Kudos to the Great Falls LGBTQ Center for making their draft proposal for a local non-discrimination ordinance available to the public on their Facebook page. Our community deserves transparency and plenty of time to analyze, study and fully vet the information before beginning the formal process of taking public comment and considering the proposal. Below…
Not surprisingly, my Great Falls City Commissioner email inbox has been very interesting recently. So in doing my best to respond to citizen’s demands for transparency, here are two emails representing the current social and cultural divide in our country, both of which I received within the last three days. Here’s the first. Here’s the…
Once again we are seeing throngs of angry ‘protesters’ tear down, deface, and destroy publicly owned statues and monuments which memorialize national historical figures. Personally, I think a reasonable argument can be made that it’s inappropriate and offensive to honor Confederate generals who were slave owners by placing their images in the public square. However…
As of this afternoon I have received 14 robo-emails addressed to each of us Great Falls City Commissioners ‘demanding’ that we ‘defund’ the Great Falls Police Department. I also got a call from a Kalispell city commissioner this morning informing me that they have been receiving the same emails. See my response to the emails…
Here is the text of an email which all five members of the Great Falls City Commission received on Monday, demanding we defund the Great Falls Polices Department. This is apparently a form email because I received it from four different individuals. I read it with a mixture of disbelief and, I admit, a little…
Friday, folks gathered in front of the Great Falls Civic Center to show their solidarity in a Black Lives Matter rally. Good for them. In the midst of the roiling national turmoil we are all currently experiencing, and in spite of widely divergent views held on a variety of racial and social issues, there is…
Back in the Stone Age (12-14 years ago?) I was a member of the Great Falls Tribune Readers Panel, which met on a monthly basis to discuss local issues, newspaper content, and ideas for making our local newspaper more relevant and interesting. I recall going into the relatively new Tribune HQ down on River Drive…
Editors Note: Just minutes after posting this piece we learned that Governor Bullock has extended restrictions and closures statewide until April 10. Yesterday, Monday 3/23, in a special meeting of the Great Falls City Commission we voted on the following two matters: Resolution 10341, Affirming a Local Emergency and Acknowledging and Defining the City Manager’s…
Here is a FAQ sheet from the City County Health Department answering question concerning today’s COVID-19 Order closing and restricting services for businesses in Cascade County. The Order begins on Friday, March 20 at 6:00 AM and extend through 8:00 AM Friday, March 27. You can also view or download the FAQ PDF here.
Great Falls Mayor Bob Kelly deserves kudos for stepping up and apologizing to the public for signing an online letter, as Mayor of Great Falls, to President Trump asking for refugees to be relocated to “our communities”. I appreciate his willingness to take responsibility for his actions. More importantly, the citizens of Great Falls deserve…