What is Helena like?

[poloman72]

Originally Posted by MTSilvertip

Thank you Montana Griz, your great response means a lot to me.

I am afraid I also lack patience, but can understand someone being excited about a new place. I was just trying to temper that excitement with a few hard realities as there are a lot of people looking to find someplace safe during this "recession". I don't want people to bet everything on a move to a place that might not meet their expectations.

Helena has a lot of good points, and like any other place has it's own drawbacks too.
When I first came to Helena to go through the Vo-Tech in 1980, it was a great place. there was even a shooting range on Custer Avenue at the FWP station.
Can't do that anymore, that is now really developed area where the Target, Shopko, and 50 other stores have sprung up not to mention the housing development on the north side of the FWP station.

The old movie houses are gone, only cinemax is left, many of the old restaraunts that people still talk about like Wongs that was on North Montana are long gone.
The valley is filled with housing developments now, and high levels of nitrates are collecting in the well water in the North Valley.

There is still a railroad track running across Montana Avenue that snarls traffic at 8:00 AM, noon and 5:00 PM every day. We could really use a bridge there.

I had to move to Helena again in the early 90's for a job. Would have left if I could have, but I have a family to care for so they come first, not my personal preferences. Responsibility can be rough.

As I said before, it isn't a bad place, just not where I would prefer to be given any say in the matter. I have several years to go until retirement, so I will probably be here for a while yet.

But rest assured that the second I retire, I am gone!!!

Helena offers a lot of amenities and has several positive points. I just get really tired of the politics, the gimme mine attitude, and the fact that I have to drive over the mountains to find the peace and solitude to hunt, fish and enjoy Montana.

There are a lot of really great people here too, you just have to look harder to find them these days.

Thank you Griz, you really made a not so great day a whole lot better!!

Good luck finding 1950! I understand your points, but being retired military and lived all over; your in for a culture shock I am considering a move to MT, and I think your 'grass is greener" mentality is.....

[MTSilvertip]

poloman72,

1950???? I want 1850!!!

You misunderstand me. I am 5th generation Montanan. I am not retired military, but did my 8 years active service in several wars, and in my specialty I was sent from one end of the earth to the other.

I am very familier with "Civilization" in all its myriad forms, smells, overcrowding, crime, greed and rampant desire to have the government take care of them.

Personal responsiblity has been subverted by the "who can I sue for my screwup" mentality.
Inititive and drive to make a better life through your own work has been throttled by regulation.
It is difficult to even have a garden within city limits in some towns due to set back laws.

I already know where the grass is greener. I live in Montana.

Vast tracts of the state could be realistically described as being back in 1950. Good strong people with deep roots, strong emotional attachments to family, friends and the land.
Places where you will always find a helping hand if you need it. Places where you can still hold the door for a lady without being called a Mysogonist Neaderthal sexist pig.

I know lots of places where you can have a conversation with a complete stranger, and find out you know some of the same people, worked at the same business or hunt in the same areas.

Places where if you have problems with your car, boat, horse or snowmobile, someone will quicky stop when they see you and do everything they can to either get you going again or at least take you to safety.

Places where if you are sick the neighbors will come over and make sure your animals are taken care of. If your house burns or you have other catastrophic problems, the community will band together to offer you a place to live, hold raffles or dances or whatever to raise money to help you with your bills, or will come over with their tools or tractors to help you rebuild or harvest your crops.

I prefer places where people still care for other people. Too often these days we are so wrapped up in making more money than our neighbor, or will backstab co-workers to take a position that maybe they are better qualified for or have earned through hard work that you loose sight of what is really important, making the business succeed so you have a job to provide for your family and feel proud of the work you did at the end of the day.

The current federal government has too many of us at each others throats over perceved differences instead of uniting us in our common purpose as Americans.

Rural Montanan's know what it means to be part of a community. You give till it hurts. Maybe not money, but in time and participation in the lives of your neighbors.
You band together to help each individual when that person cannot help themselves, and when they recover, they are first in line to help the next person who needs help.

You do everything in your power to take care of yourself and your family, and your friends and neighbors become part of your family by extension.

I know this sound like a pipe dream to some, but it is not uncommon in many rural areas of the country whether in South Dakota, Alaska, Tennessee, rural Alabama, or even in the rural areas of the Midwest.

Move away from the cities and you can still find good decent caring people all across this wonderful country.

I know where I want to be, because it is what America was.

I am a Montanan, and I am proud to be a Montanan. It is all I could ever aspire to, because it is everything I want, and all I could ever need.

[poloman72]

You misunderstood me I am retired military I agree with about 99.9% of what you say I live in SD, and I know what your talking about. I just think that what you and I want is gone. You are fooling yourself if you think you can run from this general degradation of society It is caused by both parents having to work to make it, and others raising our children. Walmarts and the like taking over the Mom and Pop shops. Greed, Gluttony, has taking over, and God has turned his back on America Christians are persecuted and the flag I fought for means nothing to these people. All that said, some of these threads want to tell people what to wear, dress, drive, act like etc.... if they move to MT: that my friend is just as wrong and ass backwards

[MTSilvertip]

OK.......

While I agree with some of the statements you made, I don't agree with the overall assesment.

I see people respecting my flag that I also fought for everyday. It is proudly displayed on their cars, their houses, even their clothes. It may not always be displayed in the way the codes require, but I don't doubt the depth of their feeling or their enthusiasm.
I see it when men and women stand for the National Anthem at high school sporting events across this state, or at rodeos, or the way the flag is proudly displayed at gun shows or tea parties.

Yes, there are a lot of folks demanding you eat what they want you to eat, excercise how they want you to excercise, not smoke what they don't like, but smoke what they do like.

Yes, I see people protesting demanding that we reduce or eliminate our power sources and instead use inefficent, unreliable and very expensive alternatives.
Stay home, don't drive, live in a dark EPA approved cave, but don't walk across the forest service to get to your cave because it must be protected for "future generations".

I do see both parents working so one parents paycheck goes to pay the daycare and the additional taxes, but they are still living on the paycheck of one. They have just decided that they cannot live if both aren't working, no matter how wrong their figures are.

Many things you say are true, can't argue that...BUT....

I live in Montana. I provide for my family and meet my obligations through my labor and inititive.
I do not bow down to the socialist agenda.
I do not give up, I do not surrender.
I may not have any say in how things are run on a national level, But I can influence my local government and by electing good legislators this state has passed groundbreaking laws and is an active part of the rebellion against overwhelming federal government.

I provide for my wishes as to how I live my life. In a previous post I described a piece of land and cabin. I already have them, it isn't a dream it is reality.
I understand that society is in the midst of an upheaval, but I see thousands of people standing together against the current regime.
I see decent, average and not so average people making their voices heard across this country.

Yes the traditional values of this country are under attack, but I look to my friends and neighbors and find that the basic values I treasure are still alive and well.
God has not turned his back. We have self determination and it is incumbant upon us to help ourselves.

I Love Montana because here, I can make my dreams come true, and I don't have to accept a defeatist attitude because here, the side of Rightiousnes is Winning at least in the circles I run in.

"First in Danger"

[poloman72]

Sometimes those circles people run in is a facade It will take more than a few circles to change the damage that is already done As far as a defeatist attitude that is far from true, if anything "running" away to a cabin away from the world..ie..Ted Kizinsky(spelling?) IS pretty defeatist I agree with your values and most of everything you write, I just don't get this MT thread. My examples are the thread "what not to do to ruin MT" I agree with treat your neighbor as you would like to be treated, but that thread is downright unfriendly, and rude I WILL be moving to MT,and I WILL wear, drive, dress, listen too, talk with a southern accent ( born in VA), and give my opinion on what I please and NO one from MT is going to tell me not too. I get heated when people from other states tell another human being what the hell to do, if they come to "their" state It's not theirs, its anyone who decides they are going to take the time to move there and spend their money there I agree there are not many places left like MT and people just want it to stay the same, but this is life; things change, and people and generations die off. My grandmother and grandfather would turn over in their graves if they saw the change in Virginia. My point is no one is going to tell me how to live MY life just because I cross some invisible border

[MTSilvertip]

I would appreciate it if you did not compare me to the Eco-Wacko leftist Kazinski.
He was a murdering terrorist, and in no way does my wish to live my retirement as I see fit conform to the actions and rantings of an insane killer.

I do not see how my plans for retirement living in a peaceful place that has been bought and paid for, in a structure I have built by hand, paid taxes for and care for is less worthy than your idea of a retirement where you drive around in an expensive car showing off how much money you have.

My retirement is mine just as your retirement is yours.
I just prefer living without someone constantly looking over my shoulder.
I draw my personal satisfaction and sustainance from providing for myself and family, and living the way I wish to. I don't need the approval or dissaproval of other people to validate my existance.

I don't care if someone on an internet thread posts something you do not approve of. They have the right to their opinion just as you do.

If you are just moving to Montana looking for arguments, you will probably be very dissapointed.
Helena may be one of the few places you will fit in as there are a lot of people in Helena that exist only to argue and fight. Most of the rest of us have work to do and more important things to worry about that.

Many Montanan's I know will simply walk away from an In Your Face attitude because they realize it is a waste of time and energy to try and have a civil conversation with someone who only wishes for a confrontation.
We have to put up with a lot of out of state liberals doing the same thing when the demand we shut down our forests, stop hunting, close the mines and mills, and make the state into a park for their personal enjoyment.

If you come here with the chip on your shoulder evidenced in your posts, you won't be driven out, but you will be lonely.

Why not come and see what this state is actually like before forming an opinion based on an internet website?

There is a huge segement of the population here that are veterans, and they live very well. Many retire here because they do have the freedom to live as they wish. This state was founded by a lot of southern accented people moving here after the War Between the States looking for a place to live peacefully and raise their families. The southern accent isn't that different from a western accent, and I doubt it will make any stir at all.

Why not see what the community and people are like before deciding we are all slope headed knuckle draggers?
You seem to be engaged in the same actions you profess to deplore, telling others what they should believe or how they should speak or who they should accept.

This is a great state full of wonderful people. We would just like to keep it that way.
Is that so difficult to understand?

[Threerun]

I've been in Helena since, oh, Saturday. 5 full days I guess. My first impressions (coming from West Virginia) are:

1. Big damn valley with lots of houses in the wide open.
2. Gorgeous panorama
3. You can't get lost in the valley.
4. You can get lost downtown.
5. I think I've found drivers that are actually WORSE than West Virginians, and this is mostly flat ground!
6. People that I've encountered thus far are super friendly, and some are inquisitive towards me. I don't think anyone here has met someone from West Virginia before. I suspect they are waiting for me to bring out a banjo.
7. I got into a very, very slight fender bender (no real damage- a bumper bump) and the other guy noticed that the back of my truck was loaded with boxes and stuff. He saw my stuffed dear head and asked to see it. We talked about hunting for about 10 minutes before exchanging info. He said- "you'll love it here"
8. Your beer is better than the beer brands sold in WV.
9. Property taxes are twice as much here than in WV
10. Housing is frekin' expensive as crap here in Helena.

[ElkHunter]

Thread closed.

If anybody would like to know about Helena, feel free to start a new thread. This one has went to seed.