Welcome! Here are the topics for today’s column:
- States That Vaccinate the Most
- Abbey Lee Cook
- Oliver North & Fawn Hall
- One More Thing
STATES THAT VACCINATE THE MOST:
Every time vaccines are mentioned, especially COVID vaccines, the country is divided. The comments on social media usually become political and personal.
As for me, I was in the military and received many vaccinations. Since I was in a job where I could be deployed anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice, I had many vaccinations. After the military, I continued to receive flu shots, and I have received many COVID-19 shots. I trust the science regarding vaccinations more than I trust politicians and the anti-vax wackos.
WalletHub has released a study called “States That Vaccinate the Most in 2025,” and the results are interesting.
Montana is ranked #38, but the concerning part to me was Montana’s rank for children and teenagers, which is #49.
Check out the full report from WalletHub HERE. Most importantly, get vaccinated!
ABBEY LEE COOK:
Abbey Lee Cook, the Democratic campaign consultant, pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Great Falls, blaming her theft of $253,000 on being overwhelmed at work. (Source)
According to reports, Cook’s sentencing is set for January 15, 2026. The Helena Independent Record is reporting that Cook will not be held in custody pending her sentencing hearing, but under her conditions of release, she has to seek employment, surrender her passport, have no contact with the victims, not possess a firearm or use alcohol, and submit to random drug and alcohol testing. Each count of wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release.
It will be interesting to see her sentence.
OLIVER NORTH & FAWN HALL:
I had not heard the names Oliver North and Fawn Hall for years, so it was a shock to see their names in the headlines again. In the late 1980s, they were in the headlines about the Iran-Contra affair.
It was announced that they were recently married. North is 81 years old, and Hall is 65 years old.
Congratulations! I wonder if anyone gave them a shredder for a wedding gift?
ONE MORE THING:
Life is so much easier with a sense of humor…
## THE END ##
The Western Word 
Nothing at all to do with any of today’s topics, but an evergreen topic – the Great Falls City Commission.
I just listened to last week’s commission work session video because they were going to discuss a manager Doyon memo from April about the then-proposed big utility increase and its $2M per year extra “Capital Improvement Investment” fund. A memo that they never got around to discussing earlier.
Of the extra capital fund the memo clearly noted, “No doubt this is a difficult conversation to have with the community, but if had, the Commission and staff can have a clear and more definitive communication process with investors and developers to address their demands for new infrastructure.”
Of course, our Commission never bothered to have that conversation with the community. They just went ahead and rammed through that big 27% increase in June with very minimal discussion even amongst themselves, especially about that extra $2M/yr. Whatever the opposite of “transparency” in government is, that was a prime example of it.
And now, on top of it all as revealed in this memo, manager Doyon is proposing to divert part of that $2M they just voted to take out of our pockets to further enlarge his administrative empire at the City. He’s proposing a brand new $170,000/yr. position (salary plus bennies) called “Strategic Development Officer”. The new position would also be funded in part by some of the TIF money that’s supposedly dedicated to renovating several districts in Great Falls, TIF districts that are a big part of the reason there’s a shortage of money for public safety.
This really reeks of BS. First this pro-growth-at-any-cost especially-if-that-cost-is-to-existing-ratepayers commission votes to take an extra $2M via city utility fees to subsidize developers – without public discussion. And now before the ink is even hardly dry on that sleight of hand shiftiness the manager has a serious proposal to divert part of the newly imposed fee revenue (out of our pockets) to add an expensive new staff position reporting to Doyon. Like the City couldn’t even hardly wait for that new money to be printed before spending it. This isn’t conservative fiscal responsibility. It’s out-of-control city leadership that thinks we are their personal piggy bank to fund their friends in the development community.
Read the entire memo from April at the bottom of the latest work session packet, starting with page 5 of the PDF. The breakout of the costs of the new position are on page 17 of the packet. Don’t look for any cost/benefit analysis for the new position like you might expect from a real business, because it isn’t there.
Supposedly they will discuss this further next work session. And Mayor Reeves and Commissioner McKenney are running for re-election. The entire commission should hear from us about this but especially those two.
https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/greatfls-pubu/MEET-Packet-80c10422c76b44ca9c3aaf66e99cc451.pdf
Great information. I think it’s time for Doyon to move on. It would be nice to elect people who are not so determined to spend, spend, spend. -JmB