UW president backed activists
At the height of the McCarthy era in 1950, a rag-tag group of students at the University of Wisconsin created a protest sign out of two bed sheets and paraded it down the football field at half time. The sign said “Abolish the ROTC.” The students were chased by the campus police. Some were caught.The Board of Regents met to demand that these students be expelled from the university. The president of the university, a Southern gentle-man who had been dean of the college of agriculture at Wisconsin, stood before the board and said, “If the students are expelled, I resign.”
Needless to say, the students were not expelled.
Dennison shouldn’t dole out punishment
Dear President Dennison,The members of the Industrial Workers of the World of Butte ask that you drop all charges against the university students involved in the recent sit-in.
From the time of the Roman Inquisition (c. 1556), when university student Pomponio Algerio was boiled to death in oil for stating that students should have the right to question the wisdom of the church, to the protests of university students against the war in Vietnam, students have played an important part in our society. They keep the establishment honest by questioning the morals of the powers that be.
No one should have to remind you of your place in society. Your place, Mr. President, is to give the students who pay your wages and for whom you work the best education in the world, not to punish them. Nonviolent protests should be celebrated as they prove a moral, engaged society exists. You should be proud of your students.
Civil disobedience is the one thing that will truly protect our republic from future tyrants. Civil disobedience was a key factor in the creation of our republic to begin with: True Americans opposed to tyranny remember this always. Do you?
Kevin D. Curtis, Butte
UM civil disobedience applauded
It’s a wonderful thing to live in a country with so many options.At first, I was going to use my federal income tax rebate to purchase more disposable crap made in Chinese sweatshops. However, I decided the more patriotic course of action would be to return the money in the form of tax payments. I’m sure that the best and the brightest in our government can employ the money in devising new and creative ways to murder more people in Iraq.
Speaking of sweatshops, I would like to applaud the actions of the eight students who engaged in an act of civil disobedience in the office of University of Montana President George Dennison. I am pleased to see that there are at least a few students on campus who are not majoring in compliant conformity and bar-hopping.
I was, of course, delighted to see that they did not muss up any of the tidy stacks of paper on President Dennison’s desk. Perhaps their action will educate the UM administration to make better and more adult decisions in the future. I hope the administration is not relying on an enlightened ruling from our alleged U.S. Department of Justice. They could be in for a very long wait.
Jeff Stevens, Missoula
Clinton, Obama don’t have the answer
OK, I’ve listened long enough to the liberals’ point of view on health coverage. Now I would like to state my point of view to make you think before you all get on the Clinton/Obama train.In Canada, they actually have medical brokers to help them find doctors in the U.S. One couple comes to mind n the husband is ill, goes to the doctor, they say it is very likely a tumor in his brain but they can’t get him in to see a specialist for months. He could die before he sees a specialist. So they hire a broker to find them a specialist in the U.S. They go see him and find out yes, it is a tumor. Canada doesn’t have any openings for surgery for eight months, so luckily he has the surgery within weeks down here and is able to live.
I also know people from Sweden, which also has universal health care, who say their taxes are so high, they can’t afford to buy a car or a house.
Now you tell me, is it fair for the taxes of the working class to be raised to support the 30-year-old meth addict living down the road from us who’s too lazy to get a job? Should our taxes be raised to give health care to the illegal immigrants bringing drugs into our country to sell to our kids? Should our taxes be raised to give health care to the single women who choose to have a kid every year just to stay on welfare? Should we as citizens have to wait in line behind an illegal immigrant to see a doctor when our kids are sick?
I’ve worked since I was 15 and I am tired of people wanting handouts.
K. Hill, Superior
Killers, rapists need to be dealt with
In response to a letter from Solmaz Mohadjer (April 18):Most all of us Americans don’t like the idea of killing another person. However, if a person broke into my home with the intent to do harm to me or my family, I would kill them in a heartbeat - or in any other situation where imminent danger is threatening us.
However, since America is becoming such a liberal nation, an alternative to the death penalty might be as follows: Take all the murderers out of our prisons and put them on San Clemente Island off the coast of California, no guards on the island but give them plenty of lumber to build shelters, plenty of food to sustain them and let them live with their own kind.
Think of the money it would save the taxpayers. Put satellite surveillance overhead to watch for intruding boats or aircraft or whatever. Use patrol boats to stay at sea to patrol the waters and feed the sharks well that live in the vicinity.
Rapists: When a man is convicted of rape and it is proven in a court of law and substantiated by DNA evidence, the only true solution is castration. I understand that they once tried this but they did the castration by injecting them with a needle to sterilize them. However, this did not stop their desires so it did not cure the problem. I say do it farm style: Remove the testicles and it will cure the desire.
Wayne Richardson, Polson
Join in on the zoning process
Citizens of Ravalli County, I strongly urge you to tap into the zoning process currently under way in our county. I do not think there is any way we are going to avoid being zoned, and the next time the issue comes around, we may not have the opportunity for citizen input like we currently have. There are a lot of people who see this solely as a taking of private property rights, and “just want the process to stop.”Please don’t do this. There are thousands of citizen hours, and a large amount of your taxpayer money already spent on this issue. Join in, work through the process and tell the commissioners what you want, and how you want your property and neighborhoods to be.
You have until May 16 to obtain a copy of the 64-page Draft B regulation proposal, and recommend changes/omissions to that document. There were substantial changes made from Draft A to Draft B n all because of previous citizen comments. Ultimately, we have until October or so to get these regulations written so that they represent what we citizens want, or can live with. Please take the time to read them, and express yourself.
The Stevensville Community Planning Committee will be hosting an open house on May 17 at the Stevensville Senior Center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and both the Draft B regulations and the zoning maps will be available for public perusal. Members of the Stevensville zoning committee will be there to answer questions, explain what they have done in the zoning process thus far, and take comments and opinions to pass forward to Clarion Associates.
This is your county, your property and your chance for your say in its future. Please tap into the process, so that we end up with our zoning.
Jane Lambert, Stevensville
Ranch buyout signals progress
More than 60 people in our small town, the heart of this year’s bison slaughter, generally support the Royal Teton Ranch buyout. The bison management plan has been stuck in Step 1 for years. It’s time to move on.The buyout doesn’t stop the slaughter, but it does signal essential progress. Next winter, two dozen bison will be grazing in fields where previously they were hazed or shot. Within a few years, dozens of bison will graze in these fields, and so on. In addition, management expenses should decrease n a savings that immediately begins offsetting the buyout cost.
Bison advocates can now focus on three other overdue items of the plan: opening up Horse Butte to bison (it’s been cattle-free for more than a year); releasing the federal remote vaccination environmental assessment (it’s been ready for more than a year); and releasing the state remote vaccination plan (it’s been overlooked).
We thank Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Superintendent Lewis for agreeing on the RTR buyout, and we look forward to their leadership in allowing adaptive management to reflect the latest science and management on this intractable issue.
Carolyn Duckworth, President, Bear Creek Council, Gardiner
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