As I was running through town last week, a feeling of gratefulness came over me for all of the positive things that happen in our town. The little things matter a lot and help make a strong community. I wanted to publicly give thanks, thus this letter. Students in my class also wanted to share what they were thankful for. I hope those who do the following kind deeds realize that they are appreciated and make a difference.

I’m thankful for the bells that ring out each day at 6:00 from the Methodist Church. Hearing the familiar tunes float through the air lifts my heart. I’m thankful for the person who waters the hanging baskets of flowers downtown during the summer. I often look up at them and am amazed at their colors and fullness (especially the petunias!). Thanks to the Stevensville Hotel for the lamps outside along the sidewalk. They are a cheerful and comforting site in the darkness of night. Thank you also to the people who shovel/plow the bike path and roads during the winter. It is nice to have a safe place to walk/run and drive. Kelle Bradshaw

I’m thankful to have Mary’s Ice Cream Parlor. I’m thankful for it because they give you a lot and have a lot of flavors. It always cheers me up. Evan C. Kelly

I am thankful for the Christmas lights of the town tree because it brings spirit to the town. Alison Mim Mack

I am thankful for the Super 1 Foods 24-hour store because when someone needs food and medicine they can go to the store and get what they need even if it is in the middle of the night. Georgia A. Kimball

I am thankful for the people who donate the toys to the parks and who give us soccer fields to play soccer on in the Fall. Matthew Chaplin

I’m thankful for the community Thanksgiving dinner because I get to help out and meet new friends. Allison May Jill Marie Lyn Enzler

I am thankful for all the scarecrows put up on the bike path this year. They’re so funny. Dakota Bragg

I am thankful for the person who has to organize the Creamery Picnic race and does the running camp. I love to run! Hunter Casey

I am thankful for my church giving people food. Joey Chapman

I am thankful for the janitors who put salt down on the ground so it isn’t slippery. Austin Potton

I am thankful for First Friday because I can ride the horses around town. I go there each month and it is so fun. Kordale Behner

I am thankful for the Clothes Closet because it gives away free clothes to people who need them. And, they even have toys. Seneca Mourtisen

I am thankful for the Creamery Picnic because of the games and food. It is fun for me and my family there. Ryan Rauch

I’m thankful for the people who shovel the sidewalks. In the morning when I wake up, I notice the sidewalks have been shoveled so we can walk safely to school and around town. Brionna Fadely

I’m thankful for the Chantilly Theatre because of all the plays and the nice lady named Doreen. Joao Tavares

I am thankful for paved roads because they aren’t so lumpy and bumpy. Quade Renstrom

I am thankful for the people that gave us each of us a dictionary because I can now spell a really big word: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis (a lung disease). It also has maps and states, and numbers. Dallas B. Adams

I am thankful for the Homecoming Committee because they set up the parade and football game every year. Rylee Lane McCoy

I’m thankful for the banks. It is nice that they hand out suckers. Colton Belcourt

Thank you!

Letters to the Editor

Quit the blame game on wildfires

Dear Editor,

It's easy to play the blame game after a fire season like the one many Montanans have experienced this year. Anger is understandable when some of our favorite places have burned, when livelihoods have been affected, and thousands of acres of private property have been threatened or damaged, including my own place near Dog Gun Lake, just inside the Lewis & Clark National Forest.

According to regional forester Tom Tidwell, 97% of new fire starts were put out this year. With the extreme heat and dry conditions we've had, that is a very impressive record of service. Now that the smoke has cleared and winter is upon us I have to ask why some people are so quick to complain and assign blame for fires that sparked and blew up because of dry conditions and record breaking temperatures - seven days above 100 degrees in July alone.

I know the cost of these fires more than most people, and it's clear to me that what we need is understanding, common sense, and gratitude, not finger pointing.

The last of July, we evacuated what few possessions we could fit into my pick-up, a four-horse trailer and a flatbed trailer. On August 2nd, a wall of flame from the Skyland fire spread north of Sundance Mountain and roared through our place from the west. It burned our log barn and corrals, a historic dude ranch cabin, four outbuildings, fences, hay, and lots of equipment. The barn was a particularly difficult loss since it was the command center of the place - the shop, lumber yard, my "hardware store," and contained much of the equipment I use to conduct the workhorse workshops that provide me with a living.

It's discouraging to lose so much of what I've built up over the years, but I refuse to feel like a victim or pin blame for these fires on someone or something besides record breaking heat and drought. I made a choice to live near the Bob Marshall Country so I could get away from crowded valleys and busy roads and live in a natural, wild place. But one of the risks of living in this beautiful place is fire, and that will not change anytime soon, especially when temperatures are predicted to rise even further. This fire season has taught me to be more proactive, more prepared, and also a bit more accepting and grateful.

In our time of need the Forest Service pulled together a hundred-person crew and worked very quickly, clearing trees and brush, setting up sprinklers, spraying foam on the buildings, and covering doors and windows with foil. That fire crew is the only reason that my small house and several guest cabins remain standing today. Since then, friends and neighbors have volunteered countless hours of their time helping me get my place back in order. After the fire, volunteers from the Montana Wilderness Association and the Summit Prep School in Kalispell provided me with 15 extra sets of hands as I prepared to conduct my Labor Day workhorse workshop.

This is the type of teamwork that should be the focus of our energies. Finger pointing about fire only divides communities over what we cannot control precisely. I feel we should all be pulling together to focus on where and how we can have a positive impact right now. Instead of complaining and finding blame after the fact, I suggest that we take a proactive approach by supporting forest and fire management programs that will make a difference in the future - while avoiding the environmental mistakes of the past. Knowing that I have far more left after the fire than most people in the world ever have in their lifetimes, I'm looking ahead, rebuilding, and feeling very grateful for the firefighters and friends who have done so much for me - thank you all.

Doug Hammill
East Glacier

More on fire smoke

Dear Editor,

People should not be thinking that the Forest Service has the power to stop or to even slow the smoke from the wildfires. The Forest Service and the timber industry are pleased that they have a group of uninformed citizens who are complaining about the smoke. Now they can use this group of people to help convince the public that cutting and burning will stop the smoke, knowing full well that this line of thinking is just a lot of baloney, but the name of the game is to get wood any way possible.

As it stands the Forest Service and timber industry could have quite a few bug killed trees that they are walking by to cut green old-growth. This is going on now on the East Fork of the Bitterroot on Jennings Camp Creek. The bug killed trees are still good but in time they won't be.

I want to encourage all people to read the letter written by Kay Gervais and printed in the November 21st edition of the Bitterroot Star. Her very informative letter is right on the money. I encourage you readers to read her letter. In fact, I wish the Star could publish her letter again.

If the Forest Service would jump on the fires when they start instead of letting them burn for two or three days before trying to stop them, you wouldn't have so much smoke.

So, dry your tears, and as the bronc riders used to say, "Take a deep seat and a long rein," because we may be in for a lot more dry times and fires.

Floyd Wood
Corvallis

Holiday story

Dear Editor,

Here is a heartwarming little holiday story from the Wall Street Journal that everyone can enjoy. It seems that a Mrs. Deborah Shank was involved in an accident seven years ago that left the 52-year-old permanently brain damaged. Her husband and three sons were awarded a settlement which netted the family $417,000, which was put into a trust for the care of Mrs. Shank. Two years ago the health plan of her former employer, at the time of the wreck, sued the family for $470,000 and won. The reason being there is a clause in the health plan which Mrs. Shank was covered by that reserves the right to recoup medical expenses for someone's treatment if they collect damages in an injury settlement. The family is now relying on Medicaid and her Social Security to pay for her care. Her employer happened to be a multi-billion dollar retailer, which is now looking into inadequacies in their health coverage. Merry Christmas and welcome to Wal-Mart, shoppers.

Mike Lulay
Hamilton

Thanks from Pantry Partners

Dear Editor,

Pantry Partners would like to give a big thanks to the following: Stevensville High School's Student Council, Key Club, and MTI groups for collecting 1030 lbs. of food for us, Lone Rock Middle School for collecting 157 lbs. of food, the Barnyard Bunch 4-H Club for collecting 82 lbs. of food, and the Florence Boy Scouts for collecting 160 lbs. of food.

We appreciate all of your hard work collecting the food, and the community's support of Pantry Partners Food Bank.

Kathy Belke, President
Pantry Partners Food Bank

Article lacks journalistic integrity

Dear Editor,

The Ravalli Republic's reporting on the City Council proceedings of December 4 was so distant from reality that there can be only two possible explanations for the extreme, distorted journalism: 1 - the newspaper exists in an upside-down, parallel universe where right is wrong and wrong is right; or, 2 - the Republic is using the power of the pen to manipulate public opinion and government policy.

I'd say that #2 is the most likely reason and if you, the reader, had been there, as I was, you would come to the same conclusion. Here are just a few of the distortions that the Republic used to carry out character assassinations, and to raise Mayor Randazzo to the level of victim and saint:

RR's version - "Outgoing city councilors vilify mayor"; Reality - a majority of Councilors, including Mike LaSalle, who retains his seat on the Council, reprimanded the Mayor for gross violations of City policy and procedures, (including failing to carry out an election for an elected Treasurer, after the Mayor herself spent tax money for a straw poll that determined the voters do indeed want an elected Treasurer).

RR's Version - "Councilors DeAnne Harbaugh, Bob Scott and Bob Sutherland spent four hours Tuesday night accusing the mayor of not doing her job and blaming the mayor for their losses in last month's election." Reality - A majority of Councilors, including Mike LaSalle, spent nearly fifteen minutes of the four hour, work-laden meeting reprimanding the Mayor for gross violations, etc., etc., etc.,

Of course, these are just two of the many distortions in the news piece in the December 6 issue of the Ravalli Republic. Sometimes I think we would be better informed if we had only the National Enquirer to read. We should all be concerned; I know I am.

Chris Linkenhoker
Corvallise

Playing the religion card not right

Dear Editor,

Is he a Christian? Any political aspirant or party devotee who endorses that question as a legitimate tactic to secure public office for themselves or their political party in the United States of America isn't worth the powder and lead etc.

Independents will undoubtedly decide the national elections in 2008. Why? Because our ranks have swollen to majority status. Why? Because we see a need to protect our Constitution. Why? Because we are sick to death of political aspirants and agendas that put the acquisition of power above the best interests of our country. Because we are sick to death of the dissemblances and outright lies of elected officials, and would-be elected officials. Because we are sick to death of politicians who use bigotry, ignorance, ethnocentricity, and emotionally charged wedge issues to divide and conquer the electorate.

Fighting over religious differences has surely led to more chaos and cruelty throughout the annals of history than anything else. lf history does not teach enough, our nightly news should help. Anyone who allows a religion test into our political dialogue cannot claim to disapprove the slaughters around the globe, Iraq included, caused by religious intolerance. As night follows day, one leads to the next.

In the United States of America, there is not, and must never be, a religious sect test to be acknowledged as a patriot and good citizen.

Christ taught that salvation is acquired by loving the Lord and our brothers. Christ then specifically, de facto defined 'brother' as the person of good heart, who lives kindness and charity without regard for ethnicity or differences in religious practices.

I write this letter because one Republican candidate, Huckaby, recently questioned the Christian-ness of another Republican candidate, Romney. l am familiar with both their Christian sects, and belong to neither. As a Christian and as an American, l am angered by the sliminess and danger of the insertion. As one of millions of like-minded Independents who never miss an election, l suggest all political parties and candidates for public office take note.

Claire L. Kelly
Stevensville

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