Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Opinion & Editorial

by Josh Thomas, Stevensville

I'm writing in response to all the letters concerning the shooting in Virginia, and for that matter all the violence that things other than ourselves are supposedly responsible for. Since when did the responsibility for and the consequences of our own actions and morals get taken from our shoulders and placed on those of companies and corporations?

It's the fast food industry's fault that I'm fat, the cigarette manufacturers fault that I have lung cancer, the alcohol manufacturers fault that people drink and drive, the gun manufacturers fault that people kill with guns, and finally it's the video game industry that's teaching kids violence. Has anyone heard of good parenting anymore? Why is it that we are so quick to blame corporations but are unable to look at ourselves and what we are teaching or not teaching? The more we worry about what corporations are at fault for what is going on, the farther we get from our children and what we should be teaching them.

As for the video games, they are getting looked at more and more as a cause of violence among teenagers. Let me say as a lifelong video game player that I think these accusations are ridiculous. I've played violent games all my life and guess what? I know the difference between what I'm playing and the real world; it's called reality and I wish people would come back to it. So you say that an adult is different from a child or a teenager and of course you are right. I have an eight-year-old son who is also starting to play video games and although he does not play the violent games he does play games in which he gets to do things that he cannot do in real life. Guess what? He knows the difference. He knows that when you hit a car off the road in a game and it keeps going, that you cannot do that in real life. How do I know that? Because I ask him. It's called communication and we should try more of it.

I agree video games are violent, they do glorify violence, but have you watched CNN lately? If a nationally watched news program is allowed to air a beheading of an American soldier, why then are video games so different? Is it because in a video game you are in control of what happens? If so, and if video games are at fault for this increase in violence among younger people, why can't we as parents control what are children are playing? Or for that matter watching on television, what movies they see, what friends they have, on and on. Have we become so lazy that we cannot raise our own children? Does no one feel responsible for their children's actions anymore? Are we all suffering from the "not me" syndrome that seems to be sweeping the world?

In my opinion we had better wake up and stop blaming other people, companies and corporations for these things and start focusing on raising children who know right from wrong and what is reality and what is not.

Re: November election

Dear Editor,

When I voted on Nov. 7, 2006 it was quite clear to me who and what I was voting for. Being quite concerned with the direction the incumbent county commissioners were taking, I seized the opportunity to use my vote to try and make a change by voting for the initiative proposing to change the number of county commissioners from three to five. The wording of this initiative also explained that if it passed, the incumbent commissioners who still had time left to serve on their current terms would have to run for office again. Apparently a large number of county residents felt the same way I did and opted for this change as well.

Before going to the polls I made an effort to be informed of what each candidate stood for and what each initiative stated. With all the information available in the local media and in the voter information mailed out by the county, it was not a difficult undertaking.

What I do find difficult to deal with is that our incumbent commissioners would have us believe that they were totally unaware of these facts. It sounds more like arrogance on their part in believing that the initiative would not pass. Well, it did pass and now we don't need anyone to tell us we did not understand what we were voting for.

Let this election be carried out as mandated by the citizens of Ravalli County and not be disrupted and decided by a small disgruntled group, aka "the gang of ten" and a district court judge.

There was, however, one mistake made by the voters in November and that was the election of Howard Lyons. Anyone who attended the recent meeting on stream setbacks or read the account of that meeting in the local papers will surely realize the man is clueless. Today, more than ever, we need intelligent and professional people to serve as our county commissioners, and not someone who is an embarrassment to the county commission, the public, and one can only assume, to himself.

Jerry E. Shaw
Stevensville

Way of life that works for all

Dear Editor,

The Lakota/Dakota Sioux called it Tiyospaye. Translated the best way we know how into English it means community. More precisely it implies "a way of life that works for everyone." Everyone had his or her integral and necessary place in the community. This included elders and women. (Children were allowed to be children.) If one or two people did not do what was expected of them than the whole tribe felt the consequences. For example, if a big storm was coming, you didn't linger chatting to a friend, you ran to secure each other's homes. Every tribal member knew that if they did not do what was expected they would set into motion a chain of events that could affect the family or community for a day or maybe a lifetime.

What a concept. A way of life that works for everyone... how ingenious, how fresh and vital, how totally compelling and uplifting. People working for each other and not against one another? Is that now only reserved for catastrophic events on the scale of Hurricane Katrina? Citizens of the Bitterroot Valley, we are at a crossroads that is so crucial to our future community it is breathtaking. I will enumerate a few essential and lively issues:

• a bipartisan effort to find the best county commissioners

• the implementation of planning and zoning (for the first time and valley wide)

• protection of our water with stream and river setbacks

• a massive voter turn out related to protection of the land, and local government overhaul in the last November election

• people finding their voice and becoming the change they want to see

• a legitimate community college effort for the Bitterroot!

For those of you who are new to this stuff it may look on the surface that our freedoms are being cut into, or our rights to live and let live are being curtailed. Well, if we are going to find a way of life that works for everyone and a true sense of community then we need to participate in the change, so that we can be proud of it and stand by it. Some little bird is telling me that it is time to take care of this valley in a totally different way now, for the old way is no longer acceptable to our thriving.

There is the other choice, it looks like this: keep your door shut to anyone, don't pick up the phone, do not talk to your neighbors, do not read the newspaper, do not at any cost go vote and by all means do not find out what is really going on in local government and what is coming your way. Then when there is no more open space, no more prime ag land or elk, trout, clean water, beautiful quiet roads, or views that are unobstructed by subdivisions or Supercenters, you can say to your children, "I had not part in it, I don't know how it happened, don't look at me." It is your choice. The county commissioner election is June 5th. Think about your quality of life here in the Bitterroot and what you love about it. This is a genuine invitation to get involved.

Robin Ross-Duggan
Hamilton

More to the Florence story

Dear Editor,

I am a community member that is truly concerned for the community's well-being and right to know the truth. I am practicing my 1st Amendment rights.

There has been a lot going on in the Florence area in regards to the Fire District Board and the Fire Department. I am writing because of a published letter about an individual in Florence on April 25, 2007, to help clear a former member's creditability, and let the public know what some of the rest of the story is.

You published a letter in regards to an individual who is a current member of the fire department and the Florence Fire Board. There is more to the story than the individuals who wrote the letter are telling. They are leaving out the rest of the truth. I am speaking from personal experience and from public records. When I refer to total calls attended it is referring to the time period between July 4, 2006 and October 14, 2006 along with the last 60 calls as of January 14, 2007. These attended call totals were calculated and presented to the board for equipment issuing purposes. The only reason why their call times increased between the first date and last noted information was because a verbal message went out to the members that they had to start participating or they were going to be removed from the department. These times do not include attending training, which is required by all members. Participation in training was also at a low count, which includes truck checks.

In the letter they stated that within the last two years there has been eight EMTs that have quit the fire department because of the individual in mention. This is not totally true. I can understand and respect the public's concern with the lack of medical members

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Moving on to prove a point, one EMT moved out of district and his total calls from the mentioned dates was 23. One quit because they were being questioned about their EMT qualifications, her total calls from the mentioned dates was two. There is one who just up and left. He gives the reason it was because of the "volcano" within the statement published by this paper and in public in the past, but if you read the flyer he has passed out lately, he said it was because he was "called to duty." Not to mention that individual attempted to come back to the fire department recently and was declined by the board because he choose to go to other districts first, which they too turned him away, and a long period of time had passed since he came back to apply to the Florence department. He has publicly expressed that if he had to choose between Florence and Missoula Rural, he would pick Missoula Rural. He has not been a member during the time; therefore he does not qualify for the call count. The next EMT who quit the department has responded to a total of 23 calls within the time mentioned. She has expressed on several occasions that Missoula Rural was way better than Florence and would rather be a part of them. She has bypassed the station to go on mutual aid calls with another station when our station was paged out. Not to mention at a recent board meeting when confronted with the information that she and the others rarely ever show up for calls, she sat there and said nothing to rebutt the statement. There is one member who quit the department recently who is not EMT qualified, so he can not be counted. He is just married to one of the EMTs that quit and was a firefighter on the fire department. He also has proven that he is not dedicated to the community of Florence. He has bypassed the station to go on mutual aid calls with another station when our station was paged out. He has responded to a total of 15 calls within the time mentioned. The next EMT that recently quit the department is also a fire board member. She has responded to a total of 4 calls within the time mentioned. Another EMT that recently quit the department has responded to a total of 12 calls within the time mentioned. She has verbally expressed that the individual written about was the reason why she was not attending events, calls and training. When confronted with the fact the purpose of being a part of the department was to serve the community and not for personal reasons she became extremely angry. This is not the first time she has quit the department. Her name was not on the letter published. The last EMT that recently quit has responded to a total of 17 calls within the time mentioned. She did have conflicts with the individual written about, but started to participate more before she quit. Her name was not on the letter published.

The individual that was referred to as the "volcano" is not as bad as they make him out to be. He is respected by many of the firefighters and community members. He was the training officer at one time. Since they have removed him from being the training officer, quality of training has gone down dramatically, and even for a while did not exist. His knowledge, experience, and abilities have been a valuable part of the fire department. He has stepped up when needed and has gone the extra mile to assist the department. He has looked out for the better of the firefighters and the community. There was an incident one night at a meeting when certain members decided to quit after. The "volcano" questioned and made a statement about signing a piece of paper. The interesting thing was after the majority of the fire members decided not to sign the form, the form was taken into the office at the station and shredded by the members who wanted the rest of the members to sign it. There was a disagreement in regards to the form. The individuals who were trying to get the rest of the members to sign the form were contradicting themselves when questioned. One member went home, came back to the station, laid down her pager and radio, said she was done, and left. She did not say a word to the fire chief that was standing right there. Vice versa. One of the reasons, in my opinion, the people who wrote the letter have problems with him is because he questions them and causes others to question them as well. They cannot manipulate him or others with him around. Those people got angry and frustrated because they could not be in control or control others. There are other ways of dealing with matters. If they really truly cared for the community and for the department they would not have thrown a childish fit and quit. They would have stayed and tried to make a difference.

Next, I am bringing to the attention of the community an individual who was wrongly dismissed from the department by the fire board and who is experiencing defamation of character by a certain member of the community. The individual, I am trying to clear his creditability, has been a tremendous asset to the fire department. He has attended over 95% of all the calls within the year he was on the department. During the time period between July 4, 2006 and October 14, 2006 along with the last 60 calls as of January14, 2007, he has responded to a total of 138 calls. This is an example of his dedication to the community and the department. This is more than the chief's and assistant chief's response to calls combined during that time mentioned. He has participated in the majority of trainings and has gone above and beyond to assist in bettering the department. He has taken on additional duties that were delegated to him from the fire board, the chief, and assistant chief. He was placed in charge of doing an inventory of the department by the fire board. He accomplished this within a month's time with some help of other fire members. The board had been asking for this inventory from the chief for almost two years. Yet because some individuals felt threatened by him and those close to him, they felt the need to discredit him and have him removed from the fire department.

I think it is amazing how certain people want to get rid of the members who truly care and make the effort to give to the community, but want to keep those who are just on a power trip or there for their own selfish reasons. As far as I am concerned, the fire department had moved to a higher morale since those members quit but that was lowered because of the attacks on those who try to make a difference. At the rate those people are going, there will be no Florence Fire Department. If that is to happen, it leaves a gap for Missoula Rural to move in. If Missoula Rural moves to Florence, the community's taxes will go way up over the $1000 amount. Not a lot of our community members can afford that. Last time I checked, this was Florence, not Missoula. There is a statement in the bay of the fire station that states, "We volunteer because we care." Certain people should remember and honor that.

Tonya Holyko
Florence

The day after Virginia Tech tragedy...

Dear Editor,

At last month's school board meeting, parents clearly presented to the Lone Rock Board and Administration that there continues to be many serious problems and even violent threats made towards Lone Rock students and school, and that these instances are not being taken seriously. Dangerous students are being allowed to stay in school.

Then in contrast, a student was suspended for playfully/accidently poking his best friend with a pencil and receiving a Level 4, assault with a deadly weapon, even after the "victim" and his mother denied wrong doing and protested.

The Principal, Mrs. Johnson, tried her best to prevent these frightening reports from being revealed to the community that night.

When the Board Chair and Superintendent were asked afterwards if they were planning on informing the staff as to what they were alerted to that night, they said no, that they were going to continue to trust the teachers to handle problems as they always had in the past, the bullying policy would not be changed and no one would be expelled or even suspended.

The Super, Mr. Miller, even went on to almost maniacally state over and over and over that, "We take them all. We take them all." Of course they take them all... the more students they have enrolled, the more money they receive, compliments of us taxpayers. 40-60% of our property taxes go to this school and still they want more. No wonder their levy was denied and so many choose home school.

After only eight months, Mr. Miller has resigned. Was Lone Rock used once again as a stepping stone and did we pay his moving expenses from Alaska?

Since Miller has been there, the gym's ceiling looks great and the staff wear matching outfits on Fridays. And, he made sure it was set that only one religion, holiday and group of people are ignored and denied their Constitutional rights.

After sending 1-3 positive and helpful emails to the administration and staff, including ones intended to help them avoid legal problems, and many to the Board as I was used to, being on the Board, our child and we are denied the ability to communicate via email with her teachers and staff like other parents and taxpaying citizens are allowed.

There is no way our emails could ever be interpreted as harrassing as very few declared, or even bothersome. At least not by staff that are open minded, balanced and unbiased and willing to work with the public who employ them.

Mrs. Johnson told us to follow "proper procedure" for filing complaints but when we did, even our grievance regarding the music teacher who is known for missing way too many days of work, was denied. It must be nice to be a member of such a strong union that tenure protects you from doing the work you were hired to do.

If the Super, Chair and Principal had simply been willing to listen to our concerns and return our calls, emails, faxes and letters, they would not have to still be dealing with any of these long standing problems, or be concerned with a possibility of any legal situations.

All legal Americans have rights and we respect all of them. Schools should be no exception. Our son left for Iraq again last week and is one of many real heroes, voluntarily protecting all of our rights with his life. Let's not even consider special rights reserved only for certain groups, but just do what is right.

For those concerned about the political correctness versus child welfare at Lone Rock or in other government-run schools, and care enough about our future generations, please feel free to contact us at Constitutionally Correct Lone Rock School/Public Schools, with now at least 87 members, for further information at RightsForAllAmericans@yahoo.com.

Cathy Kulonis
Stevensville

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