Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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As Thanksgiving approaches, people are listing what they are grateful for. I, along with millions of other people in our nation, have much to be thankful for. But I am also thankful for things I don’t have. It isn’t necessary for me to be in a wheelchair because of my hip replacement surgery. I don’t have to travel miles for the simplest of medical care. And I can choose my doctor. When I want to travel to another town or state I don’t have to get permission from anyone to do so. And I don’t have to justify my reason for traveling. Although...
In her lame attempt to discredit me on my view on equal opportunity in hiring in America, Tess Fahlgren has missed the mark by a mile. I’m saying equal opportunity is an oxymoron. How can something be equal when it favors a certain population? In the past it was heavily in favor of the white male, I agree to that, but it has become reverse discrimination in recent years due to the EEOC. American manufacturing (what little there is of it) no longer hires on merit. They hire on skin color, sex and race. Could that be one of the reasons manufactur...
I'm not sure what Virgil Vaupel intended to communicate in his last article, in which he revisits Equal Opportunity. I came away with an understanding of what he meant to say, but just in case (because I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt) I'd like to revisit his “revisit.” The article seems to be his attempt to criticize the establishment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which was established due to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The EEOC investigates discrimination complaints based on an individual's race, color, nat...
I was going to write more on the abortion issue, to cover more questions and concerns raised by Mr. Chris Pippin, but then Paris happened. I started to hear disturbing reactions to the acts committed by those extremists: comments along the lines of "kill them," "bomb them back to rubble" (déjà vu from the 9-11 events), "close our borders to all refugees," even, God forbid, "a cleansing is needed." Let's please not give in to knee jerk reactions. Let's not lump all Muslims into the same basket, nor be suspicious of everyone who wears a turban or...
This past week an incident happened that reminded me of another time when the same thing occurred. I was staying at my nephew's in Billings because of medical appointments I had. The last day I was there, I ordered two pizzas delivered to his residence for our lunch. When the woman arrived with the pizzas, I gave my nephew's son $40 to pay for the food. He stepped outside the door to accept and pay for them. Coming back inside, he told me, "That girl who delivered the pizzas said she couldn't figure out how much change you had coming because...
For the last three weeks I have read the opinion of Mary Honrud. I found her comments interesting, but I am confused by her point of the three-part series. If I understood Mary correctly, she advocates the abortion of any unwanted child, during pregnancy. Should we stop there? Peter Sager, who teaches Ethics at an Ivy League University, claims it is morally ethical to abort a baby after the fact, for up to four years, if the baby shows signs of physical or mental disabilities. Could we not also extend the four-year time limit to any child who...
In answer to an article Mary put in The Glasgow Courier Oct. 28, “Are They Willing,” the questions were asked, “How many unwanted children are being born each year? How many of those unwanted children are abused and/or killed? In the article part II, Nov. 4, you say that the National Children's Alliance tells you that in 2013 an estimated 1,520 children in the United States died of abuse or neglect. Well, guess what? Way over 1,000 babies are murdered A DAY in this county by abortionists because people like you believe them to be throw...
In addition to Medicare I have a very generous employer’s retiree healthcare insurance policy which covers virtually any condition or procedure I can imagine needing. Of course, to enjoy this generous plan I also pay a generous premium, so, this being only time of year you can change health plans, as several recent mailings from insurers who want my business tell me, I thought I would look into saving myself some money and began to shop around. Now I wish I hadn’t even bothered. I had assumed I could understand the difference between hea...
It has been a privilege to watch the progress as the Northeast Montana Veterans Memorial takes shape in Fort Peck. This summer, with the help of some heavy equipment, we cleared and leveled ground, gave way to the 38-foot high main monument, 10 walls of honor, pathways, and bases for sculptures. The dedication on 29 May 2016 (the Sunday before Memorial Day), will fulfill five years of planning and work by scores of Northeast Montana volunteers. On that day next May, nearly 900 black granite tile... Full story
Montana has a strong military tradition unparalleled by almost any other state in the nation. Nearly 1-in-10 of us hears the call to serve in the armed forces, and in the sovereign nations the warrior spirit is even stronger. Last month, I visited Wolf Point and spent time with the family of Michael Bell, a young man from the Fort Peck Tribes who was also a Navy SEAL. Surrounded by friends, family and officials from tribes as far away as North Dakota, I helped honor Michael with a memorial service and Naval ceremony. I knew Michael as his...
A while ago I wrote about companies that include sexual overtones in their ads. One such ad was for a popular candy. Since then I’ve been asked how to contact a company who uses this type of ad and register an opinion. You can usually find an 800 number on the product's packaging. There will also be a physical address as well as a website address. So you have three options to send in your opinion: call the company, send them a letter, or submit your message on their website. Never underestimate the power of one person. On Sunday, I attended a...
An apt description of the Equal Opportunity Employment Act would be “a policy or program providing 'advantages' for people of a minority group with the aim of creating a racially equal society through preferential access to employment, education, health care, welfare” and etc. The EOE was the birth of this thing called “proportional hiring” which mandated that 25 percent of a business’s employees must be of a minority where applicable. I really can’t see the “equalness” in the EOE. Now, here’s where the United States started changing to allow s...
In response to Mary Honrud’s Part II of “Are They Willing” in the Nov. 4 Courier. Numbers!! I love them!! Especially when one can really get behind what they are really saying. Let’s get to a big one. 1,060,000. That’s one million sixty thousand. That’s approximately how many abortions occurred in the U.S. in 2011, the last year we have records for from the Guttmacher Institute. (Guttmacher was started as a semi-autonomous division of Planned Parenthood, so I don’t believe I’m cherry picking sites that are on my side of the issue, rather t...
Our legislators have worked hard to make it increasingly difficult for any woman to get an abortion. I seriously doubt anyone is using abortion as a form of birth control at this time. And obtaining an abortion is not a cheap solution. In four states (Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming) there is only one clinic serving the entire state. (This information comes from Bloomberg, in Vanishing Abortion Clinics in the U.S., Sept. 14, 2015.) So the woman seeking to end her pregnancy faces the expense of traveling to the clinic as...
The pro-lifers claim those unwanted children could be adopted by others. That’s also not easy to arrange, either by the mother-to-be, nor by those looking to adopt. Here in Montana, lawyers must be involved, and we all know how cheaply they work. If the birth mother is under the age of 18, she must have her own lawyer. She cannot sign a relinquishment and consent to adopt order until at least 72 hours after giving birth. She must also undergo at least three hours of counseling by the Department of Health and Human Services, or the adoption a...
Cherry Creek & Milk River Levee System is a vital piece of the city’s infrastructure system that is not only critical to the welfare and safety of our community but also bogged down in federal regulation. An array of complex issues and opinions as to the solutions necessary to keep the levee system in compliance and meeting the needs of the community keep the levee system at the forefront of the city’s attention. The southernmost portion of the city of Glasgow borders the Milk River and Cherry Creek waterways and the associated flood pla...
Recently the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) granted Montana an extension of time to conform to the “REAL ID” law passed by Congress in 2005. In a nutshell the REAL ID law demanded that state driver license and identification cards conform to federal requirements concerning information and data sharing as laid out by DHS, and that these identification documents have the approval of DHS. Only state issued identification documents that met DHS standards would be valid for entrance to Federal Buildings (I hope the Post Office was not one of...
By the time the sun set on Dec. 28, 1983, it had started to sink in that my family and I were homeless. We had found shelter with my husband’s parents. The reason we were homeless was because we’d lost our house and everything we had in it, other than the clothes on our backs, to fire. The morning after the fire my husband said, “I just realized we don’t even own a comb so we can comb our hair.” Basic needs. A comb, a toothbrush, a change of clothing, a washcloth and towel, shampoo, soap. Thanks to the generosity of our community, we soon foun...
One out of every 10 Montanans is a veteran, which makes Montana home to more veterans per capita than almost any other state in the nation. It is one of my greatest honors to serve Montana’s veterans in Congress. Every one of these men and women have an incredible story to tell from their service – stories that are also part of our nation’s history and our heritage. That’s why the Veterans History Project is so important. My team in Montana is helping to spread awareness of the American Folklife Center’s Veterans History Project across th...
Last Saturday, as I was walking to the Nashua School to watch the volleyball games, one of my grandsons met me. He walked beside me for a few moments, then took off skipping. He returned to my side, still skipping. I smiled as I observed his energy. I mentioned I used to enjoy skipping. He replied, “I like to skip. And if I skip fast enough and take the biggest steps I can, I feel like I’m flying. Skipping is fun.” This same grandson is on the JAM basketball team for Nashua. The JAM team and junior high basketball team were in Opheim on Frida...
I have been mulling over my thoughts on the topic of abortion rights in the United States. I was never in the forefront of the fight to gain this right, but I silently cheered on my sisters who worked towards this gain for a woman’s control of her own body, and therefore her ability to lead her life as she wanted. There are many reasons a woman might choose to not become a mother. And those reasons may vary greatly at different stages of her life. Some remain constant throughout the years she is fertile. I strongly feel that if a woman does not...
Do you remember the days of manual transmissions, or ever further back, to a crank-starting vehicle? I was thinking of earlier days, when children often spent the day in the field with Mom and Dad. Daycare consisted of the children riding in whatever vehicle or machinery was being used at the time, or maybe they had a “spot” for play nearby. Of course leaving children in a vehicle has always been a safety issue, but back in those days there wasn’t much chance the little ones were going to get the car/pickup started and moving. I am sure the lit...
This is part two about an email I have received several times over the past seven or so years. It’s been circling the Internet since 2005 and just won’t go down the drain. Until now, I have simply deleted it. This time I didn’t and this two-part story is attributed to that fact. It has its good points and bad points to be sure, but this year I simply had to point out to you the bad after having been recently chastised severely for not researching some of my columns. As the chastiser pointed out in his/her tirade, “Your readers deserve to know...
James Walling, you certainly deserve credit for a series of articles that have been well done on the APR and bison and have brought up some questions that it seems they cannot even answer. I believe that your approach of letting both sides have input on this reintroduction of bison question is the first time that larger NGOs have not smothered us with propaganda that supports just their side. You have proven to be a very insightful editor, and I, for one, appreciate the fairness of your reporting and thorough investigation of items that are so...
As I was reading Virgil Vaupel's review, Think Before You Donate, the false viral email that comes around each holiday season, I had to feel my pulse to see if I had died and Virgil was channeling me from the beyond, or whether he had hacked into my computer. Especially when he ended with, "One would almost think that my friend Horace wrote that scalding review!!" I had written almost the same review two years before, even siting the same sources to fact-check it before replying to the sender and exposing the lies about the prominent charities...
