Sunday, January 31, 2010

HAVRE SCHOOL BOARD PUTS US ON THE MAP

The Havre School Board again added to the suspicions that some of Havre’s “leaders” have some sort of mental issues. Kim Skornogoski, reporter for the Great Falls Tribune, did a great job on the Mahon / Havre School Board mess where the taxpayers again get stuck with the bill. Http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20101310301
Will this story ever die down? According to the facts the board has discerned we are intelligent enough to understand, they have only pissed away less than 1% of the Havre School Budget of over 18 million. So why are we upset? It is hardly going to hurt the school budget because they can run a small (like $150,000 maybe?) mill levy request in the May election and everything will be back to normal. Our guess is that the board has their taxing bean counters running the numbers as we speak so the board can start formulating the same old ad campaign they run every year telling us tripe like “if you have a $100,000 house this mill levy will only cost you $4.75 per month to save a teachers job, save the students program s, save the whatever blah, blah, blah, do it for the kids) If Havre residents vote yes to any mill levy request from these nit-wits this spring it will prove that we are all idiots and deserve what we get.

It’s bad enough to know we are from and living in the town of the ignorant but this current school board has made us not only infamous statewide, but now school administration type publications are watching this story as it unfolds. Be sure and check out the story from the Yellowstone County News and do a Google search for Mahon / Havre, etc and you will find that we are listed as the ink spot on the map of stupidity.
http://www.montanastrailhead.com/2010/01/29/04/56/mysteries-of-superintendent-dave-mahon/#more-1167
http://www.huntleyproject.net/yellowstonecountynews.htm

Saturday, January 30, 2010

A T-SHIRT FOR BEEROGRE?

Beerogre made us think. Maybe he does indeed warrant a free T-Shirt for his report on the Hi-Way 2 meeting. What do our readers think? We have been asking that people get involved, attend some of the many meetings that are held around town each day that affect our lives and our pocket books, and send us a report. Our presence is making a difference in how our local boards are dealing with the citizens of our fair City. For instance, the school board is concerned enough with our “reporting” to actually read the blog, even though they are bellyaching about it and trying to blame “certain” individuals as the authors of this blog. It has been reported to us that the City department heads read the blog and are intensely searching for the sob’s that write the less then flattering reports about their activities. We can see with our own eyes that the inept pain in the rear Councilman Bob Kaul has backed off his infernal yacking a notch or two at the council meetings. So we think we are making a difference.


What we need is for more people to take an active role in our local government and help us report on what happens at the countless meetings that the Corrector bloggers are unable to attend. If a few T-shirts will give motivation for people to help us with that we are willing to look into getting a few out to you. What do you think?

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Friday, January 29, 2010

HIGHWAY 2 CORRIDOR

TO DO OR NOT TO DO? THAT WAS THE QUESTION


We apologize for being late with this story. A couple of us attended the MDT meeting last night to hear Highway Director Jim Lynch give the community an update on the progress of our quest for a better Highway 2. The meeting drew 70 people or so that want to see our northern tier highway improved. The MDT has in place and ready to go a plan to improve about 10 miles of road east of Havre to what they call a “Super 2” which isn’t what the Highway 2 Association has been advocating for since 2001. Lynch said the “Super 2” project will be ready to go to bid by July of this year with the project to be completed in two phases with the first starting this fall. The Highway 2 Association is advocating that we reopen the EIS and “revisit” the findings to see if we can convince the highway commission to change the project to 4 lanes. The problem with that scenario is that it may take, according to Lynch, up to an additional 2 years to get back to where they are today with the planning of the Super 2 but the time could be as short as 6 months extra.

This was a long, drawn out meeting lasting over 2 ½ hours. All three Hill County Commissioners attended, as well as 2 of the three Blaine County Commissioners. Havre City Council members, Woodwick, Brekke, Kaftan, and our good buddy the ever talking Bob Kaul attended. Noticeably absent were council people Tretheway, Long, Hillary, Vies and newly elected Mayor Tim Solomon. Other notables attending were Senator Kim Hanson, Representative Wendy Warburton, and the Harlem Mayor. We found it encouraging that there was a broad show of support by people attending from all points between Fort Belknap and Havre, even former Mayor Rice showed up.

Basically the choices presented to the group were to go forward with the project that is funded and could be started this fall, the Super-2, or re-do the EIS as the Highway 2 Association desires and delay the project with no guarantee that it would be changed to 4-lane. Lynch did say that waiting and re-doing the EIS wouldn’t “make us go to the back of the line” but that he couldn’t speculate about what funds would be available in the future for a later project.

Association President Sivertson is fearful that if we accept this down-sized project as a Super 2 it will set the tone for all future projects on highway 2 which is over 660 miles long. Others are afraid that if we miss this opportunity we may miss out on the funding which is available now. Lynch wants the Corp of Engineers to come to Havre in the next couple of weeks to talk about our "chances" and "problems" associated with going for the 4-lane

What do our readers say? Do you want to take the “bird” you have in your hand and be satisfied? Or do you want to wait and see if we can grab the two “birds” that are in the bush? Comment please

One of our readers “beerogre” was also in attendance and had these observations.

beerogre
I attended. The Jim Lynch 'road show' no wonder this guy works in Helena he is full of hot air.
Summary:
1. Environmental Impact Studies (EIS) rule everything.
2. EIS (4 yrs ago) determined that an improved highway was the way to go.
3. 21 million dollar project right of ways already bought and design finished, 10 -12 miles directly east of Havre.
4. only 2 passing lanes 1.45 miles long - way better than old .75 mile passing lanes in other parts of state.
5. 8 foot shoulders with 6-1 slope ditches - way big improvement at least 15 references to how great this slope is
6. some left and right turning lanes plus bus turnouts especially at turn to new dump
7. In order to get 4 lanes we will have to reopen EIS and may not get Environmentalists to think we need 4 lane so might be waste of time and delay project
8. Highway project funding bill is in continuing resolution if we reopen EIS funding will go to other projects could delay and not have money for this project depending on "current spending climate" as you know is tough
9. Feds will come to meet with us so we can waste more time at overly crowded meeting
10. local government(leaders?) needs to tell MDT to go ahead or not- bids to be open in July.
11. THere is a reason why the MDT avoids doing projects in N central MT

Thanks beerogre, now comments from our readers?

OPEN MESSAGE TO OUR POLITICIANS

Thursday, January 28, 2010

STATE OF THE UNION


The bloggers at the Corrector have been avoiding posting about President Obama’s first State of the Union address last night because we are having a hard time even deciding if he actually said anything in his hour plus speech to over 48 million viewers. Even our official “Banner carrying Democrat” blogger excused herself from responding with a blog about his speech.


The speech was polite though “Luke warm” in detail. He talked about the need to put “silly” arguments aside, spoke of human rights in Iran, and arm control but the “fact of the matter” is that we found the speech rather lackluster. Apparently American voters did also as evidenced by Obama’s dropping poll numbers today. President Obama spoke out as a Washington “outsider” not beholding to lobbyists, yet his administration is full of lobbyists. He mentioned a plan for future tax cuts yet his performance this past year is forcing tax increases, he talked about not leaving our children with a “mountain of debt” yet he has burdened America with the largest deficit spending in history. We failed to hear anything “new and promising.

On the positive side, we did not hear any reference to race or race relations so possibly we can tout that we are finally coming together as “One Nation”, with people of all kinds coming together to work towards a brighter future. In addition, Representative Joe Wilson was very well behaved, didn’t yell out “You Lie!” and actually stood and applauded on a couple of occasions.

The Corrector will leave the “comments” on this speech to our readers. What did you think of President Obama’s very first State of the Union speech?

Taxes, Taxes, Taxes!!!

Since many of you have asked just where your taxes go and the tax summaries your receive each fall are not all that broken down, one of our readers put together a spreadsheet you can use to see where they go.

It's not fool proof or meant to be 100% accurate but it is pretty close. One example of this is with the County Permissive Medical Levy. If you use our calculator and compate it to your 2009 tax statement the Permissive Medical Levy is included in our total listing and separated out on your tax statement. Also these lists are the tax levy distributions and does not include any special assessments such as refuse district, mosquito district, street lights, street maintenance, etc., just levies taxes.

It is pretty simple, just enter the Taxable Market Value figure listed on your tax notice in the yellow box and then click either the County Mills tab at the bottom if you are a County resident or the City Mills tab if you are a City resident and voila!



You can also click the Save as Excel link in the upper right-hand corner and save it to your own computer to use as well. Play around with it and see what you think and let us know.

HIGHWAY 2 MEETING TONIGHT

The Montana Department of Transportation will be at the Hill County Electric hospitality room tonight at 5:30 pm to update everyone on the latest for the Highway 2 project slated from Havre to 10 miles east. The MDT has the project on the schedule to be rebuilt to a Super 2. The Highway 2 Association is rallying their members to attend this meeting to “demand” the project be altered to encompass the start of the 4-lane highway across the northern route which is more than 660 miles. Go and give your opinion.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

KEEPING AN EYE ON THE SCHOOL BOARD


When we at the Corrector look back through our posts we notice that the Havre School System has received the most blows from our comment section. If you are truly interested in making some changes the Corrector would like to remind you that the Havre School Board is meeting today at 12:15 to talk about the Mahon replacement issue. This would be the time to pack the house and voice your disgust. Also if you go early you may notice the tax-funded lunch spread out for the School Board’s working meeting members that they plan to again rudely eat in front of the audience. The Corrector encourages you, since you paid for it with your taxes and you are a tax-payer, go ahead and gobble it up along with them, don’t be shy. :-)


Also for those that have been thinking of filing to run for the School Board, the filing deadline is March 25th for the May4th election. Let’s bring some sensibility and transparency back to the school board.
Post your comments or e-mail us your "investigative tips" to havredailycorrector@bresnan.net

MAHON NEWS MARCHES ON

Isn’t it strange how this “Havre School Board versa Dave Mahon” story just keeps going and going? Could it be because it is actually newsworthy? Or could it be that the reporters also smell a rat and think they are on the verge of uncovering a boondoggle only equaled by Watergate? This was reported yesterday on KTVQ - Billings, and also on KPAX - Missoula

Jon Stewart Makes Fun of Obama's Teleprompters

I couldn't resist this one.  Jon Stewart can be very funny at times and since he all but campaigned for the the President makes this short video even funnier!

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Obama Speaks to a Sixth-Grade Classroom
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Political HumorHealth Care Crisis

Remember all those folks that kept telling us how stupid George W. Bush was? I cannot remember ole George using his teleprompters this much and I think even ole Obama could afford to go off the cue card for a minute since his agenda seems to be stalling of late! With his superior intellect and his talented and ethical advisors by his side, this is definitely the Hope and Change we all voted for!

Enjoy!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

HAVRE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND MAHON - TIMELINE


The bloggers at the Corrector have been busy making some calls to try and get to the bottom of what seems to be an idiotic decision on the School Boards part to continue paying Dave Mahon after his “alleged” resignation. What we have been running into is that everybody with any knowledge of the inside “scoop” repeatedly tell us that they “know nothing” or they tell us “you wouldn’t understand” unless you were privy to all the facts and are one of the brilliant member of the Havre Academia community.. As tax-payers, we have purchased the right to know the facts when we sent our taxes to District 16 wouldn’t you think?

In trying to piece together all the stories were getting it seems as though this is the timeline:
• Huntley School construction controversy.
• Huntley board unhappy with Mahon and Mahon unhappy in Huntley, starts looking for a new job.
• Parman resigns and search begins for a new super at HPS.
• HPS Search committee gets Mahon's app, exactly what we're looking for!
• Mahon is finalist at HPS.
• Mahon vetted by an attorney for the HPS instead of through the School Board Association Professionals which would have had knowledge of prior Huntley Project problems.
• HPS Search Committee and Board does not check contract status with Huntley and HPS offers position to Mahon and he accepts.
• Huntley finds out about Mahon moving to Havre. They do not try to stop it as they want him gone but are upset by the fact he keeps them in the dark and then he proceeds to request payment under the terms of his current contract until he moves to Havre. This pissed off the board which moves to find him in breach.
• Mahon moves to Havre
• Mahon doesn’t even look to purchase a house and become a permanent resident of Havre, instead opting to wait and see how things develop (are settlements and broken contracts a normality for Mahon?)
• Mahon recommends HPS move forward on Highland Park project and recommends they look at Construction Manager at Risk to ensure maximum funny money appeal. Introduces Nelson Architects who have the plan and with whom he coincidently had “prior” experience.
• Mahon recommends to board that they hire out of town contractor, Dick Anderson Construction and his designer Nelson Architects because he has had personal dealings with them.  (any checks to Mahon involved?)
• Dick Anderson controversy, blog questions Huntley connection (not on contract basis but on relationship with Nelson Architects and Dick Anderson).
• Havre starts to find disagreements with him and starts referring to him as "in over his head."
• Board continues to be unhappy with Mahon and starts seeking ways to remedy situation.
• Board of Public Ed inquiry makes Mahon nervous and he starts looking for a way out of Havre contract so as not to be found in breach.
• Shad and Aileen take him up on the offer and “negotiate” to pay him off to leave as it is "in everybody's best interests." Happy to see him go.
• Public Meeting is planned where nothing will be discussed or questions taken. Announcement of termination effective immediately.
• HDN and the blog weigh in and comments begin to fly after HDN files FOIA on termination agreement and publishes its terms revealing a huge buy-off to Mahon as his resignation came mid-term and not many Super jobs available mid-year
• As of yesterday, School Board Association website lists 4 currently available Superintendent positions state wide proving jobs are indeed available
• Huntley weighs in and Board is caught by surprise when Mahon wasn't even technically under contract as Huntley never released him. (even though one of our bloggers "discovered this fact by searching for "Mahon-Huntley" on Google and knew in July before this blog was even begun that the Huntley School Board was taking Mahon to task for breach of contract" -apparently the acadamics on the board don't know how to use the internet)
• Now they hunker down to ride out the storm.
• Statewide News Coverage begins to take note of tax payer protest of board decision. In a mini-Massachusetts, Tea-party political environment, it's a feel good story of small town local stupidity being seen as big and stark as Goldman Sachs golden parachutes and Bank of America TARP paid bonuses.

Stay tuned Corrector readers. We have not uncovered even one iota of this deal turned sour that our “leaders” had hoped would never come to light.

KFBB Weighs in on HPS Superintendent Controversy

KFBB's news team ventured to Havre recently to get its take on the Havre Superintendent controversy. The local ABC affiliate interviewed a few local folks about their opinion on the School Board's decision.



Other statewide news coverage of this story can be found at the Billings Gazette and the Missoulian. Thanks to our readers for pointing those stories as well.

What say you Corrector readers?

Monday, January 25, 2010

NORTHERN WINZ CASINOS

ANYONE HAVE ANY COMMENTS ON THE SMOKING BAN IN CASINOS?

SNOW REMOVAL


Anyone think maybe our City Snow crews are getting some kind of kick-back from the 4-wheel drive truck dealers? I have never seen such a mess on our streets (except for last year that is) Why is it we can’t budget a few pesos for snow removal? Navigating Havre’s streets is so difficult during the winter months that I have actually considered trading my little car for a Ford F-150 4-wheel drive so I can get out of my driveway and get around downtown. I would rather pay a few bucks for snow removal as a cheaper option.


One of our readers pointed out to us that every business has cleared their parking lots and all the snow routes that the State takes care of were plowed even while it was still snowing. I wonder why the City can’t seem to manage to haul a few loads of snow off but they can put three guys to work taking down Christmas decorations.

Do you think the City should reprioritize their budget?

Wally Jewell


Former Havre Justice of the Peace Wally Jewell announced his retirement today after 20 years on the bench. Wally and his family moved to Helena in the early 90’s were he was elected as the Lewis and Clark Justice of the Peace. Wally served as our local Justice of the Peace for three years and his wife Pep Jewell was the principal at the Middle School in the early 90’s. You may also remember Wally as the “Camera” man from Don’s Pharmacy. 61 year old Jewell’s retirement is effective in July when his current term expires.


Good Luck to Wally in the future.

http://www.helenair.com/news/local/article_720e07ea-08ae-11df-89dd-001cc4c03286.html  

Sunday, January 24, 2010

HAVRE SCHOOL BUDGETS AND EXPENDITURES



Anyone know where to get a copy of the Havre School Budget? According to the Sunshine Review   http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/States_with_spending_online   Schools should have a copy of their respective budgets available on line at each school’s website, which Havre does not.  http://www.havre.k12.mt.us/havrek12/site/default.asp

Let’s take a look at some charts regarding historical data for the Havre School system. In 2008 the High School District spent 6.53 million of your tax dollars http://www.schoolsopenmt.org/TLR1_DD_Exp.aspx?Year=2008  while the Havre Elementary system spent 11.57 million http://www.schoolsopenmt.org/TLR1_Main.aspx

Maybe some taxpayers would like to call the Freedom of Information Hotline to get some advice on how to go about getting information released from our School Board? http://www.umt.edu/Journalism/alumni/professional_resources/Montana_FOI.html  This board had a budget of over 18.10 million dollars in 2008. After last Wednesday’s questionable expenditure, wouldn’t you like to know what else this board has been spending their money on?

Give us some feedback

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Saturday, January 23, 2010

HIGHWAY 2 PROJECT FOR HAVRE TO 10 MILES EAST

The Highway 2 Association has been working towards the construction of a 4-lane highway on Highway 2 since the turn of the decade. Sometime in the early 1960’s people like Norm Gorder, Dwayne Kretchmer, and other former Havre business people worked hard throughout the years to get High-way 2 widened and could never get our legislature to help with any of the funding that a major reconstruction would require. The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) presently has on the table a proposal to reconstruct approximately 10 miles of Highway 2 to an expanded 2 lane with passing lanes beginning at the edge of Havre. The MDT is holding a meeting on their proposal on Thursday, January 28th at 5:30 pm in the Hill County Electric Hospitality Room to update the public on the status of this important project.

Bob Sivertson, President of the Highway 2 Association , has been inviting people to the meeting to support his efforts to get the MDT to “revisit” the findings of the EIS study which only warranted construction of a Super-2 instead of a 4-lane. Apparently Sivertson and his group which includes his travel buddies, Councilman Bob Kaul and Jimmy Tripleanus, are going to “throw a wrench in the gears” and are taking a “4-lanes or nothing stance" on this project.


Does that make sense to our readers? One would think that after being left 50 years in this highway wilderness a person wouldn’t want to jeopardize the 10-mile bone we have just been thrown. Be sure to attend this meeting if you have an opinion on Highway2
KFFB TV COVERAGE

DOES CONGRESS FEEL AMERICA’S ECONOMIC PAIN DURING THIS RECESSION?

Please keep in mind that this report is from the most liberal news source in America.  Great report from CNN


DO YOU THINK OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT ENTITYS, LIKE THE CITY, COUNTY AND SCHOOL BOARD FEEL HILL COUNTY TAX-PAYERS ECONOMIC PAIN DURING THIS RECESSION?
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Friday, January 22, 2010

DECORATIONS ARE DOWN ----- CHRISTMAS IS OFFICIALLY OVER


Thanks to the City Workers for graciously helping with the Christmas Decorations throughout Havre this Christmas Season. Which reminds me, weren’t we supposed to have some full blown inspection by the Department of Labor and Industry this week? I recall when Kaul ratted off our City for unsafe working conditions that the boys from both the Insurance Company and from the State of Montana were supposed to come up and give them a good talking too. (And maybe a few fines and extra expense corrective actions also) Wasn’t that supposed to happen this week? Everyone I talked to “knew nothing” like usual of course.

It appeared to me that the three guys taking down the decorations were safe enough. One guy in the bucket and two leaning on the truck and no one was driving while the arm was up.
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Thursday, January 21, 2010

KRTV - Great Falls to begin posting all city transactions online

KRTV - Great Falls News - Home - Montana's News Station - Fair. Accurate. To the Point.Great Falls to begin posting all city transactions online





What would be so hard with Havre following suit and doing this? People that are interested could see how our tax money is being spent. The County, for instance, still has a 4 year old budget posted on their website.

Furthermore, and I am just guessing here, but I would guess that the number that would troll the School books online would number in the thousands here in Hill County after todays Superintendent story. Lets start lobbying our officials

YOU CAN STOP THE STUPIDITY


Are you fed up with the way things are run in our local government? Tired of seeing your tax-dollars being wasted on Courthouse steps, ObamaCare, needless Stimulus projects, or other nonsense like today’s story about the School Boards idiotic pay-off to one of our tax-funded employees?


Here is an opportunity to learn about what it takes to run for office promoted in the Great Falls Tribune as a non-partisan Campaign School.

You can also get information on the Secretary of State Linda McCulloch’s website at http://sos.mt.gov/index.asp  and view the Montana Political Practices website at http://politicalpractices.mt.gov/5campaignfinance/default.mcpx   You can also call your local political parties in Hill County to get assistance and information about what you have to do to mount a campaign for office. John Musgrove is the Democrat Hill County Party chairman and his number is 265-1787. Andrew Brekke is the Republican Party chairman and his number is 265-5256.

Changing Havre’s government is going to take some fresh ideas instead of the same old same old from our local incumbent leaders. No incumbent should run unopposed and you can make it happen.

HAVRE SCHOOL BOARD SCREWS TAXPAYERS IN YET ANOTHER BEHIND THE SCENES SECRET MEETING


The Taxpayers have been harpooned with the big screw again. Whine, whine, and whine about never enough money to go around in our finely administered School District. Ballots for mill levy increases every damn year and sometimes twice a year to fund this or that at the biggest tax sink-hole in Hill County even to the point of wasting more money than the County Courthouse if that puts things in perspective for our readers.

The HDN reported in tonight’s paper that the resignation of Superintendent Mahon came when the board offered to buy out his contract. For how much you say? Like a new wristwatch and a plaque of appreciation maybe? Hell No, this is an Elitist School administrator after all. The HDN reports that Mahon is to receive his full pay until his contract is complete on July 1 plus all his benefits. Now he makes $97,000 a year so that would be about $8,083 per month x the remaining 5 ½ months or about $45,000. Now if that isn’t bad enough the Havre School Board also voted to give Mahon an additional years pay, or another $97,000 to get him to just go away. They pissed off in excess of $150,000 plus the cost of his benefits and they won’t answer any questions. Everything is top-secret any time you ask question of the School Board. If Mahon didn’t do anything wrong and just resigned why pay him off? If he was guilty of something then why give him a letter of recommendation for future employment? We want answers from the School Board and you can just shove that “we can’t say because it is a personnel matter” crap right back up where the sun doesn’t shine.


What other business, or for that matter even government entities pay off resigning help this way? This is pure bullshit at tax-payers’ expense. I wonder did the football coach likewise receive a bonus when his employment ended. Apparently Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have come to Havre unbeknownst to the rest of us and had a little private management training with our School “Administration”. This is just the beginning. You may have noticed in our previous blog that the board also couldn’t answer any questions about the bungled up High Land Park school addition either. Everything is a big secret, but now I can see why.

Three positions are up for election this May. 1 for a one year term, and 2 for a three year term. The only requirements are that you be at least 18 and a registered voter in District 16 and have lived in the district for at least 6 months. The election will be held on May 4th and the deadline to file is March 25th.  BE SURE AND TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS TO VOTE NO, NO AND HELL NO! on any and all future mill-levy requests that come from this gaggle of idiots.

If you like this decision do nothing. If you are infuriated like we are give your local tax-spending idiots a call and tell them how you feel, after all, it is your money they are spending. What a slap this action is to the local tax-payers struggling in this economy.

HAVRE PUBLIC SCHOOLS BOARD OF TRUSTEES FOR DISTRICT 16
Shad Huston, chair, 945-1059
Aileen Couch, vice-chair, 394-2375
Norman Proctor, 265-9057
Darlene Bricker, 265-9018
Curtis Smeby, 262-9596
Cindy Erickson, 265-5952
Lee Christianson, 265-5114
Harvey Capellen, 265-9553

CALL THEM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAVRE SCHOOL BOARD


The School Board meet today and Chairman Shad Huston announced that he had a letter of resignation from Superintendent Dave Mahon. A person from the audience of about a dozen people asked what the board planned to do and Shad responded that the number 2 man, Andy Carlson, would handle the Superintendents duties until the board could find a replacement. Mahon’s replacement will be discussed at the next School Board meeting which is January 26 at 12:15 at the Robins School building.

The Corrector learned that a couple of local contractors were in attendance and had some questions about the High Land Park School job but Chairman Huston stated that the board could not respond to questions during the open comment of the meeting but he would be happy to talk to them after the meeting.

The corrector made some calls and discovered that those contractors in attendance were Brad Lotton and Tyler Smith. One of the people we use as a source of information for our blog happened to know Lotton personally and gave him a call to find out what was said. Lotton said that he just enquired as to the bid process as local contractors were thinking it was odd the invitation to bid came from the school clerk instead of the General Contractor himself and just asked that question during the open comments at the end of the meeting. He also went on to say that he only went to the meeting because the contractors he had been discussing this thought maybe the Superintendents mysterious termination had something to do with the building project. The contractors he was discussing this with were going to the Chamber dinner which was also at noon today so he just went to ask some questions to share with the rest of the guys. Chairman Huston discussed their concerns after the meeting. Apparently the letter from the school was just too alert locals that the foundation portion of the job was nearly ready to go out for bids.

Lotton and Smith questioned Huston about building costs and conflicting numbers being shared about town regarding the project. Lotton said they were told the contract was set for a range of between 1.3 to 1.5 million dollars and the total square footage of the building was 9,800 square feet. Lotton stated that he had been hearing that the job was originally to be completed for $110 per square foot which seemed highly improbable to him and Huston responded that the job wasn’t bid by the square foot but the original estimate projected by Anderson was between $144 to $150 per square foot while Clausen’s projections were for $160 to $180 per foot, but the board didn’t make their decision based on square footage costs.

Now isn’t that interesting? On Wednesday January 16th Superintendent Mahon reported to the HDN that bids for the foundation were put out on Monday yet that isn’t quite the truth. The HDN report also stated that the square footage price is currently at $150 per square foot and those prices appeared to be on track. Last week when one of our bloggers talked to a school board member they were told that Anderson had solicited the job with a figure of $110 per square foot. $110 peer foot computes to $1,078,000 and $150 computes to $1,470,000 which is quite a spread and the job isn’t even done with surveying yet. Just what is the truth? Could it be that the school board members themselves don’t have a clue what is going on? Is the sudden resignation of Mahon connected with the Highland Park project? Or is it just his mode of operation?

Something smells mighty fishy here. And speaking of Superintendent Mahon, it is interesting to note that we at the Corrector had no problem finding out tons of information in the Yellowstone Times and the Huntley paper about the building projects undertaken there, including the fact that the contractor hired to ultimately build the school that burned was not the low bidder, but was awarded the contract because (you get this) he was A LOCAL CONTRACTOR! We also learned that Mahon, Dick Anderson, and Nelson Architects were connected in earlier projects in Huntley. Hmmmmmmm

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

HITLER FINDS OUT ABOUT BROWN'S WIN




I am sorry but I find this damn funny

CITY COUNCIL MEETING

The Hamilton Consulting Group reported to the Havre City Council last night that they had just completed City’s annual Audit with no significant findings. Audit accountants Gordy Thompson and Jody Hellegard went on to say that this was the best audit the City had ever had and everything was in great shape. Good Job to former Mayor Bob on leaving the City records in great shape.


The council went on to pass a resolution regarding a grant application to the Montana DEQ for an energy efficiency block grant. Paul Tuss of Bear Paw Development reported that the City needed to have a formal request to participate and that we would be competing against other communities. (this is the same money that the recycle group enquired about). The grant must detail how much energy would be saved in each project and that the project ideally should have a pay back in less than 15 years. The city would have 2 years to spend the money. The City is eligible for $100,000 and an additional $50,000 grant is being secured for the air handling system at City Hall. The City voted to request the funds (shouldn’t this just be a given?) Dave Peterson, alleged director of Public Works, stated that he and Mayor Tim decided that there were three potential projects to do energy retrofits at City Hall and the City Shop as well as maybe a project at the Waste Water Treatment Plant on the North side. Also there is a possibility this grant money could be used to leverage the City’s funding to be used with other potential grants over the next two years.

The Hi-Way 2 Association requested via a letter to the council that the City vote to send a letter of support for the widening of Hi-Way 2 to a 4-lane road from Havre to Fort Belknap to the Montana Department of Transportation. This section of road is currently scheduled to be upgraded to a Super-2 with a re-build starting next year. Councilman Kaul requested that the council table this request until more information can be received at the MDT meeting scheduled for January 28th in the Hill County Electric hospitality room. Council persons Veis questioned why they couldn’t just do it instead of waiting for the meeting, and then after more incoherent babbling by Kaul all voted to table except Vies. It seems simple to those of us at the Corrector. By the way, Kaul is a member (and constant companion of Sivertson) of the very Hi-Way 2 Association that sent the council the letter of request in the first place. What is the matter with this guy? You either support trying to get the project expanded to 4-lane or you don’t. Apparently the DOT has threatened the possibility of delaying the project, rejecting it all together, or otherwise punishing those involved with the Hi-Way 2 Association for questioning their decision. We will have to wait until the meeting on the 28th to bring you an update.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

CITY COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS


Well the new Mayor has been King now for two weeks and his resident court jester Bob Kaul and the Jester’s chief economic adviser, the bankrupt foreign-born fine dining goat chef, Jimmy Tripleanus, have been constantly hounding poor Mayor Tim about their choices and opinions as to just who is worthy to serve on the council committees. To Mayor Tim’s credit it doesn’t appear that his advisory court got the team line ups they sought except the self-appointed rat of safety has retained his whistle-blowing chairmanship.


Mayor Tim’s City Council Committee appointments
• Labor Relations: Kaul, Chair; Long, Brekke, Woodwick
• Finance: Woodwick, Chair; Veis, Brekke, Hillery
• Streets & Sidewalks: Long, Chair; Woodwick, Hillery, Trethewey
• Water & Sewer: Veis, Chair; Brekke, Trethewey, Kaftan
• Ordinance: Brekke, Chair; Trethewey, Hillery, Long
• Fire & Police: Hillery, Chair; Kaftan, Kaul, Veis
• Park & Recreation: Kaftan, Chair; Woodwick, Long, Kaul
• Safety: Kaul, Chair, Trethewey

SCOTT BROWN WINS


The Associated Press declares Scott Brown the winner in the Massachusetts with two-thirds of the precincts reporting. The liberal CNN reported “Brown Wins” after ¾ of the vote was in showing Brown 52% to Coakly 47%. The Democrat National Committee had made over 2 million calls into Massachusetts on behalf of Martha Coakly and Brown was assisted with throngs of supporters from the Tea Party Movement that has vowed to “retake America”.


Brown had campaigned with a pledge to be the “41st vote needed to block ObamaCare.

The march back to conservative officials has begun.

CRAZY HUSH-HUSH SCHOOL BOARD MEETING




The Havre School Board today announced a special meeting regarding “Personnel Action” to be held Wednesday, January 20th in the Robins School building at 12:15 pm. Word around town is that it is to discuss the termination of Superintendent Dave Mahon’s contract with the Havre School System.


Mahon came to Havre in July of 2009 after vacating his position with Huntley Schools. Mahon was offered a contract with Havre Public Schools for $97,000 per year for a 3-year contract and $2,500 in moving expenses. Also Mahon received 15 days vacation, 12 days sick leave. Mahon left the Huntley Project School District after approximately 5-6 years mid-term of his contract and not with the delight of the Huntley School Board at his unexpected departure.

What is this “Top Secret” mysterious move by the Havre School Board? Calls of enquiry made by the staff of the Havre Daily Corrector to various school officials found everyone pretty “tight-mouthed” Are they actually going to fire the Superintendent? Or are they just taking him to the public “woodshed” for a little discipline and /or embarrassment? How much did the Havre School System spend in their search for Mahon? Are they heading there again?

Taxpayers, like usual, will be the last to know, or for that matter, understand the thought process of our local elected School Board. The Havre Daily Corrector would like to remind taxpayers that three positions are up for grabs this next election. It is time to replace the buy out of town crowd that expends more tax dollars than any other single entity in Hill County.

RECYCLE HI-LINE LOSES FUNDING OPTION


The first meeting of the Havre City Council where the newly elected where seated in their new position was held on January 4, 2010. Candy Zion, board chairperson of Recycle Hi-Line spoke of their groups efforts to develop a recycling center that would serve the 3 county area currently served by the Unified Disposal Board. Zion went on to inform the City officials of a grant she had discovered that would use stimulus money from funds administered through the State of Montana Department of Environmental Quality that could be used to finance the recycling center at no cost to the City or County. Paul Tuss, director of Bear paw Development, then spoke about the aspects of the grant. The DEQ grant was unusual as it didn’t even require the customary matching funds to be raised by the County, City or the Recycling Group asking for the City’s blessing in applying for the funds. Tuss went on to say that these grant funds under this program were available for anything that would encompass greater energy efficiency or conservation projects. The Recycling Groups project would fall within these guidelines.


Dave Peterson, Havre Director of Public Works was asked by one of the council members if the City had any projects in the works that could make use of these funds. Peterson with that deer caught in the headlights look responded with his customary, long drawn our “Weeellllllllll…………..we probably could have done some projects to improve insulation and do some window upgrades and retrofits in City buildings but he didn’t know the funds were available and he was sure he couldn’t get the grant applications done by the February 1st deadlines. The council then voted to support Zion’s efforts as long as it didn’t affect their funding.

Today news was released that the Recycling groups plans would be put on hold as both the City and County had come up with some ways they could use the money themselves. Kudos to Candy Zion for pointing out that this grant, which totals $250,000 to be shared by the City and County, to the numbskulls that aren’t paying attention in our Public Works Department. Better luck next round.

Yet another example of how one of our so called Department Heads has failed at his job.

POLL MANIPULATIONS


This blog and likewise the reader polls are provided to promote discussion on topics important to Havre and the surrounding community. Recently we ran two reader polls. In the first we asked - Do you agree with the Hill County Commissioners decision to cut the County Superintendent’s position to half time? Interestingly, at least for the first few days the votes remained pretty even at about 50% for and 50% against the Commissioners decision. Beginning Sunday afternoon we at the Corrector noticed that there were allot of votes being cast and very few were against the Commissioners decision until the poll totals showed that over 75% just loved the axing of Isbells position to half-time.


Not surprisingly, the second poll that asked which Incumbent candidate you would most like to see defeated was running steadily at 50% of those voting wishing to see Commissioner Mike Anderson defeated and about 5% saying they loved all the candidates listed and would vote to retain them all no matter who ran against them. Beginning Sunday until we removed the polls, votes were being cast rapidly manipulating the polls to show 200 people having cast a vote. We have discovered that if you clear your cache on your computer a person can vote again. We estimate that about 80 fictitious votes were cast Monday evening alone judging by the lower numbers showing on our blog visitor counter compared to the increase in poll voters.

Now it takes some time to vote – clear your cache of cookies - vote again – again clear - and on and on 80 plus times plus whatever votes were cast Sunday before we realized what was happening. Most of these votes were cast for retaining all the incumbent Democrats to their respective Courthouse offices.

The question that came to mind with those of us at the Havre Daily Corrector was that if local Democrats are so afraid and concerned with silly poll votes cast on a blog designed to illicit discussion to cause one or more of them to be this dishonest with the people they represent, Why would we want to vote to retain any of them? Think about the amount of time and energy these people expended to distort the opinions of our readers.

Yes again say, THROW ALL THE BUMS OUT!   On a positive note at least our readers now know the lengths the ACORN affiliated local Democrat Machine will go to manipulate the vote.  And YES, our resident Democrat blogger is embarrassed that she is affiliated with that bunch of dishonest jerks.

Monday, January 18, 2010

BROWN LEADS IN THE POLLS

Karl Rove predicts a Brown win in Massachusetts by 4-6 points to fill Ted Kennedy's Senate seat. A Brown win will be the first Republican to hold this seat since 1972. Is this a mandate from the people that ObamaCare as it is written is not the will of the American people?

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/01/19/karl_rove_scott_brown_will_win_by_3-6_points.html


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REAL “NEWS” PAPER VS HAVRE DAILY CORRECTOR BLOG


Over a year ago a few of my politically astute friends and I “had a dream”. Our dream was for Havre to have a venue to publish news and local happenings that were being missed by the local birdcage liner as well has having a place where we could intelligently discuss and analyze topics of interest within our local community. The local Havre Daily News doesn’t seem to have the staff, inclination or wherewithal to provide the community with any good old fashioned “investigative” news stories. Not only do allot of things go on in the community that never get any news coverage but oft the news that is covered just isn’t presented with all the facts and accuracy we would hope to see. The Havre Daily Corrector was started a number of months ago after our group gave consideration to various ideas and ultimately decided that writing a blog just may fill the void felt by the local citizens regarding what is happening around our fair City.


On November 1st we e-mailed everyone in our meager collective address books and gleaned a few addresses from local business websites to send an invitation to view and participate in our new blog. Since that time we have had some “growing pains” and have been diligently working to correct problems, increase readership, and make this a place that informed people will visit each day to not only read the blogs, but to participate as well. Surprisingly we have found that there is not a shortage of “tips and ideas” being sent to us on a regular basis but sometimes the “tips” leave out allot of the facts. We recognized this problem and have taken steps to move forward in a more positive manner. We will try to only publish “tips” that we have verified through several contacts or sources but please remember; we are an opinion oriented blog and will continue to publish as such. Those that expect us to do the job of the “real” newspaper will still be disappointed here as you likewise are with the Havre Daily News.

Astonishingly, we have found that many, especially those involved with local businesses, do not want their names associated with any stories pertaining to “blowing the whistle” on some elected official or government office. We understand that Havre has an underlying habit of “killing the messenger” so we are allowing that anonymous tips can still be received via our e-mail which is havredailycorrector@bresnan.net  The Corrector will attempt to verify the tips through other people and publish when we feel there is some truth to the “tips”. If readers would like to participate it is fairly easy to set up an e-mail account using a “handle” such as tipster@yahoo.com or open a Google account and you can select a name to use for your posts as well as open a Gmail account with your alias to send us “tips” and news items you would like to see covered. Your new tipster e-mail account also gives us the opportunity to respond to your e-mail to ask further questions and determine where to dig deeper to get the complete story. The Havre Daily Corrector seeks not only your participation, but advice on how we can improve our blog. Realize that we do not have a vast full-time staff like the Havre Daily News, but only a few part-time bloggers that desire to make a difference.

When we took a look at last week’s HDN coverage we found a total of 22 local news articles spread over 5 days plus sports reporting. That was it. The balance of the 5 days paper filler was made up of advertising, gobs of Associated Press Articles we had already read in the Great Falls Tribune, articles written by clubs and associations such as the Principals Report, Rifle Club press releases, obituaries written by families, Library news written by our local librarian, and other unpaid guest columns, etc, etc. We think the Corrector is giving you as much real news as your paid subscription and all we ask in return is some help in keeping current with the happenings and behind doors shenanigans going on in our fair city.

The Corrector’s “we had a dream” is miniscule in comparison to Dr. Luther’s “I have a dream” which we honor today, but we request your tolerance in our new venture and look forward to hearing from each of you.

HAVRE DAILY CORRECTOR BLOG IMPROVEMENTS


Since we sent out our “invitation” to solicit readers and participants to the Havre Daily Corrector over two months ago we have been building a readership rapidly but have also incurred some problems and have learned some things about blogging and the “anonymous” comments that have come with our posts. We have been getting a fair amount of spam postings linking to other web-sites, some not suitable for viewing here, and in addition wastes our time continually deleting the offending comments. We are taking steps to stop that practice. While we will still allow anyone to comment here we are beginning to moderate comments to blog posts that are over twenty days old as we have noticed most spam is sent as comments to older posts. You can still leave comments on those older posts but may see a delay in the posting of your comment until we can review it to make sure it is not spam.


Secondly, there is no selection in the settings for this blog where we can eliminate anonymous posting without requiring commenter’s to register either with a Google account or an OpenID account. People commenting can still be anonymous but must first register as a user of this Google Blogger. It is easy and doesn’t track or publish your e-mail. Those that have already registered find it easier sign in before commenting then those that have to type a name in each time and we hope you understand our reasons for making this a requirement. As a benefit to registering to a Google account you can also receive a free e-mail address which you can use to e-mail us those “anonymous” tips and at the same time give us a place where we can respond personally and privately to each of you without your identity being compromised. Some of you may even already have an OpenID account as it is used in MySpace, flickr, facebook, wordpress, AOL and other places on the internet.

The Havre Daily Corrector is a work in progress and we thank you for understanding.

To register for a free Google account click here:  https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount?service=blogger&continue=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Floginz%3Fd%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.blogger.com%252Fcomment.g%253FblogID%253D4492931707682284644%2526postID%253D282474345378452303%2526page%253D0%2526token%26a%3DADD_SERVICE_FLAG&hl=en&sendvemail=true&followup=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Floginz%3Fd%3D%252Fhome%26a%3DSERVICE_ONLY&naui=8 

To register for a free OpenID account click here:  http://openid.net/get-an-openid/ 

CAN SCOTT BROWN SAVE US?


Passage of ObamaCare is in danger of losing that all important 60th super-majority vote in the Senate if Democrat Martha Coakly loses in the runoff election to be held on Tuesday in Massachusetts to replace deceased Senator Ted Kennedy, who held the seat for over 46 years. Obama staff is in a panic and President Obama campaigned in Boston on Sunday in an effort to push Coakly over the top in what could be a failing campaign against Republican Scott Brown. Thank you tax-payers for funding that trip and the secret service that enabled our President to give those short speeches.


Obama’s endorsement will have questionable results viewing the fact that he has just completed one year in the White House which has been named by many of the “Hope and Change” people as “The Year of Disappointment”. At this point it is obvious that the Obama administration has run amuck with their alleged power and the voters of America are standing up to be counted when the opportunity to bring back some checks and balances to the ultra-liberal administration presents itself, even in a race for a seat historically held by an ultra-liberal. Losing the super-majority, while not completely stopping the chances of Obama-Care passing, will put the brakes on the Senate cramming it down the throats of the American public by giving pause for discussion and debate.



In addition, a Republican win in liberal Massachusetts could point to disastrous results in the current election cycle. The Corrector predicts that if Brown wins, Democrats will be abandoning the Obama sinking ship in record numbers, either by retiring, or by just saying they are pursuing “other opportunities” Montana’s pair of sellouts, Senator Baucus and Tester, should take note.

Even the liberal Public Policy Polling poll has 20% of people who voted for Obama only 14 months ago, supporting Scott Brown. Furthermore, the poll goes on to show that 25% of those polled think that ACORN operatives will do something to “steal” the election for Coakly, including 12% of those that labeled themselves as liberal.

Good Luck Scott Brown in winning this race to save the American taxpayer.

Friday, January 15, 2010

CORRECTION TO THE PROFESSIONAL JOURNALIST’S ELECTION ARTICLE IN THE HAVRE DAILY “NEWS”

Republican Kris Hansen filed for the House District 33 seat, formerly held by Bob Bergren, not House District 17 as was reported by the real “news” paper in today’s election article. The real “news” paper also went on to say the Senate District 17 had no takers as of press time this morning yet the Secretary of State’s Election records clearly show local resident Rowlie Hutton having filed on January 14th, which was yesterday,  for the SD-17 office which includes the northern portions of both Hill and Blaine Countys. Apparently the HDN is confused about the districts that represent the local tax-payers.


Also to the anonymous guy that chides the blog because we do not know how to spell simple words like ririeve - recieve – receeve- whatever, I challenge you to take your correcting pencil to the “professional” elections article in today’s real “news” paper and send us a report back

PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSIONER FILINGS

Republican Senator Jerry Black of Shelby and former Democrat Senator Don Ryan, Great Falls, are the first to file for the open seat on the 5-member Public Service Commission to succeed Democrat Greg Jergeson of Chinook who is termed out of office. The District 1 seat is a large area encompassing 19 Montana counties on the Northern tier which includes Great Falls, Lewistown, Shelby, Havre, Glasgow and on down to Glendive and Sidney.


Black has been involved in the radio business for decades and is noted for building the first FM station in Northern Montana KZIN, now KSEN. Ryan operates a Child-care center with his wife in Great Falls

Thursday, January 14, 2010

ADDITIONAL CANDIDATES FILING ON THE FIRST DAY


The following candidates filed for election as of close of business today on the first day of filing.


Democrat Mike Anderson has filed for reelection to the District 2 Commissioners seat.

Democrat Darla Dahl has filed for the Clerk and Recorder’s position that is currently held by Democrat Diane Mellum. Darla is currently the Deputy Election clerk in the Clerk and Recorders office and word has it has been “groomed” for advancement into this position when Mellum decided to retire.

Democrat Kathy Olson filed for reelection to the County Auditor’s position.

Democrat Don Brostrom has again filed to retain his seat as Hill County Sheriff.

Democrat Carrie Dickson has filed to retain her position as Hill County Treasurer / Assessor

Republican Rowlie Hutton has filed to run for Senate District 17 which has been vacated by termed out Democrat Senator Kim Hanson

Good luck to those that have filed and anyone wishing to file for one of the available positions has until close of business March 15th, 2010 to toss their hats into the ring.

HILL COUNTY ATTORNEY RACE MAY BE A HOT ONE


The Hill County Courthouse is abuzz this afternoon, no not with people diligently working, but abuzz with talk of Hill County Junior Deputy Attorney Lindsey Lorang, who dares to seek the office of Hill County Attorney against the current Democrat Incumbent Gina (Bishop) Dahl. Now that is going to make for a very interesting race considering that the two of them work in the same office with the same staff. We predict that tensions will be high and the “barbs” will be sharp. Nothing better than a good old-fashioned cat-fight to get the bloodletting started this election season. Word from the Courthouse has it that there has been more than a “little” discontent in the County Attorney’s office this past year. You may also recognize Deputy Attorney Lorang as the prosecutor in the former blog about a drunken college student and a wheelbarrow and heard the further grumblings about current County Attorney Dahl’s dismal record in district court. I can hardly wait to see how this campaign develops.


In the House races Havre resident Republican Kris Hansen has filed for HD 33 which is the seat being vacated by Incumbent Democrat Bob Bergren. Incumbent Republican Wendy Warburton has again filed for HD 34 which she won in a race against Democrat Perry Miller in 2009.

The Corrector hasn’t heard the reports of which, if any, of the other local seats for which people have filed.

Stay Tuned!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Hill County Commission vs. Shirley Isbell


With last week's decision by the Hill County Commission to cut the position of Hill County Superintendent of Schools to a half-time position now in the books, the question of Shirley Isbell's tenure remains in question.  Filing for this office begins in just a few hours and at this time no once has come forward yet to run for this office and it has been reported that Shirley has not decided whether or not to seek reelection. 

Earlier this week, KRTV, our local Great Falls CBS affiliate, did a story on the decision made by the Commission.  Go here to read the story and view the video:  http://www.krtv.com/news/hill-county-cuts-full-time-superintendent-position-to-part-time/ (click on the video icon in the title for the video)

The Commission said the cut was necessary, but more questions remain.  The vote to cut the position from full-time to half-time was to save money, not responsibility, right?  So basically nothing changes in this job, the newly elected person has to do everything Shirley has been doing, just with half the pay.  Now the blame for this decision is laid upon the much lower than expected tax revenue, but the other decisions this Commission has made in the last few years offer a different perspective entirely.  The Commission chose not to make changes in the area of health insurance for employees because currently County employees are eligible for 100% employer based funding of their health insurance--a perk not afforded many of the folks who pay the taxes that support this major budget priority.  They didn't have a problem finding the money to remodel the basement, or the steps over and over and over either.  Let's face reality, the Commission can find the money necessary to fund any priority it deems necessary, any other project, no such luck.

Note also that the savings for this cut will go the County General Fund to be spent elsewhere and not returned to the taxpayers.  Once again I have to wonder why the Commission has not cut this position before or didn't just simple eliminate it altogether if the savings here was so simple.  It also begs the question where else can we cut? 

You have the opportunity to help send one of the Hill County Commissioners packing by filing for this seat in just a few short hours.  Let's find someone who can rescue our taxpayers and put these priorities into some perspective.  Don't lose sleep for Mike Anderson though, as Commissioner Wendland showed in the KRTV clip, there's a place in showbiz if this gig doesn't work out and I hear NBC might just be looking for a late night host soon.  If Anderson's budget priorities and the bungled basement job stand as any proof of his sense of humor, then the Late Show should be in for a riot because up until now, the joke has been on us folks!

We are interested in your opinion of this decision, please consider voting in the poll and as always we look forward to your comments.

WHY DON'T YOU RUN FOR OFFICE?


The 2010 election cycle is kicking off and those wishing to run for office can begin filing tomorrow, January 14th at 8am at the Clerk and Recorder’s office in the Hill County Courthouse. The following offices are up for grabs.


Hill County Commissioner – District 2, currently held by Mike Anderson with a salary of $41,904
Hill County Clerk and Recorder, currently held by Diane Mellum with a salary of $39,904
Sheriff / Coroner, currently held by Donald Brostrom with a salary of $47,889
Hill County Attorney, currently held by Gina Dahl with a salary of $86,974
Hill County Superintendent of Schools, now a half-time position, currently held by Shirley Isbell with a salary of $20,352
Hill County Auditor, currently held by Kathy Olson with a salary of $39,904
Hill County Administrator, currently held by Carol Wood with salary paid according to fees collected
Hill County Treasurer / Assessor, currently held by Carrie Dickson with a salary of $39,904
Hill County Justice of Peace, currently held by Terry Stoppa with a salary of $39,904

All incumbent candidates are Democrats with the exception of Justice of Peace, Terry Stoppa who serves in this non-partisan position. All offices are for a four year term with the exception of the Hill County Commissioners seat which is for a 6 year term.

In addition, all 100 House of Representative seats and half of the State Senate seats are up for election this year. In our area HD 32, currently held by Democrat Tony Belcourt, HD 33, currently held by termed limited Democrat Bob Bergren, and HD 34, currently held by Republican Wendy Warburton are up for grabs. On the Senate side current Democrat Senator Kim Hansen in SD 17 is term limited out this year leaving a vacant seat available with no incumbent to run against. The Senate and House members are both paid a per-day salary, per diem, and mileage for their respective work in the legislature.

Also all political parties’ precinct committee people are up for election this year. Want to make changes in your local party?  Democrat or Republican, now is your chance to have a voice in local partisan politics.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

WHO READS THIS BLOG?



We at the Havre Daily Corrector were somewhat surprised by the results of our poll Should the City Police be able to pull people over for "reasons" such as "snow covered license plates" so they can check for further violations?

Forty percent of the people responding thought it was just hunky-dory that the police could pull them over for no real reason. Fifty-two percent responded that they should have some sort of reason. Make us wonder how many law enforcement people read our blog and respond to polls.

Thanks to all that participated

JUSTICE GONE AWRY?



The Havre Daily Corrector just recieved a report asking that we do some investigation of the County Attorney’s office. What follows is a portion of the “tip” sent to us by a reader. Anyone with further information as to the win/loss ratio send us the behind the scenes news at havredailycorrector@bresnan.net

Right now in court today they have charged a drunken college student that passed out in a strangers house with felony burglary and a host of other charges. The kid got completely drunk, wandered into the wrong house and passed out. I'm not saying the kid should get off scot free, but 2 felonies and 3 misdemeanors? This kid's life is going to be ruined. He didn't assault the owners of the home. He didn't try to steal anything. He had too much to drink.

Give him a ton of community service. Make him pay restitution. Make take some alcohol awareness classes.
While you are investigating this investigate their win/loss record.
Should be some good reading.

I wonder if Havre’s finest “real” News source will be in the court to report on this case? Furthermore, now that I have thought about it, why haven’t there ever been any reports like the one above published in the “real” News paper when we hear these reports continually? So much for “investigative” journalism in backwoods Havre Montana.
PS.............The Hill County Attorney, Gina Bishop, is up for re-election this year.  People can file for the postition begining January 14th at the Clerk and Recorder's Office and the position pays $86,975 per year plus a full benefit package
Correction - As pointed out by a reader --- The current County Attorney is Gina Dahl, not Bishop as we mistakenly reported above.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Reid rips LDS Church's Prop. 8 support

Here you go DeConstructor as requested.  I don't like to make a habit of copying and pasting but I would be interested to hear the comments on this article


By Matt Canham, The Salt Lake Tribune , Published November 13, 2009
Washington » In a meeting with gay-rights activists last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid criticized the LDS Church for backing a ballot measure banning same-sex marriage in California, saying the leaders of his faith should have stayed out of the contentious political fight.
Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, is the highest ranking elected official who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He previously has not commented on the flood of Mormon money and volunteers who helped propel Proposition 8 to victory in November.

But three organizers of the past weekend's National Equality March said Reid brought up the topic during a conversation in his office. "He said that he thought it was a waste of church resources and good will," said Derek Washington, a Nevadan who worked as the outreach director for the march. "He said he didn't think it was appropriate."
Reid spokesman Jon Summers would not discuss the private meeting, but he didn't deny the conversation took place. "While Senator Reid agrees with his church that marriage is between a man and a woman," Summers said, "he also believes that the resources that went into the Proposition 8 effort could have been put to better use."

LDS Church officials declined to comment Monday. But Frank Schubert, campaign manager for the pro-Prop 8 movement, said: "All churches have not only the opportunity to speak out on important public issues, but really a moral obligation to do so."
The Mormon Church, headquartered in Salt Lake City, repeatedly has fought attempts to legalize same-sex marriages. California's Prop 8 was no different. Church leaders announced their support in a letter that was read during Sunday services in meetinghouses throughout the Golden State. LDS officials called for financial donations and volunteers. Members of the church did not disappoint.
More than 1,000 Utahns contributed either individually or through a business to the Prop 8 fight, giving $3.8 million. More than 70 percent of that cash went to groups backing the gay-marriage ban. Utah ranked second only to California in the amount given to the ballot battle.

The LDS Church kicked in nearly $190,000 in in-kind contributions to ProtectMarriage.com, the leading pro-Prop. 8 group. In the end, Prop 8 passed with 52 percent of the vote.

Marchers in Sunday's equality rally, which drew tens of thousands to the U.S. Capitol, repeatedly referenced the Prop 8 defeat in signs, statements and even face paint. But when organizers sat down with Reid, it wasn't a topic they intended to raise. They wanted to thank him for supporting the march and push him on their desire for federal action giving gay Americans the ability to get married, serve openly in the military and fight workplace discrimination.
Reid signed a letter supporting the march and encouraged a sustained lobbying campaign.
In the meeting, those present touched on issues most important to them. Dan Choi, a veteran of the Iraq War, who was booted from the military under the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, thanked Reid for lobbying President Barack Obama on his behalf. Robin McGehee, of California, talked about her own family. Then, McGehee said, Reid brought up his LDS faith and discussed a recent meeting with Mormons in which he criticized the Prop 8 efforts.
"He personally said they needed to be focused on other things," she said, "and he felt it was harmful for the church to focus on such a divisive issue."
The Salt Lake Tribunte, November 13, 2009
See  http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13546968 
For more articles regarding the Mormon (LDS) Church, Proposition 8 and marriage equality, see   www.prop8-lds.4t.com/page2.html

Top Nine Health Care Charts You’ve Never Seen Before















Trial lawyers are the second biggest donor to the Democrats’ Political Action Committee, trailing only the union bosses of the IBEW.















The “lawsuit industry” gives more money (roughly $127 million in 2008) to Congress than every sector of the health care industry, combined.


Medical malpractice costs continue to skyrocket to new historical highs, growing far faster than any other component of health insurance premiums.


Which makes the percentage of your health premium going to pay for the trial lawyers’ mansions roughly 75%.


And trial lawyers bring in more money than either Microsoft or Pfizer.









Tort reform is an easy way to reduce health care costs without destroying the entire system.


But Democrats — in their current addled state — won’t have a bit of it. They require money, power and control. And the trial lawyers continue to provide them with sustenance.

Source - http://www.triallawyersinc.com/

We realize that some of our readers think we bash the Democrat Party here more than their share but the fact is stupid is as stupid does which is Democrats cowering to their reelection campaigns instead of the American people whom they were elected to serve and represent. Some Republicans also fall into the problem of also being “campaign” purchased. It would seem to us that these “bad bills” whose passage is purchased by campaign donations cost we the taxpayers more dollars in increased taxes and medical costs then if we just bucked up and purchased some votes of our own for the rights of the taxpayers. Time for a change in Congressional leadership? Your damn right it is! Time to Axe Max and Pester Tester.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

NATIONAL TEA PARTY CONVENTION


Sarah Palin again was in the national news for accepting an invitation to be the headline speaker at the National Tea Party convention which is set to begin February 4 to 6th in Nashville, Tennessee. The convention is expected to draw around one-thousand participants. Palin earlier rejected an invitation to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) which is expected to have over 9,000 members in attendance and is linked to the main stream Republicans. Palin’s spokesman stated that the rejection came because the CPAC puts special interests over core beliefs and has lost touch with their values.


Tea Party Convention people are working to develop further activism against ObamaCare and the out-of-control Federal spending including bailouts, Cap and Trade, Global warming fallacies and the upcoming increases in taxes for middle class Americans. Democrats have been dismissing Tea Party rallies as insignificant and the Republican has been citing their rallies as proof that voters are sick of the status quo. Republicans also dismiss the Tea Party from ever becoming a political force in American politics and have been ignoring their potential for influence in 2010.

Personally, I believe both the Democrats and Republicans may see the day when they will have regrets about not taking the Tea party message seriously as they appear to be developing momentum. What the political parties aren’t taking into account is the fact that a majority of people in the USA are sick of both the Democrat and Republican Parties. The Tea Party is filling the void for this demographic of voters. Tea Party activists are organizing in each of the 50 States to promote applying the brakes to a Government run amuck. 

http://teapartypatriots.ning.com/  Tea Party Patriots Mission Statement and Core Values

The impetus for the Tea Party movement is excessive government spending and taxation. Our mission is to attract, educate, organize, and mobilize our fellow citizens to secure public policy consistent with our three core values of Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government and Free Markets.

Friday, January 8, 2010

K STREET REVISITED

Actor Kevin Spacey is portrayed as the notorious villain ‘Jack Abramoff’ in the yet to be released movie entitled ‘Casino Jack’. You may recall Abramoff as the often cited by Senator “No Ear-marks Ever” Testor as the evil dude that was in bed with former Senator Burns. Interestingly, Senator Burns was absolved of all these charges but not until after it had cost him his reelection bid. ‘Casino Jack’ should be an interesting movie considering the Montana connection.
Seeing this story on Politico.com http://www.politico.com/click/stories/1001/abramoff_flick_stars_spacey.html  reminded me of all the failed promises made by Senator “No Ear-Marks Ever” Testor during his campaign. First he pounded and pounded the evils of the current ear mark system yet he continually votes for bill that contains thousands of just such ear-marks. Consider the 100 million dollar earmarks going to pay off Senators for their recent health-care votes and etc. Consider that within weeks of taking office Testor was in a questionable relationship with another Chinese K Street contributor to his Senate campaign named Norman Hsu. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Norman_Hsu makes Abromoff look like a choir boy in comparision.  Hsu is now a convicted pyramid investment scammer that gave tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic political candidates, including our own beloved “No Ear-Marks Ever” Tester. Hsu lived in California and was invested heavily in real-estate in the San Francisco Bay area which in retrospect was one of the reasons why Tester logged so many trips to California during his recent campaign along with his efforts to make sweetheart deals with  imfamous supporter Nancy Pelosis.

Apparently one forgets his campaign promises once he becomes a Senator and joins his new friends on K Street.