News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Thank goodness for the rainstorms that flowed through the area over the weekend. It was great news for firefighters and for our area. I know not everyone was happy with the downpour. I am certain the tourists who were here for our beaches, boating and BBQs where wondering where the sun went, but there were at least three other people who found out that rain in the coulee can also mean “watch for falling rocks.” Saturday evening, part of the family and I decided to boogie on down to Ephrata rea...
Many families have rich memories of the Green Hut Restaurant and their key employees. Clarence D. Newland built the restaurant in Coulee Dam in 1938 on property overlooking Grand Coulee Dam and brought in McKinley (Red) Sayles as the head chef, who formerly was a chef on railcar diners. Mildred Bixler ran the curio shop, along with Shorty Compton, who kept a watchful eye on the waitresses. The restaurant provided a beautiful view of thundering whitewater cascading over the Grand Coulee Dam, but...
Officers for the year in one of the oldest, if not the oldest, service club in the area were announced this week. From left are incoming President Dena Avey, Vice President John Nordine II, Tail Twister Betty Brueske, Treasurer Rob Loch, and Birdie Hensley on membership. Not shown are Secretary Rick Bako, Lion Tamer John Nordine Sr. and Rich Avey, membership. Chartered in 1935, the club held its first Annual Lions Easter Egg Hunt in 1936. They place 2,000 eggs each year. The club has also...
In this week’s Star, we offer a short feature on a person relatively new to the area under the heading One of Us. We’d like to do more of this kind of story, those that help bring a new face to the community, or just tell us something many might not have known about someone who may be more familiar. If you know of someone who might make a good subject for One of Us, give us a call at 509-633-1350, or email star@grandcoulee.com with the details. Stories that tell us about each other can help bring us together as a community. We hope tha...
Who will stand up for geezer privilege? Without the benefit of definable organization, geezers are at a disadvantage. They lack status to call for a press conference or to issue position statements. The only recourse at present is to submit articles to local newspapers for publication. With no platform to speak from, public opinion seems to fall on deaf ears. There seems to be little or no interest or consideration offered by local politicians, or public officials. The apparent lack of traction on this issue may be attributed to apathy. People...
As global temperatures rise (June 2019 was the hottest June ever recorded) they tend to sustain wildfires. Earlier this summer, in June and July, hundreds of long-lived, intense wildfires burned within the Arctic Circle. Most of the fire activity was in Alaska and Siberia. Alaska alone had over 400 wildfires. There were also large fires in Greenland. Associated with these large-scale fires is the release of tiny particles — megatons of particulate matter. Black carbon particulates, also known a...
As we traveled around the state this summer and others asked where we were from, they would always get a look of excitement when we said Grand Coulee. Some had memories of long ago and others had fresh, exciting tales of all things Coulee. Here are the top things people mentioned when talking about Grand Coulee Dam area. Of course, the great concrete structure was always brought up and would unanimously be the number-one thing on this list, so I am going to just skip that one and give you the...
Congress is responsible for funding our country, and we have some difficult decisions to make. I came to Washington D.C. to advocate for the priorities of my constituents, and I have heard loud and clear that the people of Central Washington want to ensure we aren’t further saddling our future generations with crippling debt. The Budget Control Act (BCA) set spending caps for Congress to abide by. Under this law, if the spending caps are exceeded, a government-wide sequester of both mandatory and discretionary funding would occur. This would me...
For decades, Big Pharma has raised drug prices with impunity. Here in Washington state, the average annual cost of brand name prescription drug treatment increased 58% between 2012 and 2017, while the annual income for Washingtonians increased only 9.9%. Prescription drugs don’t work if patients can’t afford them. That’s why the Senate needs to pass the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act when they return from August recess. It’s time. We thank Sen. Cantwell for her support of this bipartisan bill in the Senate Finance Committee. We urge...
In this issue we welcome back the latest iteration of Them Dam Writers, a group that has sought to provide local history to local people for decades. The column in the lower right corner of this page will, several times a month, present you with a photograph along with text explaining its significance. These days, the group is more far-flung than in its most recent past, with a couple of its members writing from Coulee City or another state. Nevertheless, they share an enthusiasm for local history. We hope our readers benefit from their...
We have two kinds of water problems: too much and not enough. The oceans cover 70 percent of our planet, and they contain 97 percent of the water on Earth. Samuel Coleridge in the Rime of the Ancient Mariner: “Water, water every where, Nor any drop to drink.” The remaining 3 percent is freshwater (no salt), and approximately 69 percent of that freshwater is ice at the South Pole (Antarctica) and the Greenland Ice Sheet. The remaining fraction of freshwater provides life to all of the vegetation and animal life that requires freshwater. The wat...
In oil rich West Texas, shale producers and pipeline owner Williams Co. are fighting over whether new “burning off of natural gas” permits should be approved. It is a battle between companies which are usually aligned. Flaring happens primarily when there is insufficient pipeline capacity to carry natural gas from wellheads to natural gas markets. Allowing the gas to build up at the derrick is a serious safety risk. Even though Williams already has an extensive pipeline network in western Tex...
Every once in a while, an opportunity walks down the street, looks you in the face and extends a hand. A pivotal moment looks upon you and smiles. This is when making the wrong choice can be detrimental to your future, to someone else’s or to someone watching. An opportunity also can wear many different hats and look very differently. It could be a word of advice, an employment change, a chance to spend time with someone or to have dinner with interesting people. There are many other faces of o...
The first train to Grand Coulee was a momentous occasion, as it marked the beginning of serious construction on the dam. The 30 mile line was to be built by the mighty Northern Pacific Railway, which had a branch that ended in Coulee City. They wanted exclusive rights to haul all construction supplies to the dam by rail, at which the U.S. government balked. A private contractor built the line instead, connecting to the NP at Coulee City. Over two million pounds of cement were hauled in,...
Last week, the House of Representatives voted on the Raise the Wage Act, which would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, despite warnings from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office that this would result in the loss of nearly 4 million American jobs. In Washington state, we have already seen how mandating a higher minimum wage is negatively affecting our economy. With a state-wide minimum wage of $12 per hour, Washington mandates one of the highest rates in the country, and it will increase by another $1.50 in Janua...
I’d like to thank Officer Jordan for making my day Thursday, July 18. I know I’m always dropping brain cells along the road; however, I never thought I’d drop my wallet. Officer Jordan delivers my wallet to me before I even knew I had lost it. Awesome! I would have spent years trying to remember where I had placed that thing. Disaster averted! My remaining brain cells are smiling. A BIG THANKS to Officer Jordan and to all of our local police and emergency responders for doing what you do!! Gary Martin...
I am a lousy fisherman, getting boxed out, except one time. That was out of Kodiak, Alaska, fishing for halibut. I was on a charter boat that had twin engines and a lot of speed. We were 50 miles out, where the skipper said that the area had a good halibut bed. I was in Alaska to assist the owner of the Kodiak newspaper in preparing her property for sale, and every weekend she set me up with a new experience. The skipper of this experience had a boatload of people and had prepared all the poles for each of us. He explained that landing a...
As every young man already knows, poop is a regular subject matter in conversation. All chats with friends eventually turn to the poop subject. It happens with daddies too. Insert clever pun here: “That’s a crappy conversation,” or “That’s a lot of crap.” There, we got that out of the way, now we can get serious about the subject. In nature, all living things poop. Plain and simple. Pretty much anything that eats, must get rid of it somehow. That’s the way we were all designed from the whale to...
You can only milk a cow, or an asset, for so long before you have to put something back in. Cities and towns, whose elected officials feel the pain of their tax- and rate-payers, eventually get forced to deal with that problem. Local cities are no different. Currently, Coulee Dam has had its share of struggles with an added historical burden that makes the pain seem worse. A case in point came to the fore briefly at last Wednesday’s city council meeting. The Community Building, that concrete edifice which houses the Melody Restaurant, R...
It seems we are stumbling along with a mix of Spring and Summer weather. Cloudy days, spats of rain and temperatures going up and down. We’ll get to the June weather data later. Many scientists said one could not extract centuries-old El Niño weather events from Tropical Pacific Coral Reefs – it just couldn’t be done. Well, for some scientists when a problem is posed, they move ahead with innovative techniques and find an answer to the problem. Down Australia way, a group of scientists have p...
On Friday, a very special lady will celebrate her ??th birthday. I am smart enough to not put the actual digits in the paper for everyone to see. That would lead to me never having another birthday myself. As we come to the big day, I dream of what I would do for her if money were no object. So here is what I would do for my lovely bride if the keys to the treasure room were ours. Easy enough to start with the basics: new car, dream home and trips, but those would be boring. So let’s assume s...
One of Congress’ most important Constitutional responsibilities is providing for our military and national defense. For the past 58 years, this has been a bipartisan affair. Members of the House and Senate from both sides of the aisle have come together to pass a bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that provides for our military and troops who fight to protect and defend us. Last week, instead of voting on a bill that would ensure our troops have the resources they need and deserve, the House of Representatives voted on the D...
Nice editorial, Rog, excellent in fact! The Wilbur Geezer letter too. Is anyone forwarding/sending these to Newhouse and our Senators? Are any of the Geezers writing our reps in Congress? If not, maybe you should post their addresses in your next editorial, and suggest all affected and interested folks drop our reps a line. Ken McDowell Editor’s response: The man behind the petition drive earlier said he has sent all his information to Reps. Newhouse and McMorris Rogers of Washington’s 4th and 5th Congressional Districts. But here is their con...
Sometimes new friends can result in strange gifts. I was in Vietnam just after the Tet offensive in 1968, partially to pry about the war and to visit parents of students I had met at the University of Washington. I had visited one set of parents two days earlier, only to have them come to the hotel I was staying in to ask me to come to their house that evening. They said they had someone they wanted me to meet. I went to their house and met a medical doctor who had been held captive by the Viet Cong for four years. He was finally able to...
I like to take pictures. A lot of you know that, and I don’t get out as much as I like to. I especially like to take pictures of birds, second, only recently, to taking pictures of my granddaughter. Karrie and I have been traveling a lot back and forth to different places depending on where our creator calls us and during these trips we are always looking for a photo opportunity from our feathered or furry friends. I also am addicted to bird cams on YouTube. I have been watching the nesting proc...