The city of Kalispell, seeking to fill a vacancy on the City Council, put out a notice last week that said, “You might be the perfect candidate.”

By the deadline three days later, the response was overwhelming: 11 people had applied for the Ward 3 council seat.

Such popularity for a position that pays $5,000 a year (plus a stipend of $900) is an encouraging sign of citizen interest in city government.

City council service can at times be a thankless job, so it’s refreshing to see so many people who want to serve their neighbors.

The only drawback in the outpouring of applicants is that it makes it a little more difficult for the current council members to make a selection from a list that includes some very solid council candidates.

K-9 patrol vs. the bad guys

It will be interesting to see how successful the Montana Highway Patrol is in the coming months as troopers employ a low-tech reponse to fighting a high-risk crime.

Forget about electronic scanners or NSA wiretaps; the Highway Patrol is turning to a four-legged solution to fight increasing drug traffic in Montana. Six K-9 narcotics units have been outfitted to take to the highway on Interstate 90 and Interstate 94.

Lots of drugs originate to the east and west of Montana in higher-population states, and sometimes those drugs are just being transported across the hundreds of miles of interstate highway in Montana. 

But these days a new risk is the growing criminal population in the booming Bakken, where big payrolls, oil workers far from their homes, and a high-stress lifestyle have led to a thriving drug market.

Specially trained officers will work with German and Belgian shepherds and other dogs to sniff out narcotics or explosives and steer bad guys to a detour that will hopefully end at Deer Lodge in the state prison.

Editorials represent the majority opinion of the Daily Inter Lake’s editorial board.