News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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While wind and solar farms generate “greenhouse gas free” electricity, there are ongoing concerns over their impacts on our environment especially as a rapidly growing number of worn-out blades and panels are landing in landfills. Those blades, housed on giant wind towers reaching over 250 feet in the sky, are starting to reach the end of their useful lives (15 to 20 years) and are being taken down, cut up and hauled to burial sites. Even though over 90 percent of the decommissioned wind tow...
Last month, I traveled to Anchorage, Alaska for a Maternal and Child Health Conference. This conference brought together maternal health experts and advocates to discuss the heart-wrenching maternal health crisis in our country and what we’re doing to promote better outcomes. The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate among high-income countries. In 2021, 1,205 women died of maternal causes in the United States. In 2020, 861 women died of maternal causes in the U.S., a 40% increase in just one year, and some of our neighbors a...
Carmela Conroy gives eastern Washington voters the unusual, important opportunity to elect a foreign policy expert as their US Representative. As Foreign Service Officer for 24 years, she served in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Norway, New Zealand, and Tom Foley’s Japan office. US voters must weigh foreign policy experience much more heavily than usual in their 2024 voting decisions. Electing wannabe dictator Donald Trump would be a huge catastrophe for our national security by his policies towards Ukraine and Russia, with most congressional Republica...
Ohs and ahs were the favorite two words uttered in the early days when visitors viewed Grand Coulee Dam. My first experience with the dam was in 1948, when a couple of buddies and I escaped the halls of our high school for the day and drove up here. I can’t say we were too excited, but it was clearly a memorable event. We started out from Palouse, hit Spokane, then the coulee, and we ended up in Moses Lake. My next trip here was in 1953, after I was married, when we moved to Grand Coulee after I took a job grading lumber at the mill in L...
In the United States, one of our most important freedoms is individual choice. However, the Biden Administration has unmistakably signaled its determination to advance its aggressive climate agenda at any cost — even at the expense of consumer choice — whether it pertains to gas stoves, dishwashers, or even gas-powered vehicles. As this administration continues their unconstitutional efforts to phase out gas vehicles in favor of electric vehicles (EVs), it overlooks a critical factor: the United States currently lacks the necessary inf...
For decades, the debate over grizzly bear introduction into the North Cascades ecosystem has raged on, and I have been fighting tirelessly to ensure that the voices of Central Washingtonians are heard. Regrettably, last week saw the release of the U.S. National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) with proposed action on the question of introducing grizzly bears to the region. This proves that—once again—the Biden Administration is acting without due consideration for the concerns of Ce...
Last year I wrote several letters to The Star paper addressing people entering Grand Coulee at high rates of speed from the Bridgeport highway. Over the summer there was no traffic control, but I do feel good knowing the city hall’s well protected. I also asked for the city to install the solar slowdown signs that were purchased for traffic entering our town on Hwy [174] about eight years ago. Well, the signs were not used for the purpose they were purchased for. I have found the signs. They were installed at the corner of Federal and Main S...
I want to know after several complaints to the City of Grand Coulee, one formal, one handwritten, that after three months of waiting for something to be done, about a rooster in the city limits on Gardener and Bowman St. I live on Wetzel St., and at 3 a.m. it starts and all day and night. I have a hard time sleeping. When I do fall asleep it starts crowing. What do we have to do to get something done? The city told me as soon as an officer is free [they] will send him over there. All you have to do is sit in your car and you can hear it unless...
When I was growing up in Palouse, I always had a job, or two. One of my early jobs wasn’t one of my best. In fact, it was often dangerous. We had a small bowling alley, six lanes if I remember correctly. I set pins. We didn’t have any automation in those days. They painted a black circle and the task was to set the pins exactly in the circle. If you didn’t put them exactly in the circle, the good bowlers would get really angry with you and sometimes let go with a bowling ball before you were ready. I was paid five cents a line. It was a crapp...
Easter is when potted Easter Lily plants start showing up in nurseries and supermarkets like poinsettias during the Christmas season. They adorn the altars and pulpits of most churches on Easter Sunday, but why don’t sightseers flock to fields to enjoy the spectacular sea of white blooms? The answer is a small group of family lily farmers who are bulb producers. They need to clip the flowers to concentrate the plant’s nutrients on bulb development. Fields of white flowers on the ground are not...
Young soldiers sometimes cite a particular military weapon and pose the question: Is that a defensive weapon or an offensive weapon? Almost invariably, the answer is: It depends on the intent of the user. Whether artificial intelligence is good or bad could be described the same way. Regardless, artificial intelligence is coming to us in an overwhelming way. Computers can be programmed to “learn.” Because of their speed and vast information storage capacity, scientists believe that computer programs will make it possible to solve problems tha...
One of the things we liked to do when growing up in Palouse was go to the Washington State College baseball games. We really didn’t care about the game, but we went to see baseball coach Buck Bailey kick the bucket. Buck came to WSC in 1927 as an assistant football coach and became baseball coach. He was coach for 32 years and was tragically, along with his wife, killed in an auto accident in 1965. We didn’t care about his long time as baseball coach or his successful 603-305 record. We came to see Bailey kick the bucket. There were a number of...
Who would have thought that a small Oregon natural grain mill owner’s death would make national news or be the subject of a lengthy feature article in the New York Times (NYT)? However, 94-year-old Bob Moore’s passing in February did. The Times is published just off Broadway in the heart of Big Apple’s network television and theater district. Moore, with his white beard, wire-rim eyeglasses, newsie cap and bolo tie became a “food poster person” approaching the notoriety of KFC’s Colonel San...
Sometimes city governments run smoothly, but as they operate with humans in a democracy, rough patches happen. Balancing human needs, egos, ambitions, desires, skills, or a lack of them, all within the confines of public perceptions, budgets, legal restrictions, and politics sounds like the kind of idea that might cause many stalwart business pros to run screaming from the room where it was suggested. But that’s exactly what it takes for a city, or any municipality that serves us, to operate. It’s natural when tensions rise, and they can be...
I was just a kid during World War II but I still remember a lot about that time. I remember how America was very close to being beaten by the Axis (Germany, Japan and Italy), they did unspeakable things against the rest of the world, but they didn’t count on how America was all together on defeating them. We lost a lot of heroes to keep our freedom. Today, we are seeing the same kind of people trying to divide us with lies, lies and more lies. Maybe some people think it’s just exciting to divide us. I think lies are awful and so are the peo...
Answering an advertisement started my love of the railroads. I saw the ad in our hometown newspaper, The Palouse Republic. The ad was seeking people to apply for menial labor on our section of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The section ran from Palouse to Tekoa, about 50 miles of track. I was a junior in high school, but 16, the minimum age suggested in the ad. The track foreman, Bill Fisher, did the interview. He went on to complete 50 years as track foreman, a distinctive achievement. I was hired on to work Saturdays that could lead to...
A growing number of Americans think the American Dream is out of reach, but I think they are wrong. According to a recent Wall Street Journal poll, only 36% of voters said the American Dream still exists, way fewer than the 53% who believed so in 2012. Half of the poll’s respondents believed that America’s economic and political systems are “stacked against people like me.” These are troubling findings, but I think more of our native-born non-believers need to start dreaming — and acting — like American immigrants. Many immigrants still belie...
Among Cathy McMorris Rodgers’s negative legacies she leaves as US Representative, her most impactful may be on immigration. However, she still has time to improve that. Donald Trump cares nothing about our country, just his election. Accordingly, he recently ordered all Republicans to scuttle the bipartisan, long-negotiated Senate deal supporting Ukraine and limiting immigration that would be a victory for President Joe Biden. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, an election-denier, obeyed Trump by withholding a full House vote, despite e...
The recent snowstorm in the Sierra Nevadas will cure a lot of ills for the people of California. Officials predicted that the storm would dump some 12-14 feet of snow there. The spring runoff will do wonders for farmers and fruit growers in the valleys below. I have been over Donner Pass, made famous back in the days of the movement west. At the time I was there, it didn’t seem like much of a grind getting over the mountains. Donner Pass is barely 7,000 feet above sea level. Of course, my trip over the pass was in good weather so it was a sceni...
The United States recognized the state of Israel 11 minutes after formation of the state was announced in 1948. We have maintained a very close relationship since the founding. Israel is now receiving widespread criticism for its mass destruction of Palestinian civilians, and the process is causing political repercussions in the United States. Israel has internal political divisions just as we do in the United States. Some Israelis want Israel to be a democracy while others want it to be a religious state replacing, for example, the Israeli sup...
Twenty Years Ago Concerned about the effect a new sidewalk would have on the parking and safety of his building, a Grand Coulee businessman disputed the cities plan to repair Burdin Boulevard. Milt Snyder does not want a sidewalk placed in front of the alley that runs beside and behind the west end of his building. The council said they would give it another look. A proposed curriculum plan at Grand Coulee Dam School District may affect athletic eligibility. Unless some kids raise their reading and math levels in the next couple of years they...
The picture of the LRHS Boys’ Basketball Team (in color) on the cover of The Star newspaper last week was amazing! They have been exciting to watch all season and this picture captured the joy and fun they’ve shown. So much class and poise in these young men on this Raider team … very special. Coach Adkins and her Raider cheer squad and Leadership class did numerous things throughout the entire season to support the team. The Head Cheer coach also collaborated with the Brewster Band Director. It started as a gesture of good sportsmanship with...
Have you noticed how many retired school employees regularly volunteer throughout our Okanogan County communities? Retired school employees have told me that helping community members is hard work but extremely satisfying. You may find them working throughout Okanogan County’s many organizations: local, state and federal citizens’ committees, hospitals, clinics, OBHC, senior citizen centers and Community Action. They also serve their communities through groups such as Okanogan County School Retirees’ Association (OCSRA), Kiwanis, Rotary, Mason...
We view voting as an acknowledged right here in the United States. In Washington state, we receive our ballot in the mail, we do our personal research, make our choices, and mail in our completed ballot. Currently, eight states allow mail in ballots for all elections, while two states allow counties to opt into conducting elections by mail. Nine states allow specific small elections to be conducted by mail, and four states permit all-mail elections for certain small jurisdictions. The remaining...
This is about ice skating. I wish I could claim to be good on a pair of ice skates. But, no luck. When I was growing up in Palouse, we were able to ice skate on the Palouse River. It would nearly freeze solid so there wasn’t much danger in falling through the ice. I wasn’t much good because my ankles let me down, but I gave it a whirl anyway. We had the type of skates that screwed onto your shoes. That was the state of the art, Palouse style, at the time. Later, much later, I got regular ice skating shoes. It didn’t change my proficiency on th...
