News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Remember the Coulee Card. It was handy and fun and I wish it would make a comeback. It is awesome to call the Coulee home. Here are a few people and places I’m proud of that make the Coulee area so special – Caden Portch represented Lake Roosevelt well at the State Cross Country Championships. Kasey Garvin did an amazing job with the high school Volleyball team. She’s always been a winner! “Clap for the Wolfman” Edward Wolfe and his staff have the top ranked Raider Boys Basketball team rolling with the 1000-point club member Chase Marchand...
It is the season of giving, forgiving, renewal, and hope. If you could give a gift to America, what gift would you give? We all appreciate our country, and we are grateful for all that it offers. But we also know that there are things that could be better—and should be better. If we identify some of those issues, perhaps we can then focus on making the improvements. The rulers of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt gave their citizens the gift of survival by collecting grain, as a tax, during years when the harvest was good, storing it, and d...
The Grand Coulee Police Department is critically understaffed, yet the city council has declared a hiring freeze for an unspecified length of time. Currently, the department has six full-time officers. A fully staffed local police force would be eight officers. Interestingly, mandatory overtime has become the norm as the city refuses to search for qualified candidates. Presumably, the reason behind the hiring freeze is an unbalanced budget. However, typical monthly overtime for our officers averages 30-40 hours per month, and we all know... Full story
At the close of World War II in Europe, the Allied Forces closed on Berlin from the west, and the Russians closed from the east. Control of Berlin became an issue. In 1948, the Russians blockaded Berlin, disallowing the U.S. ground access to the city. Memory of the recent war that claimed 50 million lives prevented a direct military confrontation between the U.S. and Russia. But the U.S. found a solution, an airlift. During the next 11 months, the U.S. and allies conducted an airlift that saw cargo planes bringing supplies and landing in the...
I have waited approximately eight years for a determination on when we, Colville Tribal Members, were going to be compensated for the 2015 North Star fire. Since I haven’t heard of any compensation, I decided to file a FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] request with the BIA Regional office in Portland, Oregon. I filed this request on January 13, 2023, and I have received two answers as of this writing and will receive a final third response in the near future. I am going to share a portion of what I received because I believe it is in the b...
The behavior of individuals and nations sometimes challenges our belief that we are a civilized species. When we feel dismayed by what is happening, it is time to remember the good things we do. Americans donated $484 billion to charities in a recent year. We Americans also volunteer between four and five billion hours of our time each year doing things that make life better for other people and for our community. In 1917 when young men were drafted to serve in World War I, authorities discovered that the typical draftee had only a sixth-grade...
Yes, it’s that glorious season that so many pumpkin-spice addicts claim to be their favorite. I must admit that, I, too, succumb each year to the autumnal charms of fall, except for my seemingly never-ending battle with leaves, or, as I like to call them – tree dandruff. So what is it that ironically draws us to a season that marks the end of long, carefree summer days when the sight of a shirtless dad bod outdoors is slightly less disturbing? Let’s get the obvious one out of the way first, the aforementioned king of all seasonal seasonings, pu...
Congratulations on your prestigious WNPA award. You are sooooo worthy of being recognized for all the hard work you have put into The Star for so many years. We certainly recognize the problems that go with owning a business. But providing local information in an unbiased way is a big talent. We also thank you for all of your work promoting and improving the Grand Coulee Dam community. Jim and Mary Jane Bailey...
Immigration has been one of America’s long running problems. Historically, climate irregularities have induced famine, civil conflict, and migration. If scientists are correct about the climate change in our future, the world will again experience those disruptions of life including large scale migration attempts. We need to solve our immigration issues. Immigration is a responsibility of the federal government. Our national government has abdicated a significant measure of that role to border states. The individual states should not be taxed w...
I don’t think Uncle George did things because of a will to succeed; he did that many times over. I think he was so driven because he saw how never giving up, always stepping up, and always saddling up helped so many others to succeed. I don’t think he ever told me no when asked to borrow his truck and trailer, boat, camper, tractor, or whatever I may have needed. Uncle George traveled many different trails in his life, but the constant was service, family, and friends. He was a big John Wayne fan. I smiled when I read a magazine not long ago...
Elon Musk used his privately owned (satellite) communication relay system called “Star Link” to prevent a Ukrainian marine drone attack on Russian ships. Musk’s stated reasoning was that destruction of Russian ships in the Black Sea could generate a much broader war. Preventing expansion of the war is commendable. But the affair raises some serious questions that need to be answered. If any ordinary citizen had done what Musk did, that person would probably be in a federal prison. We are allowing individuals and corporations to accum...
Observers sense American discontent with a rapidly changing world. A recently cited indicator is a suddenly popular song called “Rich Men North of Richmond.” Citizens seeking public office need to be wealthy or sell their allegiance to wealthy benefactors. Government has become confusing, with our national government and our state governments making an array of conflicting laws and an endless stream of court decisions and reversals that deliver uncertainty. Opinion polls indicate substantial pessimism regarding our rancid political env...
I love this Coulee…the scenery, the climate, the people. It will be my home until I leave this earth. I started running in the Coulee nearly 25 years ago. The Coulee has a way of reaching into your soul to bring peace and calm. Run The Dam (formerly The Over The Dam Run) became my baby in 2016. I wanted to share the unique course and beauty of the Coulee with the whole world. Run The Dam, now a nonprofit organization, has a mission to provide healthy outdoor activity in the Coulee. The annual event, always the third weekend of September, now b...
We are all different. If we were not, it would be impossible to recognize people we know, including our close friends and relatives. Sometimes we don’t like people who are different, whose beliefs differ from ours, or whose behavior we find objectionable. But we can tolerate people we don’t especially like, and we need to encourage tolerance. Nine countries have nuclear weapons, and additional countries are striving to acquire nuclear arsenals. We humans have the technical skills to destroy ourselves. Whether we have the political skills to...
That shaking you feel is not an earthquake. It is our country’s founders rolling in their graves. Here in Florida, on the front burner of the next presidential election, politics is all about how we use the bathroom. At Mar-A-Lago our nation’s secrets are protected by a sign, Top Secret, correction, make that “occupied.” Meanwhile, the Florida governor, who wants to be in charge of all those secrets, has signed a flood of legislation that threatens to block the plumbing. It is now a crime to use the wrong bathroom in Florida. And, accordi...
After the latest reactive management decision from our local GCDSD Board, community and staff members who are furious about the superintendent selection asked me to share their total lack of trust in these elected officials. As someone who has five Raider graduates, loved and fully supported the GCDSD for years, this selfish decision does not surprise me. I just wanted to wait until after the 2023 graduation was over before I shared thoughts that I truly feel are also supported by the majority of community and staff. As taxpayers there is obvio...
Hot, simmering, smoldering is how patrons of the "First Friday" chamber of commerce event were describing the refractive heat, bouncing off the concrete sidewalk last week. But thankfully, firefighters were present with ultimate water power, and the chamber placed cooling locations in the nearby park Upon arrival, it was dominated by dedicated business, with vendors selling goods ranging from popcorn, cheeky shirts, eccentric jewelry, and scrumptious (i.e., "nom nom") food from the Siam Palace....
Last summer — about July, I’d guess — I got a phone call from Bubba Egbert. I knew Bubba by reputation, but at that point I’d had only one conversation with him when I’d gone to pick up my daughter after a day she spent hanging out with his sons. On the phone he said, “It’s looking like I may coach the football team this year, and I need an assistant coach in the school.” I tried to think of someone quickly — someone else, another teacher. I suggested a couple people, and Bubba hemmed and hawed a little. If I’m honest, I felt a little like I wa...
It seems to be our human nature to blame someone when events take a turn that we don’t like. When deadly contagious disease struck the ancient Greeks and Romans, they thought that humans had displeased the gods, and the gods were punishing the human race. During the Middle Ages, there was a time now known as the “little ice age.” The summer weather in Europe was cold and wet for years or decades at a time. Crops failed and people suffered from hunger and starvation. People blamed minority elements of the population for the bad weather, and t...
Our Constitutional First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of speech is a fundamental requirement for a successful democracy. But false statements produce consequences that threaten our democracy and the well-being of our society. Fifty-nine years ago, the administration of President Lyndon Johnson falsified information about U.S. operations in the Tonkin Gulf. That falsification was used to justify the invasion of Vietnam in 1965. The Vietnam War dragged on for 10 years and caused disruptions in American society. It lasted long enough, 1965 to...
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was developed during the Great Depression that occurred in the 1930s. It was a federal government program that established electricity for a seven-state area, and it bolstered the free enterprise economy of the region. World War Two followed the depression era. The TVA was a source of the extensive amount of electricity needed by Alcoa to produce the aluminum needed for the 50,000 aircraft that authorities anticipated needing for the successful conduct of the war. Additionally, the TVA was the source of...
To be specific, my wife let her little dog of 50 years out with a very short leash and held up a rolled-up newspaper as if to whack my backside if I didn’t behave. She put a muzzle on me until the latest GCDSD levy passed and took it off only for kibbles and bits. I’ve been a good boy so I didn’t have to sleep in the dog house. She’ll tell you my bark is much worse than my bite. As a longtime community member and taxpayer, no one has been a bigger fan and loved our local school district more than me until the upper brass and their hired hand co...
My wife and I have always thought the world of Lisa Carlson (Loe). Lisa is more LR Raider than anyone I know. I used to tape her ankles before basketball games (This was the second time I worked in a hazard zone!) and then I’d sit back and marvel at her basketball prowess. Lisa came from an exceptional basketball family so her fundamentals and game time “on the fly” IQ were exceptional. She was not the most athletic — slight of build, not that tall or fast — but she was a gamer, always reliable, who never backed down from anyone. It was amazi...
The U.S. national debt is now $30.4 trillion dollars. The government has spent that much more money than it has collected in tax revenue. Per person, it means that every U.S. citizen, including diapered infants, owes $95,000 dollars. The U.S. Congress has allowed the debt to increase every year, except four years, since 1970. The George W. Bush Administration increased the national debt by five trillion dollars in eight years. The Trump Administration increased the national debt seven trillion dollars in four years. We have two problems:...
Bob Hendrickson “The Fix It Man” is definitely in my local Curiosity Hall of Fame. Sometimes he’ll stop by just to visit because he’s curious. He’s fixed really old appliances for me at different times and they still work! However, he fixes things way beyond appliances — he is a people whisperer! Sometimes I’ll deliberately break stuff and have him fix it so I can watch him in action and listen to his wisdom. You don’t need a quarter or a wind-up key, just shut your yapper and enjoy. He’ll clearly tell you what needs fixin’, why, and...
