A belated thank you

You would think, as old as I am (81), that I would be wiser and make fewer mistakes. Not so. Just about the time I get a little smug, I stumble and blunder into a boo-boo.

The latest, but not my biggest, blunder was my column about the recent Thanksgiving celebration at Sondreson Hall. I completely missed noting that, along with those mentioned, Donna Harrison and Randy Kenyon also prepared a turkey for the feast. Worst of all, I didn’t realize my error until someone else spotted it and told me.

Like all of the others involved in organizing this truly super community event, Donna and Randy have been active in the community for years and deserve to be recognized for their community efforts.

Both Randy and Donna have served or are serving as officers of the North Fork Landowners Association and the North Fork Preservation Association. Randy is the current chairman of the North Fork Land Use Advisory Committee, which is a Flathead County advisory board that makes sure locals have a voice in zoning and other land-use concerns.

In addition, they have, along with many others, helped out with cleanup activities, weed issues and social events and educational/informative events. They don’t do these things for recognition – but they deserve it. Thanks Randy and Donna!

Of course, since Thanksgiving, there is even more activity on the party circuit. Dinner parties, birthday parties, Christmas parties, ugly sweater parties, you name it, there is a party. I’m sure this is partly due to cold weather and the end of the hunting season. If we are not outside as much as in the summer, we want to enjoy the company of our friends and neighbors. Each of these events are great fun with great food and a lot of laughter.

I would like to thank “proofreader” and Richard Wackrow for the critical letters they sent to either me or the editor. The letters from these two have resulted in my receiving 39 phone calls, e-mails or letters from readers. That is the most I have ever received on any single topic.

Since the original 18-page diatribe from the proofreader, I received several more in the weeks that followed which make five or six critical letters from one or two individuals as opposed to 39 folks who did not want me to change anything.

The supportive letters came from year-round North Forkers, summer residents, non-landowners who have visited and even the editor of the paper. I hope I responded to all of you and I truly appreciated your support.

That being said, while I considered much of what the proofreader said to be petty and mean-spirited, much like Richard Wackrow’s letter, the proofreader accurately listed some items of grammar and punctuation that I could be better at doing. Those I will try to improve, but I won’t promise. My purpose in writing this column is to inform folks in such a way that supports our most neighborly lifestyle, recognizes our diversity and acknowledges that differing opinions are a good thing. Folks that differ from us have as much a right to their opinion as we have to ours. Not only that, maybe they are right and we are wrong. What do you think?

Larry Wilson’s North Fork Views appears weekly in the Hungry Horse News.