News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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We like to go about our business believing that things are working as they should — and they seem to, mostly. Until they don’t. That can be when we have to realize some foundation of stability in our experience just wasn’t so stable after all. Take our local police forces and the way our firefighting infrastructure is set up. Yesterday’s wildfire at Sunbanks in Electric City (actually outside town at the moment) was prolonged due to — well, that’s uncertain at this point. But a nearby firefighting helicopter sat on the ground at Grand Coule...
The purchase of Banks Lake Golf Course by the Colville Tribes ends seven years of service to the course by Jim and Rose Keene. They took over management of the course under difficult conditions and put in countless hours of work to keep the course up and running. They have worked together with a mostly volunteer crew overseeing the everyday operations of the facility. Running a course is no easy task. It is a seven-day-a-week commitment for most of the year with some activity even when the course is closed. They deserve a very large “Thank Y...
During my time in Congress representing Washington’s 4th Congressional District, addressing the fentanyl crisis has been one of my top priorities. I have introduced legislation such as the Stop Overdose in Schools Act, fought the policies of unelected federal bureaucrats including Department of Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas, and even established a Central Washington Fentanyl Task Force to find new solutions with members of our community. But most recently, I was appointed to lead the House Select Committee on the Chinese C...
There are a number of reasons why I am now afraid to fly. My first flight was with an Alaskan “bush” pilot who emphasized “local” conditions. He said conditions can change quickly and you have to be ready for change. He pointed this out as we approached the small airfield in Orofino, Idaho. The airfield is surrounded by high hills. He said many pilots go over the hills and try a direct line to the airfield. He said that you should come over the hills and circle the space before you line up to the single runway. So we did. He said that it puts...
We are writing this letter in support of and praise of our daughter Amelia Moses Marchand regarding her four-year appointment by President Joe Biden as Chairwoman on the Advisory Council of Historic Preservation. Amelia is a Colville Tribal member and a graduate of Lake Roosevelt High School, Eastern Washington University (BA) in Archaeology and Native American Studies. A Master’s Degree from Vermont Law School for Environmental Law and Policy. Amelia presently works for the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, (ATNI) and advises government...
Why in the world the police didn’t the police give a fine to the visitors on Wetzel Street in Grand Coulee for having illegal fireworks with them. This should have been done due to the fact they light them in a mild wind, and they ended up in a pile of really dry tumble weeds, which then blew down the hill and towards Tom Schloss’ house. We had eight people with hoses trying to control it until the fire department arrived, and all of us were thankful for them. I feel the 21- and 23-year-olds should have been held responsible for nearly bur...
Scott, thank you for the article and picture of the placing of the Nespelem old school plaque. Sorry we didn’t get a picture of all the attendees. It was a great reunion. It was great seeing so many friends from our 24 years living there. It has been 10 years since we moved to Vancouver. Margaret Moses...
Later this month the Olympic Games will begin. We have been treated the last few weeks with the preliminary track and field events and swimming events. It is the beginning of the end for a lot of very skilled athletes who after years of effort will fail to make it onto the United States team. The preliminary trials for track and field events are being held at the University of Oregon in Eugene, no stranger to these events. While living in Boise some years ago on South Orchard our closest neighbor had a 17-year-old boy who ran the mile for...
I get that people who love democracy and detest MAGA fascism are alarmed about President Joe Biden. I share the concerns. What’s astounding – and it speaks to how numb we’ve become – is that virtually no one with a public megaphone, in the wake of last week’s debate, is calling for Donald Trump to get the hell out and leave us in peace. Yes, Biden ratcheted up the age issue anew with his oft-enfeebled performance. Perhaps the Democrats would be better off if he withdrew and cleared the decks for a more vigorous candidate (assuming that can...
I’ve tried a number of times to milk cows. No luck. Rather, no milk. I was making my first trip down to southern Idaho to court my wife. It was a 550-mile overnight drive from Potlatch, Idaho, where I worked, to Buhl, Idaho, where my future wife Dorothy lived on a farm. I left at 5 p.m. and arrived at milking time. I was born on a farm and lived my first six years out in the country. Just one cow, and my dad did the milking. Anyhow, I was directed out to the barn where Dorothy and her brother Bob were in the process of milking 27 cows. I w...
When reading Roger S. Lucas’ column of June 19, I was concerned about his use of the term ‘Eskimo.’ Having lived in Alaska for about 40 years I learned that many (though not all) indigenous Alaskans view the term as racist. Though the origin of the word is still in question, isn’t it better to avoid using it, just as ‘squaw’ is no longer used? Having worked for the Anchorage Daily News for most of those years (as a graphic designer, page designer and illustrator) I understand the daily challenges of editing, but this one I couldn’t le...
Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu won’t let anything stop their abhorrent killing of innocent civilians. Putin justifies massacring Ukrainians by gross disinformation. Netanyahu justifies annihilating Palestinians by Hamas’s horrific October 7 attack which, of course, deserved strong response. Any chance of stopping the two will probably have to happen internally. Internal resistance to Adolf Hitler’s atrocities was exemplified by world-renown German Christian Dietrich Bonhoeffer who felt God’s calling to help assassinate Hitler. Author...
It used to be that if you wanted to get the government’s help all you had to do was call U.S. Senators Warren Magnuson or Scoop Jackson. I did on numerous occasions, and they came through. A lawyer friend in Bothell had sponsored a Chinese couple and the man’s wife developed problems with her immigration status. She was born in Mainland China and fell under a different quota status. When my lawyer friend learned that I was going to be in Hong Kong, he asked me to check at the U.S. Consulate there and see what I could learn about her cur...
It was June 27, 1844, when a young man (aged 38) was running for president of the United States. His name was Joseph Smith, Jr. Many historians falsely attribute his slaying to his stance on plural marriage (polygamy). While that was a part of it, it was by no means the real causation. This was some 16 years before Abraham Lincoln’s platform. Smith had his own plan for buying the freedom of slaves. He advocated religious freedom, sound money in gold or silver, and the proper education of schoolchildren. Brigham Young and other apostles of t...
Between late nights attending Appropriations Committee markups, working to prevent the Chinese Communist Party from purchasing American land, and voting to fully fund our veterans’ programs, the past few months in Washington, D.C. have been quite busy. That is why, when the legislative calendar permitted me to get back to Central Washington last week, I was especially looking forward to coming home. While home, I visited with residents, local groups, and businesses and discussed some of the great things going on as well as some of the unique c...
Our country is at its best when we are united. After a decade of hardship during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when Americans were hoping for some relief, the Axis powers launched World War Two. America quickly ceased production of consumer goods and started producing war materiel. According to the U.S. Defense Department, there were about three million automobiles produced in the U.S. in 1940. During the remainder of the war, until August 1945, only an additional 139 automobiles were produced for civilian use. Automobile tires were ration...
Two stories in The Star this week revolve around a problem central to not only the Grand Coulee Dam area, but to the nation as a whole: housing shortages. More than any other problem, a lack of good housing is the biggest impediment the local area faces to economic development. Two proposals — Coulee Medical Center’s tiny homes project and the Center Senior Living initiative — would address different aspects of this similar problem. All the largest employers in the area deal with a lack of housing when recruiting workers to come here. The B...
Here is the rest of the story on those stupid traffic lights. Up to eight years ago, The Star newspaper ran an article stating that the city was going to purchase traffic control lighting for the city limits on SR-174, and they did. At that time, I remember having a conversation with the then mayor. I said there was no way I would ever get the lights and really figured they would go to the hospital. The only response was, oh no they won’t. Now eight years later, with the snap of a finger, they pop up on Main Street. If the mayor had the p...
My son Paul is a month into a five-month trip to Alaska. He called Sunday from a small campsite near Prudhoe Bay, where you can get to the gate but you can’t get in unless you have a permit or work there. There are about 2,000 workers at the oil site, mostly Eskimos who reside in nearby villages. The oil-and-gas site is expansive and the living quarters are huge, allowing for an influx of temporary workers. It is claimed that the oil companies are highly sensitive to environmental issues since the big Exxon Valdez oil tanker issue in 1989. A n...
Here’s a story that is growing bigger by the day: Cyber scams are on the rise. My elderly family member fell for a common scam a few weeks ago: His screen appeared to be locked by “Microsoft” and he was urged to call the number the phony security alert displayed. If you call that fake number, a fake Microsoft representative will ask you to provide access to your computer, so he can steal sensitive data or download malicious apps. To be sure, in the digital era in which we all now live 24/7, you must assume that every email, text and phone call...
The departure of a local volunteer board member this week (see her letter on this page) underscores for us an emerging trend that is the direct result of the onslaught of social media’s encouragement of extremes online that affect our real world for the worse. Social media’s expert finesse at manipulating humans’ innate physiological reactions to emotional stimuli was a subject of one part of the meeting of the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors Monday exploring ways to control student cell phone usage. Social media sites...
To the students offended by my actions after the board meeting regarding their classmates not allowed to walk in the LR graduation: As you can imagine this was very hard on all of us and coming to this decision had me heartbroken for all the families of the students not allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony. In the meeting I spoke on how it’s unfair to be placed in this position at all and how the blame fell on our shoulders in their eyes. When the meeting was over I approached a scene where another board member was being c...
My parents were of the “Greatest Generation”: Dad served in the Army Air Corps in the European Theatre, and Mom was a defense worker. They had grown up in the Great Depression, which was a time of political division and grinding poverty. There was a populist element in the country that wanted the United States to be isolationist, led by the heroic pilot Charles Lindburg. Industrialist Henry Ford was a quiet supporter of Adolph Hilter. A Catholic priest named Father Edward Coughlin had a huge national radio audience where he spewed ant...
Oh-K, I’m sorry. I should not have made everybody read my smarty mouth letters. I was really looking for a targeted reader. This huge pile of concrete has sat for years, I know the project had no plans to deal with this eyesore. I am not so naïve to think my letters would change their minds. Fact, nobody likes to be reminded of their obligations. Now they are really not going to look into this mess. This is pretty much what I figured would happen. My target readers list should be a superintendent or someone in upper management. So as Paul Ha...
Dreams did come true for Colleen Leskinen of Nespelem. Last week Colleen had an open house for her new daycare center. The daycare, just 50 yards from Colleen’s house, will be fully operable when state licensing officials make their official visit and signoff on the 2,400 square foot daycare building. Colleen is licensed for 35 children. She currently has 28. Building a new facility has long been a dream of Colleen’s. Her dream has come true. Her home and new daycare building is at the end of a long lane. If her dog Duke doesn’t announce your...
