Well folks, another year has come and gone. It was six years ago this week that I remember being sworn in as a new state representative in the Montana House of Representatives and remembering how I had to learn how to drink water from a firehose. At least that is how I remember it as there was so much to remember and learn in a 90 Legislative session. I’m sure the new local representatives and senators like Sue Vinton, Barry Usher, Jen Gross, Peggy Webb, Jimmy Patelis, and Adam Rosendale will feel that way once they get into the swing of the Legislative session.
From all the emails, phone calls and mail to learning the legislative process, it will be a learning curve for them. Finding their way around the capitol and locating the bathrooms in the first days will be their first order of business, I’m sure.
On that note, we, at YCN will be sending each Legislator from the Yellowstone County delegation a copy of the weekly Yellowstone County News in Helena for them to stay in touch and know what is going on here. Even though many of them already have subscriptions going to their homes in Yellowstone County. So if you have letters to the editor, don’t hesitate to send them to YCN as we will include them in our paper for them and our readers to get and read as well.
Some legislators will be sending us a legislative update as pertinent information comes available during and after the Legislative session so keep posted here as they send the information. All I ask is that it’s pertinent information and not just a “the sky is blue and the weather is cold” article.
Since it’s the beginning of the Legislative session and a new year, we’ll follow and stay on top of the issues that affect our readers, from the local option tax, which is DOA ((Dead On arrival) in my opinion) to the high school expansion bill that affects Lockwood School District as well as the gas tax increase, we’ll keep you posted and up to date as much as we can.
I’ve also posted a link to watch the legislative session each day during the session online from January until the end of April at www.huntleyproject.net, www.lockwoodmontana.com, www.shepherdmontana.com, and our very own www.yellowstonecountynews.com websites for anyone to watch the Legislative session live each day at 1pm.
As for the new year, we, at Yellowstone County News want to thank our readers, advertisers, online viewers and all those who have helped us achieve some monumental benchmarks last year. We truly had a very successful year and we even achieved some accomplishments this last year that we had not done at Yellowstone County News before.
We will announce those achievements in probably next week’s edition.
We also have some other big news that we will be launching here in the very near future as we finalize those details in the days ahead. Then, next month, we have some other big things we’re trying to solidify to announce so we are excited for the future and to roll out the news.
We look forward to a great 2017 and hope you do as well,
Until then, see you in the paper!
JDM