We must question some of the recent letters to the editor that have tried to address the letter that the Flathead County commissioners sent to the U.S. Department of State on March 10.

Initially our inquiry is to the basic underlying intent of the authors of the referenced letters. Their use of ambiguous and unsubstantiated terms is truly suspect. What is to be the positive outcome of their opposition to the citizen-sponsored effort to protect our communities from a potential impact that has already occurred throughout our nation, and yes throughout much of Western civilization!

First, consider their terms such as “banning all Syrian refugees,” “a handful of refugees” and “lack of compassion.” What meeting did they attend? What letter are they quoting? The commissioners’ meetings of March 1 and March 10 were duly advertised and open to the public. All correspondence and oral presentations were duly submitted and recorded.

The initial citizen letter requesting commissioner support and action addressed the plight of citizens throughout Middle Eastern and African nations that have suffered greatly from external and internal terrorist and disgruntled citizen attacks. It acknowledged our genuine sympathy and applauded the efforts of our own governmental and public agencies to mitigate the effects of this turmoil.

We are so proud of our private citizen response that has brought about substantial relief to the inhabitants of the aforementioned countries. Faith-based organizations, international relief organizations, private medical teams, members of our military services, agricultural and educational teams have all applied their efforts to lessen the impact of this horror that has enveloped this portion of our world. The financial sacrifice from our citizens has not gone un-noticed. Except, apparently in some rare cases!

However, our citizen-sponsored effort additionally recognizes the potential threat to the traditional and highly valued culture of our beloved nation that may occur by the relocation of individuals that seek to bring about death and destruction of inhabitants of our communities that are required to accept individuals who will have been granted refugee status without a proper and complete background investigation, which at this time our own governmental intelligence and security agencies have stated that they are unable to provide.

The international agencies in cooperation with our own government-designated voluntary agencies have been unable to guarantee that the sponsored individuals would not include any person that has participated in or is sympathetic to the current Islamic State jihadist movement that has been in existence for over 1,400 years and has already made significant impacts to some cities in this great nation.

These private agencies are to receive a significant amount of taxpayer dollars on a per capita basis for placing these individuals in our communities, but are not subject to any contingent liability for any resultant felonious actions by a sponsored “refugee.” Conventional wisdom would acknowledge that only a small minority of these individuals would be culpable of criminal behavior. However, fewer than a dozen individuals have brought Belgium to a standstill this past week.

It is also readily apparent that those who would prefer to obstruct efforts to protect our constitutionally guaranteed way of life are unable to distinguish the difference between our century-old immigration system that has allowed over a million individuals per year safe haven and eventual citizenship, if desired, and an ill-conceived influx of individuals who are suffering the consequences of countries that have accepted a theocratic form of dominance.

We will close by re-addressing the possible intent of the various letter authors. Were they just innocently uninformed or was their underlying effort an attempt to divide our community? Throughout our country we read every day that our communities are being divided by what food we can serve in our schools; what words can be spoken and by whom; what clothing may or may not be worn; what legal code may govern and be enforced; what lifestyle is acceptable; and what enterprise may take place and where.

May we paraphrase one of our great patriots? The greatest threat to our precious way of life — liberty — and our happiness is to remain uninformed and to leave the important issues up to someone else! By attending the presentation of Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. on April 5, at the Hilton Garden Inn, we may all increase our state of community awareness!

John and Margie Donoghue are residents of Bigfork.