Letters to the Editor, March 25
Resurrection is divine
A short time ago, I participated, by sharing my condolences, in a memorial service for a Polson high school acquaintance from the 1940s, his grieving widow was a classmate of mine. This thought crossed my mind and perhaps has crossed the minds of others attending memorial services: Will I see him again at the resurrection? That led to a mental review of what I have read over the years since high school about a final resurrection and the eternal destiny of humankind. I was reminded of a historical and Biblical event where Jesus told a dead man's sister, "Your brother will rise again." Her response was, "Yes, he will rise when everyone else rises at the last day." Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying" (John's Gospel, chapter 11). I've known the Easter (resurrection) story since I was a child; I've always believed that those first Christians found an empty tomb; the writer of the Corinthian letters states, "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can't be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back again" (First Corinthians, selected from chapter 15). Those early preachers all paid dearly with their lives for preaching that Jesus Christ is God; that he died and was resurrected to save us all from the consequences of our sin. One of those preachers was exiled to a prison island where he received the revelation that appears as the last book in our Bible. There John writes in chapter 20 of two resurrections, one taking place before the thousand year reign of Christ, and one following the thousand years; the chapter indicates that those in the first resurrection were "blessed and holy," while those in the second resurrection, "found no place to hide" (Revelation 6:15-17); the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books" (20:12b).
It's pretty clear throughout scripture that our relationship to Jesus determines in which resurrection we will participate. We can all be sure of this: everyone will experience a resurrection after death.
Harvey A. Town, Polson
Charlo Ghost Out thanks
I would like to take this time to thank everyone who participated and helped in the Charlo Ghost Out. It was a great success and I'm glad that I was able to have this program brought to the Charlo High School to teach the students about drinking and driving. I would like to send a special thanks to Mr. Love, Nate Lundeen and the Charlo High School staff members for all the help and cooperation they had while I was putting the Ghost Out together.
Also, I would like to give thank to Darwin Hensley, officer Orsino and the volunteer personnel for the amazing job they did with the Ghost Out. This was a great success and it couldn't have been done with out all the help I had from everyone. I am very glad that I got the chance to bring this presentation to the Charlo High School and I hope that the students learned from the Ghost Out and will think the next time they decide to drink and drive. Thank you again to everyone who participated and helped out with the Ghost Out.
Jessica Anderson, Charlo
Irish thanks
TRIC (The Ronan Irish Community) would like to thank all the great entries in the St. Patrick's Day Parade held this year in memory of Dick Jungers. He would have been delighted with the efforts of all of you and not only the participants, but also the crowd who came to watch.
The winners in this year's parade are as follows: Best Commercial Float - Ronan Telephone Co., Most Shamrocks - K.D's Valley Club, Most Original - Pioneer Days Co., Best Kids Float - Ronan Library; Best Irish Music - Ronan Power Products; Best Irish At"tire" - Arnie's Gas and Tire; Best Walkers - Girl Scouts, Best First Timers - ACE Hardware; Most Irish Animal - Denny's Horse led by Kay and Dave; Most Likely to Spend the Night in Jail - Dottie's VW Bug; Most Likely to Cause a Riot - O'Leary's Ole Ladies; and Best of Parade - Dick Has Gone Fishing Again.
Thank you again, and here's to the Irish!
TRIC members, Ronan
MT delegation arrogance astounding
Gosh! Where to begin? There are so many repugnant things going on in D.C. that I find it difficult to sort them out.
One thing is for sure, though: I'm fed up with sending notes/questions to, especially, Sen. Max Baucus and receiving condescending "stump speeches" in return! You did, however, Max, finally honor a request of several months ago: I asked that, if you couldn't/wouldn't respond directly to questions/comments, I'd just as soon you not reply at all. Haven't heard from you since!
We have serious problems Max, that really demand concentration, yet you find time to meddle with the NCAA BCS! Perhaps I would get better reaction if I applauded your votes on the Obama agenda. To be really frank, I don't trust a word that comes out of this administrations' collective mouth! To be fair, I was also mightily disturbed by the Bush crowds' spendthrift actions during his last year in office.
I'd have to say, Sen. Jon Tester, that you have been much more responsive (and a whole lot less arrogant). I do not support your votes in support of Obamacare, nor will I support "Aye" votes for other upcoming Obama agenda items. Thankfully, though, you apparently haven't been in D.C. long enough to reach the Baucus level of senatorial arrogance.
I do not believe that you take the best "health care" in the world and destroy it as cover for punishing the insurance providers (they, too, provide valuable service to most Americans). Why does Obama expect us to pay taxes for four years before benefits start appearing for anyone?
Why should I be expected to pay for care for illegal aliens? (And do not declare amnesty so that they can qualify!) Take care of costs in fraud that are created by the outrageous malpractice industry. Open up competition across state lines.
Finally, let you senators, representatives and political appointees live with what you prescribe for the rest of the people.
There are, of course, other important issues the Senate should be concerned with - and listening to your constituents' positions - like Cap and Trade, Card Check and further "stimulus spending." I view these as nothing more or less than payoffs to ideologues and special interests. I'm acutely aware that the liberals amongst us will have a lot to say and you have been/will continue to hear from them. Jon, I'd like to see you moderate and succeed in the Senate. Max, I'm afraid you were lost a long time ago, when it became apparent that you never saw a government spending program that you couldn't embrace!
Next step for me is to listen to the howls of outrage from the left, while I prepare my next pre-election missive. Bring it on!
Bob Hanson, Dayton
Restoring America
As a founder of Calling All Conservatives (CAC), I wanted to answer Sheila Bell's question last week about the name change. It changed because the group has new leadership.
After our first two events, it was clear the team disagreed on how to move forward. Some thought we should take advantage of the upcoming elections to become a political forum for candidates while others believed we should adhere to the original mission of education.
I believe all members of the original group have the same goal of restoring sanity back to our country and adhering to the Constitution, we simply don't agree on how to get there.
Replacing representatives with honorable citizens is a step in the right direction, but will not fix the problem, nor will it
return our country to the Republic our Founders envisioned.
America's salvation lies with educating citizens about the Constitution, and expecting them to take responsibility and action as needed to hold their representatives accountable for upholding their oath to defend the Constitution, and to protect our liberties.
The founders of CAC, and a few others, chose the path of citizen education, and left the group.
We're developing a new strategy to achieve the original mission of CAC. Look for additional information in upcoming
weeks, and e-mail your questions and comments to fedupinmontana@gmail.com.
I wish the best to CAFL, and hope the people of Lake County support both efforts going forward.
Get involved. Become part of the solution. The future of our country depends on it.
Terry Backs, St. Ignatius
Thanks to police officers
A special thank to the two police officers for the fast time in getting to my home, as some one was trying to enter. He was caught. Polson should be proud of the law enforcement, including the dispatchers.
Janice Green, Polson
The price of war
By Feb. 11, 2010, a total of 4,378 Americans had died in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The total included 4,365 troops and 13 Department of Defense civilians. Of these deaths, 3,478 were killed in action with the enemy, while 900 died in noncombat incidents.
There have been 31,648 troops wounded in action during the said period. This number includes 17,730 who were wounded and returned to duty within 72 hours and 13,918 who were unable to return to duty quickly.
Bill Ingram, Polson
Shared artwork a joy
We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the school superintendent David Whitesell and communications director Marsha Anson for allowing Polson businesses to display student are in their offices and stores. When you are shopping in Polson, please take time to located and enjoy the student work. What a great connection between our business community and our school students.
Ken Avison, president, Polson Business Community