The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
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I just wanted to reach out and say thank you. I had several of you in the community reach out via phone, text, and email to thank me for my original response to Liz Cain's letter to the editor in the Blackfoot Valley Dispatch. I appreciate your feedback on my response and want you to know that it means a lot to me that it resonated with so many of you. I additionally want to say thank you to Liz for her response last week. She was kind enough to send me an email with her...
Thanks to the BVD for supporting its community and businesses. Our small town newspaper is one of the foundations of our community and I am thankful to have it. There are so many things I would never know about the what's happening around town even though we live and work right in town now. This is especially true of things going on in the state and in our county that pertain to Lincoln but wouldn't be brought to our attention without our local paper. I, personally, would...
Here in Montana we are granted the right to vote on ballot initiatives once they clear a number of hurdles, including having the related petition garner enough qualifying signatures. Not achieved, however, is the ability to hold public hearings on the proposed issue – such as is accomplished during legislative debate, fiscal review and the amendment process. On November 3rd, we will be voting on CI-118 which would legalize marijuana here in Montana. Aside from what the p...
The article written by K. F. Plumlee would have been great had it been written in the 1950’s. Today’s Democratic Party is not the same philosophically as in those earlier years. Today’s agenda is to turn the United States into the Socialistic States of America. Harry Truman and John Kennedy would have been extremely conservative Republicans today. You mention the Constitution – why are the Democrats trampling it? Their ultimate goal on the 2nd Amendment is to abolish it. On the corporations hit, where would the working...
Dear readers of the BVD, Please allow me to straighten things out, if I can. First of all, I appreciated Tammy Jordan’s response to my letter of shock over the VOTE WISELY ad. Actually, I mostly agreed with her, and I learned (again) how careful one must be with words. But may I say that some readers might have been a bit more careful about what they read into my words. In my letter of September 10, I pointed out where I was in full accord with some of the Republican opinions in their ad and that, after all, I had voted Repub...
I have learned a lot over the past few months. If you watch Fox news; Democrat run cities are experiencing riots by supposed protesters for racial justice. ABC, NBC, and CNN portray this as “largely peaceful” patriots protesting racism while racist police and white supremist provoke them into burning down buildings, stealing flat screen TVs and designer Tennis shoes. Based on Democrat politicians claims that this country is overwhelmingly and systemically racist; I fully expected hundreds of thousands of racists to des...
Montana is built on hard work. The working women and men of this state - the linemen, miners, laborers, boilermakers, law enforcement officers, and teachers - are the ones who keep Montana running. Without workers, and the labor unions that fight for them, Montana as we know it today would not exist. But now more than ever those workers are under threat. With us in office, they will have a pair of fighters willing to stand up and defend them as governor and attorney general. W...
After reading last week's guest opinion in BVD Viewpoints I felt compelled to share some of my own viewpoints along with a few facts...the first opinion being that its title should have read THREE kinds of persons under the Constitution. Karen Frank-Plumlee failed to mention the Labor Unions. The Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United (which is said to have fueled the rise of super PACS) also allowed equal footing for Labor Unions. Last I checked, Labor Unions are unable to v...
The work of the 2019 legislative session has come full circle on two bills vetted in the Senate State Administration Veterans' Affairs Committee which I chaired. One was SB275 (Senator Olzewski-R) and HB524 (Representative Weatherwax-D) that brought attention to needs for recognition of two different subjects. SB275 gave five years to raise $165,000 to commemorate our first woman governor, Judy Martz. HB524 requested a tribal monument with a flag circle on capitol grounds and...
The preamble to our US Constitution reads: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." It has become clear since the US Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United that there are two kinds of...
I want to address Liz Cain's letter with a dose of reality. Just because you don’t agree with the ad in question, and just because you personally find it offensive, does not make it wrong and you right. It was an advertisement. They are printed all the time. Generally people who don’t agree with them see them and just move on. I believe a lot of people in our community have done just that when they saw the ad from the Frank-Plumlees. What I will agree with you on is the fact that there is a huge divisiveness in our wor...
Dear Editor, I am writing in support of Greg Gianforte for Governor. I believe Greg understands the dire economic position our state is in, and has a game plan for recovery. Before the plandemic (not a typo), Montana ranked 49th in the nation in household income, as reported by Prospera. We barely had an economy going into 2020. Our current governor had no business shutting down our businesses. I believe Greg would never hobble our ability to prosper. Greg believes in school choice. Greg also appreciates religious and...
The Lewis and Clark County elections is hearing from people who are concerned about the security of the upcoming election. It can be hard to get accurate information about how elections work; conversations happen at the national level, but elections are administered locally with different laws in each state. Adding to this confusion, we know from our election security training that foreign entities are deliberately spreading disinformation about our elections through social...
When I read the ad VOTE WISELY in the August 27th BVD, and in another one since, I was shocked. Then I was angry, and then I was sad. How can decent, educated, reasonable people of faith and good character tell such lies about their fellow citizens in a small town newspaper or even believe such falsehoods, as if they can't think for themselves, about Democrats in Montana and across the nation? Sure, there are extreme individuals and groups far left of center who might have...
We want to thank Connie Guegold so much for the beautiful eagle sculpture that was placed on our tree stump. What an awesome surprise we had seeing it, and we are enjoying it so much. As we walk down the road our eyes capture the wonderfulness of other carvings. What joy they bring to all of us! Thank you again Sienna,John Burns and family Lincoln...
Governor Bullock has issued another edict. This time, it's taking away your right to choose how you vote in the November general election. While I didn't publicly oppose an all-mail ballot for the June primary election, it was a different time – we were still evaluating the coronavirus and its effect on Montana. Today, doctors have improved treatment and thousands of businesses across Montana have been able to operate by taking precautions to keep their customers safe. S...
Watching Fox I saw what I thought was violence and property destruction in Portland, Chicago, New York City, Minneapolis: Democratic controlled cities. I tuned in to CNN, NBC and found out that Fox was misleading me. What I saw was patriotic Democrats exercising their rights to "largely" peaceful protest against Systemic racism. I wondered why the police were ordered by Democrats not to protect property and people and the general consensus was that the police were infected...
America is under siege. We are threatened by an enemy that is undermining the very foundations of our Constitution and the American values that have created, in the words of Ronald Reagan, the world’s “shining city on a hill.” This war against the heartland is not being waged by our traditional global adversaries or even the jihadist terrorists who have vowed to destroy America and everything in it. This is a battle being fought from within. It’s a war that cannot be defended nor defeated by our great military or policed...
I have known Bob Brown for years, and I even ran for Lieutenant Governor with him when he ran for Governor in 2004. He is a good guy who is fun to sit and visit with. But he has one failing, which probably comes from his growing up in the trees in Whitefish – being able to see the forest from the trees. I was saddened to see his editorial announcing his withdrawal from the Republican Party and blasting Senator Daines and Congressman Gianforte for supporting President Trump. There are forces at work that want us to become a so...
Badger-Two Medicine: From Birch Creek and Family Peak in the south, to Lubec Ridge and Elk Calf Mountain in the north, the headwaters of Badger Creek and the Two Medicine River flow down from the sacred summits of Feather Woman and Heart Butte, Scarface and Morningstar, Half Dome and Kiyo Crag, Goat Mountain and the Bruin Peaks. This is classic east-of-divide country with the northern Great Plains of the Blackfeet Nation stretching far to the east. Immediately south of...
Racism: the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. 2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race. Democrats have always used race to obtain power. At first they championed slavery and divided the country, and after the civil war they used their political and police power to pass laws and actions denying blacks basic human and civil rights. After Supreme Court rulings; Republican legislation;...
Montana's economy has wilted and withered since the so-called pandemic arrived in early March. Our "wannabe president/wannabe senator/lame duck governor" has done little except bankrupt main street merchants. Revenues for state government are sinking. As veteran state legislators and members of the Senate Finance and Claims Committee, this troubles us. It appears that our state coffers are being drained so the next legislature will inherit serious red ink. President Trump,...
In the past five months, Congress has responded to the coronavirus public health crisis with several emergency relief measures, including the stimulus checks sent to individuals and households, payroll protections to small businesses, expanded unemployment payments, fee waivers for borrowing against 401(K) plans and more. Now, Congress will get the opportunity to pass a relief measure that protects your access to trustworthy local news, helps grow local businesses through ads...
Our state, and our country, has never faced a challenge like the one we are confronted with today. COVID-19, and the ensuing shutdown sent shockwaves through our economy. The consequences have been devastating, and we are only beginning to see its full impact. Over the last few months, we've experienced economic carnage unlike any period in my lifetime. Many business owners had to make the difficult decision to tell loyal employees that the paycheck they were depending on...
Sheriffs take an oath to support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Montana. We will uphold our oath, protect public safety and respond to our shared constituency through open communication and education as we continue to face the public health risks of COVID-19. As leaders in your community and the elected officials who represent you and your constitutional rights, we want to ensure we are all doing our part to protect the vulnerable citizens in our state while...
