LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Debunking property rights myths

(This letter is in response to Michael Gale’s letter to the editor in the June 12 edition of the Leader.)

Forty-three years ago the question of who may or may not own land on the Flathead Reservation was settled in the United States courts. No one who has a deed to property in Lake County and pays their property taxes need worry about confiscation. Anyone who needs confirmation of this fact should look up 437 F.2d Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes vs. the United States.

Many of us in Lake County like it here very much. Some of us chose to live here after spending years in other parts of Montana and are still glad we moved here. We do not think of ourselves as courageous or naïve for staying.

Sometimes people are forced to move away from places that make them feel comfortable and happy. When that happens a person can usually expect to get a fair price for their home so they can buy something suitable where they have to go. When houses sell, they provide income for our neighbors who work in real estate offices, law offices and title companies. Unfortunately, myths that negatively effect property values have a way of migrating and being repeated out of the neighborhood that is under attack. The farther from the maligned neighborhood the myth travels, the less likely there is to be any incentive to seek the truth, and the easiest path for the shopper is to just say, “I won’t even look there.”

When someone spreads fiction disguised as fact in letters to the editor or when speaking, they are making it harder for any local seller to get a fair price for their home. They are also making it harder for any local people who work around here processing real estate sales to make a living. It is always a shameful state of affairs when people are hurt by rumors based on myths.

If you believed there was even a chance your property would be confiscated, would you not sell out and flee while you could still get something for it? Perhaps Mr. Gale believes what he says and writes. But I think that all of us, including Mr. Gale, owe it to our neighbors and ourselves, if we value our integrity, to do some research before we write or speak.

Bob Stone

Polson

Godly enough and enough godly

Republicans need to “get godly” if they want to turn things around, preached an infamous duck slayer to a GOP congregation.  Just how much godly is enough for TEA puritans? A dollop of godly goes a long way but a gallon gets god-awful ugly, as witnessed in Iraq, Iran, Ireland, etc.

A Republican primary winner for Ravalli County Commissioner stated on TV, “I believe in god. I believe in family values.”  Elected yokels ought to believe in maintaining roads, appointing competent civil servants and protecting vital healthcare facilities.  Their genuflection to magical divinities is irrelevant.  Likewise, private family decisions are not their concern.  Just plug the potholes already.

A Republican Senator in Ohio who confessed he’s “not a doctor” concocted a law banning insurance coverage for IUDs based on his erroneous conception that IUDs are equivalent to abortion.  Ipso-facto, whenever a man ejaculates outside a fertile woman he must be castigated nay, castrated, for slaughtering pre-unborns.  That might inspire male lawmakers to zip up their zealotry.  (I encourage female lawmakers to adopt “pre-unborns” as the new sperm term.)

Science denier and Montana Senate candidate, Steve Daines (R), is profoundly pro-life for pre-borns while fervently pro-death for post-borns.  He’d sooner shut down the government (again) than permit Medicaid expansion in Montana.

As ultraconservatives strive to out-godly themselves, they abandon reasonable solutions to tangible problems.   We must dispose of this rubbish. Vote Democratic for rational candidates who will fix infrastructure, confront climate change, expand Medicaid and generate jobs.  Spurn delusory, tea-sodden Republicans who do nothing but saber-rattle, champion obstruction, glorify ignorance and arouse sanctimony.

Wanda LaCroix

Arlee

Thank you, Polson schools!

This past week a group of junior high students, under supervision of Melissa Barr, ventured under the Polson bridge, and painted over the graffiti which has appeared  during the last year.  As an aside we know, due to spelling errors etc., that the perpetrators were not Polson students.  This clean-up was very much appreciated, especially in light of the grand opening of the bridge pier pathway which will take place on June29th.

The recently held State A softball tournament was very much appreciated! Scott Wilson does a truly masterful job of hosting and administering such events.  These events bring a huge economic blessing to local businesses, whether it be lodging, meals, or retail sales.  We are always hopeful that the goodwill generated by such activities may well bring folks back to Polson to vacation, or perhaps even to buy a home here.

Ken Avison

Polson