Kephart is falling apart. Good!

Tomorrow we're off to the Danaher for a week. It'll be a great trip; all the way through the Danaher Valley to the South Fork, then back out over Lodgepole. Great Trip.

I thought I would update you on the I-161 battle. All the petitions are in now. The last day to gather signatures was June 18th, and the last real battle came on June 8th, during the primaries. Kephart stooped to his lowest point that day. He and his henchmen actually got ahold of convicts from some of our state pre-release centers and used them as signature gatherers, counting their time as "community service". The long and short of it is this- the next day the state Director of Corrections order this practice stopped, and folks at the capitol are still ferreting out all the legal implications of that stunt!!

On Wednesday of last week the Billings Gazette and The Missoulian both reported a county in central Montana confirmed one of Kephart's paid signature gatherers had falsified signatures on an I-161 petition. By the next day, 4 different counties reported the same. The Blaine County attorney was quoted in the paper saying that it appeared the guys turning in the petitions had used local phone books and randomly entered signatures... in alphabetical order, just like they were in the phone book. Now all the counties are comparing notes. You know what they say... if it walks like a duck...!

Grass Roots Effort??? What a bunch of knuckle draggers. I'm sorry if I seem to be losing my knack for tact here- we can only call these guys what they are: sad and disillusioned. They are so blinded by their personal agenda that they can't see the real damage they are doing. It appears that not only will they not make the ballot, but Kephart and his boys could face their own legal fight.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_70e30538-8003-11df-b22c-001cc4c002e0.html?mode=story

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_f1f864d2-809f-11df-9554-001cc4c002e0.html

I attached both the stories. I won't be able to follow this next week, but I can only imagine that Kephart's going to start unraveling like a ball of yarn.

When I get back, I'll post some photos from the trip.
Have a great week.
Greg

Time to catch up...

Wow. Have I really dropped the ball. It's been a long time since I have updated the blog. I had a laundry list of excuses to air out... all of them were weak. I have been really busy working with MOGA to defeat Kurt Kephart and his ill-advised initiative. If you follow this blog at all, you know what I'm referring to. If you are new, go to Face Book and look for 'Say No to I-161' or look for our web site at http://www.stop161.org/
We've been working daily to defeat this initiative, and our efforts are close to paying off. Kephart has two weeks from today to reach approximately 24,000 signatures. We hope he won't make it. For all of you who have supported us through this, I sincerely thank you. We could not have done this without all of you, around the country, supporting us.

Now, some other news. We finally got track season over with. Paige and Alan both did great. Alan did very well in junior high- competing for Seeley Lake Middle School. He qualified for the Meet of Champions in both the long jump and the 800 meter run. Unfortunately, both his events got rained out during the meet. So, he will come back better than ever next year. He starts football camp in three weeks, and he's pumped for that! He's growing like a weed, and he's just like a 13 year old boy- imagine that. He'll spend a lot of time with us in the hills this summer. I'm really looking forward to that.

Paige did phenomenal this year. She took first place at divisionals in Helena in the 1600 and the 3200, then it was off to State. At the state meet, she wound up placing 6th in the 3200, so she made all-conference, all-state, and medaled. Not bad for a freshman. She was honored last week with the MVP for the Hellgate women's team. Now, she's already looking forward to cross country in the fall.

Julie went to California to run the Big Sur Marathon. She did great, as usual. She got 2nd in her age group, and (I think) top 10 overall women. I get mixed up on the stats for all the running these girls do... Anyway, we're very proud of her, and she keeps on running too.

The summer season is about to kick off. Next week we host the MOGA/USFS pack trip, then it's Chris Bohenek Clinic time, then it's off to the Bob Marshall. I had a bunch to say about politics, iniatives, wolves, and other things, but I had a lot more fun talking about my family so I'm going to leave it at that. I hope everyone is doing great out there, and I'll see you soon.
Greg