Letters to the editor - Mar. 28
Tax question
No doubt there is plenty of confusion regarding the CSKT Water Compact. I’m confused myself.
On the one hand, the State of Montana tells me I am a state citizen and then applies applicable state taxes to me and my property.
On the other hand, by accepting the definition of “Flathead Indian Reservation” currently contained in the compact, as “all land within the boundaries of the Indian reservation established under the July 16, 1855 Treaty of Hellgate..., notwithstanding of the issuance of any patient, and including all rights of way...” the state is telling me I am not a state citizen but rather a “reservation citizen.”
I’m confused because I see in Art. 1 of the State’s Constitution (which I thought state policy was supposed to follow) that “all lands owned or held by any Indian or Indian tribes shall remain under the absolute control and jurisdiction of the Congress.” If “all land” within the boundaries of the reservation is “reservation status,” how is it that the state has the authority to tax and regulate me and my property?
Scott Kerr
Moiese
FCA support is appreciated
The Polson High School’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes Club had a very successful fundraiser this past Friday night. It was FCA’s first annual Teacher vs. Student Volleyball/Basketball Event with a spaghetti dinner and silent auction. We are very fortunate to live in a town where local businesses are so generous with their products and services to help out our youth. Many of the owners
and managers of the businesses also attended the event, and we are very thankful for their support. The fantastic food on the menu also drew spectators out for the event. The homemade pasta was donated from our local pasta factory “Country Pasta”, and Polson resident Jim Harrod stepped in and donated his culinary magic with his famous home-made spaghetti sauce. We also received a very generous discount from the manager of Super 1, Gary Collinge. Special thanks also go to Jim Steiner, the school district food service director, who helped us coordinate the menu and provided his expertise in use of the middle school kitchen. The money raised will go towards what FCA calls their 4C’s: Campus, Community, Coaches, and Camps. We hope to see you next year, and again a heartfelt thank-you for all the business donations, it is businesses like yours that make a difference in our community and schools. Congratulations to the amazing teachers who proved they “still got game”….and didn’t need EMS services!
Mark Rochin
Polson High School
FCA Huddle Coach
Big thank you from Big Arm
Many thanks to everyone who attended Big Arm’s Historic School’s Irish Dinner and Show this past Friday evening. Your support helps us to continue the School’s restoration work.
A delicious feast of corned beef, cabbage with all of the trimmings was served to the community followed by a dessert of Super One’s creatively decorated cup-cakes and ice cream. Enormous thanks go to the dozens of folks who helped prepare, cook and clean-up... Your community spirit is wonderful!
The highlight of the evening was The Montana ShamRockers, their wonderful Irish songs and funny jokes “wowed” the audience... Thank you Montana ShamRockers!
Truly the evening was a wonderful community event!
If you would like more information about upcoming Big Arm Association events and how the restoration work is progressing please call Alison at 849-6628.
Alison Meslin
Big Arm Association
Polson needs a Youth Center
About five years ago, my mom entered her second marriage. As a result, I moved from Kelowna, BC, Canada (population 117,312) to Polson (population 4,524). My two older brothers (age fourteen at the time) moved to Whistler, BC to live with my dad. Right away, I found that there was not very much to do here in Polson. I would go swimming every day, but having no friends, I still found it hard to have fun. Five years later, with many more friends, it is still hard to find fun on the weekends.
Starting a Youth Center would benefit this community by giving kids and young adults a safe environment to hang out and have fun with their friends. It would benefit adults as well, by reducing the stresses of having to provide some of the things lower income families cannot provide, like a healthy meal, or expensive electronics.
In Whistler, right in the middle of the town is a place called the Youth Centre. The YC is a drug and alcohol free place where kids age 13-19 can go to hang out with friends, play video games, play pool, play Ping-Pong, and most of all, it is a safe place for teens to go. Every night, dinner is made by the employees and only costs the teens two dollars to eat. The five or six employees that work there are some of the kindest people I have ever met. They are volunteers, but they care for you and give advice when needed.
Sure, there are a few youth groups around town that are similar, but they are religious groups. I am a part of two of the youth groups in Polson and I have noticed that people come and leave very quickly because they do not want to have any sort of religious affiliation.
A study conducted by Columbia University, concluded that bored teenagers are 50 percent more likely to smoke, drink, get drunk, and use illegal drugs. This boredom would likely decrease if a Youth Center was built, resulting in fewer bored teenagers, and less drug and alcohol use by teenagers.
A Youth Center in this community would be hard to fund, but there are people in this town that like to see projects like this underway. Many community members have donated their time and money toward large projects, such as the Polson Pirate Sports Complex, and the Mission Valley Aquatic Center, and would donate to a much smaller project.
There is conclusive evidence that a Youth Center would be beneficial to the Polson community and particularly the young people of the community. A drug and alcohol free, secular place for teenagers to go would be a good thing to have in Lake County. The boredom would be decrease, as well as illegal drug use. Polson needs to be a safer place, and a Youth Center is a step in the right direction.
Zach Schmidt
Polson H.S. student
Support PHS music programs
I am a student at Polson High School who is involved in many school organizations. The most enjoyable of those are my band and choir classes. I favor them very much, but I have recently come to believe that we are not getting enough recognition for our achievements. Not many people in the community are aware of our talent and how hard we work.
First of all, the students who are involved in either or both of the music programs not only work hard at music but at school as well. Studies have shown that students who are involved in extracurricular activities such as band tend to do better in school. This holds true for our Symphonic Band students, who on average have a GPA of 3.5 or higher.
When compared to other schools, Polson’s music programs seem to have drawn the short stick. During a choir festival in Hamilton earlier this year, I noticed that they had an entire display case dedicated to awards that both bands and choirs have received. This contrasts greatly with our school. Last year all of the choral solos and ensembles from Polson that went on to State Music Festival received superior ratings. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this term, a superior is the highest honor that a musical ensemble can receive.
What’s sad is that for the longest time the only people who actually knew about this were the parents of the students and the students who went to State. There were no announcements made at school. No notifications in the newspaper like there are for sports. But what really bugs me is that the Girls Tennis team won State tennis and they got a fire truck ride around town. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that they won, but it seems unfair that they got the glory and the music didn’t.
Another point is that the pep band works very hard with little or no recognition. We work hard to make sure that freshmen are able to play our pieces that we have and practice a lot especially before tournaments, such as Divisional Basketball. Senior pep band members should be recognized on senior nights. Band members can letter just like in sports. We put in the time just like sports and we’re there at just about every basketball game. It makes sense that they should be recognized, but they’re not.
I realize that one reason why we don’t get enough recognition is because of our publicity or lack thereof. The choirs and bands don’t give much notice as to when and where their concerts are. That is something we are working on. We’d love to be able to share our music with the public. Maybe we could work on putting an ad in the papers for state like they do with sports. Or possibly putting posters up around town. Then maybe we’d finally get the recognition we deserve.
The music programs in Polson High School are hard working groups. They deserve more publicity and praise than they have been getting as of late. Our choirs and bands are full of talented students that buckle down on music and core courses as well. Giving them the recognitions they deserve will help them strive to do even better.
Melina Jore
Polson H.S. student
‘Pavlov-ized’
During the past five years, it seems that many people in this country have willingly allowed themselves to become enchanted, i.e. ‘Pavlov-ized’, by the current Administration in D.C. These are the folks who have nodded “Yes” to anything put forward by the President and/or the Democrat leadership in Congress. One gets the impression that many of these people either believe, directly, in a socialistic society or, more likely, have no clue but want to make sure that they continue to get their ‘free stuff’ . . . and it really is ‘free’ as far as they are concerned, after all they aren’t paying for it – we are! Those payments, represented by a national debt that should nauseate our collective consciousness, are coming due.
On the flip side, there are those, like myself, who have also been ‘Pavlov-ized’ by the outcomes of misdirection and outright lies since 2009. Actions coming from all levels of our government have resulted in the decline of America to a position where we no longer have claim to be a world leader for democracy and open government as it was originally conceived. We began as a people escaping a monarchial system, which controlled and taxed every facet of our lives, in order to establish a place where we could enjoy freedom of speech and religion, where we could enjoy the fruits of our own labor. To the point, I too have been ‘Pavlov-ized’ — to react negatively to whatever this Administration might propose – they have been so dishonest that they are not to be believed! To be fair, of course, the senior leadership of the GOP shares culpability for this trend.
We are now beginning to see the emergence of new leaders with more conservative values rising to confront the liberal left and the ‘old guard’ of the GOP. I view, with cautious optimism, that we might yet avoid the final fall into being ruled by politicians more interested in their own power and self-aggrandizement than protecting the liberty and freedoms of the citizenry at large!
Bob Hanson
Dayton