Gazette Opinion: Urban, rural Montanans need to talk

A great city serves its residents and its region.

City dwellers as well as their rural neighbors look to cities for opportunities to work, shop and enjoy large-venue entertainment. A great city provides services to folks beyond its borders, and, in the case of Billings, for hundreds of miles.

These urban-rural ties that bind and benefit both groups have often been a source of tension in Montana. There is uninformed concern that "giving" something to cities takes something from rural areas. Tuesday night in Helena, the city of Billings, Billings Clinic and Montana State University-Billings hosted a forum to talk about the shared interests of Montana’s urban and rural communities.

Full Opinion: http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/01/31/opinion/gazette/50-gazetteopinion.txt