Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, As a hunter, I find opinions like those of Ali Macalady nauseating (HCN, 11/6/00). “Hunters for Gun Control?” I wonder if she’s not a “plant,” a leftist radical posing as a hunter. If she’s really a hunter, she should be aware that the gun-grabbers will never be satisfied with banning handguns and semi-automatic […]

Dear HCN, I was pleased to see the article on “Hunters for Gun Control” (HCN, 11/6/00). I am interested in building a coalition of groups in Montana (and elsewhere) that can effectively challenge the perception that all or most hunters and sportsmen accept the NRA line. Ralph StoneVista, Montana This article appeared in the print […]

Dear HCN, I am glad that Ali Macalady and her family are devoted to hunting. I share with her the belief that “there is something important about harvesting my own food,” and a love of early mornings spent waiting for game. But it is disappointing to read that an outdoorswoman such as Macalady considers it […]

Dear HCN, Ed Marston’s visit to the Teton Dam disaster, described in his “Truth telling” essay (HCN, 9/25/00: Truth-telling needs a home in the West), reminded me of my involvement with that dam. In 1971, Gov. Cecil Andrus appointed me as the token environmentalist to the Idaho Water Resource Board. We soon thereafter visited the […]

Dear HCN, Thank you for the copy of your story about the Catholic Church’s pastoral letter to help people appreciate the sacred and divine nature of the Columbia River watershed (HCN, 9/11/00: Holy water: The Catholic Church seeks to restore the Columbia River and the church’s relevance to the natural world). I fell in love […]

Dear HCN, Contrary to the subtle assertions made by Mike Stark in his article titled “Killing salmon to save the species” (HCN, 10/9/00: Killing salmon to save the species), many people, from state to federal officials throughout the Northwest, were and are still angry, indeed outraged, at the salmon-clubbing episode that occurred in Oregon and […]

Dear HCN, David Petersen claims to be a hunter, but writes like an Animal Rights Fanatic (ARF). He follows the pattern of the typical activist, changing the names of things to disguise their true nature. Thus ranch hunts become the evil canned hunts. Reading his opinion piece, “When hunting becomes staggeringly stupid” (HCN, 10/23/00: When […]

Dear HCN, Your story on the Mexican-American border described in intimate detail the life of an illegal trying to cross, but we are not addressing the root cause of the problem (HCN, 10/9/00: The hunters and the hunted: The Arizona-Mexico border turns into the 21st century frontier). We think the solution to this problem is […]

Dear HCN, Having lived in a remote area of Cochise County, eight miles from the Mexican border, I found Susan Zakin’s article, “The Hunters and the Hunted,” to be an accurate and well-balanced examination of a very serious problem (HCN, 10/9/00: The hunters and the hunted: The Arizona-Mexico border turns into the 21st century frontier). […]

Dear HCN, I read with some puzzlement your edition of Sept. 25, in which you applaud the use of propane-powered buses in Zion National Park, then promptly deride the natural gas industry, the source of that propane. I’ve always respected the High Country News for what I thought was balanced, in-depth reporting on contentious environmental […]

Dear HCN, Early in the 1990s, I was among a chartered busload of residents who traveled to Denver to attend a Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission meeting. It was an enlightening experience to learn that residents had no standing to speak or participate in any way at this meeting. But the volume of people […]

Dear HCN, The firearm Don Barnett holds in your photo on page 8 in the Oct. 9 issue of HCN, on the Mexican-U.S. border, is not a machine gun. Such an error does us all a disservice by needlessly inflaming the already emotional issues of Second Amendment rights and illegal immigration. The latter you have […]

Dear HCN, I appreciate your essay about the need for historically accurate monuments and markers across the West (HCN, 9/25/00: Truth-telling needs a home in the West). Someone who is very eloquent on this issue is James Loewen, who wrote Lies Across America: What Our Historic Markers and Monuments Get Wrong. Unfortunately, the marker which […]

Dear HCN, I just read the article “The West has a bad hand” by Jon Margolis (HCN, 10/23/00: In presidential politics, the West has a bad hand), where he stated that “Life is not fair …” is generally attributed to John F. Kennedy. Not exactly. No doubt it was said at some earlier time (perhaps […]

Dear HCN, I was disappointed to read your newspaper’s article of Sept. 25 titled “Backyard Boom” by Rebecca Clarren and the associated sidebar article titled “The playing field has to be leveled.” What concerns me the most is that there does not appear to have been an attempt to verify sources or obtain the other […]

Dear HCN, As a former 18-year resident of Washington state (1982-2000), journalist and participant in politics there, I found Steve Stuebner’s article on Slade Gorton a disappointing concoction of free advertising for tribal and environmental biases. The article had its moments in viewing a tight race for the Senate, featuring a strong Democratic candidate who […]

Dear HCN, The first lesson you learn if you want to be a conservation activist is that you have to know what you’re talking about. Otherwise, you lose credibility. Unfortunately, Larry Tuttle’s letter (HCN, 9/25/00: Response to ‘squishy-soft’) reflects that he has yet to learn that lesson. Our suggestion? Visit the Northern Plains Resource Council’s […]

Dear HCN, As the nation prepares for the upcoming presidential election, it is so sad to read about the formation of the group “Environmentalists Against Gore” (HCN, 8/28/00: The Latest Bounce). If this group succeeds in what must be its goal, we will get George W. Bush as our next president. If this is what […]

Dear HCN, Concerning Jim Robbins’ “Holy Water”: It is very good to see the Catholic Church taking some more specific steps (in the Columbia River basin pastoral letter) toward applying the ideas in Renewing the Earth (HCN, 9/11/00: Excerpts from the pastoral letter draft). I would like to set the record straight, however (or at […]

Dear HCN, Thanks to HCN and Jim Robbins for the fine piece on the Columbia River Pastoral Letter Project (“Holy Water,” HCN, 9/11/00: Holy Water). The pastoral letter is a good example of what some have called the “greening” of the Christian Church. Other efforts to make Christianity more “earth friendly” are under way among […]