[voices]
STREET TALK Asked the evening of Monday, Dec. 17, in front of the Orange Street Food Farm.
by Eric Oravsky
Brian Schweitzer’s second and last term in office ends Jan. 7. What’s your strongest memory of the governor? Follow-up: What do you think his next move should be?
Terri Phillips: Definitely pulling out the branding iron to veto all those bills. I didn’t find it very funny—actually, it was quite embarrassing. My friends from the East Coast can’t take him seriously. Beat it, Bobcat: Whatever it is that his heart desires, as long as he doesn’t want to be the president of the University of Montana.
Joe Jindrich: The thing that surprised me the most was that when Sally Mauk interviewed him [in 2006], she never asked him about the cover that the Indy ran about [the governor’s brother, Walter, and his influence in the capitol.] Movin’ on up: I don’t even know what my preference for his future is, but I think he has been positioning himself for a federal position.
Kirsten Marsh: Definitely his dog, Jag. They wrote a book about him and he went everywhere with his dog. Local boy: Probably back to the ranch. I would be shocked if he went for president or something higher up.
Katie Wyckiver: Probably a story about how he got down and showed Dave Barry how to castrate a bull and then gave him a buckle. He said that it was the manliest buckle he owned now. Reverse cowboy: Probably back to his ranch. That is what I would do if I were in his position.
Leave it better Now that election season is over, it’s a vital time for Congress to pass bills that have bipartisan agreement and support. Two bills that ring near and dear to my heart are the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act and the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act. Why these bills? They are clear examples of Montana-made solutions to stimulate job creation in the rural communities that need them the most, while also protecting the outfitting, ranching, hunting and fishing economies, which Montana so deeply depends on. Equally important, FJRA and RMFHA protect the Montana way of life that many of us value so much. These bills have proposals that both parties can agree on. On the Rocky Mountain Front alone, hunting expenditures totaled $9.6 million in 2011. Jobs in travel, tourism and recreation contributed to nearly 20 percent of the area’s private sector employment. These two bills combined will add over 700,000 new acres of wilderness in the Kootenai, Lewis and Clark, Beaverhead-Deerlodge, Lolo and Flathead National Forests. In addition to wilderness, the RMFHA designates over 200,000 acres as a conservation management area, protecting vital hunting, fishing and motorized vehicle use, and the FJRA designates areas for restoration work and motorized recreation. We have the unique opportunity to have Montana politicians, both Republican and Democrat, protect Montana’s outdoor heritage through these pieces of legislation. The reason I love Montana more than anywhere else is for the unique opportunity we have to access some of the wildest places in the world. What a legacy it would be to leave my children with more of Montana’s iconic landscapes protected. Let’s preserve wildness in Montana. Let’s preserve the Montana way of life. Let’s
[4] Missoula Independent • December 20 – December 27, 2012
“What do you call a ‘gaggle’ of attorneys pretending to ‘negotiate’ water rights while flushing taxpayer money and rights down the river?”
Flood of questions How is it that an attorney knows more about water requirements for irrigation than someone who has irrigated for 10 to 70 years? What do you call a “gaggle” of attorneys pretending to “negotiate” water rights while flushing taxpayer money and rights down the river? I don’t know; that’s why I’m asking. I’m kinda hoping that someone out there in “read-
erland” has a better answer than the ones I keep coming up with when considering a process that is rife with corruption, fraud, lies, coercion and a 10-year waste of time and money. Nothing, so far, in the current Flathead Indian Reservation Federally Reserved Water Rights Compact, is based on any truths known to man or beast. It is simply an “unjust taking” of property (water rights and property values and potential basin closures) by fraud (unsubstantiated claims of rights, erroneous data and bad research), coercion (constant threats of litigation) and unconstitutional overreach of charter (combining reserved water rights on the reservation with supposed Stevens Treaty rights off the reservation….). It must be nice to have the backing, support and direction of both a state government and the federal government to pull off a charade to deprive (in the onset) 350,000 people of their constitutional right to life and property while seemingly transferring it to a tiny group of 7,500 people who have been led to believe it is theirs and they deserve it. Unconscionable. Well, maybe not in today’s societal thinking; okay, emotional believing. Fooling some of the people all of the time seems to be working for them. What happened to “fair and equitable division”? How is taking from 350,000 and giving to 7,500 fair and equitable? Do you see why I am confused, especially when the 350,000 who will ultimately suffer the consequences remain quietly idle, on the sidelines, and clueless to this outrageous stage play? These commissioners aren’t even wearing masks or guns and would have remained nameless if they hadn’t been exposed back in June of this year. Michael Gale Ronan
[comments from missoulanews.com]
Backtalk from “UM student pleads guilty,” Dec. 13
Questions Wait. He has a penis yet you call him “she”? Seriously? WTF? Posted by “Scott Wilson” on 12/13/2012 at 7:50 p.m.
Answers Clay Pope: The bolo tie. I think he was a great governor. I think he has protected our lands well and represented Montanans. Act II: I hope he will continue to advocate for the protection of our wild places. I don’t think he will disappear from politics.
pass these bills and leave behind a better Montana than we started with. Christian La Bar Missoula
Transgendered and intersex humans have been around since the dawn of time. It’s attitudes like Scott Wilson’s that prevent us from seeing and accepting them. Scott, take a minute to lookup “twospirit,” “intersex” and “transgendered” before you throw that punch on general principles. Posted by “capbob” on 12/13/2012 at 8:23 a.m.
Hold them accountable I feel dropping the charges was also a bad example by the prosecutor. It would have done the perpetrator good to serve a year in jail and think about why he decided to lay hands on someone for being themselves. This is what policies and legislations need to passed like VAWA ( Violence Against Women Act) so that perpetrators can start being held accountable for their malicious acts against others. Posted on 12/14/2012 at 2:52 p.m.
Dropped charge It bothers me that the sexual assault charge was dropped because he “wasn’t seeking sexual gratification when touching Green’s genitals.” Why should the measure of whether or not something is sexual assault have anything to do with what kind of gratification an attacker is seeking? Rapists are regularly in it for the power more than purely sexual gratification—but it is sexual assault because they are assaulting someone through sexual acts. Grabbing someone’s genitals is sexual assault. How horrible that he’ll get away with it— that we’ll allow him to get away with it. Posted on 12/14/2012 at 3:17 p.m.