The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

First Lady Rosalynn Carter died last week. She was 96 and under hospice care at her home in Plains, Georgia.   Her husband, former President Jimmy Carter, 99, is also under hospice services in his home in Plains. The Carters have... — Updated 11/29/2023

Thanksgiving is about family.  Without family Thanksgiving is just another holiday. This year, Kim, our youngest daughter, is coordinating the Thanksgiving dinner. She lives in Louisiana and arrived here on Monday. Each year the m... — Updated 11/15/2023

I first met Mr. Sis when I took my shoes in to get them half-soled. Sims had the local shoe repair shop in Palouse. His daughter Delores was in my class at school and a close friend of mine. Not of the dating kind of friend, just... — Updated 11/8/2023

Our Scott Hunter received the Miles Turnbull award for excellence in journalism. Turnbull was the publisher of the Leavenworth paper and later executive director of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. He is deceased,... — Updated 11/1/2023

Everyone has memories and favorite places. Here are a few of mine. We were vacationing in Wyoming and had our oldest son, Paul, with us. Our plan was to stay overnight and travel to the Tetons the next day. We stopped at the Irma... — Updated 10/25/2023

We visited Grand Cayman Island back in the 1970s, before it mushroomed into a popular vacation spot.  Grand Cayman is one of three islands in the chain, and about 200 miles off Cuba. My wife and I were looking for a getaway place,... — Updated 10/18/2023

My pick is the fall. It offers some relief from the heat, and everything seems to return to normal. The tourists have thinned out, school is back in session, and the football season is upon us. I also like the fall colors. We... — Updated 10/11/2023

It’s football time and I am getting confused. Between time taken up by penalties and replays, plus ads, it’s getting tough to watch games. There are five- and 10-minute stretches where nothing is happening except poorly... — Updated 10/4/2023

As a kid I remember rooting for Idaho when they played the Cougars. It was great in both 1999 and 2000 when the Vandals won.  In 1999, Idaho won 28-17, and in 2000, 38-34. They had a great tradition: the losing cheer squad had to... — Updated 9/27/2023

We are slowly losing a national treasure.  Former president Jimmy Carter is 99 years old and is under permanent hospice care in his home in Plains, Georgia. His wife Rosalynn is also under hospice care. Jimmy is a national... — Updated 9/20/2023

Last Saturday was football time. For so many of us it was time to slump down in the old recliner and focus on the television set. My days of covering football for a newspaper are over, but the season causes me to relive some... — Updated 9/6/2023

For a lot of years, I have enjoyed how my family has grown. It started and flourished for a time with my four kids, two boys and two girls. It is always true that as parents we have notions on what our kids might become. Toss that... — Updated 8/30/2023

Happy Humphrey was a professional wrestler. He stood out because he weighed over 600 pounds. Happy came to Boise near the twilight of his career, and the place where he wrestled had to be reinforced due to his weight. The... — Updated 8/16/2023

Quite a few years ago my friend, Will Chaussee, asked me to take some time during my trip to Thailand to see if there might be any Thai interest in purchasing sapphires from his mine in Montana. Will had a cedar lumber company in... — Updated 8/9/2023

Last week I came across a number of old letters written to me from my three older brothers who served in various theaters of war during World War II. They were written in the 1940s, some nearly 80 years ago. The question I am facin... — Updated 8/2/2023

I recently returned to Palouse to say goodbye to my final classmate. Bob Olson and I were born in 1930, at the beginning of the Great Depression. We entered the first grade together in 1936, midway through some very hard times. In... — Updated 7/19/2023

While taking a walk recently I had the opportunity to visit with my neighbor, Brad McConnell. Brad has lived next to me for nearly five years and this is the most extensive visit we’ve had. As we were talking about travel, he... — Updated 7/12/2023

Mel Johnson is an oil painter I first met while living in Bothell. I used a framer in Lake Forest Park to frame pictures I liked. Knowing I was a reporter, he said that I ought to do a story about Johnson. He had a couple of... — Updated 6/28/2023

When we used to return to Southern Idaho to visit my wife’s family, we were usually treated to something special by her brother, Robert Compton. He is still known affectionately as “Uncle Bob.” This particular time we got in... — Updated 6/21/2023

If you could, you would end up with someone who has  the human characteristics of Colleen Leskinen. Colleen lives a couple of miles out of Nespelem. She was mayor there for 14 years, but if you know her it is probably for her... — Updated 6/14/2023

When checking into a motel or hotel have you ever wondered who had stayed in this place? In this country, places seldom reveal who has been there before you, like it would be an invasion of privacy. That’s not true in many... — Updated 6/7/2023

If you are a basketball fan and have been around the sport for a while, you will know the name. When the Denver Nuggets won over the Lakers the other day, I recalled how I knew him. Dick went to school in Palouse and was part of a... — Updated 5/31/2023

With the basketball season coming to a close, we will be into baseball.  It will be a strange season; I can’t name a single player, on any team. I remember that when I was covering baseball, I kept track of several big league... — Updated 5/24/2023

The Colville Tribes have reason to be proud of Michelle Stanger. Michelle just returned from Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she competed along with 26 other Indian national representatives for national honors and the opportunity... — Updated 5/17/2023

I have been to the nation’s capital city. My efforts have been to see as many famous places as a day there will allow. My first visit was a real disappointment. We had hired a tour guide to shepherd us around, believing that we w... — Updated 5/10/2023