Letters to the editor
Soup’s on
“Soup’s On” has been going through building renovations and is now re-opened. I wonder if your readers know about the compassionate work going on there, where dedicated volunteers serve free midday meals four days a week. Anyone is welcome and everyone is treated with dignity.
In a rural area like ours, many folks suffer the pain of poverty and social isolation. We face tremendous challenges. “Soup’s On” is an oasis of warmth for all.
Our hat is off to the volunteers who keep “Soup’s On” open. This program needs community support. Please check it out Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the Wander Inn (101 - 7th Ave. West in Polson). Enjoy a wonderful hot meal and consider giving a cash donation, offering your skills, or contributing food and other needed items.
Thank you to the community garden and all the growers in the area who have and will bring their harvest to “Soup’s On” this season. You can contact a “Soup’s On” representative by calling 871-1109.
Sandy Farrell
Polson
Dayton thanks
Blue skies and warm weather once again contributed to making this year’s Dayton Daze celebration a brilliant success.
Early in the day the Dayton Church had their annual bazaar and luncheon, the Dayton Yacht Club offered sailboat rides, the Mission Mountain Winery had wine tasting and the day’s parade took off at 3. By 4 we had live music, and the community turned out for an amazing dinner of roast pig and chicken with all the fixin’s. The community came out in droves to support the Chief Cliff Fire Service Area at its 20th annual Dayton Daze celebration. A host of prizes were raffled off, and winners of the two top prizes--Exxon gas cards--were Rita Wolf and Camp Tuffit.
Thanks to Sharyle and the gang at the Spur for serving up great food and entertainment, and thanks to all the fire department and community members--among them Barb Amestoy, Greta Botkin, Elsie Brown, Martha Brown, James Fant, Sigurd Jensen, Andy Learn, Kendyl Timlick and Rhonda Walter--for contributing time and energy to make this another successful community event and fundraiser. I’m sure next year’s event will be even bigger and better!
Zoe Lilja
Chief Cliff
Contagion
I saw the movie Contagion this weekend and, as an educator, I was very impressed. Two other virus movies (Outbreak and I am Legend) were Hollywoodized and ruined. Contagion is not so much about entertainment as a fictional documentary on the outbreak of a previously unknown “emerging virus” that swamps the ability of society to deal with it.
You see the spread of the disease through mass transit and personal contacts and the efforts of Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) to track and react to the virus. You see scientists who understand that our present system of producing vaccines is totally inadequate to respond to this new threat and who make the career-ending choice to step outside the boundaries of today’s medicine to do the work that must occur to get a handle on this thing. Eventually you see how societal boundaries fail when the underpinnings are strained and fail.
This “documentary” is not a pretty picture, but it is very realistic. Normally the only people who consider the impacts of an event like a pandemic (world-wide epidemic) are emergency personnel from FEMA down to our county Office of Emergency Management who try to formulate plans of response. But with Contagion, every person can form a plan as to what to do if faced with the conditions the movie portrays. We are due for a huge outbreak. The scare of Swine Flu H1N1 a couple of years ago could have resulted in conditions similar to this movie if it hadn’t been contained. If people have a picture of what can happen, we have a better chance of reacting in ways that promote humane and ethical survival attempts.
I would highly recommend that you see this film which is in Polson right now. It is rated PG-13 due to “disturbing content and some language” but I have seen much worse PG-13 movies. I have encouraged my 7th grade science students to see it. They will receive extra credit for bringing their receipt to me. This movie alone could be my entire virus unit. As you watch this, think about how you and your neighbors would need to be involved through the course of an event that we pray never happens. Thanks for considering this message.
Lynn Kelly
Polson
Afghanistan casualties
By Aug. 15, 2011, a total of 1,726 Americans had died in Afghanistan. The total includes 1,726 troops and two civilians. Of these deaths, 1,366 were killed in action with the enemy while 360 died in non-combat incidents. There have been 13,164 troops wounded in action.
William R. Ingram
Polson
Republican solidarity
In the race for president of these United States, I thought we had Republican solidarity on how to run our country. It seemed so simple; just do it the opposite way of how Obama and the Democrats are doing it. But hardly before the ‘horses are out of the gate’ we have, in the Sept. 6 Republican debate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney clashing and beating each other up over “job creation,” “health care,” and “social security.”
I thought the Republican leaders were in lock-step on all issues and policies. They have all been repudiating and voting down everything the Democrats put forward and all gleefully shouting out the same coordinated themes.
Does this mean that there is suddenly a crack in the Republican solidarity and perhaps, just perhaps, when the dust settles after November, 2012 that things just might not change? That our huge and bloated government might just continue? That everyone who really wants and needs a job might not be able to find one? That the houses so many have been trying to sell for two, three and four years might not suddenly be sold to the highest bidder? That our social security checks, our medicare coverage, our access to hospitals and good care might not change? That life will go on in Washington with the Democrats and Republicans still attacking each other with not much else getting done?
Woe is me! But, then on the other hand, if I really step back and look at history just a bit closer, why would I think that anything about our political system will really change? It has only become more insular, more divisive, more filled with greed and more responsive to perks, big money and selfish interests rather than to the real needs of America.
“The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal — a hearty appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other end.” [Ronald Reagan].
Bob McClellan
Polson
A must-read
The book by W. Cleon Skousen “The 5,000-Year Leap: A Miracle That Changed the World” is where you will find one of the most comprehensive records of the founding of the United States of America that is available. This book is a real eye opener and should be required reading for every citizen of this country. Following is a list of the 28 principles which are explained in the book that guided the founders of this country as they designed a free-people nation and wrote the U.S. Constitution giving freedom, equality and justice to all.
Principles: 1.) The Genius of Natural Law; 2.) A Virtuous and Moral People; 3.) Virtuous and Moral Leaders; 4.) The Role of Religion; 5.) The Role of the Creator; 6.) All Men are Created Equal; 7.) Equal Rights, Not Equal Things; 8.) Man’s Unalienable Rights; 9.) The Role of Revealed Law; 10.) Sovereignty of the People; 11.) Who Can Alter the Government?; 12.) Advantages of a Republic; 13.) Protection Against Human Frailty; 14.) Property Rights Essential to Liberty; 15.) Free-market Economics; 16.) The Separation of Powers; 17.) Checks and Balances; 18.) Importance of a Written Constitution; 19.) Limiting and Defining the Power of the Government; 20.) Majority Rule, Minority Rights; 21.) Strong Local Self-government; 22.) Government by Law, Not by Men; 23.) Importance of an Educated Electorate; 24.) Peace Through Strength; 25.) Avoid Entangling Alliances; 26.) Protecting the Role of the Family; 27.) Avoiding the Burden of Debt and 28.) The Founders’ Sense of Manifest Destiny.
It is the observance of these 28 principles during the past 200 years in America that has brought about greater progress of civilization than was made in the previous 5,000 and I would encourage anyone interested in learning more to read the book. Copies have been donated to the North Lake County Public Library.
Dick Matejovsky
Polson
Goofy for God
I am always amazed at how people act at sports events, yelling, clapping, jumping up, stampedes, fights and much more, think about it.
My question is where is this energy when it comes to God, if the only time a scene of any kind is made over God is in church really what good is that?
I recently placed a challenge on the people of Texas , that so desperately need rain to stop the sports event and pray Nate (a tropical storm) would come drench the land and end the drought, it sat in the Gulf completely still for three days, not one person answered the call and even thought I was goofy, well I am goofy, Goofy for God. We have to stand up and be cheerleaders for God. What upsets me the most in this is how nature and the animals are suffering at this lack of boldness. The storm is moving west…
Pat Lundgren
Polson