The Wednesday Read

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Congratulations on making it to Wednesday! Here are some of the topics that caught my attention for this column:

  • Utility Fee Increase
  • Head’s Up
  • 15 Weeks
  • A Special Offer
  • One More Thing

UTILITY FEE INCREASE:

According to reporting from The Electric, Great Falls City Commissioners voted unanimously during their May 16 meeting to approve fee increases for water, sewer and storm drain utilities. The new rates go into effect June 1.

Unanimously.

The Electric says that Commissioners approved a 10 percent increase for water, sewer and storm drain bills for residential customers.

It seems like every month the commissioners are sticking it to us in one way or another. I don’t think we have any commissioner who is actually working for the people.

If you have ever thought about running for the city commission or mayor, now would be a great time. Just tell voters you will say “No” to fees and tax increases. The current commissioners have been sticking it to us and Great Falls needs someone who will stand up and say “No” to the impulses of the city staff.

Read the reporting from The Electric HERE.

HEAD’S UP:

The Electric is reporting that the court hearing on the Great Falls Public Library’s request for an election monitor has been moved to 3 p.m. May 18.

The latest error as reported in The Electric from the inept Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant is when the election office published a required notice of the election in the May 12 edition of the Tribune. The notice lists the library levy election date as May 2, 2023, but that was the school election, and the library election is set for June 6.

Great googly moogly. I guess they need a proofreader, too.

I hope the judge agrees that an election monitor is needed. The Cascade County Clerk and Recorder’s office is a mess.

15 WEEKS:

It seems that the conservative states are competing with each other to see which one can have the most restrictive abortion laws on the books.

The Montana Free Press (MTFP) is reporting that Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte on Tuesday announced signing four abortion restrictions into law, including an immediate ban on dilation and evacuation abortions, the most common type of procedure after about 15 weeks of pregnancy. The governor’s office said other bills signed this week included two restrictions on Medicaid coverage for abortion and stricter regulations for clinics.

North Carolina kind of said, “Hold my beer” and passed a 12-week ban.

Most, if not all, of these bills passed in the Montana legislature and signed into law, will be challenged in court. It will cost the taxpayers millions as the state has to defend the law.

According to AbortionFinder.org (yes, that is a real website), there are currently 13 states that completely ban abortion, and 31 states ban abortion after a specified point in pregnancy. Check out the website HERE.

As I have said many times, I hope we have fewer abortions in this country, but I am in no position, as are any of the Republican legislators or governor to dictate the rules to a pregnant woman. This is a purely personal decision that should be left up to the woman, her healthcare provider, and her God.

A SPECIAL OFFER:

You really need to subscribe to The Western Word so you can be notified when I post my columns!

The Western Word was created in 2005 making it one of the oldest blogs in the state and region. I (Jackie M. ‘Mike’ Brown) am the owner of this blog. I am a military veteran who honorably served my country in different parts of the world with the last stop being in Montana.

You can view my LinkedIn page HERE.

I have been involved in politics from local races to the Presidential level. I was dismayed with the Republican Party beginning in 2009, and I left the Republican Party for good after Donald Trump came on the scene. While that move cost me many friends, I now consider myself independent – and I sleep better at night.

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ONE MORE THING:

Live so that if your life were turned into a book, Florida would ban it. -The Other 98%

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5 thoughts on “The Wednesday Read”

  1. GF City staff made a pretty good case for the utility rate increases based on substantially increased costs of everything to the city, as well as no rate increases in recent years. By popular demand Commissioner Tryon then recited his now classic “I pay these [insert tax or fee being increased here] too, and I hate when they go up, but I’m voting yes” speech.

    On a positive note the commission did approve the HOMES and HOME-ARP money for the Neighborworks homeless housing project.

    However, the highlight of the evening was early on during open mike period, when a number of library haters came up and made their special cases against the library and the librarian and alleged pornography and all sorts of mean nasty ugly stuff, backed by some prepared materials with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was, to be used as evidence against the library. But unfortunately the very first library hater had given away the real game when she started going on about “woke ideology” being promoted by the library … which is supposed to be a place of darkness, ignorance, and exclusion.

    Several of the gaggle of haters who had come to support and cheer the anti-library speakers sported really sweet matching t-shirts, so that added a festive element to the commission meeting.

    • Thanks for the update. I think the library haters are some of the most ignorant people in GF. -JmB

      • It’s unfortunate that in order for them to feel relevant in the larger MAGA world they feel compelled to try and outright destroy an institution like the local public library, instead of working with the board for whatever change they feel is necessary. Zero sense of civic pride.

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