News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 76 - 100 of 328
Dropping in for a three-day trip to Siem Reap, and a visit to Angkor Wat, a temple complex nearby, was a change of plans, and a welcome one at that. Rediscovered by a French archeologist in the mid 1800s. Siem Reap was Cambodia’s ancient capital, now with a population of 249,000. The temple itself was built in the 12th century and is a little over 399 miles north of Phnom Penh, the current capital. Early the morning after my arrival, I hired a pedal cab for the three-mile hike to Angkor. Like the French explorer Henri Mouhot, who must have b...
I guess if I had to name my favorite vacation spot it would be Teton National Park. We first visited the park shortly after the park added thousands of acres that were gifted from the Rockefeller family. This added space was designated as a national monument to avoid a major fight with people who had opposed national park status in the first place. We probably have returned a dozen times or so. The Rockefeller family had secretly been buying up acreage to preserve the Jackson Hole valley as an adjunct to the park. One reason why it is our...
To me, any cow, is one too many. My personal experience with cows goes back a number of years. Growing up, I lived on a farm, moving to town when I started school when 6. Oh, we had cows then, but my three older brothers and my sister had the chores then. We had a couple of milk cows that obligated the family members to go to the barn and milk very early in the morning and also in the evening. I got my shot with cows when we moved back to the farm when I was in the eighth grade. We had one milk cow, and I was it. I was saved from milking becaus...
I first met Khien Theravit when our family sponsored him through the FIUTS program at the University of Washington. It became an exciting time as we met a lot of foreign students, mostly from Asia. Through the FIUTS (Foundation for International Understanding Through Students) individuals or families could sponsor students, giving as much time as you wanted to the student. There were no financial obligations. Khien was a professor of Asian Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. He already had two master’s degrees, and a l...
No shopping for expensive wedding clothes here The cost of our marriage was $15. And that was for the license. No bridal gown, other gowns, tuxes, limos, flowers, receptions, wedding planners or a host of other folks with their hand out when the wedding bells ring. I had quit my job with Potlatch Forest Inc., in Potlatch, Idaho, and left for southern Idaho. I had met my wife Dorothy while she was at the University of Idaho for a glee club gathering. She was with the Buhl High School group. Shortly after that, I made the 600-mile trip to see...
Ever think of the influence others have had in your life? When I went to college, I had no idea or hope that I would become a journalist. I took a college course in journalism, mainly so I could learn to write. Things went well, and my journalism professor, Helen Wilson, encouraged me to take a follow-up course. Late in my sophomore year I got a call from Jack Scudder, editor of the local daily paper to drop by for a visit. Wilson had encouraged Scudder to hire me to write for the paper. I had become editor of the college paper and had written...
Once upon a time there was this rock along the Snake River just out of Melba, Idaho. It was an Indian map rock where ancient natives had etched the route of the Snake River along with other helpful information. While a reporter for the Idaho Free Press, I did a story on the rock map that later was picked up by the Salt Lake Tribune magazine. When living in the Boise Valley, I had visited the rock many times. Friends of mine, Myron and Gwen Finkbeiner, reported to me recently that they went out to see the rock and it was gone. Myron has been...
I just can’t shake it! I have a suggestion for Bureau officials concerning the stalled fire station. It would be incredible if someone from the Bureau would step up to the plate and tell the story of what went wrong at the fire station, what this is costing us taxpayers and what will be done about it. Dream on! Transparency ...
Steptoe Butte lies 12 miles north of Colfax, the Whitman County seat. Its elevation is 3,612 feet, hovering over the Palouse wheat fields. It is said that on the horizon you can see the high mountains in Montana. For me, the view affords me a visit to many of the places that made my Palouse childhood so pleasant. To the southeast are the hills in Idaho where my family spent many a fall day picking huckleberries. The picking was always good, and my dad would scout the area so we would have success. I spent many a day probing huckleberry bush....
Colleen Leskinen has had her eye on Nespelem for a very long time, essentially since her birth year, 67 years ago. Some people know her as the lady who runs the daycare, within the shadow of the town limits. Others know her as the town mayor and councilwoman and town administrator. Everyone knows Colleen. Currently, she runs a daycare on an 80-acre ranch, just a stone’s throw from town center; maybe a hefty toss. Colleen welcomes some 28 kids on weekdays. Her daycare acts as an extension of the public school system, with 15 students and a...
This week I would like to recognize and honor service personnel, past and present. I came from a military family. My father was in the army in World War I. I still have his papers from when he was called up, and his discharge. My three brothers served in World War II, one in Navy, one in the Air Corps and the other in the Army. All were in the fighting, two in the Pacific and the other in the African and German theaters. I remember how proud my father was when my oldest brother was home on furlough midway in his Army career. He had just...
The first time I saw Glenn Yarbrough was at a small roadhouse on the eastern edge of Seattle, just off I-90. It was the first time I saw him on one of his farewell tours. I had seen a small ad in the Times and took a chance that I would enjoy him. And indeed I did. The roadhouse was one of those places where you paid for dinner, four watered-down drinks all served up front, and the entertainment. Yarbrough had been the lead singer for the Limelighters from 1959-63, and had been striking out on his own. It was a small crowd, maybe 100 people....
If you really want to know when the Bureau of Reclamation fire station will be completed, keep track of the sani-cans outside. Star reporter Jacob Wagner gave a good rundown of the history of the project in the newspaper a couple of weeks ago. I would like to fill in the story a bit. The estimated cost of the project was $13.6 million. It is now estimated that the fire station will be completed in 2021. The project was started in 2016, with the awarding of the construction contract. Total cost is a number that would be embarrassing even for any...
A few years ago my wife and I worked two fire seasons for OK Cascade, a firm that under contract provided food, shower and laundry services during major wildfires. The firm then was owned by John and JoAnn Keener, both now deceased, John having passed away just a few days ago. The Keeners were from Bothell, and their rolling stock was housed in Twisp. We signed on with them just after moving here. We had known the Keeners during our 25 years in Bothell. We were told that during fire season we needed to be packed and ready to leave at a phone...
Sometimes it is strange the things that draw you back to your childhood. While driving the other day, I looked down at my left hand that was grasping the steering wheel. My hand looked exactly like my father’s. I often think of my parents, even though they have been gone for a very long time. My dad was a lifelong Democrat. The New Deal worked for our family, and making a negative comment about FDR would put you in peril around our house. There were many arguments around the house between my dad and two of his brothers. But one stern look f...
When we think of bravery, we have a tendency to think big. Actually, acts of bravery are all around us, some more apparent than others. While in Vietnam a number of years ago I met a medical doctor who was captured by the Viet Cong and held captive four years. It wasn’t unusual at the time for people to turn up missing. The doctor was held in a jungle field hospital where he worked on soldiers who were wounded or people who came down with jungle diseases. He was somewhat philosophical about it all. He reasoned that he was trained for this k...
Sometimes you discover history after it is past. I have visited a lot of cemeteries and memorials, but probably the most moving is the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. I’ve been there twice, the second time after I had learned that a cousin had been killed in the war and that his name was etched on the marble wall. I had a natural interest in the wall because I had made three trips to Vietnam while the war was still going on. Visiting the wall is a moving experience. It is one of the most popular memorials in D.C. On my visits it was crowded...
The English language is the best friend while traveling in most countries. In all my travels in Asia, the one most constant thing was that English was spoken and understood in every country. Part of the reason was the influence of English colonialism, and the fact that most people study English as a second language. While English is prevalent in both Japan and Hong Kong, Sometimes natives seek out touring English-speaking people so they can practice their English. This happened to me in both Japan and Hong Kong. In Osaka, Japan, I had walked...
I once moved twice on the same day. We have moved 14 times, but only once in the past 56 years. Our first move was to Palouse from southern Idaho. We were so recently married that it only took a couple of boxes, and those fit neatly in the trunk of our 1946 Ford. We spent the winter there. Trained as a lumber grader, I answered an ad in the Spokesman Review for a position at Lincoln Lumber Company. We interviewed, got the position and found an apartment in Wilbur. The apartment belonged to the school district there, and we got it with the...
A drive through the Hartline area the other day showed piles of wheat forming outside granaries, an indication of an abundant harvest. I was born on a farm about four miles south of Palouse, delivered by my aunt while my dad went to town to get Dr. Dart, the area medical czar. I was on the farm until age 5, when the family moved to town so I could start school the next year. There was a custom, a sort of a rite of passage, that young kids could ride the harvest trucks during harvest. We would go down to the warehouse, and when the trucks would...
It’s almost unimaginable. Music, whether we realize it or not, plays an important part in all our lives. My earliest recollection of music was when I was very young and my father sang to me. My father had an ocean of Irish ditties that he would sing while I was sitting on his lap. What I wouldn’t give to remember all of them. But I do remember one “Froggy went a courtin.” I don’t remember why this one stuck to me. I don’t even remember if my dad had a good singing voice, but it was magical to me. We can be depressed, lonely, sick, but music is...
Ever wonder why some of our elected officials have it in for immigrants? All of us could easily trace our citizenship back to the time that our forebears arrived on our shores. In a sense we are all immigrants, some more mindful of it than others. I have always wondered what my first immigrant families might have uttered when they first saw the USA. My Lucas family came by sailing vessel to America in 1710. They had escaped religious persecution in France and escaped to Germany in what would be a hardship journey. The family was in Germany for...
A person can be defined by the little things he remembers and his favorite places. My parents liked to take drives, and on one of them they would stop at a roadside springs to get a drink of ice cold water. They had a collapsible tin cup that was kept in the glove box for such an occasion, along with a camera that folded up. The adventure of those trips probably accounts for developing the same habit. One such place was Grizzly Camp, a few miles up from Potlatch, Princeton and Harvard in Idaho. It was a mountain location and a popular picnic...
You don’t know how important your freedoms are until you start to lose them. That’s what is behind the protests going on in Hong Kong. In April the government in Mainland China passed an extradition bill that would allow officials to take persons suspected of crimes to court under Chinese government rules. The former British colony has been operating under “one China, two systems,” allowing a great deal more freedom than residents of Mainland China are allowed. When Britain turned over the Hong Kong colony to China in 1997, it was with the und...
Earlier this week the nation took pause to honor our veterans. The debt we owe to veterans goes well beyond Nov. 11. I didn’t come from a military family; however, my father and three of my brothers were in the military: my father in World War I, and my brothers in World War ll. I am sorry now that I know so little of their service times and experiences. They, like so many, didn’t talk a lot about their experiences, it brought back unpleasant memories. My father didn’t serve overseas, but my three brothers did, in the thick of it. My brothers,...
