As we close the door on 2008, we reflect on the many changes that have occurred at the local newspaper. An ambitious expansion plan that launched in March with a 10,000-copy promotion has leveled off to a steady 7000 weekly copies. Our paper carriers are delivering a weekly copy of the Star to most residents in the municipalities of Hamilton and Stevensville and others can pick up a free copy at more than 100 newsstands throughout the valley.

Increased advertising support and the continuing support of our loyal subscribers is what makes this possible and we want to thank all of you for your investment in your local community newspaper. We believe that bringing you the vital information you need every week is a worthy endeavor and we’re glad you do, too.

As of January 1, we will be publishing the county’s legal notices, thereby allowing you to access even more of the information you want, all in one place.

Because of our increased circulation we were able to discontinue the Wrap Up, which had become a duplication of services now being provided by the Star. Most of our advertisers have realized that advertising in the Star is not only cost-effective but value-added, because of the blend of editorial and advertising content in a product that has superior penetration in the local market.

Looking forward, we will continue to be at the forefront of the “buy local” movement, because we truly believe that is the best hope for a sustainable economy.

According to the Portland, Maine Independent Business and Community Alliance, a study by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance found that three times as much money stays in local economies when consumers choose a locally owned business instead of a chain.

Further, local retailers tend to donate more on average to local charities and community organizations than do the large chain stores. In the book, “Big Box Swindle,” author Stacy Mitchell writes that in 2004 Wal-Mart donated $170 million to charities, less than one-tenth of 1 percent of revenue – the equivalent of someone who earns $35,000 a year giving $21 to charity. Mitchell cites a survey of eight independent retailers that found that their annual cash donations totaled 0.4 percent of revenue, or about seven times as much as Wal-Mart gives, eight times as much as Home Depot, and twice as much as Target.

Our locally owned businesses are the foundation of our communities.

We will do our best in 2009 to maintain and expand the partnership we have with all of you, our advertisers and our readers. Best wishes for your success in the coming year.

Letters to the Editor

HHEC spring courses available

Dear Editor,

The Hamilton Higher Education Center, which offers University of Montana and UM College of Technology courses in the Bitterroot Valley, begins Spring semester classes on Monday, January 26. All new and interested students are invited to attend an Open House on Tuesday, January 6, any time from 4 o’clock to 8 o’clock, at 310 No. 4th Street, Hamilton, which is the building called The Hamilton Carriage House. There will be complete information about Spring courses, and academic and financial aid advisors and other University staff will help with applications.

A University of Montana application requires 1) a copy of your high school diploma, showing graduation, or your GED credential; and 2) your MMR immunization record. You might complete your registration at the Open House if you bring these records with you. Registration must be complete by the time classes begin January 26. There is a one-time $30 fee when you submit your application.

Eleven courses are listed for the Spring semester. Three are business courses from the UM College of Technology: Business Law; Entrepreneurship (principles and skills needed to start and operate a small business); and Accounting II (a continuation of a Fall semester course). The CoT also offers Oral Communications (presentations and public speaking) and Introduction to Computer Modeling (an intermediate-level computer technology course). The UM College of Arts and Sciences offers two courses: Introduction to Psychology and Introduction to Anthropology. Courses in this list earn credits that lead towards various UM and UM College of Technology degrees, including the Associate of Applied Arts degree, the Associate of Arts degree, or the Baccalaureate degree.

Through the Hamilton HEC, the College of Technology also offers two developmental courses, Intermediate Algebra and Introduction to College Writing, which many UM students take as background and review before taking the composition and mathematics courses required for their degree.

The School of Education offers two graduate-level courses in Education Leadership, leading to the M.Ed. degree.

Many other courses are available online, through the program called UMOnline. It’s typical for Higher Education Center students to take one or two courses in Hamilton, and one or two additional courses entirely online. Course possibilities are listed at umonline.umt.edu.

Although limited in the number of courses offered in any semester, there are some practical advantages for HEC students. One advantage is a flexibility of schedule, especially for students who are employed full-time and students with many family responsibilities. HEC classes meet once or twice a week, starting in the late afternoon or early evening. Most classes (those meeting once a week) also have an online course component, by which students receive and complete assignments via computer.

HEC classes are small – often with eight to ten students. Instructors are enthusiastic about teaching in Hamilton. They enjoy their students and encourage them individually.

The classroom space at the Hamilton Carriage House is especially comfortable. The full-spectrum lighting is excellent in the evening. Twenty Dell “Latitude” computers are available for use in class, and there is a small computer studio.

Speaking as Director of the Hamilton HEC, one of my serious concerns is the tuition cost for students. Some HEC students qualify for federal financial aid in the form of Pell Grants or student loans; a few have veterans’ benefits. In 2008, thanks to a very generous donation to the University of Montana Foundation, the Hamilton HEC was able to offer a total of thousands of dollars in scholarships to Bitterroot Valley residents who qualified for financial aid. Most awards were in the range of $400 to $600, which typically could cover the tuition and fees for a 3-credit or a 4-credit course. The program in Hamilton is very modest one in scale. These small scholarships, however, have had great importance -- as financial aid, of course, but also as encouragement.

We will not know until early January what amount will be available for scholarships in 2009. I urge all new students to review guidelines for these HEC scholarships at the website umt.edu/hhec. The deadline for scholarship applications is Friday, January 6, 2009.

I am often asked questions about the University of Montana’s plan for the Hamilton HEC as it relates to the Bitterroot Valley Community College proposal, which will come before the Montana Legislature. The stated University position is that the Hamilton Higher Education Center currently aims to provide access to courses leading toward Associate of Arts and Associate of Applied Science degrees, and to the completion of graduate degrees in higher education. Should the proposed Bitterroot Valley Community College come into being, The University of Montana looks forward to a collaborative and complementary relationship with the College, with the Higher Education Center shifting its focus to upper-division course and programs.

In the weeks leading up to a new semester, one way I can be helpful to students is by offering a referral to a faculty advisor or someone on the administrative staff of the College of Technology. My email address is frank.laurence@umontana.edu. The HEC office telephone is 363-5410, x 115; the address is 310 No. 4th St., Hamilton. The office is usually open weekdays in January from 10 am to 8 pm. With good wishes for the New Year,

Frank Laurence, Ph.D., Director,
Hamilton Higher Education Center

It’s ‘your’ airport – stop feeding the ‘corporate fat cats’

Dear Editor,

Tired of all the corporate bailouts and seeing the CEOs walking away with millions of dollars? Who do you suppose fly as passengers on the larger aircraft and corporate jets? Is the drive from Missoula airport to Hamilton too much of a commute, a commute that many of you do on an everyday basis? Now is your chance to make a difference!

On January 7th, the Ravalli County Commissioners will hear opinions on whether or not to expand the Ravalli County Airport in Hamilton. As of today, no clear cut answer has been received as to whether the proposed Environmental Assessment, which is lacking extremely important information, is allowed a vote by the Commissioners, or whether it will just be accepted after the hearing on January 7th.

The Airport Advisory Board, made up of a majority of pilots, aircraft owners, people employed or associated with the FAA, and hanger owners, are the ones advising and making recommendations to the County, along with the FAA. Although a formidable group as individuals, this is an extremely “lopsided” makeup of individuals with biases toward aviation. It is important to realize with any board make up, regardless of whether it is a school board, a corporation, or an aviation board, that it be balanced with a make up of trustees so that it is not too influenced by one particular group.

We the taxpayers of Ravalli County are soon going to be presented with proposals for “improving” (enlarging the local airport) to accommodate larger corporate aircraft, including jets. Proposals that are based on “out of date”, exaggerated arrival and departure frequencies. It is important that those making the decisions make them in the best interest of you, the taxpayer, and not their own special interests. Several proposals will increase the opportunity of being able to “hob-knob” with the corporate elite and its executives, however, at the expense of you, the taxpayer. Remember that funds from the government, in this case the FAA, take away your ownership of the Ravalli County Airport as we now know it, and make it possible for the FAA to dictate operations, as a result of your “indebtedness” as a taxpayer, that are not necessarily needed. The FAA, NOT the general public or Commissioners, dictates what kind of aircraft land at an airport… There are general complaints made by the local pilots, and they are usually in reference to upgraded runway lighting and markings, runway surface, and instrument approach improvements. It is the few corporate pilots that are based at the airport – and the transient corporate pilots that “blow in and blow out” – who are requesting the expanded airport/longer runway, as a result of CEO “get there-itis.” The most reasonable proposal that was included in the first EA was omitted from the second EA. The result, a cost of some twenty million dollars – in comparison to two million dollars – to bring the airport in “compliance” with what the FAA desires. One of the only reasons that the funds are being made available nationally was to alleviate congestion at some of the major airports throughout the country. Missoula airport is far from being stressed traffic wise; however, there is a landing fee consideration. Bottom line, is it worth the expenditure of millions of dollars more for “improvements” to the airport, a “general aviation airport,” to allow it to become a corporate “jetport” to serve an extremely small percentage of return? Ask your Commissioners to delay the January 7th meeting if necessary until all the facts are in, and also ask them to base their decisions on reasonable and prudent information, both economically and environmentally, for YOUR airport.

Dan DePauw, commercial pilot
Stevensville

County going down wrong path

Dear Editor,

This letter is to comment on the Ravalli County Environmental Health Department column on neighborly interactions in the valley. The department did a good job explaining citizen’s rights regarding burning, junk vehicles, and other neighbor issues that are brought up on a regular basis.

Where the column went wrong was stating the county attorney office was responsible for law enforcement. In most states, the county attorney office works to protect the people, and works on their behalf. Things are a bit different here in Ravalli County. In a federal court case filed on December 5, 2008 and mis-reported on December 19, 2008 (yes, a two-week delay on a case in Missoula) a former resident of the valley is reporting malicious prosecution by the county attorney office, violation of his right to equal protection under the law, and that the Ravalli Republic newspaper conspired with County officials to defame him and his family to the point that they lost significant income. This is known as civil rights violations; that which deprive a person of their US constitutional rights. These constitutional issues in Ravalli County are very common.

If this is won in US District Court, the monetary awards can contain punitive damages, or punishment for the damages done to a former Bitterroot resident.

My question is: can we afford our County Attorney, George Corn, any longer? The damages that might be awarded would come out of our tax paying dollars, not George Corn’s $94,500 annual salary (which we also pay for with a half share from the State Attorney General’s office). The court request is for more than a million dollars against Ravalli County. We need to protect our county treasury from inappropriate behavior from our county and local officials, which affects us all.

Philip Zimbardo, the famous Stanford psychology professor who commenced the experiment which assigned normal college aged males into a guard and prisoner experiment in 1971, found that those in power (in our case, George Corn) will abuse that power if secondary measures are not in place to regulate a behavior. Interestingly enough, Zimbardo was also a court “expert witness” for the Abu Ghraib prison guards, due to having experience with the breakdown in an environment, and what situational factors are at hand to allow that to happen. The 1971 experiment was halted, and was not analyzed until the last few years, due to the extremely harmful effects on the participants, and Zimbardo.

In Ravalli County, we are sitting smack in that situation. Basic freedoms laid out by our founding fathers are being taken to “win” cases for the county attorney office. Ask any athletic coach: it is not a victory unless you are playing by the rules. We need a new method of working with the public, due to a county government that cannot and will not protect its citizens; either from crime (from neighbors) or upholding their state inalienable rights, or their US Constitutional rights. It is a time for leadership to shine.

If we allow this trend to continue, Ravalli County will be broke, and it will be Mr. Corn’s legacy. While we probably won’t have anyone to throw a shoe at Corn to give him a “…going away present, you dog.” His twenty-year legacy will be the broken local justice system which systematically and easily violated civil rights of US residents that live in Ravalli County. This is accomplished by wheel-dealing attorneys, judges, and allowing law enforcement to literally shut off freedom of speech via their hand held communication equipment during regular traffic stops, and law enforcement operations.

The need in this situation is for a plan of action for the county to correct their current path. It starts with protecting residents who make complaints with the Environmental Health Department. No plate of cookies, or Sheriff case number, could protect me from the wrath of the county government, or my former neighbor. The last permanent Environmental Health Director (named Theresa) quit her job due to other departments in the county refusing to help her with these complaints. The leading department on her list was the Sheriff (who is the actual law enforcement arm in Ravalli County) and the county attorney office. Let’s consider the re-election chances for Chris Hoffman in 2010, and find qualified candidates for county attorney, sheriff, and county judges. The justice that your family will be dealt may depend on it.

I am glad that the Environmental Health Department is taking the steps to educate the public on what their rights are. The real battle is to find an effective government willing to work for the people, instead of harming them via a newspaper, or depriving them of their inalienable rights as US citizens, and Montana taxpayers.

Michael Spreadbury
Hamilton

Thanks from Red Cross

Dear Editor,

You – volunteers and donors – have delivered something this year that holds no monetary value, yet is vital to meeting the basic needs of those experiencing disasters: hope.

It's easy to give and forget, but this holiday season, know that those you've helped this year will remember your kindness.

One of my dearest childhood friends lost her home to a fire just months before we met. At ten years old, I remember her yearning for the things she had lost. The loss of her family's home had been just that: a total loss. The recovery left them nothing but soot, fire and smoke damage, and water damage and residue from retardants from the response of putting the fire out. No pictures were to be recovered. No baby-books, cherished documents of first steps, kindergarten report cards, even the loss of the family's treasured games & hobbies hit her family hard.

But one of my best memories comes from the things she gained from this experience. She learned compassion. Neighbors and friends in the small community had come together, not only to meet some basic needs, but to offer her family a sense of hope.

Montanans have a reputation for looking out for one another, and have since the pioneer days. This year, you've wrapped a blanket around neighbors in the cold of night, offered them a warm place to stay, filled their tummies, and rallied behind them giving the greatest gift–hope.

I'm wishing you a warm and safe holiday season and a prosperous new year!

Dawn Skerritt, Public Support Director
American Red Cross
Great Falls

AWOL global warming propagandists

Dear Editor,

Steve Running, where are you? You and Al Gore seem to be inconveniently missing this winter. How long has it been snowing now? The forecast is for more heavy snowfalls across America in the near future. I thought about you and Al when I saw people being snowed on in Malibu. Frankly, I don’t know how much more of this global warming I can take.

Incidentally, the Nobel Peace Prize has degenerated into a tool for envious Third World countries to jab America with. It used to be a genuine symbol of excellence. Now, in many cases, it is a reward for people who denigrate America better than others in their respective categories. I remember how insulting you were to skeptics of the global warming myth you helped create. I resent your hostile, dismissive remarks to global warming non-believers. It is interesting that so many radical environmentalists express scorn for religion, especially Christianity, while your fanatical commitment to a myth has taken on religious qualities.

You doomsday people attack anyone who questions your claim that humans are destroying the earth. Admit that these freezing temperatures and heavy snows have given the lie to your propaganda. Come to think of it, weren’t you blaming global freezing on humans before you started blaming people for global warming?

Professor Running, you need to understand that if truth were on your side you would have no need to insult those who question your theories. Your boorish response to legitimate questions brands you, Al Gore and others in your camp as perpetrators of fraud on an unprecedented level.

It would be helpful and refreshing to have you engage in an honest discussion of your theory.

Gene Williams
Hamilton

Thanks from Main Street

Dear Editor,

The Stevensville Main Street Association Design Committee would like to give special recognition to Mrs. Round’s sixth grade class of Stevensville Elementary as having an exceptional tree this year displayed at the Historic St. Mary’s Mission. Designs on the decorations were based on Salish traditional drawings and were outstanding! The Design committee had not mentioned this earlier in the article announcing the Christmas Decoration winners for Exterior and Interior Decoration Winners and wanted to be sure to let the public know that the work of Mrs. Round’s class was recognized as certainly being noteworthy. Thank you for the wonderful work!

The winner of the final drawing for the Shop Stevensville Gift Certificate in the amount of $50 sponsored by the Full Moon Saloon, Mountain West Coop-Cenex and Blacksmith Brewing Company was Gena Craft. Thank you to the sponsoring businesses!

Joan Prather, Director
Stevensville Main Street Association

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