Welcome and thanks for starting your week with The Western Word. Here are the topics for today’s column:
- Two Critical Incidents
- Trump Coming To Montana?
- 2026 Ballot Initiatives
- One More Thing
TWO CRITICAL INCIDENTS:
On the Great Falls Police Department (GFPD) Facebook page, they posted a statement about “two critical incidents” that happened in Great Falls on Friday night.
According to GFPD:
At approximately 9:45PM (10/2/26), officers were dispatched to 20th St S and 2nd Ave S for a disturbance. Officers found one male suffering from a stab wound after he attempted to break up an altercation between a male and a female.
At approximately 11:25PM (10/2/26), Officers were dispatched to a residence in the 3800 block of 7th St NE for a disturbance. Officers found five people with stab wounds, including an infant. A male suspect was taken into custody as he attempted to flee the scene.
Later, they announced that the infant had succumbed to her injuries and died.
These are truly shocking incidents, and my deepest condolences go out to the victims and their families.
Unsurprisingly, some are already using these two incidents to beat the drum for more public safety funding. It seems there is a vocal crowd ready to demand a bigger budget every single time a significant crime occurs in Great Falls. Frankly, it feels entirely opportunistic.
For example, Great Falls City Commissioner Rick Tryon posted these comments:
Some of us have been raising the alarm for quite some time now. Our local public safety folks are underfunded, overwhelmed, and at the point of triage when it comes to providing public safety.
The GFPD is even getting into the spirit:
Both incidents stretched response capabilities causing GFPD to prioritize an “emergency only” response for the remainder of the night. We’re grateful for the 911 dispatchers who did an outstanding job managing the response of law enforcement and emergency medical personnel. And, we’d like to thank Cascade County Sheriff/Coroner’s Office for their ongoing partnership, as their deputies filled in and responded to other calls, when no Great Falls MT Police Department officers were available.
Look for more of this “lobbying” in the future.
Experience demonstrates that department leaders are rarely satisfied with their allocated budgets. Consequently, elected representatives must act as a check on spending, while citizens retain the final authority at the ballot box.
TRUMP COMING TO MONTANA?
According to Politico, President Donald Trump is expected to travel to at least 10 states in the final four weeks of the campaign, according to a senior White House official and another person with direct knowledge of the president’s travel schedule.
Politico says the blitz will include traditional Senate battlegrounds — Michigan, North Carolina and Georgia — as well as red states the president won by double-digits in 2024: Texas, Iowa, Alaska, Ohio and Kansas. He’s also expected to travel to Montana and Pennsylvania, which have competitive House races, said the people, who were granted anonymity to preview Trump’s travel plans.
According to a text message I received last week from the Flint Leadership PAC, “The polls are tied and we are being buried in false negative attacks from every liberal special interest group you can imagine!”
With the race between Flint and Forstag being close, that has to be the main reason President Trump is coming to Montana. Will Trump help Flint? Gas prices are high, diesel prices are at a record high, groceries are very expensive, and there’s a war going on that we don’t seem to have an end date.
The easy answer is we are not better off than we were two years ago. It’s time for change. We need to elect people who will not be a rubber stamp for Trump.
2026 BALLOT INITIATIVES:
I happened to see a post on Facebook from the Montana Republican Party telling people to vote “No” on CI-132, CI-133, and CI-194.
That means you should vote “Yes” on all three initiatives. It’s that simple.
Many of the people commenting on the post say they are voting “Yes” also.
ONE MORE THING:
I enjoy a glass of wine each night for its health benefits. The other glasses are for my witty comebacks and flawless dance moves.
## HAVE A GREAT WEEK ##
