Opinion
Searching for opinion based articles? Below we'll share opinion news articles on a wide variety of topics.
Notes from Ranger Doug
I’ve had the pleasure over the years of getting correspondence from longtime Glacier National Park ranger/naturali…
Celebrating the Wilderness Act at 60
On Sept. 3, 1964, President Johnson signed the Wilderness act; it preserved 54 areas as wilderness, totaling 9,100,000 acres in 13 states. More importantly it envisioned additional areas being added to the newly cr…
Council should be easier to reach
If you want to engage your elected representatives in respectful dialogue on an issue of importance to you in Kalispell, Whitefish, or with one of our County Commissioners, you simply go to the web page for that lo…
A fairer tax code?
I spent 12 years in the Montana Legislature, 1995 through 2006. Session after session we fought the same battle over taxes.
Commissioners thank Zinke
We, the Flathead County Board of Commissioners, are extending our deepest gratitude to Congressman Ryan Zinke for his instrumental role in securing $1.3 million in funding to upgrade the Flathead Emergency Communic…
Rez dogs of the lodge
They are as much a harbinger of spring as are the swallows of Capistrano … and like the said swallows their return is about as punctual.
Coalition announces meetings
The Coalition For A Clean CFAC will be hosting public meetings on Aug. 20 and 21. These meetings invite the public’s input regarding the proposed Columbia Falls Aluminum Plant Superfund cleanup plan. The August pr…
GOP hypocrisy
For years, Republicans have claimed to be the party of Christians while behaving the opposite of Christ. This year, they’ve outdone that hypocrisy by claiming to be the Law and Order Party while picking Donald Trum…
Pols losing touch to the land
Tim Sheehy, the Republican seeking to unseat Montana Democratic Senator Jon Tester, is a business executive born and raised out of state. That same description applies to Troy Downing, a Republican running for one …
Horse Gulch could have been prevented
Writing recently on X (formerly Twitter), Frontier Institute President and CEO Kendall Cotton observed that Montana’s Horse Gulch Fire is burning in a portion of Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest that was slat…
Wrong side of history?
Heat waves are more intense, longer lasting, and three times as frequent as 60 years ago. More areas are vulnerable to record-breaking temperatures each succeeding year. As a 72-year-old with a reasonably good reco…
Property tax inequities
In Flathead County, property taxes have increased well beyond inflation for residential homes and businesses. I was appointed to the Governor’s Property Task Force to dig deep into the cause of such escalations and…
Going deep on CFAC
Going deep is an essential next step in order for Columbia Falls and Flathead County residents to begin to really understand and raise meaningful questions about the proposed leave-the-toxic waste-in-place cleanup …
In a jam, and it’s great
Like most other folks in the Flathead Valley, my sweet cherry trees failed this year. Some failed in the terminal sense: They died entirely, while others just came out of last winter’s cold blast looking awfully si…
The tipping point?
I’ve been conflicted about tips lately. Whenever you check out nowadays it seems like they’re asking for a tip. Should I tip the girl who handed me a muffin out of the case at Coffee Traders the other day?
Project 2025 concerns him
Celebrations centered around July 4th have always been tricky for me