News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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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... Full story
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... Full story
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...
Grand Coulee Dam and the Spokane's Golden Jubilee of 1939 The “Great Spokane Fire” occurred on August 4, 1889, destroying 32 downtown city blocks. Exactly 50 years later, Spokane would host the “Golden Jubilee” statehood celebration. For this celebration “Wooden Money” or scrip was produced with a value of 5 cents. Scrip was given to Spokane residents, tribal members, and workers building the Grand Coulee Dam. Three script versions were made and included pictures of the Dam, James Glover (Father of Spokane), and Curly Jim (Spokane Tribe). The c...
You get to choose, but I don’t? Not only that, but your ability to choose is more important than me living. That’s the end logic of the current cry for liberty, defined here as our citizens’ God-given right to ignore the ultimate welfare of all others so they can do whatever they want: party together, worship together, infect together. If we accept our Declaration of Independence, we value “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The last two conditions, it should be obvious without saying, can’t be valued without the first being secur... Full story
It’s been a long tradition in some homes to take your shoes off when entering. This was a common practice in earlier days when it was so easy to track in because everything around was dirty or muddy. Now most homes have cement sidewalks and grassy areas where this is not so much a problem. We had a mud room at the back-door area when I was young, and it was the practice to take your shoes off before entering. We lived on a farm at the time, and it was easy to track in dirt from the field. Entering without taking your shoes off would be r...
Faith can be a funny thing, depending on where you’re standing and what you put your faith into. I was raised to put my faith in God first, family second and country third, but all had strong intermingling depending on whom you were with at the time. So what happens when something shakes the foundations of one of those three? Or if the things you held once dear to your heart seem to be faded, tainted or just plain misdirected. We can start by looking at faith through different lenses. I was a f...
A country learns about itself in a crisis, and one revelation in the coronavirus emergency is that we can’t make our own penicillin. The first patient successfully treated with the antibiotic was a woman suffering from sepsis in a Connecticut hospital in 1942. Her treatment took up half the country’s supply. Yet in short order we figured out how to mass produce the medicine, saving the lives of countless soldiers in World War II. Once, factories throughout the country made the stuff. But that was a long time ago. The last U.S. plant to mak... Full story
Some people are expressing little but regret over the fact that high school graduations across the country, Lake Roosevelt’s included, will not be what anyone had in mind this year. That much is certain, but, graduating class, it’s also true that if you’ve learned anything in your dozen or so years in school so far, you’ve likely learned to roll with the punches and make the best of the situation in which you find yourself. There is no course syllabus or homework for that. But our current situation is the best lesson (call it your final h... Full story
For years, U.S. dependence on China has harbored a rising threat to our national security. Now, during a global pandemic, this threat has come clearly into view. After decades of well-known wrongdoings, human rights violations, and manipulation of American intellectual property, it is time to get serious about cutting China out of our nation’s supply chains. Throughout this public health crisis, we have witnessed a shortage of critical resources. Personal protective equipment like N95 masks and gowns for healthcare workers have been held up, ou...
In recent years, papermakers in the Pacific Northwest have been losing ground. However, today there is a ray of hope. Surprisingly, that optimism results from the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first days of the pandemic, grocers couldn’t keep toilet paper on store shelves even though paper mills were running 20 percent higher than normal capacity. Cardboard plants also were operating full bore making shipping boxes for medical supplies and personal protective gear. As Amazon and online sales ramp up...