Let’s be civil. The Flathead Beacon encourages vigorous discussion and lively debate, but we will delete comments that attack other readers, make accusations we can’t verify, stray too far off topic, criticize local businesses (call them if you have a problem), convict someone of a crime, use profanity or are simply judged to be in bad taste. We don’t always have someone moderating comments, so we ask for your help: If you see a comment that violates these ground rules, or you simply deem it offensive, please e-mail editor [at] flatheadbeacon.com. The views expressed in the comments section do not reflect those of the Beacon.
By Winslow on 12-15-08
Thanks for the heads up, Mark. There are probably quite a few made-in-MT businesses. MT sort of helps sell products. I mean, if something says, “Made in N. Dakota,“ or worse yet, “Made in Wyoming,“ I’m not buying it. I’d rather buy from Walmart. But I think there is a bigger problem for these businesses. Just being a business owner in Montana is a problem. It is not a very friendly place for business owners, and now with Obama, all businesses will be under fire and targets to help pay for all the monopolistic #### in this country. Think about it: when you pay that $100 a month cable bill, do you think you are paying for cable? Hardly. You are paying probably $45 for their employee medical insurance. That $45 goes directly into the insurance company’s pocket. The poor cable worker who then visits the doctor is billed $400 for a 20 minute visit, maybe a pat on the back and a placebo for the road. This is far worse than new regulations, but how many regulations until the camel’s back is broken. It might already be.
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By Trevor Thorson on 12-15-08
Mark, thank you for publishing this article. It is so important to get this word out to EVERYBODY because it affects EVERYBODY. Not just Montana (Hi Aunt Marge!!) but Texas, OH, CA, NY….... The entire country. Millions of people who make Handmade for children WILL go bankrupt. We will be forced outside the home, into a workforce when UNEMPLOYMENT is at its worst.
Please, continue spreading this wordd.
:0) Trevor
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By Vicki Piippo Calico Closet on 12-15-08
Thank you for writing a concise article and making this a priority.
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By Mark Riffey on 12-15-08
I have updated this article to include some additional important information made available after the original article’s publication.
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By Allison Klemz on 12-16-08
I am not from Montana but wanted to thank you for your article. I am a stay at home mom to four kids and I also own a small home based business, Sewing Alley. I make and sell toys and clothing for kids online at http://www.hyenacart.com and at craft fairs. I am not against testing but I cannot afford the testing at the current rates for each item. Most of the items I make are one of a kind. If nothing is done about this law I will most likely close come February. I am just one of over 1,000 vendors on Hyena Cart (most also moms like me) and many of us may be closing our shops.
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By ThirdWorlder on 12-16-08
The vise keeps tightening..many more unemployed..rogue government without financial accountability, military checkpoints violating possi comitatus, nuclear weapons “disappearing”, . The more folks that can live off the grid the better. Only problem will be the US/foreign/private military coming in with checkpoints and relocation orders. I hope everyone resists and dies taking at least one “enemy” with them. From Gulag Archipalego-
Solzhenitsyn repeatedly said that it would have been impossible to institutionalize police terror if the majority of Soviet citizens had not behaved like “rabbits.“ In “Gulag I” he declared that if people had not “simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror” but had armed themselves with pokers and ambushed the police in apartment hallways, then “the cursed machine would have ground to a halt.“
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By Kim C on 12-19-08
This legislation as written now will affect every person who makes and sells furniture too, not just furniture geared to children , but all furniture , the assumption on the law being that all furniture at some point or another will have child contact to it…This includes the one of a kind crafts man who makes a stool or a table or a chair or anything….It would ALL require the third party testing for lead like all the other products…..This law also will make the sale of all antiques and second hand furniture (at least as far as we have been informed that have upholstery or paint of any sort and most likely includes all of any make) illegal to sell after February 10,2009 period. Since it falls under the same rules that the lead rules all retro active on all product that must comply with this law….......This law would also make it illegal for an upholstery shop to be able to reupholster any item that has not been component test once stripped of its orginal fabric for lead in any of it parts or hardware and then would have to have the fabric tested before reupholstery and then since it is a one of a kind piece it would be required to be tested as a unit(which in essence means they have to ruin the piece to test it) so upholstery shops in this country by the letter of this law will become illegal to operate….....Most guys in this business don’t have a clue. Did you? Since MT is rural how many antique stores do you have? Quite a few I bet…..Check with them and second hand furniture stores and see if they know this will nail the last nail on their coffins like it will us…...
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By Jo B on 12-28-08
Thank you for writing such a clear thoughtful article on this critically important but non-publicized issue. It will affect so many of us, yet it seems no one knows about it. Please note that clothing makers are really looking at huge problems - even mid-size companies are going to suffer terribly and the people employed will be terribly hurt by a law that truly doesn’t make children more safe. We are throwing money away instead of having an honest approach to the real dangers. I think Congress was thoughtless about this, legislators were only worried about how they looked to the American public and they reacted to China-bashing. That immature, thoughtless approach is not what I expect from my reps in Washington.
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By Hand Me Downs, LLC on 12-30-08
I own a Children’s Second Hand Store that buys and sells children’s clothes, toys and everything associated to children age 12 and below. This bill would put us and many other children stores out of business because we sell what we buy from the public. So we can not sell what we have in the store and we can not buy anything else from the public because no children’s items that are used is certified right now. This bill will put allot of Second Hand stores, Thrift stores, Goodwill either out of business or severely damage their business. The general public will also now have now where to take the gently used items to trade up for the next size or toys that they no longer need. Goodwill would no longer have a children’s section or toys, cribs, strollers or anything to do with children. This bill will severely effect the economy by forcing the closure of thousands of children’s stores, thus also affecting unemployment of all the small businesses that have to lay off their employee’s. We are already in a depression, this bill is going to send this country even further down a negative path. We have to do something to amend this before thousand of small business owners are out of business.
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By HandMeDowns,LLC on 12-30-08
Follow up comment, Hand Me Downs is located in Summerville South Carolina
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Let’s be civil. The Flathead Beacon encourages vigorous discussion and lively debate, but we will delete comments that attack other readers, make accusations we can’t verify, stray too far off topic, criticize local businesses (call them if you have a problem), convict someone of a crime, use profanity or are simply judged to be in bad taste. We don’t always have someone moderating comments, so we ask for your help: If you see a comment that violates these ground rules, or you simply deem it offensive, please e-mail editor [at] flatheadbeacon.com. The views expressed in the comments section do not reflect those of the Beacon.
By Winslow on 12-15-08
Thanks for the heads up, Mark. There are probably quite a few made-in-MT businesses. MT sort of helps sell products. I mean, if something says, “Made in N. Dakota,“ or worse yet, “Made in Wyoming,“ I’m not buying it. I’d rather buy from Walmart. But I think there is a bigger problem for these businesses. Just being a business owner in Montana is a problem. It is not a very friendly place for business owners, and now with Obama, all businesses will be under fire and targets to help pay for all the monopolistic #### in this country. Think about it: when you pay that $100 a month cable bill, do you think you are paying for cable? Hardly. You are paying probably $45 for their employee medical insurance. That $45 goes directly into the insurance company’s pocket. The poor cable worker who then visits the doctor is billed $400 for a 20 minute visit, maybe a pat on the back and a placebo for the road. This is far worse than new regulations, but how many regulations until the camel’s back is broken. It might already be.
By Trevor Thorson on 12-15-08
Mark, thank you for publishing this article. It is so important to get this word out to EVERYBODY because it affects EVERYBODY. Not just Montana (Hi Aunt Marge!!) but Texas, OH, CA, NY….... The entire country. Millions of people who make Handmade for children WILL go bankrupt. We will be forced outside the home, into a workforce when UNEMPLOYMENT is at its worst.
Please, continue spreading this wordd.
:0) Trevor
By Vicki Piippo Calico Closet on 12-15-08
Thank you for writing a concise article and making this a priority.
By Mark Riffey on 12-15-08
I have updated this article to include some additional important information made available after the original article’s publication.
By Allison Klemz on 12-16-08
I am not from Montana but wanted to thank you for your article. I am a stay at home mom to four kids and I also own a small home based business, Sewing Alley. I make and sell toys and clothing for kids online at http://www.hyenacart.com and at craft fairs. I am not against testing but I cannot afford the testing at the current rates for each item. Most of the items I make are one of a kind. If nothing is done about this law I will most likely close come February. I am just one of over 1,000 vendors on Hyena Cart (most also moms like me) and many of us may be closing our shops.
By ThirdWorlder on 12-16-08
The vise keeps tightening..many more unemployed..rogue government without financial accountability, military checkpoints violating possi comitatus, nuclear weapons “disappearing”, . The more folks that can live off the grid the better. Only problem will be the US/foreign/private military coming in with checkpoints and relocation orders. I hope everyone resists and dies taking at least one “enemy” with them. From Gulag Archipalego-
Solzhenitsyn repeatedly said that it would have been impossible to institutionalize police terror if the majority of Soviet citizens had not behaved like “rabbits.“ In “Gulag I” he declared that if people had not “simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror” but had armed themselves with pokers and ambushed the police in apartment hallways, then “the cursed machine would have ground to a halt.“
By Kim C on 12-19-08
This legislation as written now will affect every person who makes and sells furniture too, not just furniture geared to children , but all furniture , the assumption on the law being that all furniture at some point or another will have child contact to it…This includes the one of a kind crafts man who makes a stool or a table or a chair or anything….It would ALL require the third party testing for lead like all the other products…..This law also will make the sale of all antiques and second hand furniture (at least as far as we have been informed that have upholstery or paint of any sort and most likely includes all of any make) illegal to sell after February 10,2009 period. Since it falls under the same rules that the lead rules all retro active on all product that must comply with this law….......This law would also make it illegal for an upholstery shop to be able to reupholster any item that has not been component test once stripped of its orginal fabric for lead in any of it parts or hardware and then would have to have the fabric tested before reupholstery and then since it is a one of a kind piece it would be required to be tested as a unit(which in essence means they have to ruin the piece to test it) so upholstery shops in this country by the letter of this law will become illegal to operate….....Most guys in this business don’t have a clue. Did you? Since MT is rural how many antique stores do you have? Quite a few I bet…..Check with them and second hand furniture stores and see if they know this will nail the last nail on their coffins like it will us…...
By Jo B on 12-28-08
Thank you for writing such a clear thoughtful article on this critically important but non-publicized issue. It will affect so many of us, yet it seems no one knows about it. Please note that clothing makers are really looking at huge problems - even mid-size companies are going to suffer terribly and the people employed will be terribly hurt by a law that truly doesn’t make children more safe. We are throwing money away instead of having an honest approach to the real dangers. I think Congress was thoughtless about this, legislators were only worried about how they looked to the American public and they reacted to China-bashing. That immature, thoughtless approach is not what I expect from my reps in Washington.
By Hand Me Downs, LLC on 12-30-08
I own a Children’s Second Hand Store that buys and sells children’s clothes, toys and everything associated to children age 12 and below. This bill would put us and many other children stores out of business because we sell what we buy from the public. So we can not sell what we have in the store and we can not buy anything else from the public because no children’s items that are used is certified right now. This bill will put allot of Second Hand stores, Thrift stores, Goodwill either out of business or severely damage their business. The general public will also now have now where to take the gently used items to trade up for the next size or toys that they no longer need. Goodwill would no longer have a children’s section or toys, cribs, strollers or anything to do with children. This bill will severely effect the economy by forcing the closure of thousands of children’s stores, thus also affecting unemployment of all the small businesses that have to lay off their employee’s. We are already in a depression, this bill is going to send this country even further down a negative path. We have to do something to amend this before thousand of small business owners are out of business.
By HandMeDowns,LLC on 12-30-08
Follow up comment, Hand Me Downs is located in Summerville South Carolina