Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, The attitude of the writer of “Three cheers for the arsonists at Vail” (HCN, 11/9/98), that the end justifies the means, is exactly the same as the attitude of those who cheered the death of the gay student in Wyoming, the attitude that led to the murder of the doctor in New York […]

Dear HCN, As a former intern and longtime friend of the paper, I have often defended HCN’s journalistic integrity, even when your views didn’t happen to support my own. Paul Larmer’s recent article, “Idaho grizzly plan shifts into low gear” (HCN, 11/9/98), leaves me feeling painfully bereft of much defensible. Larmer focuses on the “ROOTS […]

Dear HCN, I regret to inform you that the Turtle and Tortoise Liberation Front takes exception to Mark Matthews’ report on “amphibian underpasses’ being considered for the Flathead Reservation ostensibly to reduce the “hundreds of painted turtles smashed” on Hwy. 93 (HCN, 11/23/98). Turtles, being reptiles, go through no demeaning gill phase, nor do they […]

Dear HCN, I wish to respond to Marc Gaede’s letter “Hunting: Call it competition” (HCN, 11/23/98). In this complex, confusing world, it is a tremendous relief to find someone with the simple answers to difficult questions such as, “Why do we hunt?” From Mr. Gaede’s remarks, I now understand that I hunt because I am […]

Dear HCN, Kudos on HCN’s most recent issue covering the “Grizzly War” (HCN, 11/9/98). The piece by Todd Wilkinson is both timely and dead on target. I must say, however, that I was rather amazed to read under “Idaho grizzly plan shifts into low gear,” that “Environmentalists are silent on grizzly reintroduction.” Environmentalists, both in […]

Dear HCN, I have found recent letters to the editor and the latest essay by Stephen Lyons to contain some bits of hidden wisdom. The larger message that I get from these writings is that when all is said and done, at the end of the day, we’re all a bunch of selfish bastards. Opinions […]

Dear HCN, It was a pleasure to read in the Nov. 9 issue the letter by Michael E. Adams supporting the arson at Vail. This man and every member of the Earth Liberation Front should be canonized for their visionary efforts in advancing the environmental cause. I only regret that someone wasn’t killed in the […]

Dear HCN, As an anthropologist with an active interest in primatology, I find Stephen Gies’ letter of response (HCN, 10/26/98) to Ken Wright’s review of David Petersen’s hunting book Elkheart interesting (HCN, 9/28/98). Gies suspects that Petersen’s psychological need to hunt is based on “primordial revitalized manhood.” This is a pretty good intuitive generalization. A […]

Dear HCN, After reading Stephen Gies’ tirade against hunting (HCN, 10/26/98), I felt compelled to clarify the logic in his ethical position. From his letter, his position can be summed up in two statements: 1) Killing and eating domesticated animals is ethical, and 2) Killing and eating wild animals is unethical. That is, it is […]

Dear HCN, I found it ironic and disturbing that the same issue containing an article decrying the hate crime in Laramie had a letter cheering the hate crime in Vail and an opinion piece loosely excusing it (HCN, 11/9/98). Whether you like the Vail decision or not, it was shaped by public involvement and scrutiny. […]

Dear HCN, Please may I quibble over a couple of minor points in Tom Wolf’s informative essay about Floyd Dominy and Morrow Point Dam (HCN, 10/26/98). Morrow Point is indeed an elegant engineering marvel, and you have to admire the artful audacity of its designers, but the Black Canyon of the Gunnison is a marvel, […]

Dear HCN, The recent cover article in HCN suggested that Sen. Harry Reid was the best Western environmental senator (HCN, 9/28/98). While he is far superior to many of his colleagues, the article failed to mention many of his shortcomings. For example, Sen. Reid is co-sponsor of legislation that would transfer thousands of acres of […]

Dear HCN, Stephen Lyons’ essay on our very own Helen Chenoweth was wonderful (HCN, 9/28/98). However, he didn’t answer the question I wanted to ask Helen about God forgiving her. Did she get it in writing? Scott W. Reed Coeur d’Alene, Idaho This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline […]

Dear HCN, In its single-minded pursuit of ever-increasing profits and greater market share, it seems Vail has finally stirred some resistance from folks not overly concerned with such niceties as the legality of their actions, and who exhibit a downright healthy disdain for the property of large corporations. Well, God bless the Earth Liberation Front! […]

Dear HCN, Once again I am treated to the inane and meretricious propaganda of an “ethical, wildlife-loving hunter” in Ken Wright’s review of David Petersen’s book Elkheart (HCN, 9/28/98). Mr. Petersen expounds the same logically absurd argument that tries to justify recreational hunting not as the macabre sport it is, but as a need for […]

Dear HCN, In reading your Sept. 14 article, “A county in Nevada assaults a river,” I was struck by the similarities occurring here in Montana. The U.S. Forest Service is removing culverts, obliterating roads and dumping tons of sediment into bull trout streams. But in contrast to the Nevada situation, this seems to be “good […]

Dear HCN, Dressed as Grammaw Maudie Miller in 1843, whose brother Nathan is a mountain man, I do a living history story about trailblazers of the Oregon Trail. I tell about mountain men who opened up their 2,000-mile horse and pack-mule caravan routes to wagons by 1840, making possible the great migrations that opened and […]

Dear HCN, One climbing bolt the size of my finger, left on a rock face, is not the problem. One load of lead pellets, shot over a marsh, is not the problem. The problem is the cumulative debris of climbing bolts (and lead shot), and of over-use which permanently and cumulatively scars the landscape (HCN, […]

Dear HCN, Tom Sheridan says “paralysis’ brought about by lawsuits to enforce the Endangered Species Act will result in the fragmentation and subdivision of every grassland valley in the state of Arizona (HCN, 6/8/98). It seems much more likely to me, but I could be wrong, that if enforcement of the Endangered Species Act results […]

Dear HCN, Let me see if I have this right: Alaska Republican Rep. Don Young is concerned that some public employees may be “leaking” information about public lands (HCN, 9/14/98) to members of the public? Yikes! Wally Elton Springfield, Vermont This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Yikes!.