Lady Bulldogs show persistence

I urge everyone who supports Whitefish High sports to come out and support the girls soccer team when they host the state championship final game this Saturday at noon on Smith Field.

Beset with a raft of serious injuries and missing several starters, Coach Lini Reading prepared for the semi-finals last weekend by dropping the successful formation used all season and promoting four freshmen from the JV team.

She could not expect any leadership from her seniors — because there aren't any on the team. Her top-three forwards consisted of a one-legged freshman (ankle sprain), a junior who was sick as a dog, and another junior with a groin pull (she only screamed in pain three times during the game).

Missing her top-two midfielders, one in a cast and the other playing a new position due to a severe ankle sprain, the team cobbled together a defense that played seven freshmen and held the opponents to a single goal, while the gimps up front put two in the net for the victory.

What you will see Saturday is a defense that bends (a lot) but rarely breaks, and an offense that continues to get the job done — somehow. Midfield, well, they get the job done, too.

They are not the strong team they would be if everyone were healthy, but these girls have no quit in them. They really have no right to think they have a chance for the title, but that thought hasn't crossed their minds. They doggedly get on with business, play as a cohesive unit and seem to be having a lot of fun.

While the Belgrade girls are probably planning their victory party, I suggest that you come on out Saturday to see our Bulldogs. This will be high school athletics at its finest, and a large, howling crowd might just be that little extra push needed to carry our girls to the improbable championship.

Go Dogs!

Richard Atkinson

Whitefish

Vandals here worse than in big cities

On Saturday, Oct. 15, my little red Miata convertible was egged on Central Ave. while I was attending a performance at the O'Shaughnessy Center.

It's ironic that in my 12 years of ownership of this car, I have driven it across the country, visiting cities such as Key West, Miami, Tampa, Atlanta, Chicago, Milwaukee, Omaha, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Seattle without ever having experienced an incident of vandalism and that my hometown of little ol' Whitefish is where my car is damaged.

It's a real shame and a sad sign of the times.

Lee Minton

Whitefish

Lack of planning at intersection

I just read the Pilot's report on a lawsuit concerning American Bank and left turns at Baker/Second.

How stupid can those involved be? First, there was this shiny new yogurt joint, then that was hauled off and a fancy new bank built, awfully close to the corner, I thought. But I'm just a humble citizen and I know our brilliant planning board and council must know something I didn't. Someone had to approve this, and did.

Now, we have jet-setting lawyer and tycoon Cliff Edwards involved over 227 square feet. I'm impressed. I'm sure the price tag, and the demolition, and the reconstruction of the entire facade of the bank building will be equally impressive, if not more so.

Bottom line here is that Montana Department of Transportation, the Whitefish City Council and others-that-be powers need to pull their thumbs out. The cross-traffic problem in Whitefish is an absolute joke, yet no moves have seriously been made to encourage drivers to make their turns elsewhere on the grid, or to make a couple extra right turns.

No, all we get are more stop signs, silly mini-roundabouts and courtroom kookiness. What's next? Light rail?

Dave Skinner

Whitefish

Rierson memories

I first met Al Rierson — a former Flathead County Sheriff and Montana Highway Patrolman who recently passed away — in the late 1960s when he was an MHP supervisor within this patrol district.

The community of policemen was relatively small, and all had a radio call and car number that became interchangeable with their name. It was easy to listen to the radio traffic and know instantly who was working and where. Sometimes the "dead air" would extend for several minutes when nothing was happening anywhere in the county.

Al was always quick with a story about his farming days in northeastern Montana and offered political comment about a number of timely subjects.

Lawman Rierson was a part of this county's history that too many people either don't know or will never appreciate. Times and Flathead County have changed — MHP 113 is 10-10, forever.

City Judge Bradley Johnson

Whitefish