Havre to celebrate Earth Day, Dow dissents

Havre will officially recognize April 22 as Earth Day despite protestations from Councilman Rick Dow that the founders of the program are radical environmentalists who worship the earth instead of God.

Dow said at Monday night's City Council meeting that it was inappropriate for the city to issue a proclamation honoring Earth Day when it had not issued a proclamation honoring Easter Sunday.

"This seems like a violation of church and state," Dow said of the Earth Day proclamation that was presented by Mayor Tim Solomon.

Solomon said he presented the proclamation at the request of Recycle Hi-Line, the volunteer group that coordinates recycling efforts and other environmental programs. In the past, he said, he issued the Earth Day proclamation, but this year Recycle Hi-Line asked that council go along.

Dow said environmentalists, for many years, had special programs at the spring equinox, but when the first official Earth Day was held in 1970, the date was changed to April 22, which he noted was the centennial birthday of Vladimir Lenin, one of the architects of the communist movement.

Many of the founders harbored "anti-capitalist beliefs," Dow said.

The three founders of present-day Earth Day are Sen. Gaylord Nelson, D-Wis., Dennis Hayes and Paul Ehrlich.

Ehrlich believed the biggest environmental problem was that there were too many people on Earth, Dow said after the meeting.

All of these things made a resolution backing Earth Day inappropriate, Dow, a vocal critic of the environmental movement, said in the meeting.

The reaction of council colleagues was mixed:

• Councilwoman Bonnie Parenteau broke into laughter when Dow compared support for environmental causes with a religion.
• Councilman Bob Kaftan said he supported the mayor's proclamation and suggested that people who have been active in recycling efforts be honored at a future council meeting. Solomon said Recycle Hi-Line will be paying tribute to such people.
• Councilman Brian Barrows joined with Dow in opposing the proclamation. The other six council members supported Solomon's proposal.

After the meeting, Dow said his objection was not to programs aimed at cleaning up the city, but at the concept many Earth Day organizers espouse.

"I'm not against picking up trash and having hot dogs in the park afterwards," he said. "But they have gone far beyond that."

The roll call on Mayor Tim Solomon's proposal to recognize April 22 as Earth Day:

Voting yes: Jerry Veis, Bonnie Parenteau, Janet Trethewey, Robert Kaftan, Andrew Brekke, Allen "Woody" Woodwick

Voting no: Brian Barrows, Rick Dow.