Letters to the editor Sept. 7

DUI laws

Well, here we go again. The Aug. 31 Inter Lake features an article about a man crashing into a parked pickup and leaving the scene. He also left his bumper with the license plate still affixed at the scene. 

The police traced the ownership of the vehicle to its owner and among other charges he was also arrested for DUI. Wait for it ... for the fifth time.

Sadly, a DUI in Montana only turns into a felony after your fourth conviction. Why did this person still have a license to drive? Really, I would love to know. 

What has to happen before lawmakers in Montana will get serious about toughening the DUI laws here? Judges and prosecutors of the Flathead, kindly throw the book at these people who give the middle digit to the rest of us while they choose, over and over again, to drive drunk and place all of us who share the road with them at risk. 

In my perfect world the first time you are stopped driving drunk and are convicted it should sting big time. Stiff fines, jail and loss of ones license for starters and so much more. No one, I mean absolutely no one, has the right to drive drunk or impaired. 

Maybe it will take (heaven forbid) a lawmaker or a judge or a prosecutor having a member of their own family injured or worse before they resolve to hold multiple offending drunk drivers in the Flathead responsible in a big way for their dangerous, selfish behavior. 

And for those of you who think nothing of slipping into your vehicle after having just “a couple of drinks” call an Uber or a friend to come and get you. Why should anyone of us die because of your drunken poor choices?

— Jill Williams, Kalispell

Gumbo river

Have you been out to shop the new Costco location yet? When and if you do, traveling north on U.S. 93, take note of the Stillwater River just past Corwin Motors. What is going on with the Stillwater? I have personally never seen it looking like that. Thick, sludge-like green gumbo! What the heck is going into the Stillwater?

Being one of the older generation, I have never, ever seen the Stillwater looking like this. It really is quite concerning and it raises serious questions about the attention that’s being paid to our natural resources. In the past, before all the building and tearing up of our precious lands became common thing, heavy attention was applied to preserve, protect and cherish what we have been given through our ancestors. Now, I question what are we leaving for our children, and especially our children’s children? Please, folks, let’s keep our state the state we have always loved and been so proud of.

Montana, Montana, glory of the West. From all the states, coast to coast, you’re easily the best. 

— Brenda Anderson, Columbia Falls