Letters to the editor
Lies and
finger-pointing stink
Now that the elections are over, I feel compelled to put these words to paper on behalf of my wife, my family and the many supporters of Denise's recent campaign.
This past election cycle has brought a bad smell to the valley and made a mockery of the voting system.
A small group of individuals attacked my wife in the media trying to associate her with a vile group of white supremacists, a lie with absolutely no merit.
Denise did work a temporary part-time job in an insurance office for a man alleged (by Ken Toole of the Human Rights Network) to be a racist. She heard about the job from Christian friends and worked to pay tuition for our daughters at the Christian school. I never met the man and Denise did not often see him as he traveled for his work.
This group, "Republicans for the Flathead," is headed up by John Hinchey and includes two other losers from the primary, Alan Sieler and Paul Holland. They, along with a handful of supporters and supposed Republicans, ran a series of attack ads including ads published with no time to respond. These vicious ads held very little truth and plenty of finger pointing. This bad smell lingers on at Norm's News, where these supposed Republicans met. This group will have that bad smell follow them in their public and private lives for years to come.
It appears that Joe Brennaman agrees with this group. He is quoted in the Missoulian in the Oct. 29, 2004 edition questioning Denise's association with a white supremacists.
I suppose that if she had worked for a wife beater that he would have her guilty of that crime also. Mr. Brennaman will bring that bad smell with him to the commissioner's office as he jumped on the bandwagon.
I guess that these people fail to notice her last name which is the same as mine, dragging my family down as they spew their filth.
Therefore it is my duty, honor, and privilege as the last surviving male of my branch of the family to defend our good name. My family has fought hard against this type of tyranny for centuries. My bloodline goes back to the Revolutionary War and my mother is a proud member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
My ancestors include the Daniel Boone family among others who fought against this type of persecution throughout all the wars. During WW II, my dad served proudly in the South Pacific and several of my uncles fought in Europe and the South Pacific. One of my uncles went down with the "Oklahoma" in Pearl Harbor.
Lest we forget, that we can hold on to our ideas and be free from persecution. We believe in a two party system as my wife was born into a strong Democrat family who also served this country proudly and I come from a strong Republican/Democrat family. One of my uncles served as Under Secretary of Agriculture appointed by FDR.
As Hinchey and "Republicans for the Flathead" put it, my wife is a zealot and extremist. As for myself, I am not a perfect man, only forgiven because in my younger years I drank, gambled, and fought religiously.
Who we are and what we are is God fearing Americans who believe that Jesus Christ came on our behalf and yours that we might be saved. This is the same God that this country was founded on.
Hinchey and "Republicans for the Flathead" said that my wife is "ill-equipped" to be county commissioner; do they say this because she is a woman? I don't know, you tell me.
By the way, Hinchey, Holland, Sieler, and followers, I am 6'2" and weigh 250 pounds. Last time I looked I still had all of my equipment so I guess that I don't qualify for your group of geldings.
I'm a quiet man and not much of a talker, but I have a heart and a mind. You don't have to agree with my wife's views but do agree with her thoughts that truth, honesty, and integrity can hold political office someday in this commissioner's seat.
So, the next time you try to ruin a candidate's name be sure to look deeply into their heart and look behind them at the long line of supporters, past and present.
These types of lies and finger pointing cannot be tolerated in any walk of life. For in this country we have the freedom to worship and the opportunity to succeed or fail. But more importantly we have the opportunity to start over and move on.
And so, while Denise may have lost the election, it is the citizens of Flathead County who have really lost. Instead of electing a woman of integrity, they instead chose to believe the vicious lies of a few and elect a "moderate," Only time will tell how truly "moderate" our new commissioner really is.
I close this letter with a well-known motto "don't tread on me."
Steve Cofer
Kalispell
Onward Christian
soldiers!
According to George McLean and Democrats nationwide, the U.S. is "an idiot nation, re-electing the village idiot" and it emphatically was not "moral issues" which resulted in President Bush's victory. Fascinating.
John Kerry claims, not only is it the security issue that cost him the election, but very specifically the Osama tapes coming out in the 11th hour. Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi publicly agreed. Forget the scattershot accusations and baseless hypotheticals, Mr. McLean… how many times must George W. Bush win before you stop calling him the stupid one?
Thomas Jefferson knew that, "In times of peace the people look most to their representatives; but in war, to the executive solely." His memorial asks, "Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?" But, McLean screams, "This country is indeed corrupt and sick… the U.S. heartland elected Bush on God, Gays and Guns." Kerry adds, "the Bush administration is planning a right wing assault on values and ideals we hold most deeply."
That's odd; 11 states voted resoundingly to maintain the fundamental institution of marriage. The majority confirmed that we must defend ourselves above all to live our future as a nation.
Sun Tzu stated 2400 years ago; "Appraise war in terms of the fundamental factors. The first these factors is moral influence. Those who excel in war first cultivate their own humanity and justice and maintain their laws and institutions." This is exactly coherent with Jefferson's teachings.
This election was a gut check moment for "We, the People." Contrary to the Left's strident condemnations, we are not the enemy. The War on Terror is our response to Muslim extremists everywhere. Here's what the Koran tells them: "Kill the disbelievers wherever we find them" (Koran 2:191) "Not to make friendship with Jews and Christians" (K, 5:51) "Murder them and treat them harshly." (K, 9:123) "Strike off the heads of the disbelievers." (K, 47:4) Judging from their actions, it appears they mean it.
Sit there, cower, and cry with Kerry, McLean, and Pelosi. I'm sticking with Thomas Jefferson, the U.S. Military, and George W. Bush, always faithful.
J.B. Stone
Whitefish
Animal cruelty, a concern for adopted pets
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 who 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
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 Democratic governor, a state Senate with a clear Democratic majority, and our state House of Representatives 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-
Pat Williams (D) served nine terms as a U.S. Representative from Montana. Currently, he teaches at The University of Montana where he also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Rocky Mountain West.