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Mission Valley Heritage says thanks

| April 26, 2007 12:00 AM

Editor,

The Mission Valley Heritage would like to thank everyone who helped make our Potato Dinner and Silent Auction a success again this year. Whether it was with a donation, auction item, food items, or attending the dinner, without your generosity and support, we couldn't have done it.

Thanks to Mission Valley Printing for the posters again this year.

Velma Krantz

Ronan

MVA swim pool

effort needs you

Editor,

I would like to make more of an effort this year to keep the community informed of the progress with Mission Valley Aquatics. It has now been four years since the first meeting. Some of you may be getting impatient and wondering when the pool will be built while others may be more aware of all the work and continued effort that has gone on through the years.

I still can't tell you when we are breaking ground but I will say that we are getting closer. We have a location, a builder, a business plan in process, and a grant writer. Listed below are ways you can help Mission Valley Aquatics bring a pool to the area:

1) Be Informed - stay in touch with MVA by being on the group e-mail list, send your e-mail to mvaquatics@polson.net

2) Make a pledge - You can find pledge forms on our sandwich boards. We currently have $70,000 in pledges (that's only 93 pledges; are you one of the 93?)

3) Booth time - We need individuals to hand out brochures at the following events: Trade Fair, April 28; Polson Street Festival, June 17; Cherry Festival, July 21; Water Daze, Aug. 4.

4) Water Daze - Food table, registration, taking photos, children's water activities, emcee, grilling, swimming, prize drawings (donating prize or organizing), set-up, clean-up, placing buoys, organizing course safety, kayaking or boating for course safety, lifeguarding, organizing kids' swim, etc.

5) Sandwich boards - general care; cleaning and stocking brochures; seeking businesses to do an advertisement spot on the boards; coordinating board locations.

6) Grant writing.

7) Help design a fundraising board to display pledges: build, paint, and attach pledges.

8) Attend meetings: Community/Board meetings are held the fourth Monday of each month at 7 p.m. at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (currently a board position is open). Committee meetings are held weekly.

9) Research and creation of a recreation district. This is the beginning stages of creating a recreational district tax.

10) Media representative - We need an individual willing to attend meetings and coordinate with local newspapers and radio station to keep the community informed.

11) Website - we need an individual willing to attend meetings and keep the website current.

The Board, Committee and I appreciate all the past community support and hope more of you can find a way to get involved this year. If you can make a pledge or can give MVA two hours at an event booth, it will be appreciated. Please call 883-4567 or 883- 9264 or e-mail mvaquatics@polson.net with questions or suggestions.

Tana Seeley

Polson

Motives behind Freedom Day?

Editor,

I believe it is inappropriate to recast a national holiday into a separate political event. Recasting Memorial Day into Freedom Day is an affront to fallen soldiers commemorated by the previous holiday.

I believe Freedom Day organizers are attempting to divert attention from the quagmire of Iraq. Based on what I've read and heard of this planned event, it sounds like an ultra-nationalist sideshow. The danger lies in pumping up emotions that will distract us from the realities of Iraq and Afghanistan. There exists an imminent need to forge a workable solution and stop the escalating misery. Parading tanks and waving flags run counter to a workable solution at this time.

If people want to honor freedom, they should dedicate themselves to protecting a woman's reproductive rights, ending racism, promoting responsible gun ownership, and ending the American occupation of Iraq.

David Daniels

Berkeley, Calif.

Big Arm cleanup help appreciated

Editor,

The Big Arm Association thanks all of the fine people who came out on April 21, to clean up Highway 93 from mile marker 70 to 76. It was a clear and nice day for the pickup and we certainly appreciate all of the community members who cared enough to clean up after people who are careless litterbugs.

Thank you to Arni and Luella Gomke, Vince Rubino, Joyce and Tim Brunner, George Kaye, Nita Parks, Linda Althouse, Marshall Bjork, Bill Sargent, David and Cynthia Waterman, Lester Johnson, Ron and Marilyn Roberts, Earl Holland, Jeff and Alison Meslin, Todd Funke, Kristen Osburn, John and Candy Blahnik, Paul Maurer, Josh Johnson and Don Peterson. Hopefully I haven't missed anyone.

We appreciate your energy and support of this project and hope that people traveling through Big Arm will enjoy its litter-free beauty and pledge to keep it that way.

Janice G. Phillips, leader

Big Arm Association

Polson Gift Basket was appreciated

Editor,

I thank the following for their generous donations to the Gift Basket that I took to the conference on behalf of Polson:

Port Polson Inn, Best Western KwaTaqNuk, Isabel's, Wild Side Chocolates, Mondell's Lake Rentals, Wallace Golf Shop, First Interstate Bank, Mountain Waters Recreation, Miracle of America Museum, The People's Center, Papa Don's Grill, Sportspage, Quinn's Wrap Shack, Carl Ehlert, Polson Chamber of Commerce, Circle P Ranch Vacation Rentals;

A very special thanks to Kim at Polson Floral and Montana Gifts for preparing the gift basket to be displayed - it looked beautiful.

The Polson Chamber was not an exhibitor at the conference, therefore this gift basket was sitting at the Glacier Country table for drawing entries. There were over 400 attendees at the conference.

The winner was from Shelby and she was very excited. She won a weekend in Polson with lodging, breakfast, lunch and dinner, boat cruise, 18 holes of golf, bowling, wine with wine glasses and so much more.

What a wonderful gift - and thanks to Polson for an all-expenses-paid weekend for two. Awesome!

Patty Prather

Circle P Ranch Vacation Rentals

Polson

July 4 would have been better date

Editor,

The spectacle planned for Polson the latter part of May would be more appropriate for the Fourth of July. That day has a much greater significance to Freedom for America.

Had the planners taken the trouble to log on to their computers, they could have accessed how and what was intended by the legislation establishing Memorial Day.

The veteran writing this letter salutes Ms. Ladner for so eloquently expressing a viewpoint shared by many.

Peter Daniels

Polson

2007 Sportsmen's Banquet canceled

Editor,

Making a departure from a long-standing tradition, the directors of Polson Outdoors, Inc. (POI) have decided to take a one-year break from holding its annual Sportsmen's Banquet. The banquet, which would have turned 67 this year, has always been held the last Saturday of April. The Sportsmen's Banquet is the only fundraiser for POI, and it supports all of our projects. The Sportsmen's Banquet would not be what it is without the generous donation of door prizes. A special thank you is extended from all POI members to the generous merchants of Polson, Ronan, Missoula, Kalispell, and everywhere in between who have contributed so many high-quality gifts over these many years. Because of you, the Banquet has always been a huge success.

POI is very much alive and continues to do projects. A couple months ago, we paid to have several loads of rock and gravel hauled and placed at Pablo Reservoir to build a safe ramp for ice fishermen across the large rip-rap on the dike down to the water's edge. We'll continue to do rifle-range and goose-pit cleanup once or twice a year. We're doing advocacy work on the North Fork of the Flathead.

We had a couple ladders built for a new city pier once it is constructed. We were recently awarded a grant to fund a special field day for all hunter education kids in the area to go spend a day at Van Voast's sporting clays. We're again helping Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks to sponsor a kids' fishing day at the Ninepipe Family Fishing Pond by Allentown on the morning of May 12. That's the same pond where we had constructed a handicap-accessible fishing pier a couple years ago.

POI sponsored kids' prizes again this year for the Mack Days fishing event. We will also be sponsoring a scholarship contest for a Polson Middle School student to attend a multi-day Glacier Institute Summer Workshop.

We continue to do all of these projects; we just aren't going to have a fundraiser this year. Who knows? This might coax some folks out of the background to step up and get more involved next year.

If you have any questions or comments or would like to become more involved, feel free to contact me at 883-3279.

Matt Bishop

POI president

Polson

Letter criticizing trustees was unfair

Editor,

A recent letter to the editor, in the Leader (ñParents weren't ïhostile' at meeting.î April 12, 2007) accurately stated ñƒ only one school board member took grave offense with (a) letter submitted to the board and outwardly displayed his negative feelings.î As that lone ñhostileî trustee, let's examine why I took offense.

Let me make very clear, at the start, that I'm speaking only for myself in this letter. My fellow trustees have neither been consulted nor have they participated in any way in its preparation. They may even chastise me for writing it!

I don't recall Heather Davies or Cesar Hernandez, the only public present to speak to the issue at our April board meeting, saying anything verbally that upset me. The letter they presented, however, contained what I consider inflammatory and irresponsible allegations against the trustees. The best example is, ñThe (December) theft occurred as a direct result of the … exterior doors' faulty latches … more unsettling was the fact that these doors had been broken … throughout the school year. This lack of regard for the student's safety is extremely disconcerting.î

As Davies and Hernandez well knew, before the letter given at the April board meeting, the board learned about the continuing problem at the same time as the CV Principal and moved quickly, under the leadership of Mr. Laimbeer, to correct it.

The Davies/Hernandez/Hickey letter to the editor seems, also, to have confused spring break for the end of school. John Laimbeer's efforts resulted in a complete replacement of the CV doors in question during Easter (Spring) break.

In any case, I suppose that, since we all learned of the problem at the same time, the CV Principal would have to be included in the allegations by Davies and Hernandez and that is no more fair than accusing the Trustees of dereliction - you cannot fix what you haven't been told is broken and can't be repaired! And, just for the record, the trustees did not ñchoose, instead, to put the onus onto the principal,î as charged in the April 12 letter.

While my colleagues on the school board seem to be successful at ñplaying niceî with people who make such unsubstantiated charges, I feel no compunction to do so. I believe that if someone is going to make serious charges, they had best have their facts in order. I, for one, will not sit idly by and let such malicious comments against my fellow trustees and myself go unchallenged. If the charges have merit, I'm glad to entertain them and seek solutions. This is not one of those times.

Bob Hanson, Trustee

SD#23, Polson

Reining in

rogue officials

Editor,

On April 11, 2007, three Duke University lacrosse players were found innocent of sexual offenses and kidnapping charges.

Also on April 11, 2007, it was reported on National Public Radio that President Bush has said he will veto any bill calling for stem cell research, because in his word: ñIt destroys life.î

ñWhat is the connection?î you might logically ask.

North Carolina's Attorney General, Roy Cooper, in making this very carefully studied legal decision on the Duke University lacrosse players said this: ñThere were many points in this case where caution would have served justice better than bravado and the rush to condemn a community and a state. He [Michael Nifong, Durham County District Attorney] lost the ability to see.î

Mr. Cooper even referred to him as a ñrogue district attorney.î

Now, as to our ñIt destroys life!î Commander-in-Chief, President George W. Bush: First off, if he really had any compassion and concern for destroying life, the war in Iraq never would have happened, never would have been considered, and never would have been an option. So, the conclusion has to be that stem cell research, as far as George W. Bush is concerned, has nothing to do with his concern about life but everything to do about politics.

Read again the above comments of Roy Cooper about the ñrogue distinct attorneyî Michael Nifong.

Do you see in that statement anything familiar to the volumes that have been written and spoken about our president's leadership into the Iraq war?

My question is this: If, in the matter of one year, the North Carolina justice system can resolve a ñrogue district attorney'sî folly, why can't we, as a nation of reasonable citizens, resolve the folly of a ñrogue presidentî who sent thousands and thousands of our young men and women to be killed or maimed for life into an illegal war which has extended beyond four years already?

I see a very direct connection.

Bob McClellan

Polson