Letters to the editor Sept. 1

Commission needs your help

The Montana Districting and Apportionment Commission needs your help in drawing the new legislative district that go into effect for the 2024 elections.

Four drafts of maps have been proposed for purposes of generating public comments. Not one of these maps will be the final map.

The Commission is currently taking public comments, both in-person and virtually, to help guide the creation of a final map.

The Commission values robust critique of the draft maps and asks individual to provide additional information which specifically identifies how a map meets or does meet the criteria and goals the Commhttps://leaderadvertiser.com/admin/news/story/add/#ission is using, or complies with applicable laws. The Commission appreciates the immeasurable benefits of public comment when developing a final legislative districts map capable of representing all of Montana.

Map suggestions and comments articulating communities of interest, alerting the Commission to possible geographical barriers in proposed voting districts, and creating opportunities for voting district capable of representing both the majority and minority views and values, are particularly valuable.

These types of public comments help ensure the final map meets the applicable criteria, goals and Voter Rights Act, as well as promoting the best representation possible for all of Montana. Additional information about this process is available at MDAC – Developing Legislative Districts for Montana (mtredistricting.gov). Please participate in the process. Your voice can make a difference in the final map.

— Maylinn Smith, Chair Montana Districting and Apportionment Commission

Kudos

I want to thank the two gentleman employees of Salish and Kootanai Housing Sewer division for their prompt response to my concern of a drainage problem. I appreciated their professional and friendly manner. They assisted me in locating the problem even though it turned out it was not the fault of S&K sewer.

Kudos!

— Eileen Hostetler

Pig Latin

When I was a boy back in the 1930s and 40s my brother and my way of responding to the adults telling us what to do or what not to do was to speak in “Pig Latin”. The words “pig latin” become “igpay atinlay”. They would often hear “Easeplay ebay iotquay”, our version of “please be quiet”. A dictionary description of Pig Latin goes like this:

“This is a secret language formed from English by transferring the initial consonant or consonant cluster of each word to the end of the word and adding a vocalic syllable: so pig latin would be igpay atinlay.”

The following is just some fun I had using ‘Pig Latin’ to share with my friends here at “Grizzly Peak”.

Grizzly Peak is a marvelous ‘Independent Retirement Living’ facility located on American Way in Missoula. So here’s the short story I made up making “Pizzly Greek” out of our name “Grizzly Peak”.

Most residents here at Pizzly Greek don’t know the history of how this wonderful place got started. Here are the facts:

Dr. Joseph Pizzly, a Greek philosopher and billionaire was a friend of many in our country. Years ago he donated millions to help get residential facilities like ours started in this nation.

Many of us here often comment on some words used on the daily menu saying, “Sounds like Greek to me.” And that’s because it is Greek. Dr. Pizzly asked that some Greek words be used on the daily menu.

So......Eat and enjoy; Rest and relax. It’s always good, To learn the facts.

— Bob McClellan, Missoula

Elect statesmen

Over the years the Republican party has told us they are the conservative party.

Is that true today? If we look at the CPAC convention, Aug. 4-6, we saw some of the following speakers: A dictator from a foreign country, Hungary; a variety of speakers promoting and supporting conspiracy theories (fraudulent elections, critical race theory, woke, cancel culture, cultural grievances, etc.) none of which are based on facts at all! Is this conservatism!

These expressed words and thoughts are more like far right messages. If the Republican party is embracing these types of messages, they don’t sound like people who want to govern, they sound like people who want to rule (autocratic or dictatorial).

We need to elect fewer Republicans, not more if these are their messages if we wish to keep a democracy! Let’s elect statesmen and women who promote hope, who will be bipartisan at uniting this nation (not dividing us), who will base things on truth and facts (not deceit), who don’t promote being revengeful or hateful or promote fear or anger and don’t encourage violence.

— Linda Edwards, Polson