Letters to the editor June 28

After a large fir tree fell into my backyard during the May 31 storm, 27 wonderful people from my Northridge neighborhood came to my rescue. They sawed branches and carried them to my curb area. It became a happy brigade with much camaraderie as they tramped back and forth.

I am a 94-year-old widow and it was a beautiful heartwarming experience for me. Four people even returned the next day to haul my sawed up tree to the landfill. These beautiful neighbors spoke to me with their active love that this is how we should all live, with love, care, and consideration for each other, for everyone, and for the world we live in. My thanks to them for a very pleasant day amidst the aftermath of a storm.

—Helen Rommereim, Kalispell

If we compare death rates per person from covid-19 in the U.S. to Germany, Australia, Singapore and South Korea the differences are both startling and depressing. Those four countries are roughly comparable to the U.S. in that 80% live in viral transmission prone urban areas and they have high standards of living. However, unlike us, they very early put in place mandatory and stringent policies to stem the covid spread: Masks in public, prolific and frequent testing, commercial lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, border closings, social distancing, hand and package sanitizing, and no indoor gatherings.

What were their results compared to ours? Australia, Singapore, and South Korea had 1% if the deaths due to covid that we did, while Germany had 30% of our death rate. We have had 120,000 deaths and still rising every day, while had we acted sooner and with more responsibility, we could have had only 1,200 deaths. Furthermore, they have much less unemployment and their lives are going back to a more normal state that, if we do, our death rates will spiral.

While some think wearing a mask is for sissies, I wonder how macho they’ll feel with a ventilator tube shoved down their throat, fighting for their life and probably losing. Please think carefully before not wearing a mask in public indoors or out, attending large indoor gathering, drinking in bars, eating in restaurants without masks, and not social distancing. It could save your life and others that you care about.

—Matt Bradley, Kalispell

I am writing this letter as a Yaak resident to express my support for the current location of what is called the Pacific Northwest Trail.

I am sure that 99.9% of the Flathead does not know that there is a hiking trail that goes thru Flathead County that starts at Chief Mountain in Glacier Park and goes to the Pacific. Almost every where it goes it is supported and welcomed by the local communities it passes.

But not in a place called the Yaak. The Yaak is a very special place in that it is 97% Forest Service and 3% private. The PNT goes thru the northern section in some of the most beautiful country Montana has to offer. Lookouts and lakes along the way. But if a small group has its way it could be closed off for public use forever.

A small group of people have decided that the PNT is a threat to their Yaak. They are well financed and very vocal. Lawsuits have been filed and a media campaign was started. Their goal is to get the trail out of the Yaak with the excuse that thru hikers will disrupt the grizzly bears. Some bear experts dispute this. Their plan is to move the trail out of the Yaak and along dirt roads to Libby and Troy. Relocation cost is $7.5 million. The PNT was created by Congress in 1974. It would take an act of Congress to move it. If they do succeed, how do you keep people from hiking the current trail? Would the Forest Service be forced into area closures? To many questions. These people are my neighbors and they do great things in other areas, but in this they are just wrong. Look it up and hike it.

—Edd Kuropat, Troy

Covid-19. Lockdowns. A brutal murder by a police officer. Black Lives Matter. History canceled. Monuments and war memorials destroyed. Books and movies banned. Censorship. Armed takeover of a Seattle neighborhood. Is this really where we are? What’s next?

Well, up next is another demand by Black Lives Matter. This self-professed Venezuela military-trained Marxist group, whose stated aim is to bring down America, using violence when necessary, is now running the show. Our government leaders, media moguls, corporations, celebrities, and the woke/cancel culture all bow and scrape before them; pandering to them to prove our white shame. They demand and we comply. It would be pathetic, really, if it wasn’t so terrifying. Speak against them at your peril.

We knew it would not be long before they attacked our religious freedom and here it is: Shaun King, a prominent and vociferous activist for Black Lives Matter, demands that “All murals and stained glass windows of white Jesus and his European mother and their white friends should also come down. They are a gross form of white supremacy created as tools of oppression, racist propaganda. They should all come down.” Yes, he means all of them. Yes, your church too. Yes, our government will allow it.

Can we stop pretending that this is a civil justice group which actually cares about black lives? These are highly organized, armed Marxist socialists aligned with violent Antifa activists. They are exactly what they say they are - proud, determined enemies of our country.

Are we ready to say ENOUGH? Are we ready to speak out? To work together, all of us, now, to keep our country, our liberties, our freedom? Or would you rather wait until you find yourself in a re-education camp? Our choices are freedom or Marxist socialism. It’s that simple.

—Cynthia Granmo, Whitefish