News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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aMaybe it’s the perspective a long life brings, but I find myself eyeing with some skepticism the glut of “personal brands” that assault us every day on television, in print, and through social media. Entertainers, celebrities, politicians striving for acclaim, artists and writers who’ve mastered the public-relations game, journalists and media stars who are building their national profiles — all are “important” in terms of the attention they garner. But are they actually important? In some ways, of course, the question is impossible to...
Farming season is here, and unfortunately, due to supply-chain issues and rising energy costs exacerbated by President Biden’s policies, input costs are at a record-high. This has placed a huge burden on Central Washington farmers and will have a massive impact on this year’s harvest. A poor harvest does not just hurt a farmer’s bottom line, it hurts everyone up and down the supply chain, from the local community to the end consumer who faces higher food prices and even food shortages. Farmers from across Central Washington are concerned becau...
Spring has arrived! We all are feeling the relief from the overcast, damp, and cold winter weather; it’s behind us once again. Spring is here and summer is fast approaching. Some of you may recall this movie quote. A contestant is asked to describe her perfect date. “That’s a tough one. I’d have to say April 25. Because it’s not too hot, not too cold. All you need is a light jacket.” Our mood is affected by the weather. In the field of human psychology, some studies address the association...
In my column I have often mentioned what good neighbors I have. I particularly mention Dave and Dorothy Stiegelmeyer, who frequently are doing little things to make life easier for me. I received a postcard recently from an old friend asking if he was a good neighbor when living next to us in Nampa, Idaho when we were both attending college. That was in or about 1957. I assured him that he was. Earl Tromburg and his wife Velma lived right next to us in the Vetville apartment complex made up of about a dozen apartments for students attending sch...
My wife Dorothy has suffered from dementia for the past several years. We have been able to care for her in our home for these past years until recently all the family agreed that the level of care she needed could no longer be provided by me in the home. It is fortunate that our two grandchildren, Ashley Landeros and Travis Irwin, live here and handled all the details, paperwork, and other needs during this time, always mindful of my feelings and the concurrence of family members who live elsewhere. We sought a place for this care and were...
Where did all the nurses go? One of my family members ended up in the ER for a week after a bad fall. The hospital we chose and its staff were wonderful in every way, but this time, one important thing was missing: an appropriate number of nurses to deliver superior care. The nurses who were there did their best. They are working long hours and exhausting themselves and, still, the ones we met were cheerful and supportive. There is a special place in Heaven for people in this profession. But where did all the nurses go? We moved our family memb...
It is completely mind-boggling that amidst an energy and supply chain crisis, President Biden would remove a source of power and transportation for an entire region. Yet, just last week, the White House updated their blog with a post about doing just that: breaching the four Lower Snake River Dams. This “blog post” proves that the Biden Administration is beholden to radical, environmental lobbyists, and is only hearing their side of the argument. They are completely ignoring the devastating impacts that breaching the Lower Snake River Dams wou...
With COVID-19 vaccines widely dispensed and masking requirements mostly lifted, will “work from home” end? Will workers return to downtown offices at pre-pandemic levels? Probably Not! One big reason it is expensive to drive and the waste of time and fuel idling in traffic jams. Another is safety. Gas prices continue to skyrocket. Last year, the average cost at the pump was $2.62 per gallon. By the end of March, Seattle’s gasoline increased to $4.88 per gallon, according to GasBuddy’s latest sur...
At nearly midnight on March 10, the Legislature adjourned its hybrid session in Olympia on schedule. The 60-day Legislative session consisted primarily of Zoom meetings with some work completed in-person. It was a busy time for me as I continued as the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee’s ranking member. This session was particularly busy for education committee leaders due to continued school issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and school funding issues. I also sponsored a few individual bills and budget requests. In t...
The American Legion Hodges Post 84, Oroville Washington, is requesting that the State Department of Transportation honor the Veterans of the Vietnam War by dedicating State Route 20, from the Idaho border to the Skagit County line in Western Washington. Hodges Post 84 hopes to recognize the sacrifices made by Vietnam Veterans to the State of Washington and to the United States of America with this dedication. I will be asking our State representatives in Olympia and from Washington DC to help support this effort. I will be asking all of the...
Recently, Chris Cargill, Eastern Washington director of right-wing Washington Policy Center, advocated for a parents’ bill of rights to improve our educational system. But how would that help? Shouldn’t students themselves, especially at high school level, have at least equal voice to their parents since their education most strongly affects their own lives? Maybe Cargill thinks students and their parents agree on what would improve their education, but is there evidence of that? Polls show considerable disagreement between high school-age stu...
Karen is married to our son Nathan, and they live in Portland. An injury while riding her bicycle interrupted her play. She worked for Nike at the time and rode her bicycle, rain or shine, to the Nike campus where she worked. She rode about six miles a day and then hauled her bike aboard the transit for the rest of the way. She got clipped by a car one day and injured the fingers on her hand. The injury interrupted her violin playing, so I enjoyed knowing that her fingers had improved to the point where she could play again. A few years ago,...
It’s hard to calculate the costs of misinformation, even of something as simple as child’s false boast of knowing about a threat to a school. Reportedly, something like that caused school to close to students for two days last week, adding to the list of items already causing tensions, long enough even in normal times, which these are not. Kudos to administrators and police for their professionally cool heads sorting it out. And to everyone else, including any parent and student, who these days chooses to back away from an urge to jump immediat...
This is an open letter of thanks to everyone who advocated for, supported, gave a forum for discussion, or assisted us to get the message out, regarding a piece of legislation that would have had a detrimental impact on rural healthcare in Washington State and especially our communities. Because of your willingness to express your concerns about this bill, the Senate listened, and the bill was not enacted. This bill would have had short and long-term devastating effects, and if enacted, would have forced Coulee Medical Center to consider...
Taxpayers, if you think education is expensive, try ignorance. Educators here are going to try again to get our levies passed. You wonder what it takes to convince people that educating young people costs money, and too long this district has operated by scraping the bottom of the barrel for its finances. We ask teachers to come to our communities and prepare our youth for their future endeavors. Then we give all kind of excuses why we don’t want to fund the process. The old excuse that “taxes are too high, or I don’t have any kids in school” d...
In the United States, a law is presumed to be constitutional until proven otherwise in court. This process can take years, and a lot of money, to wade through the legal system and end up at the Supreme Court. As the challenge proceeds, we are still obligated to obey the law. We are a nation of laws. When a politician doesn’t like something, they seek to make a law prohibiting you from possessing or doing whatever it is that they don’t like. Even if it is blatantly unconstitutional. It’s easy to do when one party has complete control as well...
One of the biggest misconceptions about Daylight Saving Time is that farmers pushed for it, because “they needed daylight hours to work in their fields”. Nothing could be further from the truth. The adoption of daylight saving time in the United States through the Calder Act, also known as the Standard Time Act of 1918, was devised to conserve energy during wartime. Even then, the agriculture industry spoke out against it. Here’s why: Shifting the clocks back and forth is hugely disruptive for our farmers and ranchers, not to mention any lives...
As the pandemic eases, it looks like no end is in sight for the continuing need for us all to remain flexible in our ideas, schedules, plans and expectations, and that’s a good thing. The human skill at adapting has never been more crucial. Last week, a “Grant County Leadership” online meeting of municipal and health officials, chambers of commerce, journalists, and others, which has been meeting biweekly for months, decided to switch from pandemic mode to recovery mode with a sigh of relief. But even at that, it was noted that switching back...
A while back a person told me I’m always fighting for the underdog. I liked Underdog as a kid but was more of a Popeye fan. I was hoping the GCDSD high brass would not feed me more spinach. However, more cans were opened with leaps of abstraction by the GCDSD Board. Blaming the failure of both levies on the pandemic and reminding us that elections have consequences is unbelievable. These disastrous results are due to their poor decision making over the last few years. This is a self-inflicted wound that they’re responsible for. Now they want to...
I thought for most of my life that I would be a lumber grader. My training was initially at Potlatch Forests Inc., in Potlatch, Idaho, just nine miles from my home in Palouse. I had been there for four years and decided after I met my wife to leave PFI and move to southern Idaho. Dorothy was from Buhl, about 120 miles east of Boise. Of course, I needed work, so I found a job grading lumber in Gooding. The mill owners had a second mill in Fairfield, so I split some of my time there. If you know Idaho at all, you know how bad winters can be. The...
As the Congressman for Washington’s 4th Congressional District, my number one priority is advocating for the people who live and work right here in Central Washington, contributing to our communities and economy. That’s why, last week, I voted in favor of the Consolidated Appropriations Act. This legislation not only delivers on many of Central Washington’s top priorities but preserves long-standing conservative principles and takes significant actions to strengthen our national security. Decisions about the needs of our communities shoul...
There is an old saying: Don’t let the “perfect” be the “enemy” of the good! That is important to remember as we work our way out of the energy crisis exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While the Russians are razing the country and killing thousands of innocent people, many world leaders are slapping Moscow with heavy economic sanctions. Embargoing Russian oil and natural gas are examples. With the prohibition of Russian oil imports, there is a crude shortage in our country. Consequently, our drivers are shocked by the recent pric...
During World War II, Americans put up with rationed gas and car tires, rationed coal and fuel oil, rationed silk and nylon, rationed meat and dairy products, rationed jams and jellies, even rationed coffee. Would today’s Americans – some of whom freaked out, during the worst of the pandemic, when they couldn’t get their hair done – be willing to endure even a minuscule fraction of the sacrifices that our forebears weathered 80 years ago? I’ll answer my own question with a question: Can you imagine what would happen if coffee were rationed,...
This has to be the most ridiculous decision I’ve ever heard a board make. You as a group just had two levies fail. You are supposed to be looking at what you have to cut from the budget. But instead, you decide to pay the man who will be cutting the budget, 69% of his pay for 50% of the work. On top of that, you’ll bring in someone new and pay him/her 92% pay for 50% of the work. How can you even be considering this? I’m sorry Mr. Turner has health issues, but if he wants to retire then he can leave. This school district shouldn’t be providi...
It’s not often that we see an athlete at the top of his (her) game walk away from a multi-million dollar payday to go home and fight for his (her) country. However, that is exactly what world heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk did after Russia invaded Ukraine. Usyk postponed his championship rematch with Britain’s Anthony Joshua and returned to war-torn Ukraine. He enlisted in the homeland defense force; however, he’s not alone. Fellow boxers Vasiliy Lomachenko and Klitschko brothers, Wladimir and Vitali, did the same. “They are pro...