Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Opinion & Editorial

by Craig E. Thomas, Stevensville

First of all, I would like to congratulate Pat Williams and all his cronies for a successful program to eliminate the industry. As I recall, several years ago Mr. Williams proudly pointed out that the timber industry was finished. And now as the last of the large corporations fade from the seen, I must concede that Mr. Williams is correct. Pat, I’d buy you a ribeye at The Depot, for we all like a winner, but I’m currently out of work so you’ll have to buy your own.

As a forester and logger, I have spent a career of efforts providing resources to the major plants of the area. It is interesting that in my lifetime, we have almost come full circle with the big corporations coming and now going. The little guys that are left are good people, but the situation is really difficult and different now. Change is the name of our game.

We have passed through many fazes of interaction as a small western pioneering society and are now standing at a crossroads of opportunity. Actually, there are several roads available. Many are bemoaning the passing of this final corporate giant. I for one am glad to see this phase ended. Midway through this giant’s presence we lost something. The attempted survival of the giant passed the costs of operation to the suppliers of the resource. They simply where unwilling or unable to pay resource suppliers and timberland owners what their products cost to produce-- let alone make a profit. When we had a large presence of sawmills this was not the case. Maybe I should have listened to Mr. Williams, but I was addicted to working in the woods. What a wonderful place to be when the sun rose each day, cold or hot or wet or dry, it is a great place to be. It didn’t matter that I was passing most of my earnings on into our little society, as were the rest of us logger types. I was addicted to and loved the work.

But the crossroads of change wait impatiently. Which way do we go? Will another giant step in after the collapse of the union and kicking around of the other local players? Maybe the pulp industry just needs a reduction in capacity for market stabilization? Certainly the corporate players aren’t telling us, are they, and the possibilities are numerous, I assure you. Time will tell, but what do we do now?

Having just completed the giant corporate lesson, maybe we should try a more diverse approach with many smaller players. We still have a huge vegetation resource which needs attention. Do we go the road of leave it alone and let it burn? A smoky and expensive path, we know. We could have the government buy it all and set up plants to utilize the material, but I am not convinced that government can do better than big industry, if as well. If we addressed our own energy needs with as much gusto as we embraced the corporate board and paper folks, we can make a new path for ourselves.

Many of us have spent hundreds of hours in hundreds of collaborative meetings discussing real solutions. Varied solutions tailored to the small local areas. These solutions were not able to begin with the presence of a huge pulp mill but have suddenly become very viable. Now is the time to act.

With the passing of the large corporate timber industry, many of the “Pat Williamses” have matured into a more reasonable mindset. Interestingly, now most are more like foresters than different, so socially we all are positioned to develop local areas into more stable situations. If we proceed without a huge corporate presence our specific needs are more likely to be met. Big has not proven to be the best solution, either by industry or government. Let us try our ideas.

We now need real leadership. I am ashamed that we haven’t had more input from our Congressmen. It appears that our choices were poor. This new development will affect about one half of the land management of Montana, and that should certainly interest our leaders. Where are our leaders?

Biomass energy can be a big part of the solution, if we choose to do vegetative management.

Trees are the answer, folks.

What will we do?

Inappropriate behavior, inappropriate response

Dear Editor,

Recently, the commission heard from a group of angry citizens. I have always welcomed hearing from the public and encourage their participation in our meetings. Unfortunately, this time their anger boiled over into name-calling, personal attacks and a breakdown in civility.  

Even more unfortunate, this abuse was directed at one citizen in particular, a volunteer who has served the county for many years. Ben Hillicoss was appointed to the Planning Board in 2001 by commissioners Greg Chilcott, Betty Lund and Alan Thompson and has been reappointed by a majority on the commission since then.

The focus of the public’s anger was Mr. Hillicoss’s submission, as a member of the Planning Board, of a minority report outlining alternatives for preserving agricultural land. Content aside, no person, and especially no dedicated volunteer, deserved to be treated as he was. I was always taught that listening, learning and respecting each other’s views was a sign of maturity.

Additionally, I feel that the commission as a whole bears responsibility for permitting the meeting to get so out of control. I apologize to Mr. Hillicoss and all the hardworking citizen members of our county boards, that we allowed the tone of the meeting to dissolve into demeaning and disrespectful comments. I am resolved to do my part to see that future public meetings before the commission are conducted respectfully and with civility.  

It was apparent that unfamiliarity and misinformation about the structure and purpose of the County Planning Board contributed to the anger expressed in the meeting. To help avoid this situation in the future, I’d like to explain the role of the board.  

Members of the County Planning Board have absolutely no regulatory decisionmaking power. They are strictly advisory. Their purpose is to gather information about the subject at hand, discuss it with each other, and hopefully reach agreement about the best direction for the county to take. Because board reports have no legal standing, members can propose ideas that may not pass legal muster. Such was the case of Mr. Hillicoss’s minority report. Planning Board reports are presented to our professional planning staff for legal and professional review and then to us, the commissioners, who vote whether to accept or reject them. My vote is based on (1) legal advice, (2) recommendation of our professional staff, (3) the Board’s and larger public’s viewpoint, and (4) my values.

Sometimes, despite the best of intentions, board members cannot reach consensus. In those cases they can submit a minority report. Minority reports often reflect serious frustrations and divisions and it is important for me to hear them. Because I am open to hearing them does not mean I will be influenced by them.

When interviewing potential board members I am not hugely concerned as to whether the majority of the board reflects my ideas about land use. More important to me is the ability of individuals to represent diverse opinions and listen with an open mind to conflicting voices. Boards composed of such individuals are more likely to make decisions characterizing the broad community rather than narrow self interests.  

There seems to be a fear on the part of some that ideas are inherently dangerous; that if they are put on paper they become reality. Our country is great because diverse opinions can be expressed, because citizens are free to present elected officials with a wide variety of concepts and because citizens have the expectation that they will be heard and respected. This goes for individuals who volunteer for boards as well as for concerned citizens who come to commissioner meetings. Groups and individuals who fear free expression and attempt to shout down and humiliate other participants are disrespectful of our Constitution and to our representative form of government.

Please feel free to contact me at kdriscoll@ravallicounty.mt.gov or call 375-6510.

Kathleen Driscoll
Ravalli County Commissioner

Looking back at joys of living right here

Dear Editor,

We live in the Bitterroot valley surrounded by an abundance of beauty and wildlife and that is likely the reason most of us are here. We enjoy where we live. As I enter the new decade I am glad to shake off the hurts of the past year and look forward with the words my mother used to say when we were kids, “You’re ok, tomorrow will be better, you’ll see.”

My reflections looking back really do bring great joy at all the wonderful moments I’ve enjoyed right here where I am so thankful I’m able to live. You also may have shared many of these.

The glee and laughter of our 11 year old granddaughter as she followed the GPS from the Bass Creek campground up a trail to find the Geocache treasure hidden in the canister under an old log. Walking quietly through the Lee Metcalf Refuge listening and looking for the source of so many bird and critter sounds. RV camping along the shores of a mountain lake, watching in anticipation for the dark shadow of a trout rising to strike at my awkwardly cast fly. Looking back across the lake to see a lady, her book and two dogs, soaking in the lingering warmth of the setting sun. Sitting on an overturned bucket on a frozen lake watching the eastern sky gradually turn pink on a January morning. Stopping the truck on the return to town from hunting far afield on a late October night, far from the nearest artificial lights, and further even from the nearest town, to stare in awe and amazement at a moonless sky so filled with stars it is beyond anything I can ever recall. The chatter, pointing and discussion soon slow and fade to total silence as we are absorbed in the majesty of that very moment.

The memories of the wildlife and the magnificent changing scenery along the bike trail between Stevensville and Lolo. Blackbirds in the cattails near Lolo, ground squirrels racing for their holes at the approach of my bike, a deer and her fawn surprised at my silent arrival, turkeys near the pond by Ray Hawk’s place, a fox walking across the pasture south of Bass Creek, the eagle sitting in the old cottonwood near the river, the osprey nesting on the pole right above the trail, and as the seasons change, the always changing view of it all across the handlebars of the bike. And above it all rise the majestic Bitterroot Mountains. Can there possibly be a better place to ride a bike?

When I was young I took where I was for granted and with the expectation that it was just there. The accumulation of years brings an understanding and a keen appreciation for the beauty and amazement of it all and for the gift our creator shares with us. Living here brings joy to my family every day and we are very thankful for the opportunity to spend our time right here. Life is good.

Ed Greef
Florence

More subdivisions?

Dear Editor,

There were a couple of articles recently that drew my interest. The first was the one a couple of weeks back on the Flat Iron housing tract. In the article the Arizona developer stated that it would "turn relatively low-value farm fields into upscale, high-density neighborhoods." And he stated that it would be an economic and social windfall for the Bitterroot valley. He also contends that it would add a huge amount to the tax revenue, create jobs, add parkland and of course, high quality houses. He also calls his housing tract a "planned lifestyle community." This is all well and good as it pertains to the developer and his partners, but what is the real benefit to the valley? The construction jobs created would be temporary and only serve to draw more out of state contractors to the valley. Where is all of the water for this small city coming from? Where will all of the waste from this development go? What about the 4,400 estimated car trips to town per day? How will the roads handle all of this? Are we talking stoplights at Grantsdale Road, and Daly on Golf Course Road? People already race down Grantsdale at well over 50 mph when the posted speed limit is 35. Will this change? Where again is the benefit to our community?

Then there is a sort of related article about a minority subdivision plan which is credited to Mr. Hillicoss. Some of his ideas are at least original. I can agree with the one about removing topsoil from subdivisions. It's already done if you were to check some of these newer housing tracts. All they do once the house is built is put down sand and call it good. In that article Jan Wisniewski states that "crops and cattle sell for so little these days" suggesting that there is a glut of good farmland and that we should pave it over and I guess then we can import even more of our food while we cover the richest farmland in the world. Look at what they have done in the Sacramento valley and the Midwest. They have plenty of houses covering what used to be “low-value” farmland. Of course, many of those planned lifestyle communities are now under foreclosure. And if anyone has been following the foreclosures here in the valley, there were 120 foreclosures between August and the end of December (that's 360 postings in the paper). Of those the average price for those homes is $199,948. Most of these homes were bought in August 2006 on average and the people stopped making payments in August of 2009 on average. That is just three years. But looking at the average price of these homes I guess they don't represent the upscale homes that were mentioned for the tract on Golf Course Road.

We can continue to hide our collective heads in the sand and continue to make a mess of our valley or we can actually do some planning for growth, both now and for the future.

Mike Lulay
Hamilton

Thanks from Pantry Partners

Dear Editor,

Pantry Partners Board of Directors would like to thank all of those who have contributed to our food bank this past year.

It is because of the generosity of so many that we are able to continue to provide assistance to those in need in our area. We were able to distribute over 6 tons of food to our clients with our Christmas Food Box program this year. Many thanks to all of the students who assisted Lee Scharff in putting over 250 boxes of food together for the Stevensville clients.

As we look forward to 2010 we want again to thank all of our supporters for all you do.

Kathy Belke, President
Pantry Partners Board of Directors

Where have our jobs gone?

Dear Editor,

When I moved to Stevensville a year and a half ago I made a vow to stay away from anything of a political nature. Apparently I lied to myself.

Living alone I keep my TV on MSNBC all day as background noise. This morning (1/5/10) all the commentary was on the Bloomer Boomer incident, and I suppose I was tuned out until I heard some government official talking about American Passports. In response to a question she responded "... passports are not printed in this country.” Boy, that's great news! Maybe our politicians in an act of bipartisan fellowship could pass legislation requiring all of our currency to be printed in China. Just think of how many jobs could be eliminated, and most of the money in circulation is theirs anyway!

Isn’t it about time for our government to be required to spend our money on products made in America by Americans?

Dick Owings
Stevensville

Health care reform is assault on freedom

Dear Editor,

The current U.S. Senate proposed healthcare reform contains over 2000 pages of rules, regulations, tax increases, fines, rationed care, expanded government, etc. Most of the politicians voting on this legislation haven't read it, or can't even explain it. Good legislation can only be achieved when the details of this proposed legislation are thoroughly reviewed and undergo a healthy debate. Unfortunately, there are those in Washington, D.C. that don't want that to happen so that the Federal Government can expand their control over the entire private healthcare system.

This legislation has been written for special interest groups and politicians protecting “their” interests, not ours. Major polls taken throughout the U.S. consistently show that the majority of people do not want this type of healthcare reform, but the politicians openly disregard what we want. These all-knowing people in Washington believe they know what we need better than we do.

Our Federal Government is slowly and methodically expanding control over our lives through ever increasing regulation and taxation. Most of those we elected to represent us in Washington are now part of the problem, not the solution. Regardless of your political party affiliation, we need to put an end to Washington's arrogance that they know what is best for us and are blatantly ignoring the American citizen's desires. While there are a few that attempt to protect our interests, our active involvement is needed more than ever to stop this massive assault on our freedom, which is being disguised as a humanitarian effort. If this trend is allowed to continue unabated, it will have disastrous consequences on both current and future generations.

John Hinman
Stevensville

Rotary Club thanks community

Dear Editor,

The Hamilton Rotary Club wishes to thank the Bitterroot Community and local merchants for their generous support of The Rotary Bell Ringing for Kids Program. On the four Saturdays before Christmas, members of the Hamilton Rotary Club rang "Christmas Bells" at IGA, K-Mart, and Super One for the benefit of needy kids here in the Bitterroot.

This year, over $3,700 was distributed through gift certificates given out by The Bitterroot Youth Home, Kids First, SAFE, and The Salvation Army. The certificates were redeemable at IGA, K-Mart, and Super One in Hamilton, so funds all stayed in the valley.

For some twenty years, the Rotary Club Christmas Bell Ringers have solicited funds to provide gift certificates for kids, redeemable at local stores for toys, clothes or food.

Gordon Read
Hamilton Rotary Club

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