Letters to the editor March 15

In your “Flathead Outdoors” column of the Daily Inter Lake of Feb. 27, Warren Illi wrote that he suspects that the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission’s rejection of the expanded wolf hunting and trapping seasons was due to the fact that they wished to placate “politically correct” and “very vocal anti-hunters” in Montana. Mr. Illi further touts Idaho and Wyoming as states with nearly year-round or non-existent wolf hunting and trapping seasons.

Why should Montanas be concerned with what other states do or do not do with their wolf hunting management? That certainly is not a scientific way of deciding how to handle the wolves in our parks and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

What is scientific is the fact that the greatest menace to hunters in Montana is not wolf predation, but chronic wasting disease. Perhaps the low number of elk and deer is due to the high and growing rate of this disease.

Wolves pick on young, old, weak and sick animals and thus curb the spread of chronic wasting disease. Wolves themselves don’t catch the disease. Can we afford to throw away our only means of controlling this vile sickness in our elk and deer?

The environmental community wants healthy elk and deer hunts in their ecosystems and parks, not the short-sighted intensification of killing wolves.

—Mary Mosher, Kalispell

I cannot handle it anymore! I am losing all my belly fat from the constant laughter. It becomes challenging to endure all your winning!

In all seriousness though Mr. President, in my opinion your Montana Congressional leadership undermines your authority to Make America Great Again. Our Montana Congressional leaders, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte, openly support the Montana Water Rights Protection Act. This coordinated effort is spearheaded by a $3 million media campaign approved and funded by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Corporation in 2019. Once again, the CSKT hired the Washington D.C.-based Mercury Media propaganda firm to promote the MWRPA statewide. The onslaught of radio, television and print media is undeniable and wreaks of desperation in my opinion.

This is serious business! Are Montanans believed to be uneducated, weak and subject to brainwashing? Must be, for why else would there be nonstop campaigning to promote, in the name of the Trump Administration, the passage of the MWRPA? Thinking out loud, dear President Trump, if this is true please have your administration prove in writing, video or audio that you personally support this devastating rewrite of history. An open invitation exists, from our elected Lake County Commissioners and recently made public at a Daines’s staffed public meeting on Feb. 28, to share the dirty dark secrets of the MWRPA.

It is Montanans desire to hear from you personally. God bless you President Trump and God bless America!

—Natalie Champoux, St Ignatius

So, our county comissioners, in their finite wisdom, have chosen a Public Health Department physician, who may be best known locally for extremist letters to the editor, who is also against vaccinations.

The oath that MDs take says “First do no harm.” I was reminded of my little childhood buddy in the ‘50s who had polio. One of his legs was about the size of my wrist. He got around pretty well with a leg brace, and as a child, I didn’t think too much about it.

It may be that today’s parents are too young to remember life when people lived in fear of diseases such as polio, measles, diptheria and others. The fact that we don’t live with that level of fear is that public vaccinations have reduced or eliminated many diseases. A recent exception is the scare, reported in the news, of measles exposures at a major airport recently.

Do the sensible people of the Flathead Valley really want a person who holds backward opinions to be a medical leader, which could then lead to grevous harm to our children. Will crutches and braces become a good investment opportunity?

The Public Health Department should promote the best medical practices for our people. Dr. Bukacek needs to make a public statement to clarify whether she can support this vital service, honoring her Hippocrates Oath, or she should step aside. The potential harm from these important decisions may not be obvious now, but there are diseases that could make a comeback if high levels of vaccinations are not maintained.

—Reed Thorley, Whitefish