Small Group Questions Truth 

SEELEY LAKE - Do the Seeley Lake Sewer ads speak the truth? Of course they don’t! For those of you still making a decision on whether to oppose the sewer, don’t let the Seeley Lake Sewer Board and its various agents confuse you with lies. 

They (recent ads in the Pathfinder) claim that a small group of area residents have been spreading misinformation regarding the scientific studies that support the sewer system, the districts work and how the project will impact you.

Here’s what this SMALL GROUP has done for this community:

• It’s members have dug into every document made available on the project. Members have researched independent, highly respected sources to develop baseline parameters in order to compare sewer district statements with recognized scientific and governmental positions (something there is no evidence the board or general manager or the PR agency have done).

• Members have taken raw data from water tests and appropriately applied statistical analysis of them and shared those results with the public.

• Members have looked for district reports that might support district claims regarding various topics.

• Members have called all over the country tracking down personnel associated with EPA model wastewater treatment units and have been given hour after hour of enthusiastic explanations and suggestions for employing a mixture of less expensive, alternative solutions. - SOMETHING THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THE BOARD OR GENERAL MANAGER OR THE PR AGENCY HAVE DONE.

Think about how insulting it is to be accused of “spreading misinformation” when the board authorized agency and signed accusers cannot even be bothered to try to prove their accusations with EVIDENCE. It seems that some people feel entitled to undermine the validity of the SMALL GROUP’S persistent efforts to put something accurate and detailed before the district property owners and residents by simply pulling things out of thin air.

The most (another) blatant lie that they (the board and its PR agency) keep publishing in their ads is making people believe that they have two-thirds of the money for the total project. This (the grant) money DOES NOT GO toward Phases 2, 3, and 4. These phases have no funding as yet.

They also made this statement on the NBC airing stating that more than two-thirds of the cost is covered by grants. (Someone passed the deceptive financial statement on to the NBC reporter and it was featured in a recent news segment).

AGAIN they are giving the public false information. Are the board, PR agency and bank so focused on WINNING-AT-ANY-COST that they will say anything they think sounds good…or…are they so naive that the existence of Montana Code Annotated references prohibiting false advertising is outside their comprehension?

I would also like to address Lee Boman’s statement that was made on the NBC news report about the sewer system in Seeley Lake. Boman says he has lived in Seeley Lake for seven years and walks the shores of the lake weekly and has noticed a difference in water quality.

I have been on the lake for 70 years and I have not seen any drastic changes. If you look at the interactive map of the lake posted by the federal fire-fighting teams over the summer, not only are the areas in green the same ones that have been there through a multitude of years but you can slide the mapping area northwards and find green areas on a number of lakes further up the Clearwater system.

River systems and lakes are living bodies of water. Change occurs all the time. Without appropriate studies, threatening changes cannot be documented; the sewer board has never authorized those studies. Novices’ casual and imperfect observations are not a substitute.

 

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