Fighting the juggernaut

The serenity of Friday morning, Aug. 19, was shattered for those of us living in proximity to the Kootenai Lodge with the beginning advance of the Milhous Group juggernaut in its evisceration of not only our neighborhood but a national, state and county treasure.

The chainsaws and heavy equipment clearing out trees that quite possibly have stood long enough to have witnessed the Pend d'Orielle Indians traversing their sacred space screamed out the mantra that seems to have marked this project's disregard of the pleas of those who live here from the beginning: We don't care. We don't have to.

As I walked my dog the few hundred feet to get a closer look, I was much struck with the fact that the very few who have endorsed this project at numerous Lake County Commission and related meetings were notoriously absent from the event.

As well, nowhere in sight was the chair of the commission whose conduct in running the last meeting prompted some of us to sue Lake County.

Gone was the lawyer who championed the rights of someone to walk all over the soul of our community.

Removed was the engineer who cheerfully argued that the Milhous Group's massive septic system was just what we needed in our collective backyard.

The former public employee who shepherded the project in front of his former boss was not there to cheer on the destruction.

And finally, nowhere to be seen was the realtor, his partners and employees, whose negotiations greased the skids to make possible these beginnings of an obscene development of what Mr. Milhous himself touted as "high quality homes for high quality people."

At least when I walked over, none of them were present to tell me, again, what a terrific gift this was to all of the common folk who live in the varied and eclectic Swan Sites.

As their band marches on, I am reminded of something the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu said to those who supported the whites-only apartheid government in South Africa which at that time included the United States.

As the Anglican Archbishop of Cape town, he told the world that when you do battle with the Spirit, you will ultimately lose that battle and that he, and those similarly oppressed by such racism, would remember whom their friends had been.

Admittedly, this battle is not as large as that which faced Archbishop Tutu, but his words still ring true.

For those who have forsaken our neighborhood and the remarkable heritage of the old Kootenai Lodge, I can't help but remember your voices supporting what has happened to us.

And while I speak only as a single citizen, and only for myself, I'm guessing that others in our community, when seeking the services of attorneys, realtors, those who dig wells and plan septic systems, and even the developers, will similarly recall who were and who were not friends of preserving this special National Historical Site in Montana.

So to those who made a lot of money off of this, may the sound of crashing ancient trees, a prelude of what we fear is to come, remind you as well that as you count and delight in your fees, you may also want to be aware of the costs you incurred seemingly by removing yourselves from the company of those who have been sympathetic and understanding of our plight.

The Reverend

Canon Bradley S. Wirth

Bigfork