Greetings! Here are the topics for today’s column:

• Tax Abatement
• Minneapolis School Shooting
• The Western Word
• One More Thing

TAX ABATEMENT:

I read an article in The Electric about Great Falls officials working on options for a gate at 4th Street Northeast, near the wastewater treatment plant, because Calumet Montana Refining is expanding the railroad. According to the report, the proposed access gate will allow city staff to access the wastewater treatment plant, and public access to West Bank Park will be directed to the main access point at 3rd Avenue Northwest.

It kind of seems like a messy situation. What really caught my attention was the third paragraph from the end, which states: 

In 2022, commissioners approved a 10-year tax abatement to Calumet that staff estimated at the time would be a loss of $2.77 million in property tax revenue.

I am all for giving incentives to businesses to locate to and stay in our city – when we have the money to do it. The Great Falls City Commission and department heads have been complaining about a lack of funding for public safety for years. That $2.77 million in revenue would come in handy.

I suggest that the Commission refrain from handing out incentives so they can fund the bread-and-butter things like public safety. The incentives can come later. 

MINNEAPOLIS SCHOOL SHOOTING: 

Schools are just starting all across the country, and we had a school shooting in Minneapolis at a Catholic School. Two children were killed and 17 others were injured. The shooting was actually done while the school held mass in the church. Reports say the shooter barricaded two church doors with two-by-four wooden boards and shot at the children through a window. 

This makes me sick and angry. It should make you sick and angry, too. 

What will we do? Nothing. We won’t do a damned thing. 

Several years ago, when a shooter went into Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 20 first graders and six educators, I thought for sure we would come together as a country to do something about gun violence after 20 precious first graders were murdered, but we didn’t. I wrote that I had lost a lot of faith in our country after Sandy Hook. I said we have chickenshits representing us. Instead of doing what is right, they bow to the gun lobby because they are afraid to lose an election.

The Associated Press (AP) is reporting that the shooter is 23-year-old Robin Westman. Westman had no prior criminal history and is believed to have acted alone.

We do get the blame game. The New York Times reported that, as a 17-year-old, she (Westman) filed a court document to change her first name to Robin from Robert. It was also signed by her mother. The document noted that Ms. Westman “identified as female and wants her name to reflect that identification.” 

Additionally, the Times reported that on social media, some conservative activists have seized on the shooter’s gender identity to broadly portray transgender people as violent or mentally ill. 

The data shows that those accusations are incorrect. Over the past decade, the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive has recorded more than 5,300 mass shootings, defined as incidents in which at least four people were shot, excluding the perpetrators. Only four of those — less than one-tenth of 1 percent — were committed by people known to identify as trans or nonbinary. (Source) (Source)

We can do better.

THE WESTERN WORD:

As you may know, The Western Word was established in January 2005, and I have been churning out columns ever since.

I wanted to let my faithful readers know that I just renewed The Western Word domain with WordPress for another year! Thanks for reading.

Please tell your friends (and enemies) about this little veteran-owned blog in Montana. I strive to provide independent and common-sense commentary about politics, sports, the media, and just about everything else that catches my attention. Subscriptions are free! 

ONE MORE THING: 

I told my wife I wanted to be cremated. She made me an appointment for Tuesday…

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