Mitchell's pot shot a sad state of affairs

The sad story of county commissioner Phil Mitchell ended earlier this month. For those of you not familiar with the case, there were some cottonwood trees growing in a county park next to Mitchell’s property in Whitefish.

Mitchell finished them off, by his own admission, with Roundup.

He said he didn’t like cottonwoods.

Under a plea agreement, Mitchell paid $16,000 in restitution, a $75 fine, and has to drink a cup of Roundup himself, just to “see what it tastes like.”

(I made that last part up, obviously.)

Trees aside, the most disconcerting aspect of the case was Mitchell’s pot shot at Sheriff Chuck Curry.

Curry viewed the tree killing, which Mitchell, at the time, admitted to, as a felony offense, and expressed his disappointment in the plea deal.

Here’s Mitchell’s response to Curry:

“Sheriff Curry’s comment that he was embarrassed by this plea deal is laughable. He should be embarrassed that his department recommended felony charges without investigating whether the trees were already dead. He should be embarrassed for dragging law enforcement into a political fight when he’s been willing to ‘look the other way’ when other public officials have broken laws that have actually endangered people (e.g. Barkus’ boat accident.) He should be embarrassed for pronouncing two people dead to their families under his leadership after a plane crash in 2004 when they walked out on their own.

“As a member of Flathead County local government, I am embarrassed by Sheriff Curry’s comments and by his willingness to use his position in law enforcement to create political controversy for his personal satisfaction.”

Mitchell’s really dragging up the past here with his Barkus and plane crash references, and what they have to do with his own situation are beyond me, other than being an obvious smear attempt.

Curry (who wasn’t Sheriff at the time, Jim Dupont was) made an honest mistake with the plane crash (the plane caught on fire and burned on top of a mountain, something Phil fails to mention). As for the Barkus case, Mike Meehan was Sheriff, not Curry.

Curry has been an exemplary public servant and one only has to look at the effort and resources he employed to search for and find Dr. Jon Torgerson earlier this month. Curry never gave up on a search that many in law enforcement would have given up long ago.

The people of Flathead County deserve better representation than Phil Mitchell.

Chris Peterson is the editor of the Hungry Horse News.