Trego's Mountain Ear

Most of the protests I see are in Whitefish. Sometimes I drive by protests at Eureka’s historical village – but those are relatively infrequent, of short duration, and generally, I know they happened because I see photographs and comments on Facebook. Facebook provides an improvement over the sixties – where you can look to see who is protesting in the security of your living room, instead of attending and being dragged into a counterprotest.

I still recall the counterprotest at a Viet Nam protest – most of the protesters were walking down the street (and inexperienced) while trying to chant in unison “Hey, hey, LBJ, How many kids did you kill today?” Some of the ‘heys’ ran into the ‘J’s – I recall thinking that some of our schools must not have taught how to sing rounds. And through it all, an old woman (probably younger than I am now, and less than 5 feet tall) was hopping up and down chanting “You’re all cowards.”

When I drive through Whitefish, I occasionally encounter abortion protests in front of (what I assume is) a clinic. Sometimes the car in front of me, or the car I am meeting, responds with horn blasts and flipping the protestors off. Sometimes the protestors get friendly waves. Often, a single female stands quietly across the street.

Once, returning home from Kalispell, I saw a demonstration outside the Border Troll offices – people dressed casually, with a sign that I read as “Free Beer.” Remember, I was driving, so misreading the sign is more understandable – as I got closer, I realized that two letters were obscured by a light pole, and that the sign actually read “Free Beaker.” I have no idea why Beaker needed freedom, nor why Beaker was incarcerated.

On the other hand, free beer might be a way to attract more participants at protests.