Of course this attorney assumes God is the Christian god. I think Chambers was describing best the old testament god in his lawsuit. (The angry jealous god)Were is the Jewish lawyer response?
LINCOLN, Neb. - The mystery of one response to a lawsuit against God has been solved. Eric Perkins, an attorney in Corpus Christi, Texas, said Friday he filed a response to the lawsuit from Nebraska State Sen. Ernie Chambers. "It's kind of a turn on 'What would Jesus do?'" Perkins said. "I thought to myself, "what would God say?"
"Defendant denies that this or any court has jurisdiction ... over Him any more than the court has jurisdiction over the wind or rain, sunlight or darkness," according to Perkins' response.
As for Chambers' contention that God made terroristic threats, inspired fear and caused "widespread death, destruction and terrorization," Perkins wrote that God "contends that any harm or injury suffered is a direct and proximate result of mankind ignoring obvious warnings."
Perkins, who said he is a Christian, faxed one of at least two responses to Chambers' lawsuit. He said while he hopes the lawsuit was just a stunt by Chambers, "maybe his timing has something to do with world affairs. I'd hate to be that person who sat back and did nothing."
The problem of serving God a summons could land the lawsuit in the earthly scrap heap of failed legal actions.
But whether the issue goes before a judge may largely depend on how hard Chambers pushes the issue. The senator isn't asking that notice be served to God, but says in his lawsuit that if he doesn't get a summary judgment in the case, he wants a hearing _ "if the court deems such a hearing not to be a futile act."
Chambers, a self-proclaimed agnostic, said he's trying to makes the point that anybody can sue anybody. He said his filing was triggered by a federal lawsuit he considers frivolous.
It's still not clear where a second response from "God" came from. There was no contact information on the filing, which turned up on the counter at the Douglas County Court office, although St. Michael the Archangel is listed as a witness.
Sep 23, 2007
Sep 22, 2007
God Responds - court lacks jurisdiction
LINCOLN, Nebraska (AP) -- A legislator who filed a lawsuit against God has gotten something he might not have expected: a response.
State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha said he sued God last week to make a point about frivolous lawsuits.
One of two court filings from "God" came Wednesday under otherworldly circumstances, according to John Friend, clerk of the Douglas County District Court in Omaha.
"This one miraculously appeared on the counter. It just all of a sudden was here -- poof!" Friend said.
State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha sued God last week, seeking a permanent injunction against the Almighty for making terroristic threats, inspiring fear and causing "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."
Chambers, a self-proclaimed agnostic who often criticizes Christians, said his filing was triggered by a federal lawsuit he considers frivolous. He said he's trying to make the point that anybody can sue anybody.
Not so, says "God." His response argues that the defendant is immune from some earthly laws and the court lacks jurisdiction.
It adds that blaming God for human oppression and suffering misses an important point.
"I created man and woman with free will and next to the promise of immortal life, free will is my greatest gift to you," according to the response, as read by Friend.
There was no contact information on the filing, although St. Michael the Archangel is listed as a witness, Friend said.
A second response from "God" disputing Chambers' allegations lists a phone number for a Corpus Christi law office. A message left for that office was not immediately returned Thursday.
Attempts to reach Chambers by phone and at his Capitol office Thursday were unsuccessful. E-mail to a friend
State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha said he sued God last week to make a point about frivolous lawsuits.
One of two court filings from "God" came Wednesday under otherworldly circumstances, according to John Friend, clerk of the Douglas County District Court in Omaha.
"This one miraculously appeared on the counter. It just all of a sudden was here -- poof!" Friend said.
State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha sued God last week, seeking a permanent injunction against the Almighty for making terroristic threats, inspiring fear and causing "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."
Chambers, a self-proclaimed agnostic who often criticizes Christians, said his filing was triggered by a federal lawsuit he considers frivolous. He said he's trying to make the point that anybody can sue anybody.
Not so, says "God." His response argues that the defendant is immune from some earthly laws and the court lacks jurisdiction.
It adds that blaming God for human oppression and suffering misses an important point.
"I created man and woman with free will and next to the promise of immortal life, free will is my greatest gift to you," according to the response, as read by Friend.
There was no contact information on the filing, although St. Michael the Archangel is listed as a witness, Friend said.
A second response from "God" disputing Chambers' allegations lists a phone number for a Corpus Christi law office. A message left for that office was not immediately returned Thursday.
Attempts to reach Chambers by phone and at his Capitol office Thursday were unsuccessful. E-mail to a friend
Sep 19, 2007
Kids need education not religion
Scourge of meth is waning
By IR Staff - 09/19/07
Great news rang loudly from the state Capitol Tuesday, as findings of a new report on methamphetamine use among Montana teenagers indicated another drastic drop in use of the dirty scourge.
The new results, released by the Centers for Disease Control, the Montana Meth Project and the Montana Office of Public Instruction, show meth use by Montana high school students has dropped 66 percent in the past eight years since the first such survey of risky behavior was conducted, and the rate of use has finally dipped below the 10 percent mark — a significant benchmark to curbing its appeal, use and impact.
That’s fantastic on all levels — and we have the Montana Meth Project to thank.
The Montana Meth Project, with its in-your-face, disgusting ads on television, billboards and in newspapers across the state, is working. Since its launch in 2005, meth use among our teens has dropped by 50 percent.
It’s no wonder.
Each phase of the ad campaign, which targets eliminating meth use before it ever begins with its “not even once” slogan, has progressively become more repulsive. The ads first showed meth’s destructive force in graphic pictures — rotting teeth, gaping sores and sunken identities. In this the third phase, the Montana Meth Project has grossly depicted the residual effect, the impact not only on users, but on their loved ones and friends, too.
There’s no arguing meth is a dirty drug that has no place in our society. In many rural and urban communities across the nation where the drug still runs rampant, meth use accounts for up to 80 percent of property crime as addicts steal anything — including aluminum rails off bridges — to bankroll their habits.
The new report indicates that, since the Meth Project was launched, meth-related crime in Montana has dropped 50 percent. Workers testing positive for meth has declined an impressive 70 percent, the largest drop in the country.
Says Dr. Rick Rawson, associate director of Integrated Substance Abuse Programs at UCLA and a foremost national authority on meth: “These results are very impressive. The Montana Meth Project has made a major investment in the people of Montana and it appears to have paid big dividends. This report clearly shows that the Meth Project’s campaign is having an impact, and the message is getting through effectively. Teen attitudes toward meth in Montana have shifted dramatically, especially when compared to the rest of the nation.”
A big source of the drastic decline, aside from the hard-hitting ads, has been improved communication between parents and teens. The project has raised awareness and fostered family discussion, where true abstinence begins.
These are cheerful accomplishments. Progress is indisputable.
But where do we take it from here? Montana is clearly the example, so how do we maintain our progress and the level of funding it takes to pull it off? How do we get other states — every state — to jump on board and extinguish this cantankerous problem for good?
By IR Staff - 09/19/07
Great news rang loudly from the state Capitol Tuesday, as findings of a new report on methamphetamine use among Montana teenagers indicated another drastic drop in use of the dirty scourge.
The new results, released by the Centers for Disease Control, the Montana Meth Project and the Montana Office of Public Instruction, show meth use by Montana high school students has dropped 66 percent in the past eight years since the first such survey of risky behavior was conducted, and the rate of use has finally dipped below the 10 percent mark — a significant benchmark to curbing its appeal, use and impact.
That’s fantastic on all levels — and we have the Montana Meth Project to thank.
The Montana Meth Project, with its in-your-face, disgusting ads on television, billboards and in newspapers across the state, is working. Since its launch in 2005, meth use among our teens has dropped by 50 percent.
It’s no wonder.
Each phase of the ad campaign, which targets eliminating meth use before it ever begins with its “not even once” slogan, has progressively become more repulsive. The ads first showed meth’s destructive force in graphic pictures — rotting teeth, gaping sores and sunken identities. In this the third phase, the Montana Meth Project has grossly depicted the residual effect, the impact not only on users, but on their loved ones and friends, too.
There’s no arguing meth is a dirty drug that has no place in our society. In many rural and urban communities across the nation where the drug still runs rampant, meth use accounts for up to 80 percent of property crime as addicts steal anything — including aluminum rails off bridges — to bankroll their habits.
The new report indicates that, since the Meth Project was launched, meth-related crime in Montana has dropped 50 percent. Workers testing positive for meth has declined an impressive 70 percent, the largest drop in the country.
Says Dr. Rick Rawson, associate director of Integrated Substance Abuse Programs at UCLA and a foremost national authority on meth: “These results are very impressive. The Montana Meth Project has made a major investment in the people of Montana and it appears to have paid big dividends. This report clearly shows that the Meth Project’s campaign is having an impact, and the message is getting through effectively. Teen attitudes toward meth in Montana have shifted dramatically, especially when compared to the rest of the nation.”
A big source of the drastic decline, aside from the hard-hitting ads, has been improved communication between parents and teens. The project has raised awareness and fostered family discussion, where true abstinence begins.
These are cheerful accomplishments. Progress is indisputable.
But where do we take it from here? Montana is clearly the example, so how do we maintain our progress and the level of funding it takes to pull it off? How do we get other states — every state — to jump on board and extinguish this cantankerous problem for good?
Sep 17, 2007
NE Senator Suing God
Frivolous? I think it's a great idea.
OMAHA, Neb -- State Senator Ernie Chambers is suing God. He says it to prove a point about frivolous lawsuits.
Chambers says senators periodically have offered bills prohibiting the filing of certain types of suits. He says his main objection is the constitution requires that the doors to the courthouse be open to all. Chambers said, "Thus anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody - even God."
Chambers said he decided to file this lawsuit after a suit was filed in early September in federal court against Lancaster County Judge Jeffre Cheuvront. He's the judge who was hearing a sexual assault case, where the woman wants to use the words "rape and victim" during her testimony.
Chambers lawsuit, which was filed on Friday in Douglas County Court, seeks a permanent injunction ordering God to cease certain harmful activities and the making of terroristic threats.
The lawsuit admits God goes by all sorts of alias, names, titles and designations and it also recognizes the fact that the defendant is “Omnipresent”.
In the lawsuit Chambers says he’s tried to contact God numerous times, “Plaintiff, despite reasonable efforts to effectuate personal service upon Defendant (“Come out, come out, wherever you are”) has been unable to do so.”
The suit also requests that the court given the “peculiar circumstances” of this case waive personal service. It says being Omniscient, the plaintiff assumes God will have actual knowledge of the action.
The lawsuit accuses God “of making and continuing to make terroristic threats of grave harm to innumerable persons, including constituents of Plaintiff who Plaintiff has the duty to represent.”
It says God has caused, “fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues, ferocious famines, devastating droughts, genocidal wars, birth defects, and the like.”
The suit also says God has caused, “calamitous catastrophes resulting in the wide-spread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth’s inhabitants including innocent babes, infants, children, the aged and infirm without mercy or distinction.”
Chambers also says God “has manifested neither compassion nor remorse, proclaiming that Defendant “will laugh” when calamity comes.
Chambers asks for the court to grant him a summary judgement. He says as an alternative, he wants the judge to set a date for a hearing as “expeditiously” as possible and enter a permanent injunction enjoining God from engaging in the types of deleterious actions and the making of terroristic threats described in the lawsuit.
OMAHA, Neb -- State Senator Ernie Chambers is suing God. He says it to prove a point about frivolous lawsuits.
Chambers says senators periodically have offered bills prohibiting the filing of certain types of suits. He says his main objection is the constitution requires that the doors to the courthouse be open to all. Chambers said, "Thus anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody - even God."
Chambers said he decided to file this lawsuit after a suit was filed in early September in federal court against Lancaster County Judge Jeffre Cheuvront. He's the judge who was hearing a sexual assault case, where the woman wants to use the words "rape and victim" during her testimony.
Chambers lawsuit, which was filed on Friday in Douglas County Court, seeks a permanent injunction ordering God to cease certain harmful activities and the making of terroristic threats.
The lawsuit admits God goes by all sorts of alias, names, titles and designations and it also recognizes the fact that the defendant is “Omnipresent”.
In the lawsuit Chambers says he’s tried to contact God numerous times, “Plaintiff, despite reasonable efforts to effectuate personal service upon Defendant (“Come out, come out, wherever you are”) has been unable to do so.”
The suit also requests that the court given the “peculiar circumstances” of this case waive personal service. It says being Omniscient, the plaintiff assumes God will have actual knowledge of the action.
The lawsuit accuses God “of making and continuing to make terroristic threats of grave harm to innumerable persons, including constituents of Plaintiff who Plaintiff has the duty to represent.”
It says God has caused, “fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues, ferocious famines, devastating droughts, genocidal wars, birth defects, and the like.”
The suit also says God has caused, “calamitous catastrophes resulting in the wide-spread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth’s inhabitants including innocent babes, infants, children, the aged and infirm without mercy or distinction.”
Chambers also says God “has manifested neither compassion nor remorse, proclaiming that Defendant “will laugh” when calamity comes.
Chambers asks for the court to grant him a summary judgement. He says as an alternative, he wants the judge to set a date for a hearing as “expeditiously” as possible and enter a permanent injunction enjoining God from engaging in the types of deleterious actions and the making of terroristic threats described in the lawsuit.
John Stokes of Kalispell
Right-wing radio host selling Flathead station
By MICHAEL JAMISON - Missoulian - 09/17/07
KALISPELL — John Stokes, the on-air personality who once called environmentalists “green Nazis” and burned green swastikas at rallies, has put his radio station here up for sale with a national brokerage house specializing in moving media outlets.The move follows recent Montana Supreme Court rulings that Stokes did not have rights to as much land as he claimed, and that the state had not, as Stokes alleged, bribed landowners to eliminate the easement upon which his radio towers sit.It’s a low-key conclusion to a volatile era in the Flathead, an era in which the community was explosively divided over the scope of government, and the traditional freedoms of the West.What the pending sale of his radio station means depends upon whom you ask. His detractors say he has ranted his way out of business. Stokes says he’s just gearing up for bigger and better things, including perhaps his syndicated debut on the national stage.Either way, it signals a change, a revolution that seems to have been triggered not, as some feared, by the shot heard ’round the valley, but by the ka-ching of the cash register.
Stokes moved to the Flathead Valley in the early 1990s, just as a countywide land-use plan was working its way toward completion.Those were tricky times in the Flathead, times when traditional woods workers found themselves out of a job and pushed to the brink. Unemployment was high, and wages low.The reasons for timber’s decline were many, but the easiest targets the most visible and accessible were environmentalists and the government, in particular the U.S. Forest Service.It was, in some ways, a perfect storm of Sagebrush Rebellion, during which an unexpected alliance was formed between blue-collar locals disenfranchised by the flagging timber industry and ideologues already opposed to government rule.And so when the government Flathead County, this time started making noises about controlling individuals’ use of their private property, it was a bit like “putting a match to tinder,” in the words of former county attorney Tom Esch.Whatever else he might have been, Stokes was provocative, and though he wasn’t elected he had certainly made his mark. His full impact on the valley, however, would not be felt until 2000, when Stokes bought an AM radio station south of Kalispell. Suddenly he had a pulpit, a place where the phones were constantly lit up.He called liberals and conservationists “pure, unadulterated satanic evil,” and equated them to terrorists.Stokes’ advice: “Finish them off and make sure they don’t have babies.”He named names, even announced where some high-profile environmentalists lived.The more he talked, the more the phones lit up. This was no radical fringe; this was Main Street calling.q q qDuring that decade, every single elected official winning a partisan race at every level of government in the Flathead was a Republican.“The Old West myth of unlimited space and freedom was unraveling, and I think there was a real feeling of every man for himself, and in the name of God everybody get a gun,” said Kate Hunt. “Everything blew up in fear and panic. I definitely didn’t feel like I was represented by my government.”Hunt has become something of an arch-nemesis for Stokes, a liberal watchdog who listens to and even tapes his shows to use against him. She joined the Montana Human Rights Network, formed a Flathead chapter, launched a Web site to both track and attack Stokes.It was a time of documented death threats coming from both sides, of tires flattened and windshields smashed. It was easy to get paranoid back then, Hunt said. People were, after all, coming to public meetings with guns on their hips.“It was a nasty, messy business that for a while captured the Flathead County electorate,” said George Darrow, former Republican head of the Montana Senate. “There was a very unfortunate cast of characters framing the discussion.”These days, the cast of characters remains much the same, but the discussion is framed in an entirely new way.It’s mind-boggling, really, to hear Hunt say this about Stokes: “You know, I have to admit, sometimes I agree with him these days. He gets going on the insurance industry, or corporate greed, and he’s dead on. I’ll agree with him, but his reasoning is just nuts.”Again, who’s nuts depends upon whom you ask.Today, the time of sharp division between party lines appears to have passed.“The extreme voices seem to have overplayed their hand,” Darrow said.Tom Esch never much liked all the name-calling and anger, especially when he found himself on the receiving end, but he’s as quick as Hunt to admit, surprisingly, that at least part of him misses those years of vigorous debate. Is it better, he wonders, to be a flavorless oatmeal in a very expensive bowl, or a spicy hot tamale on a paper plate?q q qHunt, liberal as she is, complains that the parties sound too much the same these days, “reduced to set statements so similar that you can’t tell them apart.”And Stokes who opposes U.S. involvement in Iraq but for reasons very different from Hunt’s now grouses about the “well-heeled,” the rich who move in, buy a big house, “get bored and start developing things. Chill out,” Stokes said. “Relax. You don’t have to build a mall or a golf course. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”So what has happened in the Flathead that these two now agree on so much, and does it have anything to do with the pending sale of the station?Some have said Stokes’ brand of rabble-rousing has become irrelevant, but Esch wonders if it’s not that the whole conversation has become irrelevant.“People here aren’t talking about timber sales anymore,” Esch said. “They’re talking about the new $30 million high school, or the investments at the community college.”When you have a house and a steady paycheck, Hunt agreed, it’s harder to keep up the anger and the passion.“They’ve shut down the resource industry,” Stokes admitted. “There’s no argument there anymore.”Stokes, however, does seem to have an argument with just about everyone else.q q qHe fought the Montana Department of Transportation over a right-of-way, then fought his own lawyer in that case. The state wants to rekindle that court battle to recover attorney fees.He fought the landowners over whose field his towers tower, and he lost. He fought the state, arguing officials had bribed those landowners to reel in his easement, and lost again.Now, his FCC license is being challenged, because “the Montana Human Rights Nitwits have an agenda to shut me down.” And, he’s fighting the city of Kalispell because they want his towers gone so they can expand the municipal airport.That he could survive the many legal battles is, perhaps, testament to the level of support he enjoyed for most of a decade here.But that he’s put the station on the market, Hunt said, is testament to how a changing culture tipped the scales.q q qChanging times aside, it would be a mistake to count John Stokes out.The timber wars may be over, and Stokes may not like the result, but these days he has bigger fish to fry. Today, he’s wearing a bright-red sweatshirt that says “Yum: start a feeding frenzy,” and you can’t help but get the idea that’s just what he’s going to do.That despite the fact that Stokes recently was referred to by the local press as the “once-controversial” radio host at KGEZ.“Maybe everyone’s agreeing with me,” he laughed. “Maybe that’s why I’m not controversial.”In fact, he said, “I haven’t backed off a bit. I scare myself sometimes with the things I say.”Stokes is eyeing a national radio platform from which he can tap that anger.Hunt believes that anger, and Stokes’ appeal, “diminishes in relation to the valley’s increase in jobs and opportunities.”Many of those opportunities result from exactly the sort of environmental conservation Stokes fought against. Columbia Falls used to advertise itself as the “industrial hub of the Flathead Valley.” Now, it’s the “gateway to Glacier Park.”Also, Hunt said, the newcomers and there are many of those don’t even know about the timber wars and the planning fights.“We just got tired,” Hunt said. “You can’t keep up that level of intensity forever.”But, she admits, “if he sells the station there is a side of me that will miss him. He’s a whacko, but he’s our whacko.”And maybe, just maybe, John Stokes helped the Flathead retain its blue-collar roots, she said, and not become an over-regulated playground for the rich like Jackson Hole.“He’s abrasive,” she said, “and too harsh. But he’s not all wrong. Sure, we liberals want open space, but at what price? On a farmer’s back? That can’t work. Now that he’s in perspective, and you can hear what he’s saying, he’s not always wrong.”She actually dreads the day he sells and is replaced by “some generic corporate programming.”“There’s a side of me that regrets this whole thing,” Hunt said. “We all thought it was going to end in some huge explosion, but it’s all come to a kind of pathetic, depressing, dismal end.”Well, not if John Stokes has anything to do with it.
By MICHAEL JAMISON - Missoulian - 09/17/07
KALISPELL — John Stokes, the on-air personality who once called environmentalists “green Nazis” and burned green swastikas at rallies, has put his radio station here up for sale with a national brokerage house specializing in moving media outlets.The move follows recent Montana Supreme Court rulings that Stokes did not have rights to as much land as he claimed, and that the state had not, as Stokes alleged, bribed landowners to eliminate the easement upon which his radio towers sit.It’s a low-key conclusion to a volatile era in the Flathead, an era in which the community was explosively divided over the scope of government, and the traditional freedoms of the West.What the pending sale of his radio station means depends upon whom you ask. His detractors say he has ranted his way out of business. Stokes says he’s just gearing up for bigger and better things, including perhaps his syndicated debut on the national stage.Either way, it signals a change, a revolution that seems to have been triggered not, as some feared, by the shot heard ’round the valley, but by the ka-ching of the cash register.
Stokes moved to the Flathead Valley in the early 1990s, just as a countywide land-use plan was working its way toward completion.Those were tricky times in the Flathead, times when traditional woods workers found themselves out of a job and pushed to the brink. Unemployment was high, and wages low.The reasons for timber’s decline were many, but the easiest targets the most visible and accessible were environmentalists and the government, in particular the U.S. Forest Service.It was, in some ways, a perfect storm of Sagebrush Rebellion, during which an unexpected alliance was formed between blue-collar locals disenfranchised by the flagging timber industry and ideologues already opposed to government rule.And so when the government Flathead County, this time started making noises about controlling individuals’ use of their private property, it was a bit like “putting a match to tinder,” in the words of former county attorney Tom Esch.Whatever else he might have been, Stokes was provocative, and though he wasn’t elected he had certainly made his mark. His full impact on the valley, however, would not be felt until 2000, when Stokes bought an AM radio station south of Kalispell. Suddenly he had a pulpit, a place where the phones were constantly lit up.He called liberals and conservationists “pure, unadulterated satanic evil,” and equated them to terrorists.Stokes’ advice: “Finish them off and make sure they don’t have babies.”He named names, even announced where some high-profile environmentalists lived.The more he talked, the more the phones lit up. This was no radical fringe; this was Main Street calling.q q qDuring that decade, every single elected official winning a partisan race at every level of government in the Flathead was a Republican.“The Old West myth of unlimited space and freedom was unraveling, and I think there was a real feeling of every man for himself, and in the name of God everybody get a gun,” said Kate Hunt. “Everything blew up in fear and panic. I definitely didn’t feel like I was represented by my government.”Hunt has become something of an arch-nemesis for Stokes, a liberal watchdog who listens to and even tapes his shows to use against him. She joined the Montana Human Rights Network, formed a Flathead chapter, launched a Web site to both track and attack Stokes.It was a time of documented death threats coming from both sides, of tires flattened and windshields smashed. It was easy to get paranoid back then, Hunt said. People were, after all, coming to public meetings with guns on their hips.“It was a nasty, messy business that for a while captured the Flathead County electorate,” said George Darrow, former Republican head of the Montana Senate. “There was a very unfortunate cast of characters framing the discussion.”These days, the cast of characters remains much the same, but the discussion is framed in an entirely new way.It’s mind-boggling, really, to hear Hunt say this about Stokes: “You know, I have to admit, sometimes I agree with him these days. He gets going on the insurance industry, or corporate greed, and he’s dead on. I’ll agree with him, but his reasoning is just nuts.”Again, who’s nuts depends upon whom you ask.Today, the time of sharp division between party lines appears to have passed.“The extreme voices seem to have overplayed their hand,” Darrow said.Tom Esch never much liked all the name-calling and anger, especially when he found himself on the receiving end, but he’s as quick as Hunt to admit, surprisingly, that at least part of him misses those years of vigorous debate. Is it better, he wonders, to be a flavorless oatmeal in a very expensive bowl, or a spicy hot tamale on a paper plate?q q qHunt, liberal as she is, complains that the parties sound too much the same these days, “reduced to set statements so similar that you can’t tell them apart.”And Stokes who opposes U.S. involvement in Iraq but for reasons very different from Hunt’s now grouses about the “well-heeled,” the rich who move in, buy a big house, “get bored and start developing things. Chill out,” Stokes said. “Relax. You don’t have to build a mall or a golf course. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”So what has happened in the Flathead that these two now agree on so much, and does it have anything to do with the pending sale of the station?Some have said Stokes’ brand of rabble-rousing has become irrelevant, but Esch wonders if it’s not that the whole conversation has become irrelevant.“People here aren’t talking about timber sales anymore,” Esch said. “They’re talking about the new $30 million high school, or the investments at the community college.”When you have a house and a steady paycheck, Hunt agreed, it’s harder to keep up the anger and the passion.“They’ve shut down the resource industry,” Stokes admitted. “There’s no argument there anymore.”Stokes, however, does seem to have an argument with just about everyone else.q q qHe fought the Montana Department of Transportation over a right-of-way, then fought his own lawyer in that case. The state wants to rekindle that court battle to recover attorney fees.He fought the landowners over whose field his towers tower, and he lost. He fought the state, arguing officials had bribed those landowners to reel in his easement, and lost again.Now, his FCC license is being challenged, because “the Montana Human Rights Nitwits have an agenda to shut me down.” And, he’s fighting the city of Kalispell because they want his towers gone so they can expand the municipal airport.That he could survive the many legal battles is, perhaps, testament to the level of support he enjoyed for most of a decade here.But that he’s put the station on the market, Hunt said, is testament to how a changing culture tipped the scales.q q qChanging times aside, it would be a mistake to count John Stokes out.The timber wars may be over, and Stokes may not like the result, but these days he has bigger fish to fry. Today, he’s wearing a bright-red sweatshirt that says “Yum: start a feeding frenzy,” and you can’t help but get the idea that’s just what he’s going to do.That despite the fact that Stokes recently was referred to by the local press as the “once-controversial” radio host at KGEZ.“Maybe everyone’s agreeing with me,” he laughed. “Maybe that’s why I’m not controversial.”In fact, he said, “I haven’t backed off a bit. I scare myself sometimes with the things I say.”Stokes is eyeing a national radio platform from which he can tap that anger.Hunt believes that anger, and Stokes’ appeal, “diminishes in relation to the valley’s increase in jobs and opportunities.”Many of those opportunities result from exactly the sort of environmental conservation Stokes fought against. Columbia Falls used to advertise itself as the “industrial hub of the Flathead Valley.” Now, it’s the “gateway to Glacier Park.”Also, Hunt said, the newcomers and there are many of those don’t even know about the timber wars and the planning fights.“We just got tired,” Hunt said. “You can’t keep up that level of intensity forever.”But, she admits, “if he sells the station there is a side of me that will miss him. He’s a whacko, but he’s our whacko.”And maybe, just maybe, John Stokes helped the Flathead retain its blue-collar roots, she said, and not become an over-regulated playground for the rich like Jackson Hole.“He’s abrasive,” she said, “and too harsh. But he’s not all wrong. Sure, we liberals want open space, but at what price? On a farmer’s back? That can’t work. Now that he’s in perspective, and you can hear what he’s saying, he’s not always wrong.”She actually dreads the day he sells and is replaced by “some generic corporate programming.”“There’s a side of me that regrets this whole thing,” Hunt said. “We all thought it was going to end in some huge explosion, but it’s all come to a kind of pathetic, depressing, dismal end.”Well, not if John Stokes has anything to do with it.
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