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Wednesday, February 24, 2010 Opinion & EditorialGuest CommentHamilton trustee asks for levy supportby Corrine Gantt, Trustee, Hamilton School District Let's go back to the early 1990's. Classrooms were overflowing at Daly Elementary. Children in pull out programs were learning in hallways, storage closets and in the common area. The halls were too noisy for optimal learning. Students at Westview had to walk to the high school to take art and music classes. Classes were held at the Armory, across Main Street. Classrooms were so full that there was no room to walk around the classrooms. Parking was a big problem at the high school. The state of Montana has issued new class size standards, but school enrollment numbers were growing and were predicted to continue to grow. Inspections revealed structural seismic concerns about the high school and Westview. The high school was in violation of new federal handicap access requirements. The Northwest Association of Accredited Schools, in conjunction with the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, regional authorities on educational quality in the Northwest, had updated their accreditation criteria. Because of handicap accessibility issues and the violation of the class size requirements, Hamilton was out of compliance. Like many other districts in Montana, Hamilton school district is a member of this organization because membership allows their graduates to access federal student aid. Up until this time, the school board and the school district in Hamilton always had the support of the community. When these factors came to light, they asked the community to help. First, they requested a levy to close both the high school and Westview Junior High and build a combination High School\Middle School compound on Kurtz Lane. Because of the expense, the voters said no. Still, the needs were great and the school district had to keep trying. So, they tried again. This time they asked to build a new high school, along with $500,000 to refurbish the old high school to bring it up to safety and accessibility requirements to house the junior high school students. This option passed. During both of these levy campaigns, some members of the community enthusiastically supported the school district and many voters were called and asked to support the school district. This levy passed and the school district remodeled the old high school building to safety standards and moved the junior high school kids, including the sixth graders from Daly, into the building. This move relieved the high class size issues for both the junior high school and Daly. At this time, the district adopted a Middle School educational model that is the best practice for delivering education to students. Since then, Westview has been home to Kid's First, BEAR, the PTA, hunter safety education classes, a dance school, the alternative high school program, the district after school program, the Media Arts program and other community organizations; most recently, the Early Headstart program is moving in. Unfortunately, the ability to communicate the history of these events has eluded the Hamilton School District since the new high school opened its doors. Many rumors and misconceptions still plague the Hamilton School District. Montana state laws created by the locally elected Senators and Representatives in Helena requires support from local communities to fund school districts above the state funding. While there is lip service about local control, the reality is that the majority of spending at the local districts is controlled by state and federal mandates. The district just recently refinanced the bond used to pay off the High School to take advantage of lower interest rates. This saved the taxpayers $400,000 over ten years. The district appreciates having the new high school, but the other buildings in the Hamilton school district are old and are in need of maintenance. The district has catalogued $2.1 million in deferred maintenance. The old buildings are not wired for newer technology. There aren't enough electrical outlets in all of the classrooms. Thermostats in classrooms need to be installed or replaced. The phones, bell systems and PA systems are antiquated, intermittent, and /or obsolete. Software licenses last year cost the district seventy-five thousand dollars. The district purchased one boiler at the middle school when the existing boiler was not repairable after the levy request for that boiler was denied by the voters a few years ago. The building still has two old boilers that need to be replaced. The district has been able to access grant funding that allows it to identify its most pressing needs through architectural needs assessments. While the district is grateful for these funds, they are specific to that use and can't be used to address those needs. This is why the Hamilton School District is asking the voters to support our levies. The school district would be happy to discuss any of these issues with any member of the community. |
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Letters to the EditorWilderness lostDear Editor, We, the undersigned former council members and officers of the Montana Wilderness Association, respectfully urge Senator Tester to modify the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act of 2009 to rectify the problems outlined by the Undersecretary of Agriculture as well as the Last Best Chance Wildlands Campaign. We cannot support the legislation as now written. We diverge from MWA here because we believe that the bill degrades both the quantity and quality of some of America’s most cherished wildlands in Montana. We encourage consideration of the issues we have outlined below that would be necessary in order for us to support it. We endorse the 10-point position paper, “Keeping It Wild! In Defense of America’s Public Wildlands,” which has been submitted by the Last Best Place Wildlands Campaign. The bill legislates the net loss of hundreds of thousands of roadless area acres, including S-393 Wilderness Study Areas designated in 1977 by the late Senator Lee Metcalf. This will create widespread environmental damage and the loss of an irreplaceable legacy for which future generations will, quite correctly, hold ours accountable. Also, the bill’s Congressional mandate for timber cut levels sets a dangerous precedent. Resulting below-cost timber sales will cost taxpayers over $100 million. And proposed new Wilderness Areas are small, often disjointed, primarily “rock and ice” parcels that would fail to protect fragile wildland and wildlife ecosystems and corridors. To make matters worse, the bill includes special provisions for new “Wilderness” units that defy both the intent and letter of the Wilderness Act, and the spirit of wilderness that so many Americans believe is a vital and wondrous part of this great nation’s heritage. Motor vehicles, including helicopters, simply have no place in designated Wilderness. Yes, we need more Wilderness – lots of it – but we want it to be real Wilderness! The bill also codifies secretive negotiated agreements – such as the Beaverhead-Deerlodge – that excluded many individuals and groups who’ve long been involved in the public process. This, and similar agreements, have been sealed by MWA and others over the objections of excluded organizations and individuals, of whom most live and work close to the land and know the compromised areas intimately. It is with a heavy heart that we are compelled to oppose the organization that we once served as council members and officers. Most of Montana’s undeveloped wilds are long gone, and we cannot afford to lose big chunks of what remains. We believe that in recent years, the Montana Wilderness Association [MWA] has clearly compromised its long-held wildland protection mission and vigilant advocacy. We know many current and former MWA members who agree. In fact, many conservationists in the region are convinced that, quite simply, MWA has lost its way. We are among those people. In summary, this bill will irreparably damage Montana’s dwindling public wildland legacy. It will salt the gaping social wounds created by MWA’s recent actions. It degrades the Wilderness Act of 1964 with provisions that damage both Wilderness and the Wilderness Idea. And it’s a bad deal for future generations of Montanans who will need wild country more than ever in an increasingly crowded and uncertain future.
Lou Bruno (past president) – East Glacier |
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Support our county commissionersDear Editor, A recent opinion in the Feb. 10 issue of the Bitterroot Star questioned our commissioners’ latest appointment to the Board of Health position when they chose a local Nurse Practitioner over a retired pathologist. The author went so far as to claim that the process was flawed and I quote, “Citizens of Ravalli County deserve a public explanation from the county commissioners involved in this strange decision.” The choice in this appointment was between a retired New England Doctor of Pathology with 29 years of experience and a Nurse Practitioner with 40 years experience in this community. Most people do not understand the difference between duties and responsibilities of a registered nurse and a nurse practitioner. A Nurse Practitioner in Montana has the same federal drug license as a Doctor and the same responsibilities for patient care. A Nurse Practitioner does not work under the supervision of a doctor as they are an independent practitioner. Many medical facilities that provide full patient care are made up of Nurse Practitioners without a Doctor on staff. The Nurse Practitioner that was appointed to the Board of Health position is Kathleen Mauer and she is currently the full time primary caregiver for Convenient Care at Marcus Daly Hospital. I believe she has spent her whole career in western Montana and primarily in the Bitterroot. She has worked positions in the past such as the only practitioner on duty in the emergency room at Marcus Daly, Missoula, and other rural community hospitals. Any physician that has ever been the sole practitioner in an emergency room would understand the magnitude of that responsibility and most physicians would choose not to ever place themselves in that position. One night, early in Kathleen’s career, an elderly man that was all busted up from being hit by a car was ambulanced into her emergency room. Kathleen managed to keep him alive and get him stabilized. It was her own father. Her past work experience with the Missoula Health Department, the Veterans Administration, and Hospice are only pieces of her work history. Over the years she has seen, diagnosed, or treated about every type of illness and injury seen in this part of the country in an age group from 2 through 102. She spent a number of winters on Big Mountain managing the clinic for North Valley Hospital where she was the only practitioner dealing with orthopedic injuries, broken bones, and blunt force trauma, sometimes all simultaneously. Along with the general practice over the years her experience as the practitioner for the Ravalli County jail gave her a myriad of experience with a combination of psychiatric disorders and drug-related withdrawal symptoms and if you have traveled abroad from this area in the past 20 years she was the practitioner signing your chart for approval by the Missoula Health Department for your shots and medications. Her daily routine deals with diagnosis and treatment of illness and injuries including infectious diseases, which is part of what a health department is concerned with. Her job as a first care provider has given her a working relationship with every other type of specialist in the area to whom she makes referrals and coordinates care. Her ethics, credentials and work experience are impeccable and her lifetime of knowledge as a provider in this community gives her a history and background that is unsurpassed and will be a valuable asset to this position on the Board of Health. The fact remains that our commissioners chose to put this Nurse Practitioner into our county’s Health Department over a retired pathologist from New England who probably had equally impeccable credentials in his particular field of study. The former letter criticizing the commissioners’ decision compared the two candidates’ medical experience by characterizing a choice between the pathologist as an experienced 747 pilot and someone that has soloed in a Piper Cub. I would say that not only is an apology in order but I would guess that if that author gets sick or injured he might just go looking for a Piper Cub. In this growing and changing county our commissioners do a complex job on a wide variety of issues. Come on, people! We need to stop second-guessing the decisions of our commissioners when we don’t have all of the facts.
Arden R. Cowan |
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Sheriff candidate introductionDear Editor, My name is Joede Vanek and I have filed as a candidate for Ravalli County Sheriff. Though most of us have limited exposure to the Sheriff’s Office, the time to make corrective measures to it should be prior to your first potential encounter. My twenty years of Law Enforcement experience serving in the seventh largest police department in the country can see a troubled organization. The four suicides in the county jail within a 15-month period and the frustrations of the family, friends and community over the failure of prosecution on the Florence triple homicide is cause for concern. These incidents coupled with the internal turmoil of Sheriff’s Office Administrators involved in criminal activities and improprieties ending in demotions, resignations, and public embarrassment are appalling. The Sheriff’s deputies suffer from poor and inadequate training due to a lack of funding and the administrators' inability to locate additional funds or acquire task specific training, which only perpetuates the problem. A public administrator more concerned in covering their friends' indiscretions than holding those law enforcement officers to a higher standard, will enable a quagmire of public distrust and poor relations between the Sheriff’s office and the general public. There is a need for higher professional standards in the Sheriff's Office. My training background is extensive and my contacts with other professional consultants are the same. I can bring this training to the office at no additional expense to the taxpayer. Training and education are necessities in the law enforcement field; without it, the community that organization serves pays the consequences. These consequences usually end in public dissatisfaction and potentially a lawsuit. I will close the gap between the Sheriff's office and the community by involving community residents in serious matters pertaining to the Sheriff's office. Also holding monthly forums with the community and keeping the public workings of the Sheriffs office transparent to the public. It is imperative that the citizens of Ravalli County are involved with the workings of the Sheriff’s Office, acting as a "checks and balances" body. The old adage that "absolute power corrupts absolutely" will always occur with any elected official if the constituents do not diligently monitor ongoing conduct. This procedure will ensure the public’s trust and greatly reduce the possibility and/or misconceived perception of improprieties by the Sheriff’s Office. These are hard times that we Americans are experiencing. Many are losing businesses, jobs and homes. My wife and I are no different; we have lost investments, vehicles and income. In my prayers, I asked the Lord for an understanding of our great losses. The answer did not come quickly, but with time I believe he has shown me the purpose. It was in the resurgence of our great nation. Around our nation, people are standing up to be heard. The silent majority has been alerted, has taken notice, and has begun fighting the good fight. In a time when many may feel the Lord had forsaken them, I see now that he has awoken us to save our country. The temporary loss of our wealth is a small price to pay for the saving of our nation! I am answering the call to run for Sheriff and hope for your support at the primary election on June 8th, 2010.
Joede Vanek |
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What’s your heart condition?Dear Editor, February is Heart Health Month. God is always thinking about your heart. What is your heart’s condition? Broken? Bruised? Betrayed? Weak? Hardened? Cold? Lonely? Anxious? All of the above? God knows you personally, you might as well know Him personally. Just tell Him you trust Him with your heart and in return he will give you a life you never knew possible. Already did and things still not great? Hold on, you haven’t yet seen what is just around the corner! Set your heart on the Rock that doesn’t roll. Read “Healing the Heart,” "Power to Heal" and "Healing the Whole Man" by Joan Hunter. You will NOT be able put them down and… your life will NEVER be the same!
Cathy Kulonis |
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Fairgrounds Road SIDDear Editor, This letter concerns the unfair treatment by the City of Hamilton toward the residents along Fairgrounds Road. The proposed "Special Improvement District" will put an unfair monetary burden on the few residents who will have to pay, so the entire county can benefit from its use. The City Council says we'll get to vote on this, but wait - there's a catch. The City and County own more property than the private residents do, so they have enough votes to pass it whether we want it or not. It doesn't matter that the city says it will put up one half of the money. Each private resident will have to pay between $4,000-$6,000 (the city's preliminary figures). These 225 unlucky residents will get to foot half of the bill for this major road project that none of us want nor have we requested. There is not another road besides Highway 93 that the county's residents use more than Fairgrounds Road. Let's count the ways: Fairgrounds & Convention Center, Softball Fields, Ravalli Road Dept., Humane Society, Safe House, Search & Rescue, Hamilton High School, Public Pool and three big churches. The rest of the city residents had to pay for a sidewalk and curb the width of their property. Why do we have to pay for a major road expansion and two bike paths? Would the five City Council members be voting for this if the $4k-$6k were coming from their home budgets instead of their constituents? We ask that the other members of this community come to our aid and voice your dissent with the Council in the spirit of fairness, before your street is the next one. This is how ridiculous precedents set future policy directions.
Dale Burkhart |
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Thanks from Darby Bread BoxDear Editor, Darby Bread Box Board of Directors and volunteers would like to thank all of those who have contributed to our food bank. Everyone has been so generous with donating food and donations so that we can help those in need. If it wasn't for the community we would not be open. Thank you for all your support.
Mary Lockwood, Treasure |
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Bursting with frustrationDear Editor, President Obama was duly elected President of the United States. Get used to it! He replaced a person I believe history will show to be the most useless self-defeating head of state this country has ever endured; well, maybe Hoover was an equal. Coupled with the idea of “tinkle down economics” the Republican Party deliberately abdicated governing the nation and brought in their champions of industry and finance to run the country. Only time will tell how invasive the influence of these self-serving greedy leaders of the country will reach. When FDR took the position of head of nation his task was to bring the country out of self-imposed disaster. Back in the early 30’s we took some time before the democratic philosophies could take hold and move the nation up and out of a depression coupled with the abuse of the people by Republicans. People who are not old enough to have lived during those years yet claim to understand living in those days are like innocent liars. I was there. The WPA, CCC, Social Security, and more benefits for the veterans of WW1, along with a myriad of welfare and self-help government programs, some successful and others a failure, were working and we felt the movement toward better living conditions, where more employment were attainable. To me the political stature the Republican leadership is exhibiting today is nothing more than a continuation of the fractured thinking of the previous administration with the added, no, addled, contributions of the ex-cheerleader from a small town in Alaska where every citizen has been getting a yearly dole from State Government for years, and now we must endure the very strange ideas of people who go to tea parties. Oh my goodness! Let’s have another tea party! I’m so mad I’m ready to bust! I believe there are very deep and dark beliefs that may or may not ever lose their negativity haunting a huge number of these voices we hear and read in the media that are so hostile and vehemently against recovery that they are the personification of intentional failure in order to show their superiority. I am not a member or advocate of any political party, movement, militia, or society. I am a citizen and a senior military reserve retiree with a long career in the military/industrial complex with no patience for the small minds who are belittling themselves with the juvenile “them or us” attitude personified by Republican spokespersons today.
Earl Pollard |
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Doing the math on ammo theftDear Editor, Last week I purchased some ammunition from a local store (not a sheriff's deputy!). I was shocked at the price, not having bought ammunition for a good many years. The thought occurred to me concerning the local theft by a deputy of some 30,000 rounds and their value. It also occurred to me as to why such a small department needs such a large inventory as well as how did a Deputy carry out such a large theft given the weight of the one small box I took to my truck? So, with my calculator I did some basic math and found that the Sheriff's deputy had to make at least six hundred trips taking a box each trip! Or, perhaps he took it all in one trip which in that case was about 1300 pounds of loot (ammunition)! Over a half ton of ammunition would be a good load for a pickup truck! Did the deputy have access to a handy forklift to enable him to move the loot? In any case my concerns are: Why such a large inventory? Why didn't internal controls catch the theft? Where was the Sheriff when such a theft was going on under his nose? If he cannot catch a thief next to him, how can he be effective protecting our homes and businesses? These are obvious signs that we need a change in leadership in the Sheriff's office! Perhaps if one digs deeper, we need a change in all the incumbents in Ravalli County.
Bill Zader |
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