News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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As I get older, I accept that my main duty as a citizen is to stay informed about current issues and vote responsibly, knowing that my time is finite and a new generation is coming up. Staying informed means being able to discern between unreliable content designed to evoke emotion (usually anger) and actual journalism; accepting that my preconceived notions may not be correct; checking various sources to validate stories; not using social media or talk radio as legitimate sources of information; and recognizing that older people like myself...
Thank you, Carl Russell, for your right-on letter in the January 28 edition of The Star. I agree with you and support you 100%. However, sadly the rules of engagement for criticizing the Trump-hating Dems is, “Stick your neck out and get your head chopped off.” In the February 4 edition of The Star, there were three contemptuous shots sent your way. Jamie Holman’s letter was a simpering and condescending word salad. I struggled to get through, but apparently you need to be admonished… a lot. Don Andrews had to vomit and therefore could not con...
A front-page article in The Star news recently described the frustration of the Electric City council concerning the lack of equal, accurate and reliable representation within the decision process of law and policy in the matter of the wastewater treatment plant owned and operated jointly by Electric City and Grand Coulee. I share that frustration and growing anger related to our entire process of government from town council to the federal system. Watching the system making legal decisions of law and policy with life and death consequence to...
February 1964, Vol. 15, Issue 2, American History Magazine. An essay by John F. Kennedy, written a year earlier, was published. Here are a few passages -- “There is little that is more important for an American citizen to know than the history and traditions of his country. Without such knowledge, he stands uncertain and defenseless before the world. Knowing neither where he has come from nor where he is going.” “A knowledge of history is, in addition, a means of strength. “In times of change and danger,” John Dos Passos wrote just before Wo...
The normal reply when the Seattle area is mentioned is that the person wouldn’t want to live there. I remember when my family learned we were going to move to the Seattle area. All we could think of was the things we could do in a large city. This was in 1964. We were so surprised that you could drive downtown and park right next to a movie house. We were in Bothell at the time. I fished off the dock in Edmonds, visited every art gallery in town and most of the museums. Our neighbors were friendly enough, and we largely kept to ourselves. A...
It is uncommon for me to respond to letters to the editor; however, Mr. Russell’s recent submission [Letters from our Readers, Jan. 28] warrants a reply. When broad accusations are presented as fact, it becomes necessary to address them with clarity and evidence. Mr. Russell asserts that Democrats support “pedophile’s, murders, rapist’s, criminal gang members, robbers, drug dealers and traffickers, domestic violence, and fraudsters.” Such sweeping claims are serious and should be supported by verifiable facts rather than rhetoric. I encourage...
Those Democrats are getting crazier than anyone can imagine — not voting for a president who is a convicted felon, for a man who doesn’t respect America’s laws and cries like a baby if they don’t give him the Nobel peace prize. I could go on and on, but I’d have to go throw up in the bathroom. Don Andrews...
Regarding Carl Russell’s letter to the editor, “Democrats have gone crazy.” I suppose he means they are insane. Wonder if he has given some thought to a safer, saner place to live. Here’s why. The population of the United States is over 345 million. Of that, 189.5 million are registered voters, 44.1 million are Democrats, and 37.4 million are Republicans. The remainder are not party affiliated, or they are Independents. Forty-four million insane Democrats are on a rampage, running loose, doing all sorts of crazy things. They outnumber the san...
February 6, 1911, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, was born in Tampico, Illinois. Reagan was a skilled orator and was known as the Great Communicator. Prior to his presidency, he served two terms as Governor of California from 1967 to 1975. He was faithful to conservative Republicanism. In his speech to the nation in 1981, President Reagan said, “And to you, my fellow citizens, let us join in a new determination to rebuild the foundation of our society, to work together, to act responsibly. Let us do so with the most p...
When I left for college 70 years ago a friend said that the best thing that I would get was what I got off the walls. Of course, he was talking about the experiences that I would have, meeting people from all over the world and people who were unlike me. He was only partially right. I had some good professors, ones that I still remember. I had two survey profs, one in Old Testament studies and the other in sociology, both under class subjects. My sociology prof had used the same notes for probably 30 years but he welcomed questions. I think he...
During the 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton famously intoned, “I feel your pain,” reassuring voters he understood what they were going through. Since then, similar statements of empathy have become a staple for politicians but too often they are just hollow words. Take small business owners, for example, which are the backbone of America’s economy. They are Washington’s forgotten constituency. Most elected officials have no idea what it’s like to risk everything you have or to struggle to meet payroll for your employees and their fam...
It has been said that once a kid, always a kid. I believe that, in a way. I remember growing up and some of the things I did way back then. I used to follow the railroad tracks. I always took a salt shaker because I often came across apple trees. I liked to salt up an apple; seems they taste better that way. I followed the rails in both directions. The W I and M went toward Potlatch. The Idaho line was but two miles away. The W I and M line was largely used in the early days as a logging operation. Going the other direction, I would go either...
In our local Grand Coulee Dam School District, we have and always have had amazing staff. As a community member for several decades, I’ve shown appreciation for many of their successes but I’ve barely scratched the surface of impactful differences they make in the lives of their students every day. Great school districts have staff who realize that schools must manage their funds properly, provide a safe and secure environment with sound mental wellness options for their students, among many other common-sense priorities that come before aca...
I predicted the Democrats would go crazy if President Trump was re-elected, I just didn’t realize they would go this crazy. The Democrat party has become the party of supporting criminals 100%. They support of all illegals in the United States. But worst of all they support pedophile’s, murders, rapist’s, criminal gang members, robbers, drug dealers and traffickers, domestic violence, and fraudsters. Democrats are standing up and promoting all the fraud by Illegals without regard for the damage they are doing to citizens of the United State...
If we still lived in a rational democracy, the masked thugs in Trump’s ill-trained paramilitary force would be in full retreat. By wide margins in multiple polls (CNN, Quinnipiac, Economist/YouGov, Data for Progress), Americans say the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis was not justified, that ICE is making the cities less safe, and that it needs to be reined in or even abolished. The public backlash is so fervent, according to a new Associated Press poll, that Trump’s approval rating on immigration has cratered. Trump arguably won...
I met this Japanese man through a program I belonged to at the University of Washington. The program was made up of families that sponsored students at UW. When it was learned that I was going to stop over in Tokyo, he said he would like me to meet his family members there and he would give them my itinerary and where I would be staying. I was staying at the Okra Hotel. Soon after my arrival the man’s sister and mother knocked on the door. They showed me the city even though neither spoke English. We did a lot of dictionary hunting. I was i...
I studied the classical philosophers in college, including Plato, Socrates and Aristotle. But the most profound advice I’ve culled over a lifetime of scholarship has come from contemporary pop stars. The Beatles reminded me in a rather pithy way that “All You Need Is Love,” although I believe they might have stolen that from Jesus, or Burt Bacharach. The Vogues taught me that it’s a “Five O’Clock World” and not to lose sight of life’s fleeting pleasures. Bobby Sherman advised me that material possessions are irrelevant, as they “Easy Come, Easy...
Last Friday, the Washington State Supreme Court issued a ruling that, for once, I can agree with — a decision that clears the way for a long-standing problem to be addressed. That decision stems from a lawsuit brought by the Washington State Association of Counties (WSAC), in which Lincoln County, along with Yakima County and Pacific County, are plaintiffs, challenging how public defense is funded in Washington. The lawsuit was first heard in Thurston County Superior Court, where the judge ruled that counties did not have standing to bring t...
My duty as US citizen is to try to stay politically informed which includes closely following my US Representative Michael Baumgartner. As such, I subscribe to his weekly, often quite lengthy, Friday evening emails and read them carefully. Unfortunately, they’re mostly filled with politically motivated platitudes, and who or where he visited. The visits are generally with Fifth Congressional District individuals and organizations, mainly supporters, although most recently Nigeria at the invitation of President Donald Trump who threatened to i...
Twice in my life I have been beaten by a door. The first time was in Houston while we were in Texas visiting my brother, some years ago. He was taking us to a fancy restaurant for dinner. We entered the restaurant through a revolving door. Just when I was in my small compartment in the door, the door jammed. Here I was trapped in my own little space. It took them some time before they could free the door and yours truly. Meanwhile, my brother was fuming because he was embarrassed. The next time, it was here in Electric City and the famous, or...
In the race to reshore manufacturing and stay ahead of foreign competition, America needs an abundance of added skilled workers and electricity sources. “Electrify Everything” has been our recent political mantra as key politicians race to replace natural gas and coal-fired generation with vast fields and wildlands of wind turbines and solar panels. However, that strategy has glaring glitches, which could derail our economic recovery and job creation. For example, it is bureaucratic nightmare siting power lines and reliable power plants. “Am...
January 16, 1917, German Foreign Minister, Arthur Zimmerman sent a telegram to the General Minister to Mexico, von Eckhardt, offering United States territory to Mexico in return for joining the German cause of World War 1. British cryptographers deciphered the telegram. The British government waited to present the deciphered telegram to President Wilson, as there was an ever-growing anti-German sentiment in the U.S. Late February 1917, President Wilson received the encrypted telegram from the British, it was published widely in the press on...
Righting the record on the Affordable Care Act by George Ochenski, Washington State Standard December 16, 2025 With the Affordable Care Act subsidies on the chopping block in the Republican-controlled Congress, it’s no surprise the Lee newspapers did an interview with Montana’s former senator Max Baucus. As the chairman of the Senate’s powerful Finance Committee, Baucus “was chief architect of the Affordable Care Act known as “Obamacare.” According to Baucus: “For 15 months, I had the committee work on health care, and it was totally nonpo...
This year, Christmas packages were available for pickup for seventy-one children in 32 families at the Grand Coulee Dam Area Senior Center on Saturday, Dec. 20 thanks to this community’s participation in Trees of Sharing 2025. Many thanks to contributors and volunteers who supported this project by making cash donations or purchasing and wrapping gifts for children who might not have otherwise received one this season. Trees of Sharing cannot happen without your active involvement. Each year we count on and extend special appreciation to S...
As a longtime community member and taxpayer, I hope that it is now obvious to others in our area that the crisis the Grand Coulee Dam School District is in was totally preventable. This should be unacceptable to all of us. The crisis is much bigger than very poor fiscal decisions. It is a culmination of multiple systems in the organization being mismanaged due to a significant lack of expertise, best practices and on-going reactive management instead of successful preventive collaborative leadership. The upper brass and their hired hand have ne...