“two sets of rules”… “one for the rich and one for the rest of us”.
The picture painted in this story in the Kalispell Montana Daily Interlake on June 6, 2006 is an idyllic one of a man finding “balance” in his life in the wild outdoors of Montana and helping others to do the same. Problem is, most of it appears to be a lie and many of this man’s activities appear to be illegal as well. The true picture seems to be one of a rich individual’s blatant disregard for both the sanctity of Montana’s wild country and the laws that are in place to protect it.
This story in today’s Missoulian paints an entirely different picture. Read both articles and form your own opinion.
I felt compelled to post this, not to simply emphasize this particular deplorable situation but to illustrate an attitude that seems to be more and more prevalent today; a disregard for nature, a disregard for our laws, and the arrogance of wealth leading to the selfish exploitation of our wild country for personal gratification and gain.
Montana Outdoors 
$135 dollar fines seem like nothing to this guy I would guess. these stories are indeed very interesting. It’s good to see that the “other side” was printed so that folks could hear what was really going on, and not have them try to join in doing the same things.
I really don’t know what makes people think that laws and such are made to be disregarded and they are entitled to do what they want if they have the right trappings in life
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Comment by skouba — April 22, 2007 @ 11:42 am
The arrogance of Jorge Simental, in flaunting lies and law breaking, is simply amazing to me. At a minimum, I think he should be banned from the National Forests and wilderness areas for life.
The author of the piece in The Daily Interlake, Dave Reese, whether he was complicit in the events, simply duped into believing them or careless in his examination of the facts, should also have to pay a penalty. I see that he is not listed on the staff of the paper, but he might have just been a “guest” writer. He has forfeited one of the most valuable assets of a journalist, credibility, and will probably find himself severely penalized for that.
The helicopter pilot, Jim Kruger, certainly must have known better than to do what he was doing. I’d like to see him lose his pilot’s license, since he used it to perform unlawful acts.
That is, if there were justice in this society, a big if!
Terry
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Comment by montucky — April 22, 2007 @ 2:10 pm
Hi – I’m going to hit this from a different direction (one that I hope really makes sense) Here is what I disliked, “untouched waters.” I hate that this guy thought he was above the law. Even my 16 year old nephew won’t fish without a license. I hate the idea of a helicopter flying over your head while you’re trying to capture your moment of peace.
But here is what I did like… I liked that the second article kept saying, “this isn’t Montana’s way” I really enjoy that you all know who you are and what you want – and thus, getting to a place to fight for it is a lot easier. Over in Washington we have this really weird double head. One head (eastern & most of central wa) says, “high power motors on boats do nothing more than cut up fish – and come on, we came to fish!” The western part of the state says, “we brought our boat so you can see it, look it’s flashy, look it’s fast, hey, how loud does this new stereo can go anyway?”
But you don’t read this in the papers here because “they” think we need the tourists. (We’re rural we’re poor we need these jerks to thrive) and this isn’t true. They spent all their money before they came most likely on that danged loud boat.
It is my profound wish that we garner your attitudes about nature – and I really hope we follow your lead. The current attitudes we carry is a real threat to what I consider some of our country’s most beautiful and unique nature.
Thanks for posting this Terry – it was really informative!
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Comment by aullori — April 22, 2007 @ 6:29 pm
aullori,
I also like the phrase “Montana’s way” and I wish I could say that that feeling is universal here. It used to be and it’s still widely held, but there has been a degradation of that feeling in recent years, the last ten in particular. I don’t know if it’s caused by the huge influx of new people or whether it just hasn’t been passed on appropriately.
There are now far too many (in my opinion) people here who consider the wild country as a toy for their pleasure or something to be exploited for monetary gain. Fortunately though, there are a still a whole lot of us who do appreciate the natural world and are willing to fight for it. I like to think that I’m doing at least a little bit of good by writing about it and illustrating it where I can, just as you are doing. Every little bit helps!
Terry
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Comment by montucky — April 22, 2007 @ 8:12 pm
I did a little blurb about this on one of my blogs today. did not do it justice of course, but linked back here to you.
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Comment by skouba — April 22, 2007 @ 8:28 pm
Opposing camps have fought tourist overflights in Glacier for years. I find the idea noxious on the face of it for multiple reasons.
Needless to say, reading that this guy was flying in and out of Summit to satisfy his own needs while disrupting wildlife and disturbing the natural serenity of the area started him out on my bad side before I read the Missoulian article.
Malcolm
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Comment by knightofswords — April 22, 2007 @ 8:28 pm
I saw it, skouba, and thank you for the link!
Terry
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Comment by montucky — April 22, 2007 @ 8:57 pm
knightofswords,
I knew before posting it what your take on it would be, and of course, you’re right.
The natural world is under attack by those, as this guy, who consider it to be a “play toy”, and by those who exploit it for monetary gain, but perhaps there is an even more threatening enemy, apathy. Posting this was my small attempt to alleviate that. My hope is that it attention can be focused on things like this, some of those who respect and treasure nature will be more aware of the threats to it and use whatever influence they have to protect it.
Terry
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Comment by montucky — April 22, 2007 @ 9:19 pm
Just wanted to let you know that you’ve been tagged — just follow this link to play a quick game of cyber-tag. Hopefully, we’ll be able to generate more traffic for all players!
***********************
As for your piece, I am continually surprised at the arrogance of man… we have a tendency to behave as if our immediate desires are all that matters in the world.
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Comment by Elizabeth — April 23, 2007 @ 8:41 am
Terry,
I also hope that disseminating information about such abuses will bring more pressure against the culprits.
Too often, though, people just say, “what can I do to stop some rich guy from flying to and from his own land?” Even when things go to court, the everyday guy runs out of money long before the corporations and lobbyists he is fighting.
I guess we need better information and even larger numbers of people.
Malcolm
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Comment by Malcolm Campbell — April 23, 2007 @ 8:29 pm
Malcolm,
It’s my hope that more and better information will go a long way. If it can be presented properly, perhaps it will penetrate the apathy of those larger numbers of people.
There is promising news today about a new bill introduced to the House of Representatives last Friday, a bill that would designate 23 million acres now listed as inventoried roadless areas in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington and Oregon as wilderness. I have just been reading the bill and will post on it later.
Terry
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Comment by montucky — April 23, 2007 @ 8:51 pm
Looking forward to that post Terry – I have a part time hobby of harrassing represenatives and senators when the situation calls for it. :o) (nerdly hobby I know but it’s fine as long as you don’t pass on that info to all your pals I might be able to still hold up my head.)
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Comment by aullori — April 24, 2007 @ 9:27 am
aullori,
It looks like your representatives in Washington are doing better than one single representative in Montana: they support the Wilderness Bill and he opposes it.
Terry
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Comment by montucky — April 24, 2007 @ 9:39 am
Elizabeth,
There’s a lot of this kind of arrogance visible in Montana now. People with lots of money (I remember the phrase from one of Malcolm’s posts “the alien rich”) come in and buy big chunks of the wild country and make it into private preserves. This particular guy didn’t even bother to do that.
We’re crippled in part by having only one member in the House of Representatives, and he has sold out to the money people.
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Comment by montucky — May 7, 2007 @ 2:12 pm
What a well researched and written article in the “Missoulian.” The sheer audacity of Simental’s behavior is breathtaking. I had seen an earlier article discussing Jorge Simental’s apparently unlawful, gratuitous use of the land, and I visited the Summit Station website at that time. Simental had made some grand claims about his own personal accomplishments on the site…including being a member of the Everest Millennium Expedition. There was no record to be found of his being part of that very famous expedition. Funny, that claim now seems to have disappeared from the website.
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Comment by Lion Fish — July 17, 2007 @ 2:30 pm
Lion Fish,
I’ve seen a number of excellent articles in the Missoulian and I’m happy for that.
I hadn’t seen Simental’s claim concerning the Expedition, but it isn’t all that surprising. An illusion of grandeur often takes on strange manifestations.
Thank you for the visit!
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Comment by montucky — July 17, 2007 @ 2:40 pm
Thank-you for shinning the light on Jorge Simental. The disdain he shows the environment he claims to love and want to protect is horrifying. Jorge Simental calls himself an environmentalist and conservationist but his behavior is that of an arrogant abuser.
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Comment by Montucky Fan — July 18, 2007 @ 12:29 am
I find both his attitude and behavior deplorable. Unfortunately, both are shared by far too many people today, from the developer who claims to love the country but is really only exploiting it for his own gain to those who use their various machines to ruin the environment while telling themselves and everyone else that they’re enjoying an outdoor experience.
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Comment by montucky — July 18, 2007 @ 1:50 pm
Please find other things to talk about. Dr. Simental is a very dedicated and loving individual. Find some gossip in your town. Leave people alone instead let’s get ride of Bush!
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Comment by Paul miller — August 20, 2007 @ 1:22 am
I guess your point seems to be that “dedicated and loving individuals” can do whatever they want, laws or no laws. I do not agree.
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Comment by montucky — August 20, 2007 @ 8:24 am