News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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One of the things we liked to do when growing up in Palouse was go to the Washington State College baseball games. We really didn’t care about the game, but we went to see baseball coach Buck Bailey kick the bucket. Buck came to WSC in 1927 as an assistant football coach and became baseball coach. He was coach for 32 years and was tragically, along with his wife, killed in an auto accident in 1965. We didn’t care about his long time as baseball coach or his successful 603-305 record. We came to see Bailey kick the bucket. There were a number of...
Answering an advertisement started my love of the railroads. I saw the ad in our hometown newspaper, The Palouse Republic. The ad was seeking people to apply for menial labor on our section of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The section ran from Palouse to Tekoa, about 50 miles of track. I was a junior in high school, but 16, the minimum age suggested in the ad. The track foreman, Bill Fisher, did the interview. He went on to complete 50 years as track foreman, a distinctive achievement. I was hired on to work Saturdays that could lead to...
This is about ice skating. I wish I could claim to be good on a pair of ice skates. But, no luck. When I was growing up in Palouse, we were able to ice skate on the Palouse River. It would nearly freeze solid so there wasn’t much danger in falling through the ice. I wasn’t much good because my ankles let me down, but I gave it a whirl anyway. We had the type of skates that screwed onto your shoes. That was the state of the art, Palouse style, at the time. Later, much later, I got regular ice skating shoes. It didn’t change my proficiency on th...
We are a Gonzaga household. Not the usual kind of specific fans. For instance, I don’t focus on the individual players. I don’t know them by number and can seldom identify any of the players while watching the games. I leave that to my great grandson, Damon Landeros, who often comes up to the house to watch Gonzaga games with me. I started watching the Zags several years ago when I was intrigued by how a small university could develop such a strong basketball program. I haven’t been disappointed. The Zags give me something to watch up to and i...
Winters in Palouse were much worse when I was growing up than what they are experiencing now. I can remember when we got our first refrigerator. That was in 1938. My mother was still using it in 1971. There was an emblem on the front telling it was a Philco Advanced Design refrigerator. It was still being used when my mother died. I doubt that many refrigerators last that long. It was a big deal for me. It meant that I didn’t have to go to the icehouse for a block of ice a couple times a week. It wasn’t unusual for snow drifts in the middle of...
They better start making them soon because Lake Roosevelt will be winning them. Look ahead seven years or so and a new batch of wrestlers will be ready here. Victor Landeros, with the help of parents, is preparing 50-60 kids to become a dynamic wrestling force at Lake Roosevelt. Victor was a force of his own when he roamed the halls here. He’s got wrestling in his blood. He’s been building on the little kids’ wrestling program, Coulee Crushers, for both boys and girls. It’s paying off with large turnouts and with good results in tournam...
Box 92 was our portal to the outside world. I was fascinated with what I could do through the mail. They were the days of the Penny Postcard and the thrill of receiving mail, addressed to me. My aunt Voe was the postmaster at Palouse. She always greeted me when I came in. Actually, I think she greeted everyone. There were not many secrets back then. It was like the phones and the party lines. Everyone knew other peoples’ business, but who really cared. It was the days when people could collect, over time, dishes until they had a set. A real D...
I attended last Friday’s senior night at Lake Roosevelt High School. The place was packed and the Raiders won all three basketball games. I went to support my great grandson, Damon Landeros, who is a senior, and who has played four years for the Raiders. It was quite a night, I watched three games and enjoyed probably an hour of recognition of seniors. It will be a night that these seniors will long remember. What struck me was the display of friendship. It was a night that brought friendships back. After the third game, a lot of people s...
Palouse was the easternmost team in the Whitman County basketball league. We usually ended up as one of the top teams in the league. Colfax, the county seat, and the largest city in the county, was often the leader. So when Palouse played Colfax it was a big deal. Other teams in the county included St. John, Pine City, Steptoe, Garfield, Oakesdale, Rosalia and Lacrosse. Steptoe’s gym was not regular size. The out-of-bounds line was against the wall at court side. They allowed one row of chairs on the floor and you had to raise your feet when p...
We are finally getting an idea of what winter is all about. It was decided that the playoff game at Buffalo was important enough to play Monday, despite the weather. However, the last week was hardly a blip as far as winters go. Years ago, while working at the Potlatch Forest Inc. mill at Potlatch, Idaho, I went to work one day when it was - 41 degrees. We worked under a metal roof with open sides. Our boss sat in a heated office where he could see all the planer operations. His response when people complained about the cold was to tell them...
While traveling in Idaho, we ran into a group of wagons doing a reenactment of the Oregon Trail days. Those on the wagon train reported how much fun they were having. It was a far cry from two wagon trains that ended as massacres while in Idaho, the Ward train and the Van Ornum/Utter trains. The trains crossed the Snake River at a place that was shallow enough and where the rushing river was still about 60 miles east of Boise. You can still see ruts at the river crossing. The ward group in 1854 consisted of 20 people and five wagons. While in...
How about making an effort to visit a national park this year. It’s a great way to rebuild your appreciation of our country. We have three great national parks in our own state and a couple of others within a day’s drive. One of my favorites is Olympic National Park. It’s a day’s drive away but will take you to our coast, and inside the park offers a unique experience. The Rain Forest is unique and a bit scary with the moss hanging from the trees. Allow time to go into the Rain Forest for at least a couple of miles. Quite often you will ru...
My love for flying in a small plane came gradually. The first small plane ride was when I lived here the first time, in 1954. I was a lumber grader at the small planer mill above the dam. There was a guy working on the crew who had been a bush pilot in Alaska who had his own plane. The guy invited me to go along with him on a Saturday flight. We flew to Spokane, Missoula, Orifino, to the Pullman-Moscow airport, and then home. We took all day. That was my first experience in a small plane. The next time was when I started writing for the Idaho...
America has a love affair with ghost towns. I’ve visited several, but the most memorable is Silver City, Idaho. Silver City is about 75 miles south of Boise and is probably the most significant thing in Owyhee County. This county is in the southwest corner of Idaho. We lived in Nampa at the time and used our weekends to explore the area. We had read about the ghost town and headed out that way. The county seat of Owyhee County is Murphy. Barely 100 people call it home. Not many buildings there. In front of its courthouse is a lone parking m...
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 made a legacy of service to others. Who says you can’t be of service and make important decisions when you begin to age. Try keeping up with President Joe Biden for a week or so. Some are giving aging a bum rap. So if he wins reelection he will be in his mid 80s. You do stumble a bit when you get in your 80s, but if t...
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 menu changes a bit, depending on the collective mood in family members. Nathan and his wife Karen will be here from Portland. He recently announced retiring from teaching at a private school in Portland. We will get to see the new book he published with pictures of all the courthouses in Oregon, about 35 of them. The...
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 a friend. Mr. Sims visited with me for quite a while, which surprised me, but I thought it was probably because Delores knew me. When I returned to pick up my shoes, he took some time visiting with me and asking a lot of questions. Then he suggested that when I wasn’t busy some afternoon to drop by his shop. I’m sti...
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, but remembered for his dedication to the principles of journalism. Miles traveled around the state visiting the various newspapers and was always asked for tips on how to run a newspaper more efficiently, especially a need in today’s marketplace. The award is given periodically to an outstanding publisher who beats t...
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 Hotel to get rooms and learned that we could get the Buffalo Bill suite that had two bedrooms for a very reasonable amount, so we took it. We learn that Bill Cody stayed there when he wasn’t traveling with his Wild West show. The suite was well worn and very plain. A large picture of Cody was on the wall, the only a...
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, and our travel agent in Kirkland said he had just the spot for us. At the time, the only thing I knew about the Cayman Islands was that people hid their money there so they didn’t have to pay taxes. I didn’t have any money so it wasn’t going to be a problem. At the time, the biggest island, Grand Cayman, was large...
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 don’t have a lot here in the coulee, but what we have is great. I’ve been to the New England states, but never at the right time of year. I moved to southern Idaho when I was in my 20s and always anxious to see new things. I discovered the South Hills, a splotch of hills and forests just south of Twin Falls. There were lar...
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 conceived ads and avoidable penalties. With all the talent in the country, you would think at least some ads would show some creativity. The penalties show me that there isn’t a lot of fine tuning going on in football programs. Upping test scores It’s time for parents and townspeople to take more of an interest in our schools...
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 walk from Pullman to Moscow, about nine miles. Needless to say that the Vandal cheer squad over the years got very familiar with the scenes between the two towns. Later it was great football when Jerry Kramer and Wayne Walker played for the Vandals. The two had great careers at Idaho and were drafted in the fourth...
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 treasure and continues to be an inspiration to the country. The Iran hostage crisis began during his first year in office, 1977. The hostages were released as soon as Reagan defeated Carter amid reports of the B-actor’s activities to take advantage of the crisis. Carter was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the P...
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 peculiar football times. While at the paper in Boise, I had the opportunity to travel a bit. One trip was to Utah State University in Logan, Utah to cover the Idaho-USU afternoon game. I had a former colleague who was on staff at the Salt Lake Tribune. He asked me to travel with his paper's photographer from Logan to Salt...