News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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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...
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...
August 11, 1934, 137 prisoners arrived at Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. They were the first prisoners to arrive and be housed in the new Federal Penitentiary. The majority were transferred from Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas. Prisoners continued to arrive; they were the incorrigibles. Among their ranks were notorious bank robbers, gangsters, murderers and counterfeiters. By the first anniversary of “The Rock” being opened, it had a population of 242 prisoners. Frank Weatherman was the last prisoner to leave the Federal Pen...
August 3, 1934, President Franklin Roosevelt visited the Grand Coulee Dam project. A massive project to ease joblessness during the Great Depression. Advocates for the construction of the dam lobbied for federal support for years. Roosevelt’s predecessor, Herbert Hoover, an engineer, had rejected plans to construct the Grand Coulee Dam and the related Columbia Basin Irrigation project. Hoover said it was too expensive, and there would be no market for power produced by the dam. He also felt t...
A pillar of rock in front of Lake Roosevelt Schools memorializes the evolution of the community, now displaying plaques to recognize two more schools that went before. A dedication ceremony in front of Lake Roosevelt Schools June 22 unveiled plaques to memorialize the contributions and achievements of Mason City and Nespelem High Schools, which would later be consolidated into Coulee Dam High School. The first plaque on the basalt column, added in 2017, remembers the Grand Coulee Tigers, whose...
Two stories in The Star this week revolve around a problem central to not only the Grand Coulee Dam area, but to the nation as a whole: housing shortages. More than any other problem, a lack of good housing is the biggest impediment the local area faces to economic development. Two proposals — Coulee Medical Center’s tiny homes project and the Center Senior Living initiative — would address different aspects of this similar problem. All the largest employers in the area deal with a lack of housing when recruiting workers to come here. The B...
Here is the rest of the story on those stupid traffic lights. Up to eight years ago, The Star newspaper ran an article stating that the city was going to purchase traffic control lighting for the city limits on SR-174, and they did. At that time, I remember having a conversation with the then mayor. I said there was no way I would ever get the lights and really figured they would go to the hospital. The only response was, oh no they won’t. Now eight years later, with the snap of a finger, they pop up on Main Street. If the mayor had the p...
Oh-K, I’m sorry. I should not have made everybody read my smarty mouth letters. I was really looking for a targeted reader. This huge pile of concrete has sat for years, I know the project had no plans to deal with this eyesore. I am not so naïve to think my letters would change their minds. Fact, nobody likes to be reminded of their obligations. Now they are really not going to look into this mess. This is pretty much what I figured would happen. My target readers list should be a superintendent or someone in upper management. So as Paul Ha...
It’s not always clear who is going to learn what or when as consequences come down after rules are broken. But one possibility this week is that the community is learning to draw a meaningful line. Four students, by all accounts good ones, will suffer the consequences of breaking rules against alcohol at school functions and contrary to their own pledges: They won’t be allowed to walk at graduation this Saturday. Following two executive sessions, appeals from each of the four, and more appeals from some 30 or so of their supporters Tuesday nig...
On Memorial Day, we traditionally honor Americans in our military who gave their lives in battle for our country. It is called the “Ultimate Sacrifice,” and they died protecting our freedoms and keeping us safe. In recent times, we have acknowledged our citizens in uniform who continue to suffer with permanent combat emotional and physical scars. They are alive largely because our battlefield survival is dramatically improving, and our accompanying rehabilitation expands. This Memorial Day we...
I am the first to admit when I’m wrong. A city employee and I had a talk. He informed me that the concrete (see “Let’s try common sense on illegal dump” in May 8 issue) was not from the city road project, but from a private party. He knows who but doesn’t want to get in volved. So, my apologies to the city. But I still wish it would get cleaned up! Robert Fields...
I am the first to admit when I’m wrong. A city employee and I had a talk. He informed me that the concrete (see “Let’s try common sense on illegal dump” in May 8 issue) was not from the city road project, but from a private party. He knows who but doesn’t want to get in volved. So, my apologies to the city. But I still wish it would get cleaned up! Robert Fields...
I have tried to address the illegal dumping on federal land a couple of times, but Scott did not agree with me, so he throws my letters in the trash. So I went to The Star building and asked why? He told me I need to quit writing my letters as though they are facts. So let’s use another word, common sense. A couple of years ago Grand Coulee had a contract to do a good sized road project on Federal Ave. (The shortcut through town.) I can only guess that the contractor was paid to properly dispose of the leftover landfill. That was when five d...
When coming from Coulee Dam through Grand Coulee I understand people like to take a left at The Star newspaper building to save time on the way to Wilbur. If it is a safety hazard, make it a four-way stop! Or tell area police to patrol it. The money was not appropriated for signs on Federal and Main; they were bought for entry into our town from Bridgeport and Wilbur. Is that so hard? I feel like Nicholas Cage in the movie Con Air. (Why can’t you just give me the bunny????) Robert Fields...
Unfortunately, too many pragmatic Democrats and Republicans in Congress are retiring at a time when we need them most. Two are from Washington: Reps. Derek Kilmer (D), Olympic Peninsula; and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R), Eastern Washington. McMorris Rodgers and Kilmer cut their political teeth in Washington’s Legislature. While they faithfully followed their parties, they found ways to come together on issues vital to our state and nation. McMorris Rodgers was elected to Congress in 2004 and Kilmer in 2012. Recently, problem-solving Democrats a...
Some deep thinking has been going on, and its helping. Last week, many local professionals in law enforcement, emergency medicine, and other first responders, — the folks who have to live with the possible trauma of a car crash to which they only responded to help — took time to show every local high school student just what happens in a crash. Many of them worked for weeks or months in preparation and planning. Teenagers as a group are far more likely to be involved in car crashes, and this area has too often seen the worst side of those sta...
Watching the evening television news is something I typically don’t do. There are a few reasons why. There is the widespread TV news edict, “If it burns or bleeds, it leads.” Next, there is the never-ending prescription drug advertising that is most prevalent on the national networks. Let me share an interesting fact — of the 195 nations on Earth, only two permit prescription drug advertising directed at potential consumers. It’s called direct-to-consumer advertising, or DTC. Who are those two...
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 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...
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...
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...
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...
In 2017, I wrote a column titled: “America needs more welders and fewer philosophers.” It was a slogan Florida Sen. Marco Rubio used in his 2016 presidential campaign to call attention to the need for more skilled workers. Rubio hit the nail on the head without disrespecting philosophers. The American Welding Society (AWS) estimated our country now requires 400,000 new welders. This scarcity is primarily due to the substantial number of skilled workers retiring and fewer young men and women entering technical training programs. The enc...
It became clear as crystal last night. Within the time allotted for one city council meeting in Electric City, at least three issues were discussed that require regional attention of two, three, or four local cities, all of which would benefit from cooperation among or between them. That’s why interest in at least one meeting among all their leaders, with the public invited, is an encouraging sign. The new kid on the block, Grand Coulee Mayor Mike Eylar, proposed last week at the Regional Board of Mayors meeting, that all the councils come t...