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Prejudice is Pre-judgement
I woke up early – and as the coffee was perking thought about my prejudices. I was born a Navy brat – and for years, the sight of a Marine or two just made me feel safe. I was past fifty when that ingrained belief from my toddler days had to be examined in reality – the two young Marines that were in the restaurant with me, in dress blues, were headed toward the high school – and then would be going in harm’s way. My toddler pre-judgement that Marines create safety was balanced against my professor responsibility to look…
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I attended the recent school board meeting with a healthy level of skepticism, a typical “No!” Like many in this community, I had heard the concerns: that the proposal is too expensive, that it may lead to future tax increases, or that the scope is unclear. Rather than rely on secondhand information, I went to…
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I was looking at a post on Facebook the other day – one of those regular posts that complain about the folks who drive at excessive speed. The woman who wrote it described being passed “by the pond just before the school.” She’s relatively new to the community (by my standards) but I realized that…
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This chart shows the drop in US crime between 2024 and 2025: Frankly, I like seeing less crime. I don’t even mind the fact that with less crime our police have less work to do. Pour a cup of coffee, relax for a moment, and then go back to work keeping the numbers falling.
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While America was glued to the trial of Martha Stewart, the United States was launching theIraq War—a decision that would cost trillions, reshape the Middle East, and echo for decades. That’s not a coincidence people should be comfortable ignoring. It’s a pattern. And once you see it—you don’t unsee it. THE SHOW NEVER STOPS Every…
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When I went to get some repair work done, the person I was consulting advised fixing the structural issues and then putting the same ancient dilapidated siding back on the building. The rational? Property taxes. Last summer, we joked about how much the nice flowers my mother had on their porch raised their taxes. They…
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I spent most of a year away from the school after I finished my term. I attended a couple of board meetings because I was asked – on one hand, there was, at the least, the appearance of an unlawful board meeting . . . unlawful because it appeared to violate Montana’s open meeting law.…
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Historically, independent voters, and voters for minor third parties, do not get a large percentage of votes. Often, they’re considered “spoiler” candidates, who lose the election for someone by dra4wing critical support away during a close race. Or their thought of as simply “protest candidates” with no chance of winning. In Montana, for the presidential…
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Not many years ago, if you were faced with a cluster of unacceptable clowns on your ballot, you could write a name in and cast a protest vote. Hell, I guess you still can – the thing is, your write-in protest vote won’t be counted or reported. With the elimination of subsection 7 last year,…
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I’m having trouble summarizing this one, not least because I lost my notes. In short: The meeting did discuss prayer, but did not discuss a four day week. About prayer: The discussion was specifically with regards to having prayer on the agenda as a part of each school board meeting. The result- no. Community presence…
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The proposed library district has me looking at taxation again. One of the great things about Lincoln County is that, with three high school districts, it’s easy to figure out which communities provide the funds that keep our county going. Market Value Taxable Value Percentage Libby $1,687,186,708 $21,911,499 36.42% Troy $831,354,553 $10,966,329 18.23% Eureka $1,974,407,031…
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Now it takes a single click to get the data. So what does it mean? I measured the record lows back in 1977 – this chart, from the Grave Creek site, shows how the critical snowfall that brings us up to normal or above occurs between the February measurements and April 1. I don’t know…
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The USDA has updated plant hardiness zones, and despite last winter’s impressive cold, we’ve jumped up a zone (to 5a from 4b in 2012; the average low went up by 6 degrees) Hardiness zones are a (partial) climate description that’s been in existence for a bit over a century, though the government didn’t get involved…