News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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It was at the end of World War II that I became fascinated with cars. During the war, auto manufacturers were busy making tanks and ammo carriers. The public had to get along with some early 1945 models and people were lucky to find one. Those were the days when you could look at a car and know what make it was and the year it was manufactured. It was still a few years before I was old enough to drive and make enough money to purchase a car. We didn’t have driving classes then. My dad wasn’t anxious to let us drive the family car. My first exp...
Washington voters will soon have an opportunity to have their say on an unusual and corrosive tax the legislature passed in 2021. The controversial tax imposes a levy of 7% on capital gains income over $250,000. While that seems like it would only apply to “the rich,” the legislature has already proposed expanding the tax until it hits working-class incomes. Here’s how got where we are now. Three years ago, lawmakers passed and Governor Inslee signed SB 5096, creating the first-ever tax on capital gains income. Based on multiple prece...
Last week, The Star covered Lake Roosevelt students who petitioned the school board for more mental health support, including full-time counselors and a crisis intervention program like Only7Seconds. We also said a comprehensive follow-up story on student mental health would appear in this week’s paper. We have not heard back from school staff to discuss the topic further – understandable, given the start of the new school year. However, a student body representative told us she would like to talk more about student mental health for a fut...
The new school year is beginning for many, but before the bell rings, I want to address the increasing dangers we see from opioids in our schools. Fentanyl is sadly the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-45, and it only takes a 2-milligram dose—the size of a grain of rice—to cause an overdose. As it becomes increasingly available, it is crucial for parents to understand the risks that their children are facing. According to the Washington State Department of Health, over 300,000 people have died due to drug overdose deaths nat...
Ever wonder where your sense of humor came from? I got mine from my dad. He was always pulling pranks on the family, sometimes in a very creative way. When we lived on the farm and my dad came out of the house, all five of us kids in unison shouted, “Can we go with you?” That was a sore spot with my dad, so he told us to go in and get cleaned up. We raced inside because we thought we would be headed to town. We came out raring to go, but then my dad went to the outhouse. It taught us a lesson about asking to go all the time. That little trick h...
Are we failing to teach students about the nation’s history, it’s Constitution and civics? Are graduating students truly prepared as citizens, fully understanding how our federal democratic republic form of government operates? The University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center annually conducts a survey of public knowledge of our nation’s Constitution. The 2023 results of the annual Constitution Day survey are out. The title of the survey: “Many Don’t know Key Facts about the U...
Jesse James was born on September 5, 1847. As a teenager, he was a guerilla fighter for the Confederate Army during the Civil War. At war’s end, he returned to Missouri and became the leader of an outlaw gang. With his older brother, Frank and several ex-Confederates, including the Cole brothers, they robbed their way into the hearts of many; romanticized by eastern journalists. It all ended abruptly when a bullet was fired into James’s head by Robert Ford, a fellow gang member. Ford hoped to claim a bounty of $10,000 for his deed. He only got...
I appreciate our local towns working together on the massive chip seal street project. It looks great and was needed. Now we all need to work together with expertise from Ryan Fish, Nic Alexander and others knowledgeable to make our emergency services more efficient and effective. Also, thanks to the Coulee Dam Shop crew for cutting back the overgrowth at the corner to the police station. I have seen many close calls there and worried about vehicles colliding. Now visibility is better for traffic flow. I’m thankful for the tremendous l...
March on Washington and spoke to the estimated 200,000 people gathered. The speech is now known as the “I have a dream” speech. King imagined a future when “the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners could sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” King envisioned a future in which his four children would not be judged by the color of their skin, rather by the content of their character. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. Source(s): National Geographic Education Compile...
During most of recorded history, there was no science, no explanations for the many terrifying events that afflicted life, e.g., volcanic eruptions, floods, droughts, starvation, and epidemic diseases. People invented gods and eventually believed that those gods were the cause of both good events and bad events. According to Michael Jordan, writing in his Encyclopedia of Gods, humans have invented more than 2,500 gods. Modern science has produced provable explanations for many of the things that once frightened people, and science has made the...
My friend Will Chausee had a sapphire mine in Montana about 35 miles east of Hamilton. He was an unlikely friend. Will owned a high-class cedar lumber operation, catering to high-end builders. He was a burly chap, probably 200 pounds if an ounce. Over time we got thrown together through the Rotary Club and other endeavors. Will kept inviting me to vacation at his Gem Mountain sapphire mine. So, my wife and I decided to do just that. The mine was located high up in the mountains, a fun and scenic drive, if nothing else. He spent time there in a...
I have family in Grand Coulee but I also have family in Texas. I read The Star news report: “Four-day school week under consideration” (Aug 14 issue) talking about Lake Roosevelt contemplating a proposed four-day school week for the (2025-2026) school year. Some schools in my area of Texas have gone to a four-day week. Oddly enough, one school selected Friday as their “off day,” whereas a neighboring town selected Monday as their school’s “off day.” To me, that was poor planning. In an age of divorced parents and siblings attending dif...
It’s almost impossible today to buy something off the rack that fits. Gone are the days when better clothing stores had a tailor on staff to make minor adjustments so clothes fit better. The biggest issue is fitting the length of trousers. All too many times I have bought pants that needed tailoring so they fit. Yet the service isn’t offered at the store. I have pants hanging in the closet that have been bought, paid for, and just hang there. You end up in double jeopardy if you like a cuff. I guess stores expect you to grow your legs to fit...
August 25, 1978, Georgia Ann “Tiny” Thompson Broadwick died in Long Beach, California. Tiny was an American pioneer parachutist and inventor of the ripcord. She was the first female to jump from an airplane and the first person to jump from a seaplane. Tiny was born in North Carolina in 1893. She was a small person, weighed less than 100 pounds and was less than 5 foot tall. Married at 13 years of age. Later, at 15, she joined a traveling Aeronautical Show. In 1914, due to her skill and fame, she demonstrated parachutes to the U.S. Army. Sou...
As the summer comes to a close and the new school year is looming, excited children are buying backpacks, going over their class schedules, and anticipating all the new things they are going to learn. But with the year beginning, I would be remiss if I did not discuss the elephant in the room —Washington’s education report card. In yWashington state, children ages K-12 are failing to meet the basic math and reading proficiency requirements, test scores are still far below where they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, enrollment is down 4%, and...
We would like to thank our wonderful community members who donated to and patronized our ‘every Saturday summer yard sale.’ It was a great summer for your local veterans organization and appeared to have been well received by the community once again. Your generosity will be returned 100% to our community through our support of local veterans, local American Legion baseball team, Isle of Flags support, volunteering at the food bank, meeting space for AA, blood bank venue, community event space and much more. We are so proud of our com...
While preparing for one of my trips to the Far East, I learned that Myanmar (then Burma) had opened up its borders to allow 72-hour visits. I jumped at the chance. Burma had been a British colony. I was surprised that there didn’t seem to be any strings attached. I asked Pan American Airlines officials if it was a good idea to stop over there. I had booked my trip with Pan Am since they had route privileges everywhere I was planning to go. My contact there was Willard Marsh, who said things were a little strained but a visit might be i...
Kelly Ortberg’s appointment as new Boeing CEO and the company returning its headquarters to Seattle are promising steps toward rehabilitating the aerospace giant started over a century ago. The Seattle Times editorial summarized it best: “Dare we hope?” Ortberg has a sterling reputation, vast aerospace experience, and a record of accomplishment. Hopefully, his experience and success pave the way for Boeing to re-emerge as the pinnacle of aerospace — where it was before the Chicago move in 2001. Boeing knows how to build good, safe airplan...
Throughout the nation and right here in Central Washington, our Native American communities are disproportionately impacted by lower rates of positive healthcare outcomes and violent crime. Throughout my time in Congress, I have built strong relationships with tribal partners and have worked on comprehensive legislation to address some of these challenges. In rural communities, healthcare continues to be a challenge, and given the health disparities that exist in tribal nations, recruitment of quality health personnel should be a priority. The...
Soon you will see homemade signs popping up in areas where we have had major wildland fires. It’s difficult to find a way to adequately share our thanks to firefighters who man the fire lines and in many cases risk their lives to protect homes and properties of those they have never met. High temperatures these past weeks have made the woods and grasslands tinder dry. We have been spared of major fires here for a couple of years, but fires at Swawilla Basin and Bridge Creek on the reservation and the brief fire that started near Sunbanks r...
I must commend the editor for printing the letter from Carl Russell in the July 24th issue of The Star. It illustrates the incoherent and misinformed ramblings and disjointed thoughts of a third grader. I’m sure the editor cringed or shuddered when he sent this tripe to print. If this guy sends any more letters, spare us all and round file them right where they belong. We are all dumber for having to read it. I won’t deign to respond to Carl, other than to suggest he shuffle into the dust bins of history, along with his buddy Trump. To rea...
States across the western United States are being ravaged by intense wildfires, especially here in Washington. Every day, our wildland firefighters, pilots, and emergency response teams are on the front lines trying to suppress damaging fires while protecting communities across the state. This year, wildfires have already burned over 230,000 acres in Washington, and as summer temperatures stay hot and winds pick up, they have the potential to destroy even more of our forests, ranches, and communities. Our area has unfortunately suffered extreme...
Our national debt is spreading out of control like a raging wildfire. Among other things, that added liability impacts our ability to fight those fires and reforest those scorched woods and range lands. Replanting trees is necessary to prevent erosion, provide clean drinking water, reduce CO2, protect fish and wildlife habitat, and rehabilitate public open spaces. It is very costly and under current funding schemes, the money is not available. Our national debt just surpassed $35 trillion for the first time in history. Those we elect brush...
Carl, I always find your letters to The Star newspaper curious. They contain several statements as fact about specific issues and or political personalities. Those on the left side of the political spectrum may say your statements are from only sources found on the right side of that spectrum. So, a thought you might consider when making statements as fact: Could you provide the source(s) you used to support those statements? For so many of us, we are swamped by the 24-hour news cycle, and the shrill noises that social media provides. Today, mo...
I have not given up and I won’t. Ten years ago, I filed an EEO claim against the Grand Coulee Project. At that time, I chose to be represented by Brook. His specialty is government law, and I still have him on retainer. We were talking this weekend, and I brought up this pile of concrete. I sent a picture. The first thing out of his mouth was what if kids decided to play on it? It is a safety hazard. I told him that I can’t contact managers on project because they will not accept my calls. I can’t go on the project, it’s locked up like Fort Kn...