Letters

Fraud, not assault

I was in attendance at the July 23 commissioners meeting at the county court house. It was my understanding that the agenda item for the 3 p.m. hour was to be the commissioners' response and action to be taken in regard to the multiple complaints that had previously been leveled at the county planning office and county planner Mr. Tim Read in particular. Near the end of the meeting, it became apparent that the commissioners had decided to disregard these complaints, take the planners word for what had occurred and side against the many good people who demonstrated the courage to let their voices be heard. This was truly a disappointing meeting moment.

At this time, Mr. Ollie St. Clair asked for clarification that indeed the commission was taking Mr. Read's word over his. He wanted to know, at that point, if they were calling him a liar, which they were. He was angry. No one could blame him.

It was at this time that Mr. Read chose to leave the meeting. Mr. St. Clair rose from his chair and demanded that Mr. Read look him in the eye and tell him what he'd reported to the commissioners. Mr. Read chose to make a quick exit thereby brushing Mr. St. Clair on his way out. No “assault” took place. Mr. St. Clair continued down the hall after Mr. Read expressly requesting satisfactory explanation to his question. Mr. Read shimmied on down to the Sheriff's office.

Both the newspapers chose to sensationalize this interaction with the word “assault.” Mr. Read ran down to Sheriff Hopwood and filed charges against Mr. St. Clair. How brilliant. Charges were filed against Mr. St. Clair by a man in fear for his job. What a great way to change the subject and draw attention from the real topic. This could be construed as a conspiracy by the highest echelon of our county government against a truly concerned citizen. The Independent, Chronicle, commission, county attorney and planning office all owe Mr. St. Clair a sincere apology. The real headline should have read “FRAUD.” The people of this county were defrauded of justice in their well founded complaints. Mr. St. Clair was defrauded of the fair treatment and his reputation questioned without a full understanding of the circumstances. Everyone with an opinion on the matter is well advised to look at the whole picture before stating his/her opinion.

Al Dunlap

St. Regis

Kudos

Kudos to the Valley Press! The new look is refreshing, and the concentration on local people and events is commendable. It is to be hoped that locals will either submit or suggest items of local interest. In order to have a truly “Home Town” paper, the community needs to participate.

The coverage of the Relay for Life was great. Even though I was unable to attend this year, as a cancer survivor (twice), the work of the community is deeply appreciated.

One disgruntled reader does not speak for the entire community. Keep up the good work!

Jan Teece

Plains

Multiple-use can be restored by coordination

Have you ever tried to determine what “multiple use” of our National Forests really means? Here is a stab at making a comprehensive list of uses: haying, water resources, and hydro power development, special uses like fire lookouts, outfitting and guiding, grazing, recreational cabins, electronic sites; harvest of forest resources such as: firewood, berries, mushrooms, beargrass, X-mas trees and boughs; activities like: hunting, snowmobiling, riding trails on mountain bikes, ATVs and motorcycles, sightseeing and scenic viewing from cars and trucks, hiking/backpacking, camping, boating, bird watching, photography, rock climbing, wildlife viewing, and other recreational activities; and commercial uses such as timber harvest (green trees and salvage), commercial mining (minerals), and architectural rock mining.

The 1887 Organic Act established the National Forests primarily for the production of timber and water. The 1960 Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act requires the forests to provide all the additional uses cited above, while protecting the soil and water resource and the natural ecosystem from long term damage.

Of course not all activities and uses can occur on every small unit of land, but many of them have long been available on most national forests for forest management and harvest, and available to the public, via existing legal and environmentally appropriate roads and trials that have historically made access to all of these resource uses available.

But our access and resource uses have gradually been restricted and decreased until many are no longer feasible or even possible. The Forest Service has been forced down the path of closures and restriction much to the frustration of business owners and citizens alike. Forest management, necessary for the continued forest health and growth, as well as control of wildfires, has been severely reduced - the logging industry has been decimated, and many mills have been closed. Forest Service managers have openly and publicly admitted that they are suffering from paralysis caused by environmental lawsuits. These suits and threats of legal action have caused endless cycles of analysis and proposals. Most of the proposals are never implemented. The situation has become so bad that National Forest Supervisors and District Rangers have found it just isn't worth the time and expense to prepare any management projects that involve harvest of trees, just to have the projects shot down in court due to frivolous lawsuits by the Sierra Club, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Wildwest Institute, etc.

Multiple use of our national forests in Sanders County can be restored if we are willing to give the time, energy and commitment to achieve this goal. The process is simple but not easy. It is called “coordination” - more precisely, the implementation of coordination laws which have been on the books for many years.

The detail for Sanders County coordination is contained in a document entitled the Sanders Natural Resource Plan.  The writing of this document is complete.  The next step is for the county commissions to adopt it by resolution.  Logic would predict that they will do this in the near future, if they are confident of four things:  first, the people want it, secondly, they are equipped to implement it, thirdly, that “coordination” is a tested and proven process, and fourth, that benefits provided under the plan will far outweigh the costs.

All four statements can be proven beyond any doubt. You can get a copy of the Draft Plan from the Sanders County Web site:  www.co.sanders.mt.us/home_page/current_news.html or call 826-0035. Read it and then begin letting our commissioners know you want them to implement coordination.

Roger C. Lund

Paradise

Minimum wage increase good

Regarding minimum wage increase, not all those that get $6.55 an hour or a little above are just teens, some are adults too. They may have to support themselves. I don't think that $6, $8, $10, or $12 an hour is enough with the cost of living. Figure if you are paying rent at $450 a month or more, lights & utilities - $100, car gas- $50/week, groceries $400/month, car insurance $60/month, health insurance $400/month, fuel for house $200/month, dr., dentist, medicine? Etc. Etc., totaling $1,660/month, plus unforeseen things.

Put yourself in the shoes of employees and try to live on the wages. I'm not saying you have to pay this, I'm just trying to make a point on how hard it is for people, even 2 people working, low paying jobs. We all know everything keeps going up whether wages do or not.

Robin Ovitt

Plains

Don't charge athletes

The other day a frantic friend called me. She was very upset because she had heard that the Plains school board was going to require the football players each to pay $250 to play. Needless to say that was a shocker to me and my family and so I called the school to check it out. This is what I found out. The $250 amount is wrong, but the rest is true. The reasoning behind this idea came from two school board members, both who are wonderful people but who have no kids in the sports system. These two members want to make the kids more dedicated and responsible to the sport in which they participate. In the paragraphs following you will read my opinions on this matter.

To address the “being more responsible and dedicated to their sport” I say, “What!” I have two boys who work their butts off! They got straight A's last year. One will be a senior this year and has straight A's three years running. Both boys do whatever their coaches ask, both lift weights during the summer for football and track, both do not go to the Sinclair or Service Center for lunch during the school year (as Mrs. Spencer said in last weeks paper), and both coach the Little Dribblers on their lunch hour. My boys are not an exception. There are many other youth doing the same things. How much more responsible or dedicated do you want them to be?

I understand the money shortage the school has; I am after all a teacher's wife. I know how important that levy was, but charging the athletes was your first idea of aiding that shortage? Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. Let me explain: if you charge the football team you legally have to charge all sports. If you charge all sports you legally have to charge all extra curricular activities such as drama, envirothon, select choir, any art competitions, etc. The thing people forget is that sports at least bring in some money. If I hear any parent tell me “other schools are doing it” I will freak! I'll give you the same answer my parents gave me and me to my kids: “just because Jimmy jumps from a cliff doesn't make it right!” Come on guys.

I believe there are other ways to consider helping the funding shortage. 1) We could raise the activity passes by a small amount and enforce them. The Junior High is also required to purchase them to play but many do not. If, by chance, someone can't come up with the money to purchase one, have them work it off. You'd be surprised how that can produce the money. 2) Think about going to a four day school week. You'd save on electricity by heating only the gym area. You'd also save by scheduling both boys and girls athletics at the same place and busing them both. You'd also save thousands alone on subs since teachers would schedule their doctors appointments and such on Fridays. You will have the occasional emergencies arise but for the most part it'd work great. For the parents whose first thought is “but then I'd have to hire someone to watch my kids on Friday” I say, “Since when did the school become a babysitter?” The school is there to assist the parents, not the other way around. But that is another matter I choose not to take on at this time. I do however understand and have a solution for that question. The school has an after school program on Mon., Tues., and Thurs. Maybe Friday could be a block time for the week's activities? You know, do the week's activities on Friday. It would help. I really like the idea of a four day week. I look at it as one more day to spend with my kids. They grow too fast.

I did think about fund raising. It's not a bad idea but it scares me because you have “the doers” and the “those who don't.” So once again it will be the same group of kids who will be doing the fund raisers that are already doing so much.

This is one area our family feels very strongly against. We talked about this as a family and decided that if the school board indeed makes the athletes pay to play, then our kids will be playing at some other school. And no, we will not accept someone else paying for them. Even those who are struggling financially have self-worth. The fastest way to destroy that is to make them feel they fail at providing for their family.

So basically a proposal is being made that says, “Those who have money can play and those who don't have money can't.” Take all the fat out and that's what it says in black and white. The next school board meeting is Aug. 14th at 7 p.m. My family and I plead for you to attend.

Sandy Thompson

Plains