The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
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Election Day is around the corner, and one of the most fundamental rights we have as American citizens is the right to vote. With so much at stake this year, I encourage you to ask yourself the following: Who will push back against the Democrats' reckless tax and spend agenda that has left Montana families choosing between gas or groceries? Who will defend our Montana way of life and protect our Second Amendment rights? Who will work to secure the southern border? And lastly,...
Do you like scary movies? You don’t have to rent a horror movie this Halloween to feel spooked—just take a look at what President Biden and the Democrats have done since they took control of the White House and Congress. Inflation is clocking in at forty-year highs. It can cost Montana families over $100 just to fill up their tank. Fentanyl from the open southern border is wreaking havoc across Montana. Good-paying energy jobs have been nixed. Our small-town communities are...
It's October, almost November, and what that means for most of the country is fall, autumn. Pretty leaves changing colors and a briskness in the air. For those of us in Lincoln, Montana, and surrounding areas, what it really means is that Old Man Winter is knocking at our door. We were all reminded of it last week when we had our first "official" snowfall of the season. I happened to be traveling for my annual North Carolina trip and teaching at the Southeastern Animal Fiber...
Americans, and Montanans in particular, are blessed to stand on the shoulders of giants. Fortunately for us, wise and brave leaders have shown us the way forward to fulfill the idea and ideals of America. While our country has fallen short of those lofty goals from time to time, those aims are true and worthy of pursuit. And America soldiers on. As a young girl I thrilled to the courage and wisdom of American leaders, long dead, whose thoughts and actions provided a road map t...
‘A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.’ The Constitutional right to keep and bear arms that is enumerated in the Second Amendment is not something that was written with the intent to be subject to exceptions. It wasn’t written to change with the times, but to stand the test of time. Our Founding Fathers knew how important this right was in their time, and how important it was to include it in the Constitution for the st...
Q: I believe that if all of our politicians could get on the same page we could reach world peace. With the scientific advances and expanded knowledge that have been made in the last 100 years, why is this so hard? It's frightening to stand by and watch our nation die. - W.A. A: Our hope is not in a political party. It's not in social improvement, for we have some of the greatest social institutions in the world, yet the world becomes more lawless. Education is not the answer...
It's election season, also known as the season of misleading information. A prime example is what appears to be Montana Democrats' main talking point on legislative races: "If the Republicans can flip just two more legislative seats, they're coming after the constitution." What the Democrats fail to mention is that the Legislature cannot change Montana's Constitution. It says right there in the constitution that any proposed amendments have to be voted on by Montana voters....
As a pediatric hospice and palliative medicine physician for many years, I can speak directly to the unfathomable harm that a ballot initiative called LR-131 would cause. Titled the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, the initiative is an extreme, unnecessary, and cruel limitation of family decision-making that you'll see on the ballot this November. Although LR-131 purports to be about protecting infants, it requires health care providers to perform invasive and painful...
As I’ve been talking and reconnecting with people these past two weeks, there seems to be a common theme among the conversations. Things are changing. Well, of course things are changing. It’s the way life works, and everything is always changing. But what I find interesting about this change that’s been coming up in conversation is that we’re bouncing back. We’re coming back to things we knew. We’re choosing differently and many are starting to come together, rather than...
This November Montanans will vote on an important referendum called "An Act Adopting The Born-Alive Infant Protection Act." This act will do just what the title states, protect babies that are born alive, even those born after a failed attempt to abort a child. A few that are opposed to this protection are trying to spin this referendum to be about terminal babies or women's health. However, the ballot language is clear; "A health care provider shall take medically appropriate...
In 2019, WWII veteran Forrest Allen passed away, bequeathing 5,677 acres in Golden Valley County to the Shodair Children's Hospital. Today, as a member of the Board of Land Commissioners, I was proud to vote in favor of purchasing this land for public use. The purchase, known as the Snowy Mountain Acquisition, is a win for all Montanans and embodies our state's spirit and generosity. Public lands near this property have been nearly inaccessible to most Montanans for years....
Q: Will a person who dies ever live again? - L.D. A: When we've been to a funeral, for a few moments we're solemn and thoughtful. Perhaps we ask, "Is this the end?" Someday we'll be taken out to the cemetery, and someone will say a few words over us. No matter how final it seems, we're prone to ask, "If a man dies, shall he live again?" The answer from the Bible is a resounding yes. The cross and the resurrection of Christ offers everyone eternal life with Him. This brings us...
Thank you HD80 voters and neighbors around the state. Your engagement with elected officials is heartening, especially when referencing our US and Montana Constitutions. We are also expanding the conversations about education, our economy, our rule of law, our tax policies, and yes, most importantly, our Montana way of life. A lot of input has come from you and from elected officials as to what to do with the excess revenues received by the State of Montana from your income...
We all have this notion that things are black and white, right or wrong, or ‘my way is better and your way can’t possibly be right.’ But, what if I told you just because your way works, doesn’t make it, or you, right or wrong? Simply put, it’s what has and does work for you. People have ways of cooking, parenting, cleaning house and even stacking wood. Everyone believes their way is right, the be-all-end-all. And it might be - for them. But not everyone’s way is the right w...
Q: My dear mother is lamenting her life away as she battles with two of her three children about the importance of choosing the right mate for life. She pleads with them the importance of establishing homes that will be centered on the Lord. My brother and sister think her views are too old-fashioned. How can something this important become "out-of-date"? - M.O. A: The home is the foundation of any society. But something is wrong with many of our homes. We've never had more...
For the past ten-and-a-half years I've seen Lincoln move from a town stuck in an economic rut to one that began to take control of its own destiny. The successful development of Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild showed Lincoln can do something new and unexpected and be more than just "stinkin' drinkin' Lincoln." People began look at ways to grow the economy beyond that, without making too many drastic changes to the community. Discussions that had been going on...
The only reason you're not rich is you're lazy. My mother told me that. She didn't buy my moaning about low pay in the state bureaucracy. Mom had a point. If I had been willing to get off my duff and campaign for the Public Service Commission, I could be on my way to a life of well-paid bureaucratic leisure. You win your election to the PSC and the State of Montana will give you $112,000 a year. No qualifications needed nor much work required. The hours are great. You show up...
This is sort of a surreal column for me to write this week. While it’s not my last column ever, it is the last one to be in print…for now. If you would have asked me, almost three years ago, I never would have thought I’d have been writing for a newspaper at all. I never went to school for journalism and didn’t have a ton of experience writing for the public. Sure, I wrote a lot, but it wasn’t always for everyone else’s eyes to see. Roger and Erin needed help, and they took a...
Q: What does the Christian message mean to say that there is a cost to following Jesus? Didn't Jesus pay the price? - C.F. A: God has paid the greatest debt we will ever incur, and once we understand the incredible sacrifice He has made for us, we will be compelled to turn to Him in obedience and love. Many people want the benefits of their faith, but they hesitate at the cost of discipleship. To be a disciple of Jesus means to learn from Him, to follow Him. The cost may be...
Several days ago, Marc Racicot and Bob Brown published an editorial arguing Montana should adopt a top-two or a top-four primary election system. While both of these gentleman have cloaked their arguments in favor of these primary systems as methods of saving our "democracy", the truth is these primary election systems are fundamentally anti-democratic and wrong for Montana. In a top-two primary system, the top two finishers, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the...
There is a special event happening in Lincoln Montana Sept. 16 and 17. At Hooper Park there will be joyous celebration of the 50th anniversary of the federal legislation designating the Scapegoat Wilderness. Wilderness is the highest form of public lands protection, this being established by The Wilderness Act of 1964. When that law was signed by Democratic President Lyndon Johnson, Montana immediately gained five Wilderness areas: The Cabinet Mountains, Bob Marshall,...
There’s been a lot of talk about student loan relief lately. There are those who are for it, those who are against it, and some who haven’t totally weighed in on the subject. I do have my own beliefs about it - and an opinion - of course. President Biden has come up with a plan that would forgive $10,000 of student debt, which is great for those who still hold student loans. Who it’s not great for are those who have never gone to college, those who have paid their stude...
We would like to express an opinion relating to an article in the latest edition of the Blackfoot Valley Dispatch by Roger Dey, BVD Editor, regarding the future of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce. In the article it was stated that the Chamber was facing suspension if it could not get enough people to fill the board of directors. I do not write many editorials but have been moved on occasion to express an opinion when issues hit a nerve. The article called Tipping Point pointed out that the Chamber’s future is in danger if we...
Q: My sister's very intelligent daughter is working her way through college and has turned her back on God and believes everything the professors teach concerning social matters. I often wonder if this is the delusion mentioned in the Bible. - D.C. A: The Bible plainly teaches that one of the characteristics of the end of this age is that people will develop a capacity for delusion rather than the truth. The scientific revolution has produced an overemphasis on the secular...
Q: I watch the needless wars that accomplish nothing; they only end in gruesome death. Then I wonder what hope there is for a man who has lived a life of sin like I have and now am facing the reality of death with no possibility to make amends for a life ill lived. - L.S. A: The Bible teaches that all of mankind is rushing toward death. Even though wars rage around the globe, it does not increase death because death comes to every generation. Everybody dies. God's Word teaches...
