Letters to the editor
Jan. 29,2009
Mission Valley pantry thanks
The Mission Valley Food Pantry wishes to thank all the people and organizations who by donating food or money helped keep the pantry stocked with food last year. We especially want to thank Stuart Morton and Bruce Nerby for repairing our heater, Jake Yoder for building a bench for our oil tank and putting up our new sign, Mac McConnel for mowing and weed eating around our building and Mrs. Umphrey’s class for carrying in boxes of food and stocking our shelves. Without your continued support our mission to help feed hungry people would not be possible.
And lastly, a special thanks to our volunteers who graciously give of their time to keep our doors open.
Heidi Riddle, director, Mission Valley Food Pantry
New political day dawning
This evening, just two days after the inauguration, I sat in front of the TV set watching both the “PBS News Hour” and “Larry King Live” on CNN.
PBS had three very significant segments: 1) The signing ceremony of the executive order closing the Guantanamo Bay prison camp within a year. Cameras were allowed in, a very rare thing, and President Barack Obama giving a very clear and well reasoned explanation for his decision. He appeared very “presidential” and it was obvious from the looks on the faces of the 20 or so people surrounding him that they were listening intently and were impressed. 2) The selection of George Mitchell as “Diplomatic Envoy to the Middle East” and Richard Holbrooke as “Diplomatic Envoy to the Afghanistan/Pakistan Region,” what magnificent choices! I have watched and listened to these two men over the past eight years being interviewed and they have made such sense, have had such an excellent grasp of these areas of the world, and have expressed so eloquently what is needed in our approaches to these regions of the world if there is any chance of resolution. To my way of thinking, these two appointments are sheer genius. 3) The interview with Valerie Jerrett, the “White House senior adviser” was most revealing and touching. She answered questions about Michelle Obama’s role, and it revealed both the wonderful parenting skills of Michelle as well as her long experience and comfort with ”plowing new ground” in sometimes difficult environments. And it also gave a rather clear and clean look into the marriage relationship between Barack and Michelle.
The CNN interview Larry King had with Senator John McCain was excellent, I thought. It showed a John McCain as his true self. He was relaxed. He was gracious. He was diplomatic. He was statesman-like. He expressed a deep desire to cooperate with the new administration, helping in whatever way he could.
The dawning of a new age requires new thinking and new attitudes. I believe we are seeing that being introduced into our political process. This bodes well, not only for America but for the world.
Bob McClellan, Polson
Thanks to kind actions
Our community needs to know that the “spirit of giving and selfless acts” is alive and well here. On Christmas day, a member of this business community, his staff and a wonderful group of patrons again showed their compassion for helping needy organizations.
The Board of Directors, our staff and our club members would like to thank Burt Cannon and his thoughtful staff and patrons of Pizza Cafe for donating proceeds of a volunteer contribution Christmas dinner to The Boys and Girls Club of the Flathead Reservation and Lake County and to Mission Mountain Enterprises. This could not have come at a more crucial time as our financial situation was looking pretty grim.
Burt, I can assure you that we are working very hard to pass this exemplary virtue on to the 40-65 members who regularly attend our club after school weekdays. Hopefully, some of them will be future leaders in this community and your future employees and customers.
We are very thankful that many businesses and individuals continue to help us with as much passion and thoughtful consideration, especially as economic conditions change and our services are needed even more. This excellent example of giving back to the community is something our staff can show our club members while trying to help them develop good character.
Thank you.
John Schnase, executive director, Boys and Girls Club of the Flathead Reservation and Lake County
Montana why?
I would like to comment on the upcoming reappraisals on our properties. Are the people doing this licensed appraisal agents. Do they do fair and accurate appraisals or do they just put down whatever. I have someone I know who had their place reappraised and the person doing it said do you have this or that comparing it to a previous appraisal, which I think was from the state but not sure. And she said no. So I hope the appraisals are accurate. I do not mind paying school, road, sanitation taxes, etc. But we should not have to pay taxes on our property or our homes. Does the state fix our windows, plumbing, lighting, roofs, etc? Any repairs we have to make, NO, we fix it they tax us more. We try to make our homes nice, they raise taxes on us. We add a shed or garage they raise taxes on us. Our property should have nothing to do with taxes. If everyone paid taxes in Montana maybe it would help out. The state owns our land and homes even if we pay them off, doesn’t that seem unconstitutional, we lapse on taxes and they take it all? Montana are you nuts raising taxes on us? Have you not noticed we are in a recession, people are losing their jobs, businesses closing, lay offs. People can’t even make it, and now they have to worry about more property taxes. Single parents can’t make it, two income homes one loses their job and they are struggling. Raising property taxes better not be because of all those condos around the lake, that sat empty, that Polson let come in. We better not be making up taxes for them. We should not have to pay taxes on our land or homes. Isn’t it bad enough they are trying to take our water rights away from us, we have to pay out of our noses on property taxes. America needs to stop bleeding the American people dry of their livelihood and incomes. We should go back to the old days and start trading again for everything. Every time you turn around the State and Federal Government wants more and more money. Gas prices already going up. Diesel was always the lowest now it is the highest, what is the reason for that? My theory is the prices went way down during the holidays so people would spend more. Just wait until summer. You need to still just drive when you need to. We need to show America we can live without unnecessary things, that food is our number one priority, even though it didn’t come down with gas prices. If you can, raise your own food, meat, eggs, gardens and more. Start taking care of yourselves and your families in this time of hardship.
Kelly Bailey, Polson
Thanks for donation
In the Leader article published last week, information was shared regarding the Polson Chamber of Commerce donating $2,000 to the Polson Fire Department. What was omitted in the article was that the money donated by the chamber had been obtained through a grant from the Polson Wal-Mart store.
Ken Avison, President of the Polson Chamber of Commerce
Coats for Kids thanks
Anne and the staff at Port Polson Inn would like to thank the community of Polson for all the coats that were donated for our Eighth Annual Coats for Kids. We gave out 112 coats and numerous hats, scarves, snowpants and boots. The quality of the coats was outstanding. We would like to give a special thanks to Kyle Druyverstein who is in the third grade at Linderman Elementary School, who donated $20, which we purchased hats and mittens with. Thank you Kyle, and thank you to all of Lake County.
Anne A. Engebretson, Polson