Welch to OPI: Schools Deserve Better Support!

I have noticed since I started paying attention to the “workings” of our local school board that a lot of decisions are made which just don’t make sense to me. It is true that I have taken our local district and in particular our local school board to task multiple times for what I think are just plain stupid decisions. In the local districts defense I have also learned in the past year or so that our local school districts are sometimes hampered by governmental interference and in particular interference by the state Office of Public Instruction and their many “rules, regulations and mandates.” What would really benefit our local schools in my opinion is a total over haul of the upper management at the state level to get more control back local. Yesterday The Corrector received the following press release from Sandy Welch who is a candidate opposing Denise Juneau for the office of State Superintendant of Public Instruction. Also check out the link for additional background information from the School Boards Association and Rural Education here

The following is written by Sandy Welch, candidate for State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Schools Deserve Better Support from Office of Public Instruction
Few things are more important to a community than well-run and locally controlled schools. Virtually all school districts, along with teachers, parents, and community leaders, strive to provide the education and training our children deserve with less money than in times past. While local communities band together, however, State Superintendent Denise Juneau and the Office of Public Instruction have proven themselves to be unreliable partners.

Building a new school is no small decision. Responsible and engaged communities rightly consider whether a new building is necessary and financially justified. Until recently, schools have benefitted from a longstanding practice enabling greater flexibility to direct budgets to areas of local concern. A little over a year ago, Denise Juneau's staff formally confirmed this practice and school districts took them at their word. Now, after years of planning and consideration, local schools learn that the Office of Public Instruction has informed the Attorney General this practice, the very practice they advocated as recently as last school year, is illegal.

This level of chaos for our schools cannot be tolerated. The Montana School Boards Association and Montana Rural Education Association summarize the situation with the following words of caution:  “relying upon opinions issued by OPI and acting in reliance upon such advice only to find that there are fundamental disagreements among OPI staff could very well place your district in jeopardy”.

As Superintendent of Public Instruction, I will provide schools across Montana with a stable and predictable set of rules and guidelines. Consistency in application and an emphasis on local control of public education will be provided. The Office of Public Instruction will be a partner and resource for our schools. It will work to strengthen our education system based on local needs and goals.

With over two decades working in public education, I understand the importance of making policy changes in collaboration with local stakeholders across the state in order to reduce negative unintended onsequences. Education and community leaders must be able to rely on official opinion from the Office of Public Instruction in order to set plans that make the most use of tight budgets and best serve students now and in the future.

Montana is home to great diversity of schools, most of which do well but need greater decision making power at the local level. In my administration, our schools will be able to rely on the Office of Public Instruction to further their plans by encouraging local control, best practices, and consistent access to resources.

Sandy Welch
Republican Candidate for State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Sandy@WelchForMontana.com

http://www.welchformontana.com/ 

The Havre Daily “Snooze” Finally “Breaks” the School Story

In our blog post last Friday I wondered if our local “news” paper was oblivious to the fact that the school district had filed a lawsuit against Anderson Construction and Springer Group Architects.  I got my answer to that question tonight. The above the fold (the coveted location for the number one news story of the day) headline in tonight’s Havre Daily “News” read School Files Roof Collapse Complaint. I guess they were indeed snoozing as they reported that the court documents were filed on Dec 29th of last year. If the story was important enough to warrant an above the fold placement in tonight’s paper why wasn’t it important back the end of last year? I guess I don’t understand “professional” journalism.

What I found personally painful was not the fact that they read opinion blogs to find news articles but that they didn’t even give The Havre Daily Corrector a mention as being their source for their latest “breaking story.” I didn’t expect awards like their reporters are always receiving or a trophy nor anything else but a mention of where they first saw the story would only be a professional courtesy wouldn’t you think? I felt so bad about being snubbed it brought a tear to my eyes.

Well enough about my hurt feelings. Take a look at the HDN story at the link above and tell us what you think about this “breaking” information.

Romney or Obama? – Not a Lick of Difference!

I never thought I would see the day when I actually agreed with liberal Billionaire financier George Soros but his thoughts on the Obama – Romney presidential race is exactly what I have been thinking.  Our country is in peril and apparently no one can see it.

Source:  NewsMax

Top 10 Reasons George Soros is Dangerous:  Human Events

Land Owners Sue FWP to Stop Bison Relocation

Yellowstone buffalo still seem to be causing anguish to some folks around the state. We wrote a blog post back on Dec 6th about the Governor agreeing to allow the relocation of some of the controversial buffalo to the Fort Belknap Reservation in Blaine County. Aside from the common concern from ranchers about potential brucellosis infections infecting their cattle herds the most common complaint we heard from Blaine County ranchers was that the reservation could not or would not adequately fence their pastures to keep the bison from wandering on neighboring grazing land. Ranchers contended that tribal buffalo ranges were already over-grazed and the addition of more animals was just an invitation for disaster. In the beginning of 2009  15-25 neighboring ranchers testified that reservation bison were continually getting on their land and the problem had gotten so exasperating that one rancher actually shot some of the tribe’s forever wandering bison.

According to a 2009 news report by Elizabeth l. Doney Editor of the Fort Belknap News tribal leaders stressed that they had received money from the Defenders of Wildlife for fencing and Senator Tester was pursuing additional 2010 appropriations for funding adequate fencing. Even though three years have passed since this angry encounter bison are still deemed a problem by adjacent landowners.

A Blaine County News – Journal article on January 18th reported that a lawsuit was filed in the 17th District Court in Blaine County by Cory J. Swanson, a Helena attorney, against the Fish, Wildlife and Parks and their plan to relocate Yellowstone bison. The Blaine County News-Journal doesn’t maintain website links to their stories so we have attached a scan of the original article. Click to enlarge.

As usual the Havre Daily “News” has made no mention of this local community story but further articles can be viewed on these links

Great Falls Tribune
Billings Gazette
KTVU News
Idaho Press - Tribune

Pondering How to Receive a Journalism Award

Nearly three weeks have gone by since it has come to light that the Havre High School District has filed suit in District court against Dick Anderson Construction and Springer Group Architects yet nary a comment from the Havre Daily “News”. Considering the fact that the bulk of our property tax dollars go to support our local schools wouldn’t you think this information would be something our local “professional award-winning fine investigative” reporters from the Havre Daily “News” would want to jump all over?

Are they having a news blackout or are they still oblivious that this suit was even filed? Maybe they have been busy doing their first of the year polishing and buffing of all those journalism trophies they are always bragging about?  I guess I can wait another week or two for them to “break” this story.

Just something to ponder after a long week at work.  Any thoughts or "tips" give me a shout at havredailycorrector@gmail.com

PS to investigative reporters -  The courthouse where they keep court documents and this sort of information is the big white building on 4th St.  You might want to check out Senator Windy Boy's newest tax lien while you are there also since he is a candidate for state office.    Just sayin

State Employees May Still Get Raises in Spite of the Legislature

After we published a post back on January 20th about the Fish, Wildlife and Parks giving rather large pay increases to select FWP employees one of our readers sent us a link to the following news report by Marnee Banks from KXLH News in Helena.

Even though the legislature voted to not increase any State employee wages this last session some agencies are authorizing pay increases using the State’s Broadband pay plan to get around keeping employees at status quo. The Broadband plan allows agencies to make adjustments to be competitive in salary to people in similar jobs with similar responsibilities. This is in fact legal to do under current state law as the broadband plan only requires that each agency stay within their budgets and can “tweak” compensation levels to be competitive with other employees with similar responsibilities.

Watch the Video news report or read more about it in the Channel 9 KXLH website

Keystone Blockage Makes Millions for Warren Buffett

The Democrat administrations NO vote on the Keystone Pipeline is starting to make sense from the political cronyism standpoint after I read this report over at Yahoo Finance

Since North Dakota’s crude won’t be able to be moved by the Keystone pipeline industry officials say that it will have to be shipped by rail because the current pipelines are at capacity. I wonder who will benefit from this increase in rail traffic. It will hardly be the environmentalists that clamored for the NO vote on the Keystone because the increase in rail shipments will invariably result in more gallons spilled than any pipeline currently now moving crude. So why is this movement of crude by rail better?

Wayde Schafer, a North Dakota spokesman for the Sierra Club agreed that shipping oil by rail and truck was far more likely to cause spills and then went on to insinuate what is really needed was an effort to stop fossil fuel extractions altogether and start developing “other” energy sources. These job killing environmentalists are not going to be happy until we are all paying 10 times the cost of the current fossil fuels so the so called green energy is finally economically feasible and can compete with fossil fuels.

Presently nearly 510,000 barrels of oil are produced daily in North Dakota of which nearly 128,000 barrels are shipped by rail. BNSF is part of the Warren Buffett Empire that stands to make millions in revenue from the Obama administration blocking the Keystone Pipeline. Not so ironically Warren Buffett is one of Obama’s close cronies and is his personal energy advisor. I guess cronyism is not unique to just our governor and the State of Montana. What we all need to do is pay attention to the Presidents close advisors and invest heavily in their enterprises because it is apparent that the President financially rewards his cronies that support his lunacy.

Calculating the Impact of the Keystone Pipeline

The following charts and information are gleaned from an investment newsletter called “Calculating the Impact of the Keystone Pipeline” published by U. S. Global Investors. This particular newsletter contains the following information from John Mauldin and the Global investment team.

“As it turns out, a new pipeline is not all that radical. If you drive in the U.S., you cannot go ANYWHERE for any length to time without crossing dozens of pipelines that already exist, especially in the corridor where they want to build the Keystone XL pipeline.

Let’s look at two maps. The first is a map of natural gas pipelines in the U.S. To say it looks worse than your grandmother’s varicose veins is no exaggeration. It is hard to find a state that does not have a natural gas pipeline. Without them the U.S. would simply come to a grinding halt. (The source for this map is a governmental agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration.)”

Click on these maps to enlarge

The first map is of natural gas pipelines in the U.S.  The second map is of pipeline systems for all commodities in the U.S. and Canada and The last map is existing major oil pipelines in the U.S.  Be sure and take a look at all the entire story posted on the U.S. Global website

Obamanomics

How’s that Obamanomics working out for you?  According to this graph found over at the United States Department of Labor  -  Bureau of Labor Statistics it doesn’t appear all that rosy.

Questionable Political Cronies

I received a nice invitation from the Denise Juneau for the Office of Public Instruction today. Denise is kicking off her re-election campaign with a rally at the Capitol Rotunda at noon on Tuesday the 24th. The invitation also included an invite to attend a kickoff fundraiser that evening at a private residence in Helena.

What I found somewhat alarming about the whole deal was that MEA-MFT President Eric Feaver was listed as one of the co-hosts for the Juneau campaign kick-off. I will find it hard to support anyone that is being promoted by the guy that is only interested in promoting himself and the “Ultimate” Union power at everyone else’s expense. Surely Juneau is going to find it difficult to be objective in what is truly best for Montana schools when she has her nose ring attached to the chain of the likes of Feaver.

Thanks to this invitation making it crystal clear who Juneau has amongst her bedfellows I will be supporting her opponent Sandy Welch for this office http://www.welchformontana.com/  

Judging by the campaign finance reports it is apparent that Welch, with an early campaign war-chest of only $8,767 (of which $1,390 was a personal loan from herself), will have an up-hill battle defeating Incumbent Juneau who already sports a balance close to $60,000 in the bank.

Why do we let Union Thugs and their cronies in Helena buy these positions of power? Lest any forget - the Office of Public Instruction holds one of the critical votes on the Land Board that manages our state land. We need to get someone such as Welch on that board to be able to promote responsible use of our State Lands without the outside influences of political party cronies and Feaver favor gatherers in Helena.

Do your part – get involved!

The Deadbeats Are In Charge!

We were shocked by the story in our inbox this morning from our liberal friends at the Washington Post discussing the $1.03 Billion in outstanding tax debt owed by employees of the federal government in 2010 alone!  What???  Yep you read that right, that is $1 Billion with a B!

So let's get this straight...we have to pay our taxes and if we don't we have to pay fines and interest and eventually get prosecuted.  Moreover if we worked for a company and owed that company money, how long would we keep our job if we continued to not pay our debts?  Lucky for these folks they work for the U.S. Government and cannot be fired and there is no law to compel them to do so.

Now members of Congress are beginning to take note of these debtors and call for legislation to expel these employees for failure to pay their debts.  Funny enough this job is left to Congress to punish these freeloaders and tax cheats.  Takes one to know one, comes to mind here, but we digress. 

To be fair, less employees are delinquent in 2010 than were short in 2009, but the amount owed has increased by $32 million according to the Washington Post.  The article also points out that these deadbeats, whose salaries are paid by the taxes we pay, is not isolated to one particular agency or branch of government more than others, but are across the board, includind those working for our Congress.  Imagine that, Congressionl staffers, burning the midnight oil to help draft the very legislation to prohobit these cheats could be delinquent themselves, 4% of that workforce is in debt to the IRS.

As we begin the rough and tumble campaign season, let us take these issues and the many others into account and hold our members of Congress to task for their failures to fix these obvious and purposeful tax evasions.  We have to pay, so should they!

FWP: Pay Raise Today - Increase Fees Tomorrow

Today the Independent Record reported that the Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) employees are all getting raises, some as much as $10,000. The paper reported these raises would cost FWP between $1.5 million and $2.5 million. What kind of business “brainiac” gives a raise and isn’t even aware if it is going to cost $1.5 million or $2.5 million? These types of statements are what make me think no one in government has a clue how to maintain any sort of budget. I guess for government department managers a million or so differential on $1.5 million dollar increase is close enough. FWP Director Joe Maurier stated that the wage increases are necessary to be competitive with neighboring states. You all remember Joe Maurier? He was Governor Schweitzer’s college roommate he appointed to head the FWP in 2008 for a salary of $96,963. (Again more of the culture of cronyism prevalent in Helena) The deputy Director just had his pay jumped from $85,508 to $96,429 but Maurier stressed that his own pay would stay the same.

In a related story in today’s Billings Gazette the FWP announced that Montana hunters and anglers may have to pay higher fees in the future because their department is operating in arrears. Just coincidently the decline in revenue has averaged around $2 million per year which is miraculously close to the amounts just announced in the Independent Record that they will be doling out in pay increases. Interestingly the Gazette article stated that nonresident fees pay for about two-thirds of FWP’s annual operating costs of $35 million. I couldn’t find current information but the total annual budget of the department in 2009 was $87 million.

Back in January of 2011 the Gazette reported that the FWP spent $90 million from various places to add 232,000 acres to their holdings. In April the Gazette reported that the FWP said they were considering selling 6 parcels of land that totaled about 440 acres because “the department is having trouble meeting operational and maintenance needs.”

From feast to famine to pawning our assets to pay for today.  Is anyone in charge over there?

Keystone Decision Makes Great Political Fodder

Every morning there seems to be some type of depressing news headlining the newspaper.

This morning the above the fold headline read that “Obama denies Keystone Pipeline.” Obama has been stalling on this decision for months hoping to put off a determination until after the 2012 elections. Obama was put in a bad spot caught between his loony environmental wacko supporters that oppose anything to do with mining, drilling or any sort of job creation and his good ole boy Union network that advocated for this project because of the thousands of Union jobs it would create. Trying to appease everyone in his cronyism feathered supporter base was a no-win situation from the get-go. Of course the evil capitalistic Republicans were to blame somehow because back in December Congress set a 60-day deadline for the State Department to render a decision. The President and his cronies said they just didn’t have sufficient time to digest the information and make a determination if this project was in the best national interest. Hello? You have had months and our jobless rate is in the double digits and yet we don’t know if a massive job creating project such as the Keystone Pipeline is in our best interests? I guess what is most important in the Democrat mind is the completion of thousands of pages of additional EIS studies and the shuffling of bureaucratic feet while we sit idly by unemployed.

An article over at POLITICO called this decision a political win-win on both sides of the aisle. The Republicans can now beat up on the Democrats for the next campaigning year hollering about the Democrats being the job-killing party. The Democrats can get on the environmental bandwagon and brag about the how the Democrats saved us from “catastrophe” by being reasoned and prudent to protect our environment even though we may be sitting idly by while unemployed. The POLITICO asserts that the Union leaders will still have to hold their noses and support Obama and his crony loving Democrats because they are certainly the lesser of two evils when it comes to labor issues.

Well it would appear that both parties have again put their political futures ahead of the futures of their constituents, Get ready for a year of nasty campaigning and finger pointing with both parties trying to convince the “to dumb to know what is good for us” voting public that their side was the right side but the Democrat or Republican party (pick-one) screwed everything up because they can’t be reasonable and compromise.

You know who is left holding the bag? Yep, that person you see in your mirror every morning.

Time to End the "Culture of Cronyism"

Well that didn’t take long.

The Great Falls Tribune ran a story on Sunday about the effects of Governor Schweitzer’s cronyism run amuck. Schweitzer’s good ole boy buddy Dave Gallik, who he appointed to the supposedly non-partisan job as Commissioner of Political practices was by Tuesday tendering his resignation. Gallik was quoted in today’s Tribune article as saying;

“This is a political, Republican-based fight against me, “Gallik said. …….. “Not necessarily against me, against anybody who wants to get the job done down there.”

Gallik went on to say that the staff “called the cops” on him Tuesday when he returned to work even though he didn’t say one word to them and he just “can’t afford any more false accusations” levied towards him so he was resigning. He also went on to blame his troubles on some sort of Republican witch hunt. Yep that is it, just another of those “vast right-wing conspiracies” that haunted Hillary Clinton.  Nothing at all to do with him not doing the work.

According to earlier stories at least one of these ladies worked in this office for over 13 years. Why is it they have never complained about “new bosses” in the past? Could it be that they, democrat and republican alike, did their work so there was nothing to complain about? I wonder if Gallik actually resigned on his own accord or if our governor decided it was time to save face and told him to resign before more allegations came to light?

Prior to the resignation Republican legislative leaders were calling for an investigation and Republican Speaker of the House Mike Milburn said;

“the allegations were serious and, if true, amounted to a direct violation of the Montana code of ethics.”

It would appear that the Republican leaders are going to try and make political hay out of this sad turn of events. I wonder if this would have all taken place if the legislature had passed that “Cowboy Code of Ethics” they yammered on about last session. While it has been obvious to anyone that follows politics that the Schweitzer is the king of cronyism in state government I don’t think you need an “official cowboy code of ethics.” Either you are honest, transparent and ethical or you are not. This whole mess could have been avoided if those in power actually selected the best person for the job instead of worrying about appointing people as a reward because of their blind allegiance to one political party or another.

It is time to demand an end to the “culture of cronyism” that exists in our state, forget the political party maneuvering and just get down to work towards the betterment of us all Cowboy Ethics be damned Those of us funding our government are sick to death of watching this while we are withering on the vine waiting for the economy to turn-around.

Today's Great Falls Tribune Story here

Enough is Enough: Bye Bye Dave Gallik



Who are all the Bedfellows?

 I nearly dropped my dentures this morning I was so shocked at the Great Falls Tribune’s front page article about the Political Practice’s staff blowing the whistle on Political Practices Commissioner Dave Gallik. Considering that the Schweitzer Administration is noted for use a punishing and vindictive hand to keep the troops in line these 4 ladies have put their careers on the line for even daring to speak against one of his good ole boys. Apparently working conditions have become so pitiful that these fine women no longer care. The Tribune story linked online above is only a condensed version but the article in its entirety has been posted on reporter John Adam’s blog called The Lowdown which reports news from and about the Capital.

Well it seems these ladies have had their fill of Commissioner Gallik not doing his job. Ironically Commissioner Gallik who has now been thrust into the limelight for allegations of unethical conduct is the very same person that is responsible for keeping Montana Political campaigns ethical and on the up and up. Kind of hard to pass judgment when your own hand is in the cookie jar wouldn’t you think. Incidentally, Will Deschamps, Chairman of the Montana Republican party was just in the news last week calling on Gallik to make a determination on a complaint filed the end of August 2009 against the Democrat party and Attorney General Steve Bullock who is now running for Governor. Apparently filing ethics complaints against Democrats to an entity controlled by an unethical Democrat Commissioner and a bully Governor aren’t going to get much traction. Read Deschamps letter to Commissioner Gallik at the Montana Republican Party website here.

It does stand to reason that no matter what the complaint 2 ½ years to make a determination is an inappropriate amount of time. How can any of the regular Montana citizens hold any respect for a government that lives in shadows and advocates protecting their political bedfellows? What happened to open transparent government?

Kudos to john Adams for this fabulous indepth report and we applaud the courage of these fine ladies.  We will be watching to see if any of them should be mysteriously “down-sized” after coming forth with this information.   Of course if that is the case perhaps we will see four more candidates join Jim Lynch in a run for the Governor's office.  Read the whole story over at The Lowdown and give us your comments.

Occupy Protesters turn on the President

Yesterday the Time Newsfeed reported that the Occupy Wall Street folk held a march and blasted poor President Obama on what is the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Guantanamo Bay prison. You might recall that when Obama campaigned for President back in 2008 he promised that his first order of business on his very first day in office would be to close the Guantanamo Bay complex. Of course Senator “No Ear Marks Ever” Tester also promised to never ever support an earmark, associate with the culture of corruption on K Street in Washington and he was going to get the troops home.  We now know that like the president his word is also not his bond. This rally must have come as a surprise to the President as he earlier had gone on record supporting the Occupy protesters.  Both Tester and the President just may be losing some of their voting base.

The protestors have been plagued with various problems as of late including getting banned from camping in Zuccotti Park, their tent kitchen was closed by the health department and the colder winter temperatures make for some miserable conditions living under tarps and in tents. The Washington Post also reported that rat infestation around the two Occupy Wall Street camps was running rampant. Mohammad Akhter who is the district’s director of the Department of Health said that the camps resemble refugee camps he has witnessed in the Middle East and Africa. Akhter also told the Washington Post that he would advise the Federal Government to close down the camps if conditions worsen or if there were a severe winter storm because “suddenly we’re watching a tragedy unfold in Washington, D.C.”

Rats, poor sanitation, no food, shelters made of plastic tarps and bitter cold. Sounds like a protesters dream come true. It may just be easier to look for work and abandon the protesting.

Treasurer’s Office Disaster

This could be a disaster for those addicted to Ho Ho’s. The Hostess Brands, Inc filed for bankruptcy protection again. Hostess cites declining sales and rising labor and pension costs. The company listed assets of $981.6 million and liabilities of $1.43 billion on Dec 10, 2011. Forbes.com reported recently that Hostess Brands, Inc had revenues of $2.5 billion in 2011. I wonder if it is just a coincidence that this decline in sales came on the heels of our Hill County Treasurer’s office new management? I haven’t noticed the big displays of junk food at the county work stations since the big election upset last year.  Maybe I just happened to be there on a non-junk food day but it certainly seems to be a bit more professional and I am assuming Ho Ho sales to county employees is way off.

I am off to buy a case of Ho Ho’s while they are still available. With all the preservatives I would think I can buy a decade’s supply and probably be OK with freshness.

Gun Control

Everybody in Montana has read at least a few articles touting the wonders of gun control. You know that by controlling who has firearms violent deaths at the hands of murderers has plummeted in the last decade in areas enforcing stringent laws controlling guns, in particular the handguns that the whole world of liberals have grown to hate. Or have they?

New York City has the most stringent gun controls of anyplace in the nation. In order to buy a gun license in New York City you first have to visit the license office (in person) to pick up an application. You then apply for a series of permits that need to be typewritten - hand written applications are rejected. They want to know everything about you – your employer, your SS number, physical description, criminal history, history of alcohol and drug abuse, disabilities and on and on. They also want to know your past employment history for the last 5 years and you will need to explain why it is necessary for you to own a gun. If you are so lucky to get thru all the paperwork you need to have all the documentation notarized. Include with your documentation a licensing fee of $340 and a fingerprinting fee of $94 payable only by money order or credit card made out to the New York City Police Department. You then take your paperwork and fees to the License Division office where you will receive you license upon approval.

Don’t hold your breath while waiting for approval as this may take some time and if you are not approved for some reason all fees are forfeited. Some applicants have reported waits of up to two years. If you are lucky enough to obtain a permit you will need to obtain and fill out a “Handgun Purchase Authorization form” which you can use to make your purchase. You will again be asked to provide personal information and in depth details as to your reasons for wanting to buy a new gun. If you are given approval you will have 72 hours to visit a licensed gun dealer and make your purchase and return to the License Division to update your license with the gun information such as make, model and serial number. Take a look at the New York City Police website to get further details or you can compare the newest requirements to the synopsis of the state laws on the purchase, possession and carrying of firearms compiled by the NRA back in 1998.

So after all this hassle just how is everything working out for the folks in New York City? In a 25 year period New York City has had more than 15,000 murders while a town called Kennesaw Georgia had 1. What’s the difference you might ask?

In 1982 the City of Kennesaw passed an ordinance [Sec 34-21][13]

(a) In order to provide for the emergency management of the city, and further in order to provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants, every head of household residing in the city limits is required to maintain a firearm, together with ammunition therefore

Funny thing is that Kennesaw, where gun ownership is mandatory, has been called one of the safest cities in America. Up until 2009 Kennesaw had one murder. In 2010 three murders were committed by one man in a “school safety zone” which is an area extending 1,000 feet from any school where guns were off-limits. I wonder if the outcome would have been different if the murderer had known the school employees were also armed.

It sure makes me wonder about the rational of the gun-control folks

Havre's Mayor Tim Steps up to the Plate

The Havre City council met last night to install the new council members and wish those departing farewell. Three Democrats stepped down from their ward seats - Pam Hillery, Cal Long and Bob Kaul. Republican Andrew Brekke Ward 4 retained his seat and was joined by fellow Republicans Rick Dow Ward 3, Brian Barrows Ward 2 and Democrat Bonnie Parenteau serving Ward 1.

For the first time I can ever remember in my life-time there is a 50-50 Democrat-Republican split on the Havre Council. They will be serving with Democrat Mayor Tim Solomon who will cast the deciding vote on any ties. What is interesting is that when we were checking out the information for the story this morning we learned that when it came time to elect the council president Councilwoman Janet Tretheway nominated fellow Democrat Woody Woodwick to again serve as council president. Newly seated councilman Rick Dow then nominated Republican Andrew Brekke. As expected the four republicans voted for Brekke and the four democrats voted for Woodwick. Typically in the past Democrat (sometimes calling himself independent) Gerry Veis will not vote on any of the matters such as this that he views as political but he toed the democrat line this time which laid the decision at the Mayor’s feet.

I am sure the council Republicans were shocked when Democrat Mayor Tim actually cast the tie-breaking vote for Republican Brekke who will replace Woodwick as council president. Our source told us this morning that many partisan democrats are feeling betrayed by Mayor Tim but on the other hand many folks feel now that there is a 50-50 split Havre can actually get some things accomplished.

Either way a hat tip goes to the Mayor for putting partisan politics aside in this case and we look forward to seeing a new council that joins together as a team instead of bickering political opponents.  We are encouraged by reports of last nights council meeting.

Professional "Occupy" Training now Available

Great news for all you people out there that are sick of the “man” and want to stage a 60’s style sit-in or rally people to your cause like the Occupy Wall Street lay-abouts but really don’t know how to get organized to get the most out of your community organizing efforts. The New York Post recently ran a story announcing that the prestigious Columbia University will be offering a new graduate course called simply “Occupy 101” The class will be taught by the doctorate holding Hannah Appel who was one of the crowd camping out in Zuccotti Park protesting against the 1% or the country’s money brokers that are ruining the chances of Utopia for the other 99% of the people. Never mind that most of said protesters were an unemployed lot of whiners that were upset because they think they are entitled to the “good life” with no effort on their own part.

I wonder what the mommies and daddies shelling out over $40,000 a year in tuition to Columbia will think of their little darlings enrolling in this course? Is it just me? Or is there something wrong with an education system that sets course to brainwash the spoiled and gullible while taking the parents hard-earned dollars for tuition?