“It began as a very innocent request from a constituent who thought we needed to change things a little bit…
“They provided me with some language that goes way beyond clearing some issues with stream access and ends up taking away the rights of other constituents to access the state’s waterways 
Those words spoken by Sen. Rick Laible, R-Darby, who introduced SB 314, another attempt to once again change the definition of Montana’s stream access law, is looking for hole to climb into after being heavily flamed by his constituents since the bills introduction.
Laible is not telling who “they” are either.
It’s kind of scary to think about how this went through his office. If he did read the “language” and still went forward, that’s bad enough. Worse still, he just got his good ol’ boy slap on the back and just rubber stamped it and sent it on it’s way. I wonder if I wrote up a bill recommending we combine Huey Lewis’s property with Charles Schwaub’s Double Fork Ranch to make a new state park if it would get the same kind of reception?
He does have one of the most important political survival skills down, knowing when to get your ass out of the skillet. “It’s not going to move forward until we have a balanced approach and the concerns are addressed,†he said. “I’m not married to this bill.â€
To all the “constituents” out there that took the time to send Rick a reality check, congratulations! Rest assured though that a sequel is in the making somewhere.
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I was raised in northern Montana and have lived in Colorado for the last 40 years. We don’t have stream bank access here. Don’t let the big money folks take it away from you. It is more precious than you can imagine. The more watch dogs the better. Lap dogs to the rich are not tolerated.
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