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 know all too well the complete destruction that wildfires can cause. Over the past several years we’ve witnessed numerous, nearby, destructive wildfires. We are not immune to the outcome of wildfire. Can we better suppress and understand wildfire and the elements that comprise wildfire? The answer is probably yes. The past few decades, engineers, scientists and wildfire managers have collaborated to jointly create new tools and techniques to better fight and understand wildfire. My first expo...
We need to give thanks to the people of the American Legion of Electric City for all the work they are doing at the Spring Canyon Cemetery. Starting right after Memorial Day, they have come to the cemetery every Saturday and have spent the day cleaning and digging out headstones. It is hard work as some of the headstones are completely grown over. Thank you very much; what you are doing means a lot to a lot of people in the community. Garey Clements Grounds keeper, Spring Canyon Cemetery...
The COVID-19 pandemic made us reconsider how we work, attend school, seek medical care and interact with family and friends. One thing is clear – access to affordable broadband is more important than ever. As leaders in fiber infrastructure development, Public Utility Districts must be allowed to compete for federal funding to serve the most hard-to-reach rural customers. Policy makers recognize that broadband access is critical to a community’s success. Congress and the President are considering broadband as part of their respective inf...
At its founding, the United States of America was the first of its kind: an experimental government based on the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Gaining our independence from Britain was, in a way, a changing of the tides – for those who declared themselves Americans, our future generations, and everyone in between. Over the past 244 years, our country has grown and evolved into – what I believe to be – the greatest country in the world, and we must defend her with patriotism and pride. As Independence Day appro...
On July 4, 1975, America proudly celebrated its Bicentennial as the world’s greatest nation while Poland was a suppressed Soviet satellite state. Poles had no right to free speech, were hungry and impoverished. If you wanted a job, you played ball with Communist Party bosses. If you disagreed with their ideology, you likely were imprisoned. Poland was a rather bleak land which had not recovered from the German Blitzkrieg in 1939. Meanwhile, in Washington, the Business Week program started at C...
According to the legend, in a fit of rage, Coyote flung Rabbit from the top of Steamboat Rock, where he landed and stuck in the side of the coulee wall below Salishan Mesa. Rabbit was then changed to stone and became Rabbit Rock. One of the earliest postcards from the 1930s identifies the rock basalt column as Rabbit Ears Rock, and at one time the ears stuck further out the top than they do today, giving the rock an even more rabbit like appearance. At one time the Old Speedball Highway ran...
As we all wish everything could return to normal, some things just shouldn’t. The crisis we’re dealing with makes a habit of forcing us to embrace change, and some of those are for the better. One in particular could have the effect of making governments more open, more democratic. And it’s easier and cheaper than other alternatives. When local governments (and even state and national agencies) make their meeting available via a video streaming or conferencing service such as Zoom, anyone with an interest can get involved, or just liste...
Grand Coulee Dam isn’t what it used to be. I first saw Grand Coulee Dam in 1948. The dam was just 6 years old. Construction started in 1933 and was completed in 1942. Several seniors along with me had taken a couple days off from school with the excuse that we were going to Spokane to visit the “Freedom Train” that was touring the country. It contained, for everyone to see, several of the country’s original documents. We had arranged to be away so we could visit the train with the understanding that we would write a report about it. We had no i...
As we look around during this time, we can see a lot of negativity. It can be heavy and burdensome to carry on with our lives when it appears the turmoil of the world is ripping apart society. It can be hard to go into your day without an attack or bout of uncertainty that can lead to depression or panic like clouds surrounding us. So when a spark of positivity shines bright, it is important grasp it and blow it into a flame. Last Saturday I found myself sitting under the awning at North Dam...
In early June, the financial website WalletHub released its rankings of “Best and Worse State Economies” and Washington led the field of 51 as best by a healthy margin. WalletHub economists viewed the states from three key dimensions---economic activity, economic health and innovation potential. Then the analysts from Dartmouth and Carthage colleges and the University of Texas-Austin looked at 28 key indicators of economic performance and strength when comparing all 50 states and the Dis...
In 1946, a state park at Crown Point was proposed to attract tourists to the Northwest and Grand Coulee Dam. That initial park design showed a 320- by 220-foot state relief model and exhibition building, along with a 500-foot aluminum tower equipped with an elevator and topped with a rotating searchlight; estimated to cost $2 million. Work to build a road to Crown Point began in 1950 and the park property obtained from the government shortly thereafter. That initial design would subsequently be...
It may be easy to feel relatively insulated here from the coronavirus because of the relatively few cases we’ve had, but we’re just entering the period of time when it’s most likely to make its way here repeatedly. With this area’s lakes an annual destination for many during summer months, vectors to introduce it here point to the Coulee like the target lines to the bullseye on a dart board. And county health authorities report their cases are climbing fairly rapidly. Grant County has added nearly 30 percent of its cases in the last week, 9...
What do you think of the fact that the USBR has closed the parking area on the top of the dam? It is a wonderful place to park and look out at the lake and surrounding country. It is a great place to watch the moon rise and visit with friends and family or make new friends. I contacted them today (June 11) and asked why it needed to be closed 24/7. They use the area for checking temperatures of employees for maybe up to 60 minutes a day, four to five days a week. I asked why they couldn’t open it up for the community and tourists and was t...
Somewhere between Honolulu and Tokyo flying at 35,000 feet I became only the third member of the International Tap Dancers Federation. I was enroute to Vietnam and had the lucky or unlucky seat next to a guy by the name of Tom Chapman. After a brief exchange I told him I was on my way to Vietnam, and that followed with his telling me how wrong the war was. This was Feb. 7, 1969. Then he told me his plan to end all wars. That’s where the ITDF came in. He further explained that I could join for only a dollar, which I gave to him. Tom then went o...
While the coronavirus pandemic and civil unrest are front page news, China’s unrelenting push to leap over our country in critical technology and hoarding of strategic metals should alarm us. Since the coronavirus pandemic broke out, there has been an unprecedented worldwide demand for personal protective equipment (PPE). Tensions between our countries fueled the widespread fear that Chinese imports would disappear. China provided 48 percent of our PPE imports in 2018, but Chinese exports of e...
Privately owned boats and docking facilities of the COulee Dam Yacht Club were damaged by the heavy winds of June 9, 1948, which drove driftwood across Lake Roosevelt into dock area. June 11, 1948...
Beaches, like playgrounds, would be much safer without children. If children would not attend playground activities or beaches, no children would ever be hurt by them. Is that the kind of logic we’re dealing with here as the National Park Service seeks to “improve visitor on-water safety by removing potential hazards such as the swim docks”? Because the other course of action to improve safety at Spring Canyon would be to add staff, bring back lifeguards, upgrade (not tear out) playground equipment and, in more general terms, actually serve...
Soon I’ll be completing my sixth year as the superintendent of the Wellpinit School District. When I arrived a priority in the District was to increase the number of Native American employees. At a consultation between the District and the Spokane Tribal Council we introduced eighteen Native American classified employees that have been hired over the last six years. We’ve also increased our number of teachers who are Native American in this time span. Recently, we introduced our new secondary principal, Laina Phillips, to the Council. Lai...
From a respectable distance, we all enjoy watching an active thunderstorm and the lightning show. When it’s close, hopefully we’re practicing common sense and sheltering ourselves from what could be a deadly lightning strike. It’s spectacular stuff; lightning flashes, then we hear the crackling and boom sound that accompanies lightning. I’m sure we have all seen some really awesome storms with lightning displays that are spell binding. Most folks generally know what lightning is, I think....
This is a year that will forever be remembered, and the graduating seniors of 2020 all over the country will always remember it as being not exactly how they’d pictured it. I usually get a few chances to talk to the seniors one last time at Baccalaureate or Senior Dinner, but it is a different year. So, I will put my words of wisdom right here for all of you, but mostly them. Be adaptable. You are already learning that on the fly. You have had multiple different teachers, principals and rule c...
The First Amendment and the right to peacefully protest is a bedrock of our nation’s founding. Empowering our neighbors to speak up for what is right, take action when injustice rears its ugly head in our communities, and create a society where we can live equally and peacefully is a goal we must all strive for. The death of George Floyd is a tragedy. Any unjust or inhumane action deserves a full investigation and a response. It deserves a response by communities who recognize the inequalities facing their friends and neighbors. It deserves a...
At the age of 13, I was convinced that racism would obviously be gone from society within five years; it made no sense and reasonable people would prevail, my young, naive brain reasoned. It was 1968, a year that shook us as Americans, even — perhaps especially — naive 13-year-old white kids who believed in the system as presented to us. It was a year that would plunge doubts in that faith deep into the heart of the country and send us all on a journey toward a cynicism from which our nation has not recovered. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was ass...
For a few years I’ve been leading a group of youth for my church and this year our theme is: “I will go, I will do!” This is inspiring me to share a story that I heard this week on the radio. This particular story takes place during the time when Berlin was separated into West Berlin and East Berlin by the wall. On the eastern side, a police force now famously known as “the Stasi” was oppressing, surveilling and detaining people, often with cruelty and abuse. This story is about a woman who was a member of a group that promoted freedom a...
Protest peacefully please. As a mother, grandmother and soon to be great-grandmother, I feel it’s my obligation to appeal to you to assemble peaceably. Because it just may be that if there is to be no justice and no peace, then there is no future for your children. Think about it carefully. Look to the past. You know that reacting to violence with violence only provokes more violence. Remember the great men and women in history who actually brought on change. People like Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Gandhi and the most influential man of a...
A lot of soul searching has been going on over the past few weeks. Then a horrific tragedy occurred, and the world watched a man die under the knee of a law enforcement officer. Then the cities erupted. The protests grew up into every major city in America and we found ourselves as a nation trying to put words to what we were witnessing. I have watched a lot of people, make a lot of statements regarding these events that currently still have emotions at a boiling over point. Something has been...