Archived Story

Letters for Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Roadside assistance

Thanks for the help on the highway

I travel quite a lot, and whenever I see a vehicle in trouble, I stop and try to help. Invariably, I am informed that most people don’t stop anymore and that they’ve been waiting quite a while for help.

I never really accepted that until recently. On Jan. 2, I was driving from Simms to Lincoln on U.S. Highway 200 when my vehicle broke down, and of course it was where there was no cell phone coverage.

I waited while many vehicles passed by - while I had my flashers on, clearly needing help. Finally, a young man named Ben stopped to help, and ended up giving me a ride clear to Great Falls. I did not get his last name, but know he works at the Sweetgrass border, and has a fiancée in Missoula (I believe) named Amy, who is a music major. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Ben again for the help; it was beginning to look pretty bleak.

I also wanted to offer a tip to those who need roadside assistance: raise your hood as well as using your flashers. We all see many vehicles along the road while people use their cell phones, look at maps, etc. A raised hood sends a clear message, and I still believe most Montanans will stop to help. Ben did, and I thank him for it.

Dave Tweet, Lincoln

Congress

Stop ignoring our veterans

How can Congress justify voting themselves perks and health care that they do not also vote for our veterans, who have made it possible for Congress to exist?

Axel Sorensen, Missoula

Moose incident

Animal was fed up with humans

I keep thinking about that moose that kicked a couple of snowmobiles and refused to move for a trail groomer near Columbia Falls (Missoulian Outdoors, Jan. 3). According to Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman John Fraley, the cow moose is now on probation and will be killed if she shows any more “not typical behavior” toward humans.

I suspect that moose just got fed up with human intrusion into her habitat and was “mad as hell and not going to take it any more.” So she kicked a snowmobile and wouldn’t move. That shouldn’t get her the death penalty. On the contrary, she should be honored and spared, like the bull of extraordinary courage in the bullring.

Couldn’t the snowmobilers just avoid that area for a while? I’ll bet insurance will cover the damaged hood, and the riders and trail groomer will dine out on their stories for a long time. Fraley, couldn’t you guys at FWP take your hat off to her rather than aim a rifle at her?

Sara Boyett, Ovando

CI-100

Don’t sign the petition

I am frankly appalled and extremely concerned about CI-100, Rep. Rick Jore’s proposed constitutional amendment to define that “life begins at conception.” The truth about this amendment is that it is not about children, but about eliminating women’s health as we know it today. The measure could be used to not only outlaw abortion, but also birth control, stem-cell research and in-vitro fertilization, which is the best hope some couples have to become parents. In addition, Rick Jore publicly stated in the Montana Legislature this past session that he would like to see every woman who has miscarried be investigated for what they could have done to harm the pregnancy. As a woman, I could not even imagine being investigated at such a hard time in my life.

I urge Montanans to see the truth behind the proposed amendment and not sign the petition!

Kristina Datsopoulos, Missoula

Intelligent design

Evolutionists’ argument flawed

Recent letters have taken intelligent design to task for being unscientific because creation cannot be tested. Yet they don’t seem to get it that neither can evolution’s fundamental assertion that life originated from blind natural forces acting upon some kind of primordial soup. In fact, spontaneous generation has yet to produce any kind of living, reproducing and evolving life; so, evolution has certainly failed at this level. And yet, somehow, evolutionists still insist it is a true “theory” (or even fact). Exercising blind faith, they insist that - given enough time - it still happened. Scientific?

Intelligent design says that the raw forces of nature do not integrate matter into more and more complex and functional systems, but instead disintegrate matter. The effect of sun, lightning, wind and water upon elements is not to fabricate them into increasingly complex and functional systems (living or non-living), but instead to tear down, wear down or burn down whatever elemental systems that do exist.

Experience (testing) shows that for matter to become more and more complex and functional, sufficient intelligence, design and power must act upon it. Explosions in a metal factory will never (even “given enough time”) fabricate even the beginnings of a computer; they will always work in the direction of disintegration. We know this. Yet, evolution insists that, given enough time, somehow raw forces of nature must have fabricated not only protein molecules (which are highly complex all by themselves), but even the most complex living forms, from them. Evolutionists would laugh at the idea of computers developing from explosions, yet they want us to believe that exponentially more complex and functional forms - life forms - have somehow resulted from the disintegrating powers of nature. This is the evolutionist’s intelligent design. This is his faith.

Don Partain, Missoula
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