Crismore says county residents deserve a choice in commissioner race

Stu Crismore believes Lincoln County residents deserve a choice when it comes to choosing a District 1 Commissioner and it’s one of the main reasons he chose to register as a write-in candidate for the general election.

“There were 1,000 Democrats who didn’t have a choice in the primary and people deserve a choice,” Crismore said. “It’s a privilege to serve and people should know that’s what they’re getting.”

The Lincoln County native and life-long resident still lives in the Happy Inn area where he grew up. He is 1975 graduate of Libby High School in. The married father of four, grandfather of eight, recently became a great grandfather.

He touted his varied experiences as why he should be a commissioner.

“I’ve been active in my community since a young age as a Boy Scout and I became politically involved in high school when I worked on candidate’s campaigns,” Crismore said.

Crismore said he served one term on the Libby City Council in the early 2000s, but business responsibilities while doing road building for the Bonneville Power Administration and reclamation work in North Dakota, took him out of town too frequently to continue.

Crismore said he currently serves as president on the Sally Sauer Heart Fund Board of Directors, is a member of Hoo-Hoo International, a fraternal organization of lumbermen, and has been a member of the Libby Christian Church since 1964.

Crismore’s two primary concerns involve federal influence in Lincoln County.

“In terms of forest health and the Wildland Urban Interface, there is a great deal of federal control of so much of our land without enough local input,” Crismore said. “There is some progress in the project Mark Peck (former county commissioner) is working on, but we really need to make sure the ball is not dropped on this.”

Crismore is also concerned with repeated rulings by judges on timber and mining projects on federal land in the county.

“We’ve given our federal judges way too much power and we need to be more aggressive with explaining the human impact of fires on our communities,” Crismore said. “Animals are very adaptable and we can emulate all the good of a fire without fire. There is a place for fire in a controlled manner, but the carbon emissions from fires are very unhealthy.”

Crismore said Libby thrived when it had two lumber mills and two mines in operation.

“Good jobs goes hand in hand with good schools,” he said. “If we could get 100 mill jobs here, it’d be huge for Libby.”

Crismore also referenced the Sage Brush Revolution, an effort in the 1970s and 1980s by some in Western states that wanted federal land transferred to state or county ownership or less federal influence in how the land was managed.

“States would have difficulty in managing it, but the management that exists now is not good,” Crismore said. “I’m a Federalist and the intent of our Constitution and our government was meant to have minimal control of our lives. The feds were not meant to be this influential in our lives.”

Crismore, who lives in the Happy’s Inn area, also talked about development in the county.

“There is quite a bit of development going on in Eureka and the Happy’s area because it’s more affordable than property in the Flathead,” Crismore said. “I think it’s possible in Libby and Troy, too, as the people recognize the beauty of the area and it continues to come out of the asbestos problems.”

Crismore said growth is good, but “it should be managed.”

“Folks in the Tobacco Valley have some real concerns about water issues there and in the Happy’s area, DEQ (state Department of Environmental Quality) will answer the questions that exist there.

“But in terms of the lowering speed limits there, and in the McGregor and Hilltop areas, I think it’s ridiculous it takes six to 12 months to do a traffic survey.

“I think the county should put speed limit signs up and if we have to go to battle with the state, we would,” Crismore said. “I’d be willing to go to bat for it and willing to go to court.”

Crismore also said the county has to keep working on issues such as dispatching and the county jail.

Crismore, chairman of the board of Fisher River Valley Fire/Rescue, also said creating more jobs in the county could have a positive impact on volunteerism.

“If we have more people working locally, it could help with the number of people who may want to volunteer. When people are working out of town, they spend more time traveling or away and they don’t have the time to get involved in other things,” he said.