Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana

Dear Editor: Climate Change in Whitehall

Dear Editor,

As far as conspiracy theories go, one might note that the the subject of climate change has been growing in popularity over the past few years, maybe as much as a decade. I’m not a scientist, so I’m not even going to try to convince anyone either way as to whether there’s something to it, or even if it’s as bad as they say. I’m definitely not going to say either, that it’s all just a bunch of hogwash, because I know there’s SOMETHING to it, if only that it’s as simple as our Mother Earth protesting being raped (a comment that I’ve made in the past, concerning the drilling being done in North Dakota).

This letter, however, is not being written to address any weather-related issues that our world might be facing in the future, no matter how near or far. This letter is meant to address the climate change in our own little burg of Whitehell, er, ahem; WhiteHALL!

Change is a good thing, usually. There is definitely a need for some sort of “climate change” in our little town. This relates to a guest editorial I recently wrote concerning the Whitehall Tax Increment Fund (WTIF) Master Plan. Again, change is needed, but what should that change look like? First, I believe the shaky (at best) infrastructure this town seems to be built on needs our attention. By “our attention,” I mean just that: OUR attention. WE are this town and unless we come out of the woodwork, putting our money where our mouths are, so to speak, NOTHING will change. At least, not for the better.

Dress her up to make Whitehall look better for the tourists?

Bring in more attractions to bring in more business for Whitehall?

Sure, that all sounds great, but without a strong foundation, how big can we grow before we start to crumble?

Climate change may or may not be a thing, but one thing is for sure, the weather patterns around here have been a bit crazy of late. Whether the weather has been taking its cues from humanity, or whether we’re just in the midst of the normal cyclic pattern of things and headed for the next Ice Age, one thing is for sure: we’d better focus on our own issues here in Whitehall before we start worrying about global conspiracies we can’t immediately control.

Charles Haddon Shank

Whitehall, Montana

 

Reader Comments(0)