Editorials

ENTERPRISE EDITORIAL: Here’s to roadkill on your dinner plate

Published on Mon, 07/10/2017 - 2:54pm

Quick: What meat is 100 percent organic, free of antibiotics, free of MSG and flat-out as lean as you can get?

Grass-fed beef? Free-range chickens?

No. Roadkill.

Montana began allowing the harvesting of roadkill in 2013. Last month, Oregon became the latest state in the union to legalize it. Last year the state of Washington also decided to allow folks to gather this alternative food. Today, around 20 states permit salvaging roadkill.

ENTERPRISE EDITORIAL: Sienkiewicz reassignment raises questions

Published on Fri, 07/07/2017 - 2:57pm

The recent reassignment of Livingston District Ranger Alex Sienkiewicz of the United States Forest Service raises many questions.

The first and most obvious question is whether top-ranking Forest Service officials reassigned Sienkiewicz for working to improve access to public land.

Another question the federal agency must answer is whether this decision was politically motivated.

GUEST EDITORIAL: Let’s lower housing costs in D.C.

Published on Wed, 07/05/2017 - 2:59pm

The guy makes $174,000, enjoys a very nice retirement package and has a medical plan you cannot afford.

But that’s not enough.

He wants you to pay for his house, too.

Only people who really care about politics know that Jason Chaffetz, a congressman from Utah, recently resigned. Ever since he announced his plans to leave Congress, speculation has been rampant for his reasons.

Well, not exactly rampant.

ENTERPRISE EDITORIAL: Keep dogs under control, for others’ sakes and yours

Published on Fri, 06/30/2017 - 3:11pm

A woman doing yard work near Bozeman was attacked and mauled by two dogs on Saturday. The woman, who is an organ donor, was put on life support after the attack while authorities waited for rabies tests on the dogs to come back, according to the Associated Press.

This horrific event didn’t take place in a far-away state, but right here in Montana. Violent encounters with dogs happen all too often in our neck of the woods. 

Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about 4.5 million dog bites take place each year. 

ENTERPRISE EDITORIAL: Landmark landmark

Published on Thu, 06/29/2017 - 2:06pm

The word “landmark” has at least two dictionary meanings – “an object or feature of a landscape or town that is easily seen and recognized…” and “an event, discovery, or change marking an important stage or turning point…”

This weekend is a “landmark-landmark” for Livingston.

Thirty years ago Saturday, a large crowd gathered downtown to celebrate the grand opening of the Livingston Depot Center, the re-birth of the historic train station complex and its conversion to a community, exhibition, cultural and commercial center for the town.

Trump takes irrational stand on climate change

Published on Fri, 06/23/2017 - 2:40pm

The blatant disrespect shown by the Trump administration towards our planet has to stop.

GUEST EDITORIAL: Rodeo clowns, cowboys and Julius Ceasar

Published on Wed, 06/21/2017 - 3:46pm

We have come a long way since the rodeo clown.

Unfortunately, it’s all downhill.

It is safe to say that few people remember the rodeo clown. But it was big news back in August 2013. The contrast between the clown with the mask and events last week are just too notable to, well – not notice.

And that was before the shooting.

It started in August 2013 when a rodeo clown donned a mask of Barack Obama.

GUEST EDITORIAL: Another fake attack on global warming

Published on Thu, 06/15/2017 - 1:38pm

So the good Democrats in Hawaii voted last week to ‘fight climate change.’

The legislation came on the heels of President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate arrangement. The decision to leave the non-binding agreement, which did not apply to the world’s biggest CO2 producers for another generation, has liberals in a froth.

In their effort to save the planet, Democrats in Hawaii passed a law to reduce carbon emissions. Reduce carbon emissions in the agriculture sector.

The agriculture sector? That’s picking up pennies while ignoring dollars.

ENTERPRISE EDITORIAL: The Treasure State's stand against AIS

Published on Fri, 06/09/2017 - 1:17pm

The Montana Legislature and state wildlife officials needed to act quickly.

Inaction was not an option after test results confirmed late last year the presence of aquatic invasive mussels in north central Montana’s Tiber Reservoir.

The Legislature, during the final days of the session, approved Senate Bill 363 requiring all anglers — resident and nonresident — to purchase a new Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention Pass.

ENTERPRISE EDITORIAL: Help save Montana’s past by preserving ghost towns

Published on Fri, 06/09/2017 - 1:14pm

The vigilantes grabbed Bannack Sheriff Henry Plummer from his bed in the middle of a cold January night in 1864 and led him to the gallows outside of town. His entreaties for his life under flickering torchlights were rejected, and he was summarily hanged.

The gallows on which the shady sheriff met his end are gone, but a replica stands on the spot today. You can see it and the amazing preserved gold mining town of Bannack this summer if you get a hankering to visit some Montana ghost towns.