News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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In 2017, I wrote a column titled: “America needs more welders and fewer philosophers.” It was a slogan Florida Sen. Marco Rubio used in his 2016 presidential campaign to call attention to the need for more skilled workers. Rubio hit the nail on the head without disrespecting philosophers. The American Welding Society (AWS) estimated our country now requires 400,000 new welders. This scarcity is primarily due to the substantial number of skilled workers retiring and fewer young men and women entering technical training programs. The enc...
It became clear as crystal last night. Within the time allotted for one city council meeting in Electric City, at least three issues were discussed that require regional attention of two, three, or four local cities, all of which would benefit from cooperation among or between them. That’s why interest in at least one meeting among all their leaders, with the public invited, is an encouraging sign. The new kid on the block, Grand Coulee Mayor Mike Eylar, proposed last week at the Regional Board of Mayors meeting, that all the councils come t...
Having family in Grand Coulee, I read The Grand Coulee Star opinion piece “Those early postal days” (Feb. 7 issue). I can relate to the penny postcards. My late grandmother Dora (White) Marples had a shoebox full of them. Most were from her twin daughters Ida and Ina Marples. A few were from her eldest son Bill Marples (my Dad). I enjoyed seeing the unique stamps and designs as I was growing up. When I was age 6, a first-class stamp cost 6 cents. When I was 10 years old, postage was 10 cents. This parallel theme occurred when I was ages 15,...
Hello, I am Silas Powers. For the complex and difficult work of ensuring that all state routes, interstates, county, city and other roadways of Washington state are properly striped I have great respect. Why do the roadways show the following signs? • Lack of striping altogether • Heavily faded striping • Completely faded striping • Lack of retro reflectivity • Almost total invisibility of striping at night with light rain • Interference of road repairs or sealing with visibility of striping • Low quality of paint (in my opinion a 3 out of 10...
Affordable, plentiful energy is the root of a society that enables economic growth. It’s easy to forget our community’s biggest asset even though it affects everything we do. Now more than ever, our customers need to understand hydropower’s role in the rapidly changing energy landscape, and how we’re preparing for the future. It’s no secret that the public utility districts of Chelan, Douglas and Grant counties provide very low electric rates. Thanks to the vision of local citizens who voted to create public utility districts, and the commi...
They better start making them soon because Lake Roosevelt will be winning them. Look ahead seven years or so and a new batch of wrestlers will be ready here. Victor Landeros, with the help of parents, is preparing 50-60 kids to become a dynamic wrestling force at Lake Roosevelt. Victor was a force of his own when he roamed the halls here. He’s got wrestling in his blood. He’s been building on the little kids’ wrestling program, Coulee Crushers, for both boys and girls. It’s paying off with large turnouts and with good results in tournam...
Sometimes a game is not just a game. That was especially true Monday night, when even as the Lake Roosevelt Lady Raiders were wrapping up a win in basketball, on the stage people were preparing hundreds of candles for afterward. Is everything made softer by candlelight, even grief? Perhaps. A community of many who cared about young Ambrose Moore experienced that when more than half the gym was ringed by those holding those candles for him after a weekend mourning the 17-year-old who ended his life Friday. The community shared its grief, and,...
Several years ago, Taylor Swift was far from the femme fatale some members of the MAGA far right now consider her to be. Many conservatives used to revere Swift. In 2015, Republican lawmakers invited the pop icon for personal tours of the U.S. Capitol and offered to provide donors tickets to her concerts. Even Donald Trump stated she was “terrific” and “fantastic.” How times have changed. Swift is now political poison to the right, largely despised for her progressive viewpoints, her unabashed support of feminism and, perhaps worst of all, fo...
So, you thought by cutting the cable-TV cord you’d avoid exorbitant monthly fees and those dreaded commercial interruptions. Now, you’ve subscribed to so many streaming services that your monthly tab is higher than before, and it turns out that’s the least of your problems. Lately you’ve noticed ads pouring into streaming. Recently, subscribers to Amazon Prime were confronted with the news: “Movies and TV shows included with Prime now have limited ads. You can upgrade to be ad free for $2.99 a month.” All of this relates to a fundamental truth...
Box 92 was our portal to the outside world. I was fascinated with what I could do through the mail. They were the days of the Penny Postcard and the thrill of receiving mail, addressed to me. My aunt Voe was the postmaster at Palouse. She always greeted me when I came in. Actually, I think she greeted everyone. There were not many secrets back then. It was like the phones and the party lines. Everyone knew other peoples’ business, but who really cared. It was the days when people could collect, over time, dishes until they had a set. A real D...
Each year, Americans throw away more than three billion batteries constituting 180,000 tons of hazardous material. The situation is likely to get worse as the world shifts to lithium batteries to power a massive influx of electric vehicles (EV). It needs immediate attention. Everyday-green.com reported more than 86,000 tons of single-use alkaline batteries (AAA, AA, C and D) are thrown away yearly. They power electronic toys and games, portable audio equipment and flashlights and make up 20...
I attended last Friday’s senior night at Lake Roosevelt High School. The place was packed and the Raiders won all three basketball games. I went to support my great grandson, Damon Landeros, who is a senior, and who has played four years for the Raiders. It was quite a night, I watched three games and enjoyed probably an hour of recognition of seniors. It will be a night that these seniors will long remember. What struck me was the display of friendship. It was a night that brought friendships back. After the third game, a lot of people s...
Commercial companies, non-profits, government agencies, and military organizations evaluate their performance periodically. The U.S. Constitution requires that the President of the United States “… shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union….” George Washington delivered the first address in 1790. These addresses often deal with major issues of the moment. Very probably, the forthcoming Feb. 7 address will include something about Israel and Palestine. Other measurements of the state of our union are cit...
As a third-generation farmer, I understand how important agriculture is for families, jobs, and trade in Central Washington. Our district’s farmers and producers grow the highest quality hay, wheat and more than 300 specialty crops, making agriculture a vital part of our economy. But foreign adversaries are purchasing U.S. farmland at an alarming rate, posing a threat to Central Washington’s most crucial industry, and the federal government is struggling to keep up. Last week the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a rep...
When deciding on hot issues in current politics, it’s best to keep a discerning eye on bloated rhetoric, even when it purports to support “common sense.” Everybody is all for commons sense, of course, but often when two sides differ greatly, they’ll each genuinely believe the other side shows none. That’s rarely true. A case in point lies on this page when our man in Congress uses this rhetoric. We support part of Rep. Dan Newhouse’s argument, not the other. Police agencies, including local ones, of all sizes across the state have complained...
The new year is here, which means the Washington State 2024 Legislative Session has just begun. On January 8th, our state legislature began consideration of a multitude of new bills, which could impact just about every aspect of our lives. It’s imperative we pay attention, because over the past year, the enactment of various pieces of legislation has underscored a severe disconnect between the people of Washington state and some of our state representatives. Now, our state legislators have an opportunity to right those wrongs and vote in f...
Palouse was the easternmost team in the Whitman County basketball league. We usually ended up as one of the top teams in the league. Colfax, the county seat, and the largest city in the county, was often the leader. So when Palouse played Colfax it was a big deal. Other teams in the county included St. John, Pine City, Steptoe, Garfield, Oakesdale, Rosalia and Lacrosse. Steptoe’s gym was not regular size. The out-of-bounds line was against the wall at court side. They allowed one row of chairs on the floor and you had to raise your feet when p...
Disclaimer: No pets die in this column (but they sometimes smell like they did). As I write, I’m trying to relax in my recliner on a cold winter’s day next to a roaring fire, yet my feet are freezing because a large, semi-elderly cat named “Missy” AKA “The Loaf” is lounging on the fireplace hearth directly in front of the firebox and hogging all of the heat. “How did I reach this state?” you might wonder. So do I. When my middle daughter was 6 years old, she looked up at me with her big, manipulative green eyes and said, “All I ever wanted was...
Don C. Brunell really outdid himself with his January 10th column, “Biden needs to expose his secret Snake River dam plan to reality.” Despite his somewhat hysterical and overwrought tone, no “secret plan” was hatched in “the White House Basement.” The leaked policy statement he refers to is very much a matter of public record and has been for at least a month. It does not endorse removing the dams; it only looks at replacing lost generation from the power grid if they are to be removed — an obvious and sensible move. Also, any plan to breac...
I can’t remember when I agreed with her policies. And I definitely disagreed with her father and opposed his controversial actions. But Liz Cheney, with her new book, Oath and Honor, is certainly again My No. 1 Hero. She shows once more she is the rare prominent Republican who really cares about saving our democracy. And I totally agree with her that if Donald Trump wins the presidency in 2024, that may be our last election, or at least the end of democracy as we have known it. Cathy McMorris Rodgers refused to comment on the House GOP’s non-re...
We are finally getting an idea of what winter is all about. It was decided that the playoff game at Buffalo was important enough to play Monday, despite the weather. However, the last week was hardly a blip as far as winters go. Years ago, while working at the Potlatch Forest Inc. mill at Potlatch, Idaho, I went to work one day when it was - 41 degrees. We worked under a metal roof with open sides. Our boss sat in a heated office where he could see all the planer operations. His response when people complained about the cold was to tell them...
After a brief hiatus, those pesky citizen initiatives are back, much to the chagrin of three-term Gov. Jay Inslee and Democrats who have an ironclad grip on our state Legislature. Lawmakers, currently meeting in Olympia, are dealing with six initiatives aimed at altering or overturning laws jammed through the Legislature in recent years. Those laws add billions in taxes and costs, restrictions on parental rights, police pursuit limits, and a troublesome government long-term care policy required...
My name is Priya Helweg, and I am the US Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Regional Director for Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and 272 federally recognized Tribes in Region 10. The new year is a time of hope and renewal, but it can also bring financial challenges to those facing up-front health costs. When President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022, he made a commitment to lowering health costs for Americans and increasing savings each year. At HHS we see how this commitment improves the lives and health...
The $33 billion secret Snake River Dam plan that President Biden and friends cooked up in the White House basement needs to be exposed to the light of day and thoroughly aired by all. It is time to assess how it might work in the real world rather than wait and see what happens once it is implemented. While $33 billion may seem like “walking around” money to a President who tosses around trillion-dollar programs like horseshoes at the church picnic, the amount is equal to the yearly ope...
While traveling in Idaho, we ran into a group of wagons doing a reenactment of the Oregon Trail days. Those on the wagon train reported how much fun they were having. It was a far cry from two wagon trains that ended as massacres while in Idaho, the Ward train and the Van Ornum/Utter trains. The trains crossed the Snake River at a place that was shallow enough and where the rushing river was still about 60 miles east of Boise. You can still see ruts at the river crossing. The ward group in 1854 consisted of 20 people and five wagons. While in...