Who's a local?

One of the questions asked of city council candidates at last week's forum sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce was, "When can someone be considered 'from Whitefish,' and whose opinions or ideas should be taken into considering Whitefish's future?"

Some people may regard this an unfair question for candidates, but there's a smell of truth to it.

The staff at the Whitefish Pilot has had to endure that kind of question many times in recent months. Typically someone has an opinion we don't agree with, and rather than debate the issue on its merits, the person asks us how long we've lived in Whitefish.

One woman was doing her best to get us to hire her for a weekly column. When we suggested her column idea wasn't newsworthy, she asked us how long we'd lived here. About two weeks, we told her proudly.

Another time, a school teacher called to complain about a story we ran on the city police's use of paintball guns in a mock hostage-rescue scene at the soon-to-be-demolished Central School building. She said we were encouraging Columbine-type behavior by kids. When we disagreed, she asked us how long we'd been in Whitefish.

About a month, we said. No shame there, but she later called higher authorities to suggest we came from Philadelphia.

Then a woman argued with our editorial on whether or not Whitefish needed a bypass. We said the city really needed better arterials to spread the traffic around the city, so traffic could get through town without going downtown. When we wouldn't agree with her, she asked us how long we'd lived here.

By then, we'd been in Whitefish about two months — apparently still not getting any closer to the truth.