Letters to the editor - September 12
Knutson for Mayor
I believe Knutson for Mayor is the first step to getting our town on the road to active living, growth opportunities and follow through. She is our connection to the past and future. She has the desire and dedication to bring great things to Polson, not to mention the heart.
The goal is to increase opportunities for Polson residents to both participate and benefit from. Knutson will most certainly present this. I had the fortune to be Co-Founder/Race Director of Live Locally 5K with Knutson for the last six years. In that six year time span we were able to raise over $17,000.00 to give back to our local community. This is just one example of Knutson’s drive for the community. She also has served as Polson Chamber President, received Polson Citizen of the Year award, and is currently a board member for Mission Valley Animal Shelter. She either volunteers or partakes at local events such as Polson Water Daze, Polson Triathlon, Polson Running, and more. She has already unselfishly given back to the community more than most.
I invite all Polson residents to join me in supporting Knutson for Mayor, please look at www.knutsonforpolsonmayor.com to learn more and support her as she will equally support the citizens of Polson.
Sarah Hartsoch Bird
Polson
Fulton for Mayor
With much gratitude, we have called Polson home for almost 10 years.
Because we care very much about seeing Polson prosper, we would like to strongly support Bob Fulton’s candidacy for mayor. We have known both Bob and his wife Sharon to be people of significant integrity. We also appreciate their reliable affability. Moreover, there is no doubt that Bob cares a great deal about seeing Polson on a good course for all of its citizens. He has good judgment, intelligence, and lots of experience in the engineering field. He also has the special strength of listening to others and understanding what they are saying. These qualities and skills would serve both him as mayor and our community well.
In conclusion, we strongly support Bob Fulton for Mayor of Polson. We are hoping lots of Polson residents feel the same way.
John and Carol Cummings
Polson
Crosswalks look good
I want to thank the City of Polson Street Department for restriping the pedestrian crosswalks around our schools just before school started this year. As a parent, I highly value my children’s safety and the safety of all our children in our community. Clearly marked pedestrian crosswalks around our schools are important in helping ensure their safety as they cross our streets.
In addition, I want to thank the Street Department for the recent improvements to our city’s streets. I have noticed on many of our streets the efforts performed by the Street Department to fill the potholes. Well-maintained streets are important to all of us and help increase the safety of all our community members. Keep up the good work!
Daniel P. Smith
Polson
FJBC irrigators getting irritated
On June 14, Jocko and Mission irrigation boards took a step towards withdrawing from the FJBC. In response, the FJBC has accused members of the two boards of violating constitutional rights and promoting disunity because they did not follow state law. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
Elections this spring changed the balance of power within the FJBC. At a May 24 meeting the new majority made decisions in a manner that violated state law in a number of ways. For example, the agenda was vague and there was no notice of what actions would be discussed and voted on.
Actions during the meeting included removal of the Jocko chairman from his term appointment to the CME board that manages the irrigation project. Reason: he was not part of the new majority. But term appointments exist in our democracy to promote continuity and orderly adjustment to changing political circumstances.
Given that the new FJBC majority seeks to reopen negotiations with the CSKT on the Water Use Agreement I find it more than a little odd that they would simultaneously pick a fight with members of the FJBC who support the existing agreement. Why not take time and spell out their changes and take time to persuade other commissioners and those of us who support the agreement. Maybe the CSKT might listen.
Of greater concern, if the FJBC self-destructs, the legal standing of the CME will be called into question because the FJBC is a signatory to the CME contract. For example, the BIA may be required to retake responsibility for project management. Given the BIA’s costly bureaucratic procedures, all of us who irrigate will pay the price for actions by bull-headed FJBC commissioners.
Richard Erb
Moiese
Understanding the compact
Some of my friends and acquaintances are proponents of the proposed CSKT Water Compact. I strongly oppose the Compact but hold these folks in high regard. Wondering if I was missing something, I called several of them.
Frankly, I discovered plenty of confusion and misunderstanding. Many of them have been focused and involved in the debate on the Water Use Agreement and do not know details of the actual Compact.
Some that I spoke with did not know the WUA and the Compact are two different documents. Many were not aware of significant language in the Compact, nor the Hellgate Treaty. No one knew how the Compact defines “reservation,” for example, and that it assumes “all land” within the reservation boundaries is in reservation status.
Please consider these questions honestly before making a decision to support this compact:
Do you understand the WUA and the Compact are separate documents and that the WUA, if agreed upon, would simply be a part of the overall Compact?
Are you ok with the Compact defining private fee land as reservation land?
Do you understand the implications of the State accepting this definition? Can you reconcile this definition with the Enabling Act and Art. I of the MT Constitution?
Are you fine with the State having inconsistent definitions that lead to inconsistent policies--one to sanction its taxing and regulatory authority within the boundaries of the reservation and a contrary one to allow it to disregard a Constitutional duty to state citizens for the “administration, control and regulation” of their water rights?
Do you understand the UMO (Unitary Management Ordinance) in the Compact? Do you know the “Flathead Reservation Water Management Board” is established under the UMO? Do you know how the members of this board are appointed and the authority they will have? Does a separate and distinct water rights administration process, with diminished representation for certain citizens, maintain the “equal protection” guarantee in the MT Constitution?
Do principles matter?
Rick Jore
Ronan