Cut everything but necessities
A strategic planning observation to the city of Missoula management team: Cut everything except fire, police (public safety) and public works. These are primary needs taxpayers rely on. Please place bureaucratic preservation within its proper perspective during these difficult times of deliberation and discussion.
Elaine Shea, Missoula
It’s time Osprey paid bills
Tonight I read in the Missoulian that the city of Missoula is $367,000 short, that if it doesn’t make budget cuts, we may face a tax increase.
I would like to point out that Play Ball Missoula and/or the Missoula Osprey, to the best of my knowledge, are $450,000 behind in payments to the city, which they’re contractually bound to pay “in lieu of taxes” into a “maintenance fund” for the privilege of operating in our fine city.
Yes, they do not pay taxes.
I have paid taxes since I moved here.
If I were to try to make money selling alcohol, I would need to buy a liquor license. But they don’t. I’m sure bar and tavern owners out there can appreciate this.
So, do we want our property taxes to go up, while these people get a free ride?
I don’t.
Please read the facts at my Web site, www.mzla.com/osprey, and tell “our” elected officials that enough is enough.
Keith Blackwell, Missoula
Obama has helped gun owners in past
In his Missoulian guest column Aug. 22, Conrad Burns joins the chorus of those who are suggesting that a President Barack Obama would seize our guns. As with so many other charges of the anti-Obama crowd, this claim ignores some inconvenient facts.
In this case, the record shows that Sen. Obama voted for an amendment to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act that would “prohibit the confiscation of firearms during certain national emergencies.” The prohibition is directed against any officer or employee of the United States and persons receiving federal funds or acting under the control of a federal officer.
The occasion for this amendment to the bill, which was signed into law Oct. 4, 2006, was a series of events that occurred in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. At that time, many New Orleans residents exercised their Second Amendment right to bear arms, understandably concerned for their safety in the midst of the near collapse of civil order. As the bill details, in numerous instances, their weapons were seized at gunpoint “by nonconsensual entries into private homes, by traffic checkpoints, by stoppage of boats and otherwise by force.”
This is precisely the kind of circumstance that is often cited by defenders of the Second Amendment. They should know that when he had the chance to take a position on the matter Obama proved to be their ally, not their enemy.
Ron Perrin, Missoula
Now not time for single-issue focus
I really enjoyed reading Sen. Ken Salazar’s op-ed piece in the Sunday Missoulian (Aug. 24). What a wonderful tonic to the steady stream of single-issue letters, many inspired by the National Rifle Association, that have appeared in these opinion pages lately. Salazar really captures the mind-set of Montana and the rest of the Rocky Mountain West. In the West, we are practical people who realize the value of getting things done by working hard and being reasonable (single-mindedness can leave you frozen on the prairie).
This is a critical time in American history with huge challenges facing us: the economy, the housing crisis, the cost and quality of education, to name a few. This is the wrong election to get caught up in the single-issue jingoism of the far right or the far left - there’s too much at stake. We need a forward-looking president with the common sense we so value in Montana to lead America into a bright future, not one who sees the world in the rigid black and white of single-issue activists. Like Salazar, my choice is Barack Obama.
Molly Bowler, Missoula
McCain disconnected from Montanans
With the November election fast approaching, the barrage of information about our presidential candidates seems to increase exponentially as the days go on. In sifting through all the sensationalism in search of the real facts, I have come to the conclusion that Sen. John McCain is incapable of relating to the average Montanan. In a state where more than one in 10 people live below the poverty level, I am appalled that McCain defines rich as making $5 million or more (2004 U.S. Census Bureau). By McCain’s logic, that means in order to be considered middle class, you have to make $3 million per year.
As a lifelong Montana resident, I can probably count on one hand the number of people I know who make even $1 million per year. Also, at a time when a gallon of milk is cheaper than a gallon of gas, the housing market is nose-diving, and it has become usual for the stock market to close the end of the day at a loss, I am shocked to hear that McCain believes that “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.” I think we all can agree that there is nothing strong about our economy right now.
I think that McCain’s status as a Washington insider for decades has caused him to become out of touch not only with the average Montanan but the average American as well. I truly believe that our only hope for real change comes from Barack Obama, who is not completely disconnected from the working and the middle class.
Tessa Larson, Missoula
McCain has supported inexperience
I find it of great interest that John McCain can call Barack Obama inexperienced. McCain has supported President Bush who was only a governor when elected to the presidency. Obama, being a senator, has had to deal with much broader more global issues than a governor would. I think a comparison of resumes and grades in school would also prove that Obama has more on the ball than the C student and failed businessman that Bush was upon election.
McCain also points out that Obama does not have the experience to lead us during this time of war, but I must also point out that McCain has supported Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in their war agenda, yet neither Bush nor Cheney has ANY experience in combat. As a matter of fact, Cheney made sure he did not go to Vietnam and got five - count them, five - draft deferments.
While we won’t belabor Bush’s non-record of service during the Vietnam War, it would appear that he is the least likely candidate to have been called commander in chief since he avoided active duty like the plague and his daddy pulled strings to keep him out of combat. That is the type of person McCain supports?
So McCain supports men who refused to serve their country, have no experience in combat, yet sent us into an intractable war and cut veterans benefits. I guess McCain really is a bit wishy-washy when it comes to the facts of what makes up a person with the character enough to be our president. If we would judge people by who they follow, then McCain has proven that he has his bar set pretty low. As a veteran, he should be ashamed to support this incumbent group of draft dodgers.
Rebecca Holman, Missoula
Thanks for supporting event
Thank you very much, Missoulian, for being one of the major sponsors of the River City Roots Festival. I attended the National Folk Festival in Butte last month, which was stupendous. This Missoula-style “street festival” was just as joyous. Timothy Alex Akimoff’s online video is well-edited, well-scripted and well-captured for those unable to attend. I plan to volunteer next year. Thank you again for this wonderful two-day event.
Kim Handy, Huson
Removal brings environmental disaster
I read in the Sunday, Aug. 24, Missoulian that there was more polluted sediment than anticipated after the removal of Milltown Dam and now there is a very substantial amount of toxins (poison) moving downstream.
If this is true, then the concentrated efforts of the environmentalists (generally not native Missoulians or Bonnerites) and our own illustrious Environmental Protection Agency have caused the largest manmade environmental disaster in the Clark Fork’s history. Just wanted to say “thanks so much.” You got your way!
Randi Stewart, Missoula
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