The 2005 Montana legislature considered a bill to control development along the banks of the state's rivers. That bill was not passed into law, but the debate did engender a movement in the Bitterroot Valley to pass a set of local stream setback regulations that would allow local input and control to dominate the process of creating and establishing any such regulations in the county.

Some local people and organizations concerned about public safety and potentially negative environmental effects of development along streams worried that the statewide regulations might be too weak to be effective in such a rapidly growing place as the Bitterroot Valley. Other people were concerned about the potentially negative effect of such regulations on development and private property rights. As a result, people on both sides of the issue expressed a desire to pass some local regulations that could be enacted prior to any statewide regulations. State legislators were in agreement that any local regulations in effect prior to passage of a statewide law would not be affected by the new legislation.

Local legislators expressed backing for such an effort as did the county commissioners. Soon local conservation groups, environmentalists, professionals in development related fields, the Bitterroot Valley Board of Realtors (BVBR), and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks joined together in a public effort aimed at devising some sort of local regulations.

But developing a local set of regulations has turned out to be a difficult and complex affair.

The BVBR quickly took the lead in the matter and hired a local hydrologist, Clint Brown of H2O Design, to devise a formula for determining appropriate setback distances on various sorts of streams. MFWP fisheries biologist Chris Clancy was highly critical of the formula devised by Brown. He found it too complex and difficult to apply as well as yielding obviously unacceptable results in some cases. Clancy, for his part, began an intensive review of the literature on the matter and compared rationales as well as regulations from around the state and the country. Since then, however, Clancy and Brown have been working together to meld their two approaches and have arrived at a tentative formula based on a differentiation between two basic types of streams, "confined" and "unconfined", and on the stream width, along with some other factors.

Last May, BVBR applied for and received a $100,000 grant from the National Board of Realtors to help devise the proposed regulations and has hired Brown to develop a map which would display the proposed buffer zones and setback limits on each stream as determined by the formula.

At least two meetings have been held recently in Hamilton to discuss a proposed county resolution based upon these efforts but no consensus has emerged. There was disagreement expressed at the last meeting over the draft regulation itself, with several participants critical of the language in the draft proposal as too vague and in need of clarification. Several people were also critical of the proposed variance and appeal procedures outlined in the draft. Others raised questions about possible redundancies and conflicts with other existing county, state and federal regulations.

An employee of a local surveying company expressed concerns about the potential of the draft, as written, that it might result in a "takings" by possibly preventing any development on some properties. He also said that the regulation as drafted could force property owners into a variance process that would be very costly, perhaps prohibitively so for some.

One serious objection to immediate adoption of the regulation raised at the meeting was that the map itself has not yet been developed. Several participants in the effort, including Ravalli County Planning Director Karen Hughes, do not believe it is wise to adopt the regulations without the accompanying map. Hughes said that this effort amounts to the first countywide zoning regulations to be considered in the county and it needed to be done right. She considered the map an essential component of the regulations. She and others at the meeting were hesitant to endorse the regulations without it.

Teri Polumsky, of BVBR, who has been hosting the meetings, disagreed, stressing the need to get something enacted locally before any statewide regulation was passed. She said that the regulations could be adopted now and the actual map could be adopted at a later date.

Another serious shortcoming in the current draft regulation, according to several participants, including MFWP biologist Chris Clancy, is the fact that the Bitterroot River, including both the East and West Forks, has not been included in the draft regulations.

Polumsky said that it was basically a matter of cost and time, since it would cost too much and take too long to map the entire river.

Clancy and others at the meeting stated that it would be hard for them to endorse a local setback regulation that did not include the river.

Polumsky stated that, while this may be a shortcoming, it should not hold up approval of the draft regulations because having something on the books was better than nothing at all.

Ira Holt of Ravalli County Fish and Wildlife Association said that he did not understand the urgency to get something adopted. He said that the statewide bill currently being considered at the legislature would not pre-empt the County from adopting its own local rules even after the state law was adopted.

The meeting was adjourned without consensus and without another meeting being scheduled, although Polumsky said that the draft would be revised based upon the input from the two January meetings and the revised draft would then be distributed to the participants for their review. Polumsky still hopes to present a regulation for consideration and possible adoption by the County Commissioners as soon as possible.

The County Commissioners have scheduled a discussion of possible streamside setback regulations for the county at a meeting this Wednesday morning, January 24, at 9 to 10 a.m. in the commissioners� meeting room at the County Administration Building at 215 S. 4th Street in Hamilton.

City of Hamilton replies to Government Study Commission recommendations

By Michael Howell

Hamilton Mayor Jessica Randazzo responded verbally last week to the recommendations made by the Local Government Review Study Commission in its supplemental report. Commission members have been insisting for some time that the law requires a response from the city to the report which contained 17 separate recommendations.

Randazzo stated that most of the recommendations fell outside the scope of the study commission's perview which was to make recommendations concerning consolidation of functions and services as well as inter local agreements. She said that the city had evaluated or was in the process of evaluating every department to assure proper staffing. She noted that a Planner had been hired as well as a Council assistant and that the role of the Administrative Assistant had been re-defined. The city has also hired a financial administrator. She said that the city had updated its job descriptions and reviewed salaries and continues to evaluate its structure.

In response to the Study Commission's claim that the city's certified form of government calls for an elected Treasurer, Randazzo stated that the matter had been placed on the City's agenda for that evening. The city has been operating with an appointed Treasurer for the last 23 years. The Study Commission claims that the appointment process is illegal and that the Treasurer should be elected in a public vote. As a result of past discussions, the Council voted unanimously at a previous meeting to hold a straw poll on the issue.

Councilors Robert Sutherland and Bob Scott expressed regret for their previous votes to approve a straw poll. Scott explained that after thoroughly investigating the matter he is now convinced that the Study Commission is correct and that it did not make sense to hold a straw poll to see if the citizen's prefer an elected or appointed treasurer when keeping the currently appointed treasurer position is illegal.

"The law is the law," said Scott, "We can't pick and choose which laws we are going to follow."

Councilor Sutherland agreed saying that he was now embarrassed by his vote to conduct the straw poll and would like a chance to correct that.

City Attorney Ken Bell stated that he had approved some ballot language for the straw poll as requested, but that, in his opinion, since the results of a straw poll are non binding on the council it did not require a resolution by the council to conduct one. He noted that by placing the issue on the ballot of the upcoming primary election for County Commissioners that the County would foot the cost of printing the ballots, setting the election and counting the ballots.

Councilor Harbaugh expressed agreement with Scott and Sutherland about the need to follow the law.

Councilor Hendrickson said that it was not a bad idea to get the public's opinion on the matter.

Councilor LaSalle said that there were conflicting statutes and that the city attorney has already stated that the Council could go either way on the issue.

"If the community has been happy for 23 years, why not just continue," he stated.

The vote to approve the ballot language for the straw poll resulted in a tie, 3 for and 3 against. Mayor Randazzo broke the tie voting in favor of approval.

Despite Attorney Bell's opinion that no resolution was required to hold a straw poll, the council still conducted a vote on the resolution. The motion to conduct the straw poll passed on a 3 to 2 vote, with Councilor Harbaugh abstaining.

In other business the Council decided to contract with RAM Engineering for completion of the design phase of the 10th Street project near Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital. The city has budgeted $25,000 for the design engineering, the actual cost is now estimated to be $12,000 for the civil engineering, $5,130 for surveying, and $5,500 for geo-technical services for a total of $22,630.

The Council also heard from Marcus Daly Hospital Administrator John Bartos concerning the hospital's expansion project. Given the high cost of a completely new building, estimated at $55 to $58 million, the hospital has adopted an incremental plan for expansion to be implemented in stages according to the priorities that have been established. Bartos told the Council that Marcus Daly Hospital had recently been recognized for having the lowest infection rate in the state for post-operative infections.

According to Bartos, A new 20,000 square foot emergency room is being built on the north side of the hospital attached to the existing E.R. facility. Plans also call for two orthopedic trauma rooms, contamination rooms, additional nurses stations, and observation rooms.

Bartos said that the planned expansion should meet the community's needs for the next 20 to 25 years. Cost of the improvements will be funded through the sale of bonds to be approved by the Montana Health Facility Authority under the Department of Commerce. The 25 year bonds will be underwritten by D. A. Davidson at a 4.75 to 5.5 per cent interest rate.

The plan also calls for successive phases of the expansion project to include physical therapy and rehabilitation and obstetrics facilities, as well as construction of a new building to house the facilities utilities. Another planned building would housea birthing center, kitchen, cafeteria and waiting room, and administrative offices.

An Open House is planned for February 7, at 5:00 pm to inform the public more about the details of the project.

Eating Our Words

By Gretchen L. Langton

Chapter One Bookstore was jammed to the gills on January 10 for the third installment in the First Annual Food and Culture Series. Over seventy word-a-holics wet their mental whistles with a savory dish, Chritsi the Wordsmith; she rustled up some intriguing food cliches and carved through their histories as swiftly as a knife passin' through hot butter. Actually, it was more languid than that, but had I used the cliche "slow as molasses in January," you may have stopped reading. Let's just say that her fare was so palatable that people stood for lack of a seat.

For the last five years, Christi Smith has hosted a two-minute radio show on Montana Public Radio (89.1FM, 91.9FM). Her show has been syndicated in Billings since 1990. She also sounds off on Armed Forces Radio and on select stations in Wyoming. Christi gets a laugh when she says, "I only play on the radio in Montana, Wyoming, and the world." Although she didn't set out to be on the radio (Christi was studying archeology and anthropology at Montana State University in the late '80's) she has always been a self-professed "word geek." It is likely that her native Montana roots were conducive to the development of good reading habits; Christi grew up in Poplar, Montana, one of those tiny dots along the High Line on a map of northern Montana. She currently resides in Belgrade, close to KGLT (on the MSU campus), where she records her show. She is following in the footsteps of John Ciardi, the classical language scholar, who had a radio show about words in the 1980's. Christi says Ciardi inspired her Montana version of this concept.

Christi's recent chat focused on food words.

"Our culture has developed a rich vocab around food. The English language is full of food references: fat as a pancake, the upper crust, to waffle, hash it over, piece of cake, in a pickle, and to wet your appetite," Christi stated by way of introduction.

Her talk was titled "Eating Our Words" and the bread and butter of it covered the basics: bread, salt, and beer, in that order. She also spoke of the terms "hamburger", "Adam's apple", and "couch potato." Christi's approach is one of keen cultural anthropologist/linguistic historian/word biographer (her term for herself). This means she picks a term and digs into its history on a global scale. "Bread, the staff of life," she sucked us all in; I could almost hear the salivation begin. Then, some archeology: "There is archeological evidence of 5,000 year-old clay ovens in Egypt." Then, some history: "In 1621, the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in North America." Without bread, she says, because they had yet to have a successful grain harvest. Presupposed Notion Number One shattered and history realigned a bit to delete Rosemary rounds, and pies and stuffing from the ravenous hands of my mental Pilgrims. Then, some religion with the Lord's Prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread..." We ask in order of importance, physically sustain us, then "lead us not into temptation." Ah, but what if this bread was metaphorical? Linguistically, metaphor's bun in the oven is the cliche. (She didn't say the "bun in the oven" bit...that's my cliched attempt to describe which came first.) Then, Christi led us to the contemporary trough of cliches involving the words "bread", "dough", and "breadwinner." Notice what we now hold dear, no longer the physical loaf, instead, the money we need to buy it. Who still makes their own bread rather than buying it? (They are out there. Freshly baked bread was offered as a snack following this event.) She finished her discussion of "bread" with related words. "Pan" is the Latin word for bread and "pan" is the root word in "company", "companion", and "pantry". Now, imagine that she must take all of this information, plus more, and distill it into two minutes for her radio show. No piece of cake.

Is it getting to you yet? Is my flagrant attempt to annoy you with cliches in an article about terms, idioms, and cliches driving you nuts? Good. As an instructor of English, I have been engaged in an on-going mission to squash cliches, in particular. In Writing 121, I circled them, I underlined them, I starred them, I wrote in the margins "cliche." I was obsessed that cliches were robbing my students of original thoughts by assuming that their beloved cliches were good enough to cut the mustard. Ask yourself, what does it mean to be "good enough to cut the mustard"? As my madness escalated, I began writing this one-liner above each and every cliche, "What does this mean?" This inspired a barrage of red-faced students who had counted this question repeatedly, in pencil, on their papers, to huffily ask me "What do you mean, 'What does this mean?"' I then asked them to define each of their cliches, without using one to define one, in full sentences. Very few got out of the ballpark on this assignment.

And yet, I was forced to eat some humble pie concerning cliches, thanks to Ms. Christie M. Smith-er of Words. Mulling over her lecture, I began to realize that we should study cliches as cultural mile markers rather than snuffing them out. Cliches tell us where our language has been before us. The evolution of a term or phrase puts that term or phrase into cultural perspective. Knowing the history of words broadens cultural awareness, which may expand cultural understanding, and, best case scenario, this stimulates a tiny bit of cultural acceptance. Back to "humble pie" as an example. Christi says that "humble" and "umble", an Old or Middle English word, began as two separate words with separate meanings: "humble", meaning to have great humility and "umble", meaning the innards of a deer. Innards?! Yes, umble pie was what the servants ate, while the ladies and lords feasted on the finer parts of the deer. Perhaps because servitude is a position of utter humility, the two words melded in meaning. Thus, the humbling experience of being poor is imbedded in our very language, and this revelation was inspired by a greater understanding of a simple term I had taken for granted. So, my new working rule in the classroom will be to have students, as an assignment for credit, locate the history of their favorite cliches and embrace them for their richer meanings. They, too, can share the full power of the words they toss about with such frequency.

You can have powerful personal epiphanies about language by tuning into Christi's show, Monday through Friday at 12:25 on MPR. You can also check out her two books on the subject: "Verbivore's Feast" (2003), and "Verbivore's Feast Second Course" (2006).

Immigration: A New Civil Rights Front

By Gretchen L. Langton

"Humble only means you are not going to do what someone is doing to you. Love them instead." This is what Mahatma Gandhi's grandson, Arun Gandhi, learned from his grandfather and repeated in an interview aired on Martin Luther King Jr.'s recent birthday. MLK would have been seventy-eight-years-old had he not been gunned down on April 4, 1968. King studied the teachings of Gandhi and adapted the practice of "non-violent resistance" to the Civil Rights Movement in the 50's and 60's with great success. Why was passive resistance so successful? In part, because a majority of Americans were hit with waves of compassion when they saw televised images of men, women, and children rapidly washed off the streets by high-powered fire hoses, attacked by German Shepherd police dogs, and subjected to routine clubbings in the South. "What about democracy," the world wondered.

While African Americans remain in a heavy undertow of racism in America, as evidenced by incarceration rates, Hispanics are the relatively new, grossly underpaid, heavily stereotyped economic slaves in town, according to author/attorney Michael Donahoe. And Hispanics represent the new minority target in America. But really, it's anyone from outside our comfort zones, isn't it?

"The history of immigration shows that there is always someone at the bottom," said Donahoe of this frequently forgotten historical tendency in his recent talk at the Twelfth Annual Martin Luther King Day Celebration (including a great potluck and songs from the Trapper Creek Job Corps' Jaylene Hege) sponsored by the Bitterroot Human Rights Alliance. Attorney Debbie Smith, Donahoe's co-presenter, provided a pertinent Montana example: Until 1942, women who married Native Americans lost their citizenship. Why? Because Native Americans were not considered US Citizens until the early 40's, and neither were their spouses, racism seasoned with sexism. It only took 500 years or less from the time Caucasians first landed in the New World to forget that they were once the immigrants seeking asylum. The Bitterroot Human Rights Alliance's recent celebration was a testament to the fact that there are folks around who want to remember our own immigrant histories and who are adamant about challenging misinformation about today's immigrants.

Myth: "Immigrants (i.e. illegal aliens, the invective term) don't pay taxes." Truth: According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), immigrants pay between $90 and $140 billion a year in federal, state, and local taxes. But how does SSA know this if the workers are undocumented? Because SSA has a "suspense file" which accounts for "taxes that cannot be matched to workers' names and social security numbers." Keep in mind, aliens pay into, but never receive, Social Security; their status as aliens makes them ineligible. Immigrants also pay sales tax in all states that have sales tax. The Urban Institute reports that immigrants only receive "about $5 billion in public benefits," so the American public is actually reaping a roughly $85 billion yearly profit off immigrant labor. But, then we must subtract the cost of incarcerating immigrants. Donahoe holds a hefty book aloft as he examines the numbers. Did you know that according to the United States Sentencing Manual, an immigration offense is a Level 8 felony? This puts migrant cherry pickers without the right paperwork at the same criminal level as armed drug-users. Second immigration offense, the level doubles to sixteen.

Well, it is illegal for immigrants to be in this country without a visa, you may be saying. And this is true, however, the system is not functioning efficiently when, as Smith says, immigrants can wait as long as ten years for a visa. Luckily, super models don't have to wait ten years. If you're a super model, a multi national corporate CEO, or a professional baseball player, a Level 1 (more levels!) visa is easily attainable. But there are only 275,000 Level 4 visas for "unskilled laborers" granted each year. This number does not meet the demand for labor. There are 12-13 million immigrants without legal status with fewer than an estimated 10,000 living in Montana. These numbers are increasing, which causes immigration myths to also increase in prevalence.

Myth: "Immigrants take jobs and opportunity away from Americans." Truth: The Brookings Institute reports that the "largest wave of immigration to the US since the early 1900's coincided with our lowest national unemployment rate and the fastest economic growth." Since when have you heard of hungry, hard-working white folks lined up outside of any major hotel chain begging to clean toilets for chump change and no benefits? How many of us would like to expose ourselves to the nastiest chemical fertilizers and insecticides on the planet in order to pick strawberries for chicken feed and no benefits and sub-par housing? Who lined up to pick the Flathead's cherry crop this summer when the migrants didn't show? It seems as though there are now jobs that Americans do not want and until this changes, someone must fill the gap.

Alan Greenspan admits that 70% of immigrants "arrive in prime working age" and beyond school age, which means they were not a part of American school systems and not a "drain on the education system."

Donahoe points out that when people feel like they lack something, they become fearful of this lack. Case in point, healthcare. A growing number of Americans are uninsured and angry at this lack or insured and angry that their premiums are so high. Either way this anger feeds a fear that someone else is getting what we deserve. Granted, says Smith, in America all human beings who are "gravely ill" are entitled to Emergency Medicaid, according to our laws, because we are allegedly a compassionate nation. Thus, there are likely immigrants who are treated in hospitals, but far more go unseen by medical personnel until they are in dire need. Since there might be a tiny percentage of aliens who can afford insurance, it is worth noting that no aliens are eligible for health insurance, no matter whether they can pay or not. Aliens don't get other public services either, such as food stamps or welfare.

Myth: Immigrants don't want to learn English or become Americans. Truth: The US Census Bureau claims that 75% of immigrants speak English within ten years of arrival and the demand for adult English classes greatly exceeds the supply.

"Nativism is rampant and 9/11 really circled the wagons," Smith notes in response to fervor over new border protection measures. "Does anybody know how many of the 9/11 bombers snuck in across the Mexican Border," Smith asks sardonically. For those of you wondering, the answer is "zero". And yet, Congress has passed a bill, related to Homeland Security, to build 700 miles of fence along the 2,000 mile-long border between Mexico and the US. And who are these security contracts going to? Haliburton and Boeing, two of the White House's favorite economic players (both have made billions off the "War on Terror"), have been given $2 billion for this project.

Nativism is not new to Montana. Since 9/11, there have been repeated incidences, leading to a lawsuit alleging racial profiling by Havre's Border Patrol. (Nativism can be construed as a polite term for racism, says Donahoe.) Brown skinned folks, beware while traveling on the Empire Builder. Donahoe refers to profiling when he says that people with brown skin may be stopped for "driving while Mexican." This happens; in Missoula, says Donahoe, one man, a documented worker, is repeatedly pulled over because he has dark skin and drives a low-rider. Even though Montana does not have a high percentage of immigrants, there are still plenty of racists. The number of bills that will create new felonies relating to immigrants evidences this. Montana's legislature will be looking at a whopping 22 bills concerning immigration this session: one wants to make it a felony if an alien votes, another wants to charge employers with a felony if they are found to have used undocumented laborers, another wants to make it legal to stop people if there is a reasonable suspicion that someone is illegal (as if this might be plausibly knowable by seeing their faces). This means more taxpayer dollars for more jails and prisons to house some immigrants who are guilty of wanting what our immigrant ancestors were after. They want to work, they want to feed their families, they want to have a quality of life they are unable to attain at home.

Both Smith and Donahoe suggest that there should be more leeway in the sentencing guidelines, allowing for special considerations in special cases. They also support an increase in the number of visas doled out to Level 4 visa applicants. This seems antithetical for two immigration attorneys - to seek measures that would essentially lessen the amount of business they can generate. It goes to show that their ultimate goals might be more altruistic. They are both interested in recovering the American ideals reflected at the base of the Statue of Liberty. If you think immigrants should be treated fairly and are concerned about other human rights issues here and abroad, join the Bitterroot Human Rights Alliance by contacting them at PO Box 915, Hamilton, MT 59840. ($35 per household - to be paid to Montana Human Rights Network) Also, make your opinions known to your senators and representatives.

Commissioners to decide on 'Plan to Plan'

By Michael Howell

Ravalli County Commissioners will be discussing and potentially adopting the proposed "Plan to Plan", a schedule for implementing countywide zoning over a one and a half year period ending in 2008, at a meeting in the Commissioner's meeting room, in the County Administration Building at 215 4th Street, Hamilton. Any decision may also include funding for the process. For details about the proposed "Plan to Plan" see last weeks Bitterroot Star or go to www.ravallicounty.mt.gov/planning/range.htm.

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