Don’t Care Much About Historeee

Philip M. Faccenda on February 22, 2019

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It seems as though we are being assaulted on all sides by those who don’t give two hoots about history, or haven’t a clue about why it is important to our culture. People who should know better either want to change it, destroy it, or ignore it.

First, we read in the Great Falls Tribune that Columbus Day will likely be relegated to the trash-bin of history where it will take its place along with confederate heroes from the Civil War and the historic structures of Palmyra that ISIS militants have decided through some misguided logic are offensive to Mohammad.

Montana House Bill 219 sponsored by Rep. Shane Morigeau was passed by the House of Representatives yesterday and now moves on to the Montana Senate. Does history even care that Rep. Morigeau “dreads the coming each year of Columbus Day”? Does he even know what it represents? I think not.

What seems to matter most to Rep. Morigeau is that he thinks the holiday celebrates an event occurring over 500 years ago where a single man mistreated some indigenous people while laying claim to the New World for his Spanish benefactors. Yes, Columbus was charged with finding riches and returning them to Spain, but his accomplishment goes far beyond the small amount of gold he secured for the Spanish crown.

Probably Rep. Morigeau hasn’t a clue about the history of Columbus Day and why it was established as a national holiday, but count him in as a card-carrying member of the PC police and history be damned.

If Rep. Morigeau and others would like to take Montana in the direction of other states like Hawaii, Oregon and South Dakota, in the elimination of Columbus Day he should be aware of a couple of important facts. First, Columbus never set one foot in what we now call America.

Secondly, history is replete with examples of indigenous peoples in America conquering and taking neighboring tribes as slaves, stealing their land, brutalizing and raping women, engaging in human sacrifice and torture as well as committing atrocities including acts of cannibalism. All of this before any Europeans even knew the New World existed. To my knowledge, Columbus never dined on another human being.

The Tribune also reported another history related story, “A Bit Cold, But Signed Sealed And Delivered”. “Final beams of Great Falls High School Hub addition put in place. I guess we have completely forgotten the utter destruction of the historic campus on which the hub addition was predicated. A forest of mature ash trees destroyed, the south campus defaced and asphalt replacing the lush green campus to make room for a parking plan that was criticized by the Montana State Historic Preservation Office.

Of course we would expect Superintendent Tammy Lacey’s picture to accompany the article because it’s all about her, but what about school board trustee Jeff Gray whose picture of him signing the “topping out” beam at Great Falls High School was prominently displayed in the Tribune article reporting the event?

Trustee Gray demonstrated his dislike for history by voting not to support the well-deserved nomination of the Great Falls High School campus as a historic site on the National Register of Historic Places.

In spite of Jeff Gray’s attempt to scuttle the nomination, it passed, but has been severely eroded by the poorly designed Hub addition and lack of professional planning for the campus. In the end, trustee Gray has been part of a successful attempt to destroy an important part of local history.

Another part of local history that is being compromised is the University of Providence, formerly known as the University of Great Falls, and before that, the College of Great Falls, and before that, the Great Falls Commercial College. The president, and UP board of trustees have elected to eliminate a number of programs valued as core elements of the previously fine liberal arts institution.

Gone will be Accounting, Art, Elementary Education, Secondary Education, English, HISTORY, Sociology, Theater and Business Arts, and Theology. I know, a Catholic university eliminating Theology, right? You guessed it, it’s all about the money, but if UP wanted the best of both worlds, tuition revenues and maintaining a dedication to a liberal arts education, they would seriously consider establishing a UP law school. A law school benefits from a well-rounded liberal arts education, and I believe a UP law school would be very successful in attracting students from Montana and many other parts of the Northwest. After all, The Sisters of Providence list as their Core Values: Compassion, Dignity, Justice, Excellence, and Integrity.

Maybe these three examples of the destruction of history is all the more reason to teach it.

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Montana Connection In Breeders Cup Races This Weekend

Phyllis Tryon on November 1, 2018

 

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We love us a good horse race. My former employer of many years, Topper Tracy of Stevensville, MT, who started and owned The Racing Journal magazine, has Breeders’ Cup connections this year. The Breeders’ Cup races are this Friday and Saturday, November 2 and 3 at Churchill Downs in Kentucky.

Topper T

Topper and his wife Cathy have a son named Ray who was raised in Montana and started training races horses in the state in 1983. He now lives in Iowa and owns a horse breeding and training facility, Black Oak Farm, with his wife, Sherri. Ray bred, raised and raced a now two-year-old colt named Topper T that is under new ownership and entered in the Breeders Cup Sentient Jet Juvenile under trainer Bill Mott. Look for race 9 this Friday, November 2. The Sentient Jet Juvenile for 2-year-old colts and geldings is a 1-1/16 mile race on dirt with a post time of 6:05 p.m. eastern.

Topper T won the Iowa Cradle Stakes at Prairie Meadows in Iowa on August 11 and has lifetime earnings of $112,650 with a record of 2 wins, 2 seconds and a third place finish in the Iowa Stallion Futurity on July 6.

Topper T won the Iowa Cradle Stakes at Prairie Meadows in Iowa on August 11 and has lifetime earnings of $112,650 with a record of 2 wins, 2 seconds and a third place finish in the Iowa Stallion Futurity on July 6.

He a long shot for the Sentient Jet Juvenile at odds of 30-1 and will start from the 13th hole. Fourteen horses are entered.

Cathy Tracy’s birthday is Saturday. What a fun present to watch Topper T in the Breeders’ Cup Sentient Jet Juvenile! We’ll be rooting for Topper T.

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Opinion: CSKT Water Compact

ECB Staff on August 21, 2018

 

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Editors note: E-City Beat does not take a position on the CSKT Water Compact. We are posting this editorial in our ongoing mission to help our readers stay informed on state and local issues. We welcome any editorial submissions presenting the opposing side of this editorial.

Legislative Committee Urges Federal Approval of CSKT Water Compact
by Sen. Pat Connell and Rep. Zachary Brown

Rep. Zachary Brown

The uncertainty and expense that would be prevented by implementing the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes (“CSKT”) Water Compact is one of the many reasons the Water Policy Interim Committee recently decided to encourage Secretary of the Interior Zinke and the members of our Congressional Delegation to act on the negotiated agreement.

Most do their best to avoid situations where the outcome is unknown—and rightfully so. Uncertainty, regardless of what type, can have potentially catastrophic impacts for both governmental entities as well as individuals, which is why it’s critical that the CSKT Water Compact is ratified.

The Compact, which is a contractual legal agreement between the State of Montana, the federal government, and the CSKT, settles the legal claims of the tribes by defining their federally reserved water rights. By defining these rights through the compacting process, rather than through litigation, decades of costly, unnecessary, and time consuming legal battles are avoided.

Avoiding this expense not only saves individuals, taxpayers, and the State of Montana millions of dollars, but it provides much needed certainty for water right holders.

Avoiding this expense not only saves individuals, taxpayers, and the State of Montana millions of dollars, but it provides much needed certainty for water right holders.

Without the Compact, uncertainty and litigation will abound.

Sen. Pat Connell

If the Compact is not ratified, the CSKT are obligated by state law to move forward with their legal claims to define their federally reserved rights in the Montana Water Court. The CSKT claims, numbering in the thousands and covering approximately 2/3 of Montana, are considered valid unless proven otherwise.  Action on these claims will force existing water users to defend their water rights in court.

However, because most tribal water rights carry a priority date of 1855 or “time immemorial”—both of which pre-date many, if not all, of the existing rights held by Montana’s farmers, ranchers, and irrigators—it will be nearly impossible for an existing water right holder to successfully defend their right. With the Compact, there would be no need for litigation in the first place and Montana water users could avoid these costly court battles altogether. This is why ratifying the Compact is crucial.Immediate action must be taken to move this agreement forward and provide legal certainty for the thousands of farmers, ranchers, landowners, and water users who have been left wondering whether they will have water for their crops or cattle. The decades of costly and unnecessary litigation are avoidable, but only if the Compact is ratified.

The Compact calls for federal ratification within four years of state ratification.  Since state ratification occurred in 2015, that date is quickly approaching in 2019.  That is why we call on Congress to prioritize this critically important matter for the state of Montana and provide our water users, farmers, ranchers, cities, towns and tribes with the certainty and finality they need to plan and invest in the future.

We hope that our outreach to Secretary Zinke and the members of our Congressional Delegation helps spur collaboration and communication between their respective offices on what needs to be done to move this vital agreement forward.

Sen. Pat Connell represents Senate District 43 and serves as the Chairman of the Montana State Legislature’s Water Policy Interim Committee. Rep. Zachary Brown represents House District 63 and serves as the Vice Chairman of the Water Policy Interim Committee.

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Welcome, President Trump! Pay No Attention To The Haters.

ECB Staff on July 3, 2018

 

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E-City Beat would like to extend a big, hearty “WELCOME TO GREAT FALLS!” to the President and Commander in Chief of our Armed Forces. We’re not only proud to welcome President Trump, we’re excited and grateful that he has chosen our town for a Montana rally.

Just consider the thousands and thousands of dollars pouring into our local businesses and economy over the next few days, not to mention the hundreds and hundreds of out-of-town visitors. Imagine the national exposure for our beautiful city. What a great opportunity and privilege to have our President here during the Independence Day extended weekend.

Unfortunately there are some in our community who have allowed hate to trump their love of our community. Have you seen the social media campaign to organize protests while the President is here? We have no problem with peaceful, reasonable opposition and protest, but what we are seeing here in Great Falls now is just more of the same old hate and obstruction from the unhinged far left usual suspects. Here is the FB event posting for their demonstration.

“Refuse service to Donald Trump and his entourage.”?

“Donald Trump is NOT WELCOME in our city…”?

“Rally against and refuse service to Trump”?

Is that the love that trumps hate? It doesn’t sound like it. In fact it sounds like these folks have been listening to Rep. Maxine Waters and taking their cues from her hateful and divisive calls to incite mobs against Trump Administration officials and others.

“Is that the love that trumps hate? It doesn’t sound like it. In fact it sounds like these folks have been listening to Rep. Maxine Waters and taking their cues from her hateful and divisive calls to incite mobs against Trump Administration officials and others.”

The organizer for the Great Falls anti-Trump rally is 2018 Great Falls school board candidate and Great Falls MSU Director of the Weaver Library and eLearning, Laura Wight.

We found it interesting looking at the list of people who are going to the protest which includes local Great Falls State Representative Casey Schreiner (D). We have to wonder why Schreiner, a public official elected to represent ALL of us, would support and associate himself with a group that calls on local businesses to refuse service to fellow citizens.

Doesn’t Schreiner understand the big economic benefit this event will have for local business or that telling our President he is “not welcome in our community” is not one of our local values?

We hope voters remember how out of touch Representative Schreiner is when it comes time to vote this November. We don’t believe that embracing the “We Hate Trump” movement and having such open disdain and disrespect for our President, who won in a landslide in Montana and a wide margin in Cascade County, is providing the leadership or representation we deserve here.

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New Axios Poll: Tester In Trouble

ECB Staff on March 10, 2018

According to a new poll from Axios, Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) might be in a little bit of trouble this year.

Tester is getting pounded to the tune of 55-42 against the generic “Republican,” presumably Montana State Auditor Matt Rosendale.

From his shameless sycophancy to Big Pharma, to his flip-flopping on DACA, to his #Resistance-styled obstructionism that is to the left of even Chuck Schumer — Tester joined socialists Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders as one of the lonely 18 “resisters” who voted to continue the failed Schumer Shutdown, even as Schumer himself voted to re-open the government — Jon Tester appears increasingly and remarkably out of touch with Montana values.

Blue wave, anyone?

Principles Or Politics

Philip M. Faccenda on December 11, 2017

A couple of months ago during the Great Falls City Commission campaign, I posted a Facebook request for then candidate Mary Moe calling for her to provide voters with a definitive position on historic monuments and references to local figures. The Columbus Day post was recently reposted to E-City Beat.

I think it is safe to say that most notable memorialized individuals from our collective history were not without flaws, especially when taken out of historical contexts and judged by today’s standards. Now historic statues are being vandalized, or removed from public property, and streets are being renamed to progressively purge any reference to notable individuals and causes not to our liking.

History is a continuum and our references to individuals should be viewed as celebrations of their accomplishments, not necessarily their personal faults, or commonly held views and practices of the times in which they lived.

In Great Falls, we have only a few statues and monuments to those who have influenced and contributed to the development of our region, but we also have schools named after national figures as do almost every part of our country. Local monuments and references include Lewis and Clark, Charles Russell, Paris Gibson, and Captain John Mullan. We know that both Lewis and Clark were slave owners and that Clark was particularly brutal to his human property.

Captain John Mullan’s statue is located at the southern end of Gibson Park and honors his work in constructing the Mullan Road which In 1978 was named a National Historic Engineering Landmark. 

John Mullan, Jr. (July 31, 1830 – December 28, 1909) was an American soldier, explorer, civil servant, and road builder. After graduating from the United States Military Academy in 1852, he joined the Northern Pacific Railroad Survey, led by Isaac Stevens. He extensively explored western Montana and portions of southeastern Idaho, discovered Mullan Pass, participated in the Coeur d’Alene War waged against the area’s native inhabitants, of whom 17 were hung, and led the construction crew which built the Mullan Road in Montana, Idaho, and Washington state between the spring of 1859 and summer of 1860.

Keith Petersen’s book, John Mullan: The Tumultuous Life of a Western Road Builder, asserts that John Mullan was a racist. He was upset that the Civil War was being waged on behalf of African Americans and slavery rather than maintaining the union, yet also felt that secession was a “fraud” and that war would only lead to devastation. He believed that government was “a white man’s government” and that laws should be written “by white men, for the benefit of white men.” He believed “negro suffrage was forced upon the people”, opposed Asian immigration (except for commercial purposes, such as coolie labor), and opposed naturalization of Asian immigrants. “There is no way to whitewash Mullan’s racism,” historian Keith Petersen has written. “Even for his time and that place, his opinions were vile”

(Petersen, Keith (2014). John Mullan: The Tumultuous Life of a Western Road Builder. Pullman, Wash.: Washington State University Press. ISBN 9780874223217.)

Will a city commissioner Mary Moe offer a motion to haul off Captain Mullan into the sunset and rename the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, simply the Corps of Discovery Interpretive Center?

The following by now commissioner elect Mary Moe appeared in her Facebook campaign site: https://www.moe4citycommission.com/refined-processes/

“We recently saw several examples of cities tearing down monuments in the heat of the reaction to the events in Charlotte, NC. Having written policies for establishing and/or discontinuing such memorials forces a community and its governing body to take a step back from the emotion of the moment and apply the standards created for such a situation in the cool voice of reason. Does the City of Great Falls have a naming policy for monuments and memorials on city property? We should – and the policy should provide guidance for how that honor might be rescinded.”

Should the citizens of Great Falls expect Mary Moe to pursue and advance such a policy to selectively rewrite history and act as judge and jury for naming rights and the rescission of existing historic acknowledgements?

We recently witnessed the gravity of the issue with the resignation of a school district trustee over the naming of the New Roosevelt School. Quite frankly, Mansfield Elementary sounds pretty good to me, or maybe it could have just been named Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary.

Be it Principle, or Politics, I think you owe us an answer, Commissioner-elect Moe.

Great Falls Landlords Oppose NeighborWorks Project

ECB Staff on January 20, 2017

This week, the Great Falls Landlords Association unanimously opposed a measure that would grant NeighborWorks Great Falls assistance from the Montana Board of Housing for its proposed Rockcress Commons development, a 124-unit apartment complex to be built south of Great Falls College-MSU. Local and state chapter President Ricky Linafelter submitted a letter to the Board, urging its members to deny funding for the project.

Linafelter argued that Great Falls no longer faces a housing shortage, and that the current rental market is tough on landlords:

There was a survey done approximately two years ago concerning the shortage of housing in the Great Falls area. When this survey was done, the shortage of housing was due, in part, to the extra short-term workers in town revamping the refinery.  This project has since been completed.  We now feel that there is an ample amount of housing available.  I, myself, have 6 units of my 24 units vacant at this time.  I surveyed the members at the meeting last night, and the majority of them have vacancies.  The estate of my previous vice-president, who passed away last month, has 5 units of the 20 units vacant.  I had one other landlord tell me he has 16 vacancies at this time.

The landlords also took issue with the prospect of NeighborWorks’ partner in the project, GMD Development, a for-profit company from Seattle, drawing income in Montana and receiving Montana grant money, while not contributing sufficiently to our state’s economy:

We do not feel that Montana grant money should be given to an out-of-state for-profit company. Furthermore, we do not feel that on out-of-state company should be able to acquire income generating property in Montana and not be required to pay property taxes as required by Montana residential property owners.  In addition, we do not feel that an out-of-state company should benefit from money collected as Montana rental income and spend that money outside of Montana.  This project will result in an out-of-state company benefitting from rental income generated in Montana without requiring that company to contribute to sustain Montana’s economy.

Read the letter in its entirety here.