Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Opinion & Editorial

by Dallas Erickson, Stevensville

In recent statements concerning his win in the June 5th Ravalli County election Democrat Jim Rokosch made a profound statement. (It just happened to be profoundly wrong). He said, "This election was democracy at its best." He will probably make other stupid statements as time goes by but this will be close to the top. Only about 17% of the registered voters cast their ballot for Rokosch and his liberal positions. That truly is democracy at its worst.

Senator Jim Shockley, at a Pachyderm meeting last week in Hamilton, made a statement that, "It was plain to see what the main issue and the important issue was to the voters in Ravalli County. It was land use. All one had to do was look at the headlines of the paper." Well, his little theory is off base as well. People come out to vote when they feel an issue is important. Only 19% of the registered voters turned out in the Primary election and only 32% came out to vote in the General election.

The fact is that the local liberal media set what they thought the agenda should be in the election. Not only did the press censor any information about where the candidates stood on the "values" issues such as abortion, pornography, homosexual marriage, gun control, regulation of sexually oriented businesses and free enterprise, the forums, for the most part, were conducted by the local media and liberal groups and the questions on the values issues were censored by them.

The Ravalli Republic had a "victory editorial" and called the values issues "partisan" but indicated their favorite issues are not. It shows their biases. The last contested Democratic Commissioner was defeated by a Republican, Smut Warren, and the headlines were "Porn Out and Smut In" because the election also included a ballot issue where the obscenity law and a law to protect children from pornography and a law to regulate public nudity were passed and Smut Warren had the courage to make a very public stand in support of them.

Lyons, in the Primary in 2006, received more votes than all the Republican candidates put together. Lyons was the only candidate that stood squarely for free enterprise and against the ordinance the commissioners passed to cap the size of stores. In the November 2006 General election he beat Kathleen Driscoll by nearly 900 votes. His major mistake was that he did not take a stand against the street fighting (boxing) and mostly nude women bending over to pick up money to show off their anatomy for the drunks attending these events at the county fairgrounds.

As has been observed in other national and state elections, values voters have a tendency to stay home if their issues are not addressed.

For some reason the Republican Party does not see the importance of addressing these values issues. The Republican candidates in Ravalli County ignored them and took up the siren song of zoning and land use which made them sound just like the Democrats. As a result the "values voter" stayed home. That caused the victory for the Democrats, nothing else.

One attempt was made to reveal the differences between the candidates and that was some last minute radio ads. People like liberal Democrat George Corn and liberal Republican Sheriff Chris Hoffman were upset because someone tried to show these differences. Only those who didn't want the differences exposed call these ads "mean spirited" and "attack" ads.

The fact is, if you like liberal Missoula, with its embracing of the homosexual agenda, pro-abortion positions and candidates, poor planning and extreme governmental control, you will love these new Commissioners who are of the same beliefs of the government rulers that have controlled Missoula County and City for years.

Oh, for a free press that will allow the other side to be printed. Instead the newspapers, through the adept slanting and manipulating of the news and letters to the editor, have sided with the Government Study Commission conspiracy to cheat candidates out of duly elected positions and cheat the electors out of the contracts the voters made with the candidates in past elections.

I was thrilled to hear at least three candidates for President respond to a question by saying, "Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior" during the last debate. Character is relevant and some of the moral issues indicate character, to some, and should be considered no more "partisan" than zoning, and would be by an unbiased person and newspaper.

Re: The 2007 election season

Dear Editor,

The recent election for county commissioners was a disaster for the Republicans, zero for three. Taking nothing from the Democrats, the defeat had more to do with the performance of the Commission the last 10 years than the hard work of the Democrats, or the voter turn out. The three Republican candidates were not the issue for the voters, the issue was land use planning and the fact that the Commission had done nothing meaningful after years of trying.

The radio ads run by the Republican Central Committee were designed to bring out the "base," and they may have. However, in Montana most people vote for the person and the issues. The radio ad had the effect of making it appear that the Republican candidates were concerned about social issues, but not concerned about land use planning. Further, many of the new arrivals who consider themselves Republican, or leaning Republican, are really a light color of green. They have moved away from bad air, crowds, and traffic congestion and do not want a re-run.

On the other side of the coin, the "Bi-Partisan Coalition" was as bi-partisan as the Democratic Central Committee, and to represent otherwise was dishonest. The idea that Stu Brandborg, that "crusty conservationist" as the Missoulian called him, is bi-partisan and not against virtually all development is simply not true. To think otherwise means that you do not know Stu.

In round numbers Ravalli County has increased from 25,000 in 1990 to 47,000 today, almost 100%. The County Attorney's Office has gone from two lawyers to six in the same time frame, up 300%. The Commission has never staffed, nor funded, the planning office adequately to plan for how we will use land in the future. However, it has spent money to increase the other bureaucracies in the county, such as the County Attorney's office. George Corn has criticized the Commission, with justification, but his office has been a part of the problem. An older, experienced, independent contractor who worked directly for the Commission, and was not accountable to George, worked by the hour as needed with no benefits. He gave excellent representation to the Commission for years. George had him replaced with a younger deputy county attorney who was less compatible with the Commission and worked for George. At least a portion of the money spent on deputies for George would have been better spent on the planning office.

The point of this letter is that the Republicans should focus on the issues that matter to the vast majority of the people in this valley and save the social issues for state and national contests. Where am I on land use planning? If your exercising your property right causes an increase in my taxes, I will likely not support your position. My neighbors property rights stop where my tax bill begins.

Senator Jim Shockley
District 45

Beware dangers of nitrous oxide

Dear Editor,

Imagine reading your son’s death certificate listing the cause of death as suffocation due to “inhalation of nitrous oxide with bag over head.” Levi Lund, our 26-year-old son, died April 27. He was abusing the pure form of “laughing gas” found in many dentists’ offices. We didn’t know until we knew.

Many Montanans can relate to the life Levi led growing up. He lived on a third-generation family farm and ranch and attended a country school through most of grade school. Levi participated in school sports. In high school he began to party. We made it through those days. It was tense at times, as raising teenagers can be.

At the age of 21, he put a halt to the partying and began concentrating on improving his health to control the joint pain he had experienced most of his life. After many visits to specialists, the joint pain was given a name, ankylosing spondylitis, a form of arthritis that fuses the joints and causes inflammation of the eyes, lungs and heart valves. When Levi reached age 24, the pain and anti-inflammatory medications were no longer helping. He began reading books on nutrition and exercise to try to control the disease on his own. He even tried to learn how to treat himself with acupuncture.

We believe Levi began self-medicating with nitrous oxide to reduce the physical agony of his disease. We believe he became physically and emotionally addicted. We are unable to pinpoint when this began. We only know when it ended.

My husband, Larry, and I refuse to beat ourselves up over this. Levi kept his secret quite well. We now know the side effects and symptoms we attributed to his arthritis were actually the result of his addiction: irritated eyes, chest pain, sore throat, vomiting and stomach pain, as well as depression, withdrawal from friends and family, poor job motivation and irritability. We had taken him to specialists to get help for the physical symptoms to no avail. Nitrous oxide is a gas that dissipates from the body rapidly, making it impossible to detect.

He had told us everything we needed to know to realize he was abusing nitrous oxide. However, because he was a health nut, the idea of an addiction of any kind never entered our minds. We did not know how desperate he had become.

Nitrous oxide provided Levi with relief from the severe pain he experienced. It also caused a euphoria that he came to crave, an addiction he could not control. He could use it in the privacy of his apartment, with no legal consequences. Levi was purchasing 600 cartridges for $200 on the Internet and having them delivered right to his door.

Our research on this subject has taught us much. People of all ages use this substance. Inhaling from a balloon is the most common way to abuse it. Placing a bag over the head is the most dangerous. A lack of oxygen to the brain using either method can cause the user to pass out and, subsequently, suffocate if the user is alone.

Abuse of nitrous oxide is not new, with record of it dating back to the 1700s. Now that nitrous oxide has been introduced to our family, we see it advertised everywhere. There are energy drinks called N2O. Balloons full of N2O can be purchased at concerts. A former police officer I know said people on probation who are banned from using drugs make nitrous oxide their drug of choice, and that it was common to find N2O cartridges, also known as chargers or whippets, on people during pat-downs. The cartridges and “cracker” used to open them can be purchased at head shops and adult bookstores.

The cartridges are commonly advertised online for making whipped cream. A commercial canister of whipped cream is another source of N2O. A restaurant owner I know discovered the popularity of canned whipped cream when she thought she was receiving one case of flat whipped cream after another. The company she purchased them from advised her to sit down and have a talk with her help.

What will stop your loved one from ordering large amounts of a substance that can cause brain oxygen levels to drop to a lethal level? My family and I want to educate the public about the hazards of abusing this substance. We would like to see nitrous oxide regulated as a controlled substance, and are asking for the public’s support of our efforts.

We could have possibly saved our son had we known about the symptoms and side effects of inhaling nitrous oxide. We do not want Levi’s death to be in vain. Our prayer is that others will live due to the knowledge we’ve gained through his death.

Our family has created a memorial fund to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of the Hi-Line in Havre. We can be reached at lund@bresnan.net.

Connie Lund
Havre

Rest of story on profanity incident

Dear Editor,

What really happened during Montana's 60th legislative session? To a degree, that depends on your perspective of things. Votes are all on record. The administration's proposals and the "official" positions of state agencies are documented. The press does its best to report all of this to the public, who then formulates viewpoints based on what they read, what they see and what they hear.

Some things get missed along the way. Sometimes the truth about why things happen gets lost in the shuffle. Perhaps this article can clear up a few questions about some of what happened during our most recent implementation of democracy.

On the 88th legislative day, I swore at the Governor in a Republican caucus meeting. It made national news and caused quite a stir. The language was certainly inappropriate, and for that, I did apologize to the Governor personally, and to the House of Representatives and, again now, to the people of Montana for the use of profanity. Why was I so angry at the Governor? That's simple and straight forward: he directly asked me to betray my entire Republican caucus - something I would never do.

Just before 7:00 a.m. on that day, I received a phone call from a member of the Governor's staff, requesting that I meet with the Governor to discuss the impasse between the Senate (Democrats) and the House (Republicans). The governor asked me to convince a few Republican legislators to support a motion to pass his budget out of the House and in return, he would graciously allow one of my bills to be amended and passed to his liking. Then, according to him, I would get the credit for passing the bill and all would be well. (Never mind that the substance of his proposal was extremely disagreeable to begin with)

In very specific words, I then asked him if what he wanted me to do was simply "talk to my caucus members about this directly.".He said yes. I then said this: "Governor, I will talk to my caucus members about this," which I did - I talked to all 50 of them at once, not exactly what he had in mind I'm sure.

His attempt to get me to betray my caucus would not, by itself, prompt me to swear at him. However, his direct intimidation of certain Republican legislators was another matter. On that very morning I learned of another such set of threats towards some of my colleagues. Enough was enough.

I don't react well to people who threaten my family, my friends or the people I represent, and that includes my colleagues. The Governor's claim after the fact that "he thought we had a deal" was his attempt to cover his own actions. There was never a deal between us. The entire episode was unfortunate, yet indicative of the lack of meaningful communications up to that point between the administration and the legislature.

The Governor and I briefly and cordially discussed the situation the next day (with a member of the press present) and we put it to rest.

Did his actions justify my actions? What would you have done? You can determine that on your own. Some people would have held their temper better, and I'll do my best not to lose mine again. One thing is certain - it had absolutely nothing to do with term limits or partisanship. It had everything to do with defending my colleagues as their Majority Leader.

Rep. Michael Lange
Billings

Burn hydrogen instead of fossil fuel

Dear Editor,

The Rocky Mountain chain is a vast storage of energy available from water energy. We started making energy with dams, then dropped the idea. This is clean energy. We can produce UNLIMITED amounts of electricity in Montana .

I wondered what could be done in the Bitterroot River? l went 2 miles above Conner and estimated a 20-inch pipe of water could be taken from the river with enough flow left to leave a stable river flow.

The elevation above Conner is 4067 feet and in Missoula 3227 feet. This is a 860 foot drop in 77-1/2 miles. I thought, what would a 50 foot head of water produce? It would make 17 power stations approximately 4.5 miles apart. Now | estimated the stations would be 45 percent efficient - total monthly kilowatts 1,388,016 with a value of $69,400.00. Had I chosen a 25 inch pipe the value would be $108,437.00.

What is needed? An intake pond, buried pipe, water turbine, building and power lines and an equalizing pond . TH|S |S BASIC. It can be placed in any water source with elevation drop for efficient operation. You see, you put the water in the pipe and get it back out the other end with no change except stored energy is gone. I wonder if the state could lay claim to stored energy in Montana water?

The good part of this is you haven't taken any land which we need and enjoy in our valley. The large rivers (Clark Fork, Missouri, Yellowstone) can produce power equal to the dams on the Columbia River. I have seen the power of the Yellowstone River between Columbus and Park City take a large cottonwood tree with massive root system, swallow it in a whirlpool, and let it float again over a 1/2 mile away. We are looking at pipes of 5 feet or better diameter. All over the state.

The State of Montana has departments to design the systems. Hydrogen is clean energy. It means the salvation of the Bitterroot Valley.

We are a suburbanized area with air starting to be polluted so that in 10 years or less people will leave our area. The valley can only hold so many people as each person requires so much horsepower per day. Lifestyle will change for all unless we get changed to hydrogen fuel.

I watched PBS showing the Zeppelin Hindenburg burning. The narrator watched the burning Hindenburg and said hydrogen doesn't burn like that. Hydrogen is a safe fuel. He proved it. Get him to help us lead the way and be an example for the world to end oil and fossil fuel pollution.

Mark Annin, Montana Registered Professional Engineer Emeritus
Hamilton

What is your definition of is?

Dear Editor,

After reading an article about the confusion over what a condominium is I took possibly a too simple approach to solve the problem. After looking in the good old Webster's New Collegiate here is the answer. A condominium is individual ownership of a UNIT in a MULTI-UNIT structure. Whereas a subdivision is described as a divide of a tract of land into lots. To separate or become separated. So it would seem to follow that what these people that are trying to pass off as condo developments are actually subdivisions and thereby subject to the subdivision process. Of course, once politics is involved then simple language isn't quite so simple anymore as in one house per two acres. And as one of our recent presidents once said, "it depends on what your definition of is is."

Mike Lulay
Hamilton

Thanks from St. Mary's Mission

Dear Editor,

Thank you to everyone who supported Western Heritage Day, both on Main Street and at Historic St. Mary's Mission. With your purchase of Cow Pie Bingo tickets you are helping to maintain an important and unique piece of history in our nation, the community "Where Montana Began." Joan Prather and Victoria Howell with the Stevensville Main Street Association successfillly raised funds to host Salish drummers, dancers, and speakers from The Peoples Center in Pablo, Montana. How wonderful it was to welcome the Salish back to their homeland. It takes many people to make an event successful, as well as the people from near and far who attend and join in the fun. Thank you to all for your participation in the 2007 Western Heritage Day.

Colleen Meyer, Director
Historic St. Mary's Mission

Better wolf management needed

Dear Editor,

I'd just like to offer one big thanks to Ed Cummings for taking care of a problem wolf that decided beef was better than deer and elk to eat.

We trappers are sure looking forward to the day when Montana begins to manage wolf numbers like they have deer, elk and antelope.

The bottom line is, everything needs a predator to remain healthy. Man is the predator of the wolf. Wolves make better fur coats than guardians of our big game and ranchers' livestock.

Dennis Schutz
Stevensville

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