The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1963-03-29
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
By GRETCHEN G. BILLINGS

the work on my desk that accumu-
lated during the legislature will be
caught up and there will be time for
some column work. Right now num-
Der of things need attention in the
area of the business considered my
part of this operation, and they have
taken most of my time and all of
the energy that was left after the
60-day legislator-sitting.
During the session it was at the
very least an 18-hour day for
most everyone connected with the
legislature as we'll as your VOICE
staff, and / might do some writing
if continued that pace; but I'm not
doing it.
Besides that, you should see my
house!
We need gas masks to walk across
the rug; we don't have any ironed
clothes let alone any clean ones.
Something has to be done about these
things.
With all of that, the most discour-
aging aftermath of the session is the
weight l gained. l always hate my
self for my winter indiscretions be-
cause it isn't only in legislative year
that winter does this to me. 1t seems
lot of people my age are having
the same problem, though, and per-
haps there is something to the psy
chology that misery loves company,
anyhow it is comforting to know you
aren't the only one who is on Metre
cal.
Harry is trying to help my 'bulg-
ing", bless his heart he had me
helping him haul brick Saturday, and
is outlining other equally helpful
projects.
So with all of these perplexing |
situations to cope with you can see
there is little time to ponder politics.
Scrubbing floors and ironing
clothes gives an opportunity to pom
Ter politics, at that, and maybe my
real problem this week is not the
excuses [ make up for myself, but
The fact that to keep up with the
think backwards.
1t isn't easy to shift from the goth
DO the 18th century, and gotta tell
you about this. The other night when
plugged in my iron | was thinking
about this business of moving Civil
Defense into the hands of the Ma
,ional Guard under professional state
military control. The question that
lept coming to mind was just what
ioes this mean? Why is 1T necessary?
What could be accomplished?
l thought and thought
roned and | ironed back and
orth :. back and forth, when of a
udden | heard this noise and | ran
o see what it was.
There were people out in the street
unning like mad and l followed
hem. They ran and ran till we were !
It the front door of the Capitol.
Most of Helena was there it seemed. ,
)ne of my friends spoke to me and
sked me where my shoes were :
always iron barefooted then l
realized / also had peddle-pushers t
n my kids would kill me for :
'oing out i'm public like this with
eddie pushers ON and what was
doing here anyway what was +
doing following crowd but +
the crowd was at the Capitol it .
rust have something to do with poll I
les. Maybe | better stay no one i
7ould remember l was barefoot and .
l peddle pushers in that mass of v
:
| tried to find out what all the ex- e
itement was about but no one
round me was sure they had il
ome for much the same reason I did e
because everyone else did. $
1t wasn't too long we walled. My b
let were getting cold, but pretty h
ION these two big white Fleetwood f;
adillacs drove up, and there were
these people in military uniforms 81
hadn't noticed before. il
They opened the door of the first tt
adillac and out stepped this fellow p
I'd | thought it was the Governor! P
pushed a little till I could see bet a
r and it sure looked like the Gov tt