Category: Letter To The Editor

Editors note: the opinions expressed in “Letters to the Editor” do not necessarily reflect the opinions of E-City Beat, our volunteer staff, or contributors. All letters to the editor are welcome and will be considered for publication. Please include your name and city of residence to ectitybeat@straymoose.com.

The writer of the following letter to the editor wishes to remain anonymous:

The U.S. Attorney General’s office, in conjunction with the Great Falls Public Library, will present a panel discussion “United Against Hate,” February 20 from 3-5 pm in Cordingley Room at the library.

According to event information, “It will be an opportunity for the local community to engage with federal agencies and local law enforcement and increase understanding and reporting of hate crimes. There will be a short presentation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office followed by a panel discussion with federal and local partners during which attendees are welcome to ask questions or comment.”

There is no information on the identity of the local partners or if additional federal partners will be present.

According to event information, “United Against Hate” is an initiative launched by the U.S. Department of Justice focused on improving the prevention of hate crimes and hate incidents by building relationships at the local level.”

 However, the current administration’s Department of Justice and the Attorney General are not without criticism, particularly from House Judiciary Committee members who claim the DOJ/AG weaponized federal law enforcement by targeting, investigating and intimidating U.S. citizens for exercising their free speech and for the agency’s bias in applying the law.

Allegations by committee members range from weaponizing law enforcement against parents speaking out at school board meetings and characterizing traditional Catholics as having ties to “white supremacy,” to slow-walking the criminal investigation of Hunter Biden.

Link to the event here.

Editors note: E-City Beat received the following email on July 28th. The ‘blog’ referred to in the email from Mr. Ross published a post which urged the public to contact his employer. The blog is run by Cascade County Democratic Central Committee Chair Helena Lovick and former/current Democrat Party candidate and precinct captain Jasmine Taylor.

“My name is William Ross and I live in Great Falls. On June 24^th, I protested against the first ever “Pride Festival” in Great Falls. I acted within the law and was exercising my First Amendment right on my own time. I was not arrested nor was I questioned by the police.

During my protest, I was threatened multiple times and was twice assaulted. On July 18^th, the organizers of the “Pride Festival”, led by failed local politician Jasmine Taylor, published a blog post with my information, including where I worked. The post encouraged others to call in and complain about me. By the 21st, I had been fired from my job.

My former boss informed me that I was being terminated, not for my work performance, but because of the wording on my sign. I lost my job because I exercised my rights in a lawful manner, on my own time. What is the point of having free speech if people can lose their jobs over it?

People should not be afraid to voice their opinions, regardless of what they are.  

Thank you,
William Ross”

Editors note: the opinions expressed in “Letters to the Editor” do not necessarily reflect the opinions of E-City Beat, our volunteer staff, or contributors. All letters to the editor are welcome and will be considered for publication. Please include your name and city of residence to ectitybeat@straymoose.com.

In regards to all the levies that have been asked for over, let’s say, as long as recent memory can remember. In reviewing the results, at least two things about the voting public is consistent.

Let’s start with the 20 year bond passed in 2016. Then all the other levies since then. It is apparent through this reporter’s observations and with collaboration from sampling the public, here is what is known.

1) Two classes of voters that either don’t read the full text and do due diligence on the matter combine with older voters who don’t care. Why not care? The older class sees either a 10 year, 20 year, or in the most recent case, a permanent tax as being no bother to them, as they are likely not to have to worry about it much longer. The other class? Those first time voters who have been taught (or choose another word and fill in the blank) that the government can better spend our money than we can. Hold this thought- more on that later.

2) Then there are the voters who just simply say yes for anything and everything because they feel it the right thing to do, without any regard for the “down the road” consequences. Again, they can fit in the above mentioned voting public.

Okay, so let’s get some of you educated out there that may not have been taught to be an informed and educated properly.

The late great President Ronald Reagan said the 9 most feared words in the English language are, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”. A levy is an act to impose a tax or fine. Who asks for these? More often than not, it is a government agency or entity. That includes any body, building, or entity controlled by and/or run by a government agency.

Back to two things, if you learn nothing else from this letter. If the government can spend our money better than us, why are we, the United States $30,000.000.000,000 (30 Trillion, with a “T”) dollars in debt? We are supposed to live within our means, but does the government. I say not due to the above debt. That means $95,043 for every person living in the U.S. 66% more than the combined consumer debt of every household. 

So when a levy is passed, and permanent, that means this is passed down and on to people who have not voted for this, people who will when old enough, have this added to them, people who may not have been born yet, and, as they say “kick the can down to road”. 

At least those of us who understand, did our research can take solace in that we did our part to save things. If the future is those who vote as previous generations have, as we hear in some situations, God help us all.

Jimmy
Great Falls

Editors note: the opinions expressed in “Letters to the Editor” do not necessarily reflect the opinions of E-City Beat, our volunteer staff or contributors. All letters to the editor are welcome and will be considered for publication. Please include your name and city of residence and email to ectitybeat@straymoose.com.

I had an old minister some time ago who always liked to preach that when you point a finger at someone, be very careful because you have three more pointing right back at you, on your own hand. There seems to be a whole lot of finger pointing going on concerning the brouhaha over the homeless camp at the United Methodist Church (UMC) downtown as well as the homeless population, drug use, and crime in general. A well liked City Commissioner has appropriated it as his cause célèbre on social media. Well meaning people on both sides of the issue have lobbed Bible Verse Grenades at what is seen as the “other side”. There are several who aren’t so well meaning either. The downtown homeless population have been blamed for drug use, assaults, prostitution, indecent exposure, littering, jay-walking, sleeping in doorways, being dirty and unkempt, and an unsightly mess. I’m surprised they haven’t been accused of shooting JFK, being Jack the Ripper, hiding Jimmy Hoffa’s body, or impersonating Lizzy Borden. According to some, it’s this unkempt ragtag group of useless ne’er-do-wells who are single handedly preventing unbridled development and investment into our downtown simply due to their inconvenient presence. 

Much chest-beating hyperbole has gone into looking into causes and fixes. However it all boils down to blame the homeless. Get them out. Out of sight, out of downtown, out of Great Falls, out of mind. They are subhuman, not suitable for human interaction with our superior Great Falls “normals”. After all it’s easy to place the blame on the defenceless and castigate those (UMC) who are actually trying to make a difference while others just cry the blame game and point fingers. 

Don’t misunderstand me here either. I know that some of those homeless/vagrants/destitute/wretched, whatever you tag them with, are committing crimes. Others are just homeless who have fallen on hard times, many so long they see no light at the end of the tunnel. Many have been so downtrodden their human dignity is something that they may not have lost, but our “normals” certainly don’t recognize it in them. Others are suffering from various mental illnesses and have been left to their own devices on the street, unable to comprehend reality. We shelter homeless animals better than we shelter our mentally ill. As William Booth, founder of The Salvation Army said in the mid-1800’s, the work horses get better treatment than those who are down and out. I can see nothing has changed in people’s minds since that time.

Yet we have the power to effect positive change if we would just quit finger pointing and blaming, hoping we can get someone to make the problem “disappear”. The first major step should be to effectively deal with the crime with real consequences. Real crime deserves real justice and not just punitive justice alone. That rests not on the backs of those committing the crime but on those who are prosecuting and judging that crime. The City & County prosecutors and judges need to step up to the plate and take responsibility for legal and judicial actions that return criminals to the streets instead of incarceration and rehabilitation. Much of this problem falls squarely on their lap. It doesn’t matter how many times our law enforcement arrests someone if the prosecutors and judges don’t hold up their ends. They have many tools available that they choose not to use. Treatment Court is one. Sentencing to the Great Falls Pre-Release Center (GFPRC) instead of jail is another. Work release can even be a part of the solution. The GFPRC has many programs available to help people transition into a self-sustaining community member. Judges can give stiff sentences but suspend any amount of the sentence which could then be automatically enacted should a person reoffend. Our City Commissioners could institute a “vagrancy enhancement” through city ordinances for drug and violent crimes that homeless commit. This, if established correctly, could give judges more leeway or authority in stronger sentencing. Anyone who absconds while on parole or probation would not be extradited back to Montana, but would serve their maximum sentence if caught in Montana. 

Yet I doubt any of this will ever be done. It’s far easier to roust the destitute than it is to change “the establishment”. The “Crime Task Force”, baby of that City Commissioner mentioned earlier that just sat spinning its wheels is proof of that. 

Jesse Oldham
Great Falls, Montana

I ran this letter in the Tribune in May of 2015 and nobody was concerned.

“Russian Payoffs

If I publicly said some of these environmental groups look like communists, my friends would say I’ve been in the sun too long.

However, now I read in the International California Mining Journal where Russian oil executives have been funneling tens of millions of dollars to American environmental groups. This money is laundered through the Bermuda and California-based See Change Foundation.

Environmental groups received $100 million in grants in 2010 and 2011 from See Change! This dark money is being used to influence our government leaders from the top down, plus many people employed by our government. 

I believe groups such as the Sierra Club can buy a lot of influence with this kind of dark money while members are being used as pawns. While being told they’re saving the planet, this dark money is not about protecting the environment. It’s about destroying our economy and our country. If my mother were still alive, she would say that’s exactly how communism works.

This explains why these groups file suit to stop all resource development. They can also get paid legal fees at taxpayer expense by sympathetic Federal judges, which just encourages more lawsuits. Yes , we’re being duped. If they were pro-American they would give constructive advice. As a tired farmer, I’ll go get some more sunshine.”

Now 7 years latter these environmentalist have killed mining for oil and coal extraction so we import oil and platinum from evil people who use our US dollars to build war machines to slaughter people. To me, it’s very clear, these obstructive groups have a lot of blood on their hands. These groups include everybody from our Federal Judges to the EPA, and the Forest Service, our Wilderness Assoc. and our media.

The Ukraine people are paying a terrible price for these green peoples dream.

Today April 13, 2022 Tribune has two articals of Federal Judges stopping the Forest Service and DEQ from doing their job.

James Ployhar
20 Eden Acres Ln.
Great Falls