News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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News media can present news about the coronavirus pandemic responsibly, without a constant drumbeat of doom even when it’s not called for. That doesn’t always happen. I call your attention to the editorial cartoon at right. Its author may seek to totally discount the integrity of news coverage on the pandemic, which wouldn’t be fair either, but its message urges us to pay appropriate attention to the good news along the way. That includes important news that often gets buried under the old observation that “if it bleeds, it leads.” Cartoonis...
Long periods of open time have allowed me to get back to my stamp collection. I had a small collection as a child and then put it all behind me until later in life. My collection had been collecting dust until about six months ago when I pulled my albums out and took over the dining room table. The urge came on as I talked with our oldest son, Paul, who has a substantial collection. He was lucky enough to be able to purchase a large collection from a former postmaster. Stamps can be much more than something to lick and drop off at the post offi...
Before we visit the final 2021 weather data for our region, a dryer, warmer year, we will explore the subject of drought — something we’ve been experiencing for several months now. When we study weather events like tornadoes, thunderstorms, or hurricanes, we need to add drought as a weather event as well. What makes drought different is its longevity and its beginning and ending periods. Drought is the near total absence of rainwater for a prolonged period of time. Looking at our pre...
With an infrastructure package on the books and the Biden administration’s $1.8 trillion “Build Back Better” measure preoccupying the Senate after passing the House, government spending is very much on Americans’ minds. In public meetings, I frequently hear people say that government’s share of the economy is too big, and it’s likely that voters’ feelings about federal spending will figure prominently in next year’s elections. If you look ahead, even beyond the current debate on Capitol Hill, there will be intense pressure to expand even furthe...
Christmas is the season of hope and joy, and as we look to the brightening days ahead, it is important we bring that same sense of love and generosity that has filled our hearts and homes over the last few weeks with us into the new year. For those of us who have the privilege of calling Central Washington home, there is much for which we are grateful. We are free to observe holy days as our conscience, not the government, dictates. We are blessed to live in one of the most beautiful parts of the world, with bountiful farmland and majestic...
It can be difficult to accept that someone else’s ideas might be valid if they directly conflict with your own experience. That’s where much of our public discussion on very important topics often falters. Going into a new year is a good time to re-assess our own assumptions, especially this year. Too often, certainty stands in the way of understanding. Very smart people, exceptional leaders, the brilliant among us can be certain they’re on the right track. We demand it of them, and sometimes that demand keeps them from serving us well. The f...
With the cold temperatures and winds Okanogan County has been having and will continue to have, it is essential to take precautions, the county’s emergency management team advised in an alert on Tuesday, as temperatures head into the low negative single digits. Here’s their advise on preparing for and living with the cold: On your water: Emergency Management spoke to most of the public works directors of the cities/towns in Okanogan County today assessing whether any damage occurred over the past few days due to the cold temperatures and hig...
Our longest fire camp experience was near Prairie City, Oregon, a 21-day ordeal where our kitchen unit served 1,500 firefighters and support personnel. My wife and I worked a couple of seasons for OK Cascade, a Bothell company owned by the Keener family well known to us. The hourly pay was small, but we often got 50-60 hours of overtime a week. We would get a call from the company and immediately leave for our camp location. The workday started usually at 5 a.m. and ended between 10 and 12 p.m. Our rest break was brief, and we often had to...
When Toyota speaks, car buyers listen. Hopefully, our elected officials will as well. It is one of the world’s two largest auto and truck manufacturers--twice the size of GM, our biggest. Toyota warns the world is far from ready to jettison gasoline and diesel engines and require batteries to run our replacements. For Toyota, it is not just about finding enough critical battery material such as lithium, cobalt and nickel, but it is about having enough electricity in our power grid to recharge them. Specifically, Toyota not only worries about o...
Cheers. This is a festive time of year and I want to cheer on a few who make our community wonderful. First, I want to thank our Raider Cheerleaders. Almost two dozen students turned out and they are rockin’ our athletic events. I would love to have a cup of coffee with the head coach who’s been at the helm for almost four decades. Our local athletic director was voted Athletic Director of the Year and deserves it based on the challenges of the last two years. We are lucky to have him as a leader of two systems and a coach in our school dis...
As a kid, I loved the snow. In Palouse we got a lot of it. When it came down, I knew it was time to get out my Flexible Flier sled. The Fliers were the sleds of all sleds. When there was a good base, we would gather on North Hill and clear the side streets for the best sledding you could ever find. We would station someone, usually a parent, on each side street to divert traffic away from our hill run. The run from the top of North Hill was about 10 blocks, with the end being in the city’s main street. By the time the snow was packed, the r...
A few weeks ago, I was speaking with former Defense Secretary General James Mattis about some of the lessons he’s learned over the years. One of his biggest takeaways? How incredible of a community Central Washington is, and that sometimes it takes leaving to know what you have. As I breathe in the clean, crisp air in Sunnyside this winter morning, I couldn’t agree more. Central Washington truly has it all, from majestic rivers that we’ve harnessed to power our homes to gorgeous national forests and public lands. In our communities, peopl...
I still remember a question I got years ago. It was at a public meeting in southern Indiana, where a young woman commented that I’d traveled throughout the US and wanted to know: What was my impression of Americans? I didn’t even hesitate: The American people are fundamentally decent, I told her. Why even mention this? Because at the moment, we live in a country where a lot of Americans don’t believe it. They think fellow citizens and public officials they don’t agree with are at best misguided and, at worst, evil. I don’t think this happened...
In a space of 7 miles Here’s a further perspective. Four communities, or neighborhoods, that have a combined population of 3,378 (current Census), a distance of 7 miles or 15 minutes from the southernmost to the northernmost town. Today, as Scott states, 20 council members and 4 mayors for a population of less than 3,400 people. Each town competes with the others, duplicating efforts for such things as grant dollars for various and important community needs and improvements. Fire protection, ambulance and police needs are contracts or a...
I have driven north and south and east and west in Kansas. I have searched over the two trips through there to see if I could remember one redeeming quality about the state. My first trip through the state was enroute to Kansas City, Missouri. It was in January and there was snow and black ice. It was a risky trip. The next time I ran through Kansas, it was summer, and I entered in the south and drove to the north on my way back home after a trip to the east coast. I have never met anyone who admitted being from Kansas. My two trips through...
The annual Coulee Polar Plunge is set for noon, Saturday, January 1, at Spring Canyon near the boat launch. Brave kayakers will also be afloat at that time. Everyone is invited....
I try to avoid questionable sources of information, but I came across some gossip on Elf Net that I am obliged to pass along to you. It seems that Santa will be delivering by robot this year, and some really bad grinch is attempting to hack the system. Then, there is the possibility that the robot could get stuck in your chimney. If you don’t get what you wished for, check the Santa clause in your contract. And don’t forget to lay out some batteries for the robot. The Merry in Merry Christmas, at least for adults, is about family and fri...
On Friday, the Labor Department announced that consumer prices increased by 6.8 percent in November compared to last year, the largest annual increase in over 39 years. If that doesn’t make apparent the impacts President Biden’s policies are having on American families to my progressive colleagues, I don’t know what will. Americans deserve fiscal responsibility. With the stranglehold the far left has on the Democratic Party, we’ve seen anything but that. Trillions of dollars in wasteful spending has been rammed through Congress over the las...
The current runaround faced by the local Regional Board of Mayors points to a structural problem we’ve tried to work around before and failed. The RBOM, itself, was created as an end run around the reality that this is a community split by municipal boundaries drawn in a time when they may have made perfect sense but no longer do. That group of four mayors was formed so we could have and operate a landfill, with all four towns paying their fair share. It has worked for decades and might possibly work for decades more. But not well, and with f...
I never could understand why a person in good health would choose not to work. Several times, as early as high school, I had more than one job at a time.There was a period in my junior and senior years in high school in Palouse when I had three jobs at the same time. It started by being fast at peeling potatoes at the Oasis Restaurant. A week later, the evening fry cook didn’t show up and I was made the fry cook. I already had a job six days a week running Darigold milk products to the door. Shorty Ransom was my boss, and we delivered to S...
Several interesting research efforts have provided findings about our atmosphere and its content. Here are two that I found to be noteworthy and wanted to share them here. Just last month the Journal of Climate published the work of five climate scientists. Their work addressed historic Northern Hemisphere large concurrent heatwaves driven by changing atmospheric circulations. Remember the heatwave we witnessed in June 2021? Our new all-time high temperature for that month is now at 112˚F. Up...
To “Build Back America” people must return to work! In a U.S. Chamber of Commerce poll released in early December, the findings spell trouble for America’s employers whether they are in the private or public sectors. It found that over 60 percent of the respondents are in no hurry to return to work and over a third of the unemployed are not actively going after a job or looking at all. The problem is growing worse. A large number of respondents feel they can get by for at least another six months before they have to find employment. The surve...
For many of us, the holidays mean coming home. With all the joys of being reunited with family and friends, you might also be figuring out how to avoid certain topics of conversation with people you love but don’t always agree with. It’s okay if you change the subject when Uncle Ron starts telling you about his most recent alien encounter, but one topic that can’t be ignored if it shows up is impaired driving. If you’re at a gathering where someone intends to drive impaired, the greatest gift you can give them this holiday season is an alterna...
As talks of defunding the police ring through the halls of Congress, West-side legislators in Olympia continue to push through policies that are negatively impacting our communities, and this time, the consequences could be dangerous. Instead of empowering our law enforcement officers to protect our families and businesses, recent legislation passed by Democratic leaders in our state, in particular HB 1310, has tied the hands of our law enforcement officers behind their backs. Under this law, which went into effect in July of this year, our...
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is often misunderstood as favoring urban residents over rural. Formerly known as food stamps, a new study analyzing this program shows the opposite may be true. SNAP provides nutrition assistance payments to one in eight Americans every month. Approximately 16% of rural households use SNAP benefits, compared to 13% of metro households. In those rural households, a large majority of benefits assist vulnerable populations, including children, seniors, and people with disabilities. The...