Letters to the Editor.

Wheelchair access

My name is Karri I am 14 years old and I have cerebral palsy. I drive a power wheelchair. I am having a hard time getting around Helena. I can not get down curbs I need wheelschair access to get down curbs. Sometimes there is access but it means crossing the street several feet away from the crosswalk. I don't think that is very safe. Sometimes I have to go in the street because I can't get on the sidewalk.

You should try getting around Helena in a wheelchair it's not very easy and not very safe.

I would like Helena to be more wheelchair accessible and wheelchair friendly. I also would be willing to work with city planners in assisting with this program.

Karri Jones

3720 Heather Drive.l

(Note: Ms. Jones wrote this letter from a Silver Linings summer school program in Helena for children with disabilities. Her teacher said this unedited letter took her three days to type because of her handicap.)

Cut billboards not trees

What do you mean the City faces being sued for planting those nice trees along the center of Hwy 12 West. If they are to be sued at all it should be for allowing those billboards to be put up in the first place, allowing them to block the view of the mountains. The mountains were there long before the signs and I'm sure the trees were planned long before the signs also. If the billboards stay (which they should not) then plant bushy Evergreens so we don't have to look at the billboards in the winter either. If the view of the mountains is to be obscured then so too for the signs. Billboards do not "welcome" visitors to Helena they just infringe on our open space. A definite Yes for an ordinance against billboards.

Tom Ryan

2429 Colorado Gulch

A poor argument

I read with great dismay last Friday's Your Turn by Dr. William Wise. His attack on homosexuals was based on a less than compelling argument that inclusion of same-sex partners would increase premiums for existing participants.

No one wants to pay more for health care, and a discussion of the economics of health care and why we subsidize some participants and not others would be worthwhile. However, Dr. Wise's diatribe offered nothing to that discussion and amounted to nothing more than homophobic gay bashing. While "hate speech" may be constitutionally protected, I think the editorial board of the IR should be careful when deciding whose turn it is to be heard.

If economics were the sole reason to include some group in or out of a particular health plan, then perhaps we should consider excluding anyone of child-bearing age. Probably should rule out newborn babies, too. What about those men 40+ whose increased risk of cancer and heart disease drives costs up?

Given the skyrocketing costs, a rational discussion of health care policy and its economics is in order. However, if we can't be rational, let's start cutting costs by excluding retired doctors whose names belie their wisdom.

David Scrimm

P.O. Box 6683

Ruling applauded

The Supreme Court decision on affirmative action is in the same spirit as to why Tribal Colleges and Universities were established: to give an opportunity to those citizens of America who did not have the physical or financial resourses to attain a higher education. I applaud this decision because it gives those of us who have been left behind an opportunity to catch up. Any aspect of this decision which maybe construed as negative is far outweighed the positive results for those citizens who graduate from institutions of higher education and who later become contributing members in all strata of our American culture.

Dick Littlebear, president

Chief Dull Knife Memorial College

Lame Deer