one or the other, and nowhere is that more evident than here in the Rocky Mountain West. Even while voting heavily for Bush, Montanans, Coloradans, and others resoundingly chose Democratic candidates up and down the ballot. Is there a lesson in this move to the political left, however moderate? There are two lessons and Bush should give close attention to them both: first, Republicans on the Far Right have overreached for more than a decade. We observed the determined and vocal rejection of the policies of Right Wing zealotry most clearly here in the Rockies. Voters in Colorado turned both houses of their state legislature over to Democrats and the state's journalists and politicos cite the voters' rejection of Far Right policies imposed by hard-line conservatives as a main reason for that dramatic shift.

In Montana's heavily populated Flathead Valley, moderate Republicans took it upon themselves to publicly ask voters to reject "the extremists" who had taken over the Republican Party and instead cast their votes for Democrats. That was virtually the same surprising message that was delivered by the former state Republican Chair, Susan Good, who also encouraged Montanans to cast their ballots for Democrats.

The second vital message sent by western voters is that people out this way have a deep, visceral respect for the environment. To us the land is not an abstraction; rather we live, work and play on it and we are determined that this place - the air, water and land - be protected. On that, too, the Right, most notably the Bush administration, has overreached and in doing so turned much of the West from Red to Blue.

Pat Williams served nine terms as a U.S. Representative from Montana. After his retirement, he returned to Montana and is teaching at The University of Montana where he also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Rocky Mountain West.

To The Editor:

We admit that we're a bit prejudiced when it comes to cats, but recent events in the Kalispell area should touch the hearts and minds of all residents. A young Evergreen man has admitted to local media officials and law enforcement that he adopts kittens through "free" ads in local papers and uses the kittens to train his dogs for cougar hunting.

One of our volunteers was able to learn of a particular woman in Kalispell that was distraught because she had second thoughts about a man that she adopted her two kittens to. By calling all of the ads, our volunteer talked to her and convinced her to contact the man to get her kittens returned. She was informed that his dog(s) had killed them. Subsequent calls to everyone that had ads running revealed that he had placed calls to many of them, including our own foster homes.

Fortunately, the lady that adopted out the kittens took further action and contacted the Kalispell Police Department, who along with the Flathead Sheriff's Department have investigated the allegations. Hopefully, aggravated animal cruelty charges will be filed against him this week.

We would like to pass along several simple suggestions for anyone that must find a new home for a dog or cat.

1. Take the time to talk and meet with the potential adopter.

2. Charge a fee for the animal to discourage impulse or unethical adopters.

3. Don't allow young children to do the adoptions (at grocery stores, etc.)

4. Get their name, address and phone number. Contact landlords to see if pets are allowed.

5. Interview several people if necessary and only adopt to those that you have a good feeling about. Listen to your intuition.

6. If you have questions about how to screen potential adopters, contact us, Flathead Animal Control or the Humane Society.

These animals are your responsibility and we don't want to see another family have to go through a similar situation.

Mimi Beadles

Flathead Spay & Neuter Task Force