News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Here’s a switch! Rather than closing another pulp and paper mill, a new one is under construction right here in Washington. Columbia Pulp’s plant on the Snake River will use a new technology that pulls cellulose out of the abundant straw left over from wheat and alfalfa harvests. The $184 million plant near Dayton is scheduled to open later this year. Traditionally, pulp comes from wood either grown specifically for paper making or as byproducts from sawmills. When fully operational, it wil...
“This is bittersweet.” “I was not prepared.” “No one told me about this.” “Every time you think something will be easy, it is not.” These were all phrases that scooted through my head as the date of June 9 approached. June 9, graduation day for the 2018 seniors at Lake Roosevelt. I am excited for them, but also there is a pain deep within my heart. This is a special class. Beyond special. I took the position of Pathways Coordinator this year, knowing full well I was going to get the chance to w...
Let’s start off with some facts about our oceans: The Earth’s oceans cover 71 percent of its surface and contain 97 percent of the Earth’s water. Less than 1 percent of the Earth’s water is fresh water, while 2-3 percent is contained in glaciers and ice caps. The oceans contain 99 percent of the living space on the planet. Digest those numbers as we take a look at some ocean research and ocean-research tools being used today that are helping us understand global weather and the changes now occ...
After attending the opening of the wine bar on Main Street Friday night, the ribbon cutting at the new art gallery on Spokane Way on Saturday, and getting a bite and a cup afterward at the new coffee house a block away, a niggling, suppressed hope fought its way to the surface. Its seed has always been present, but lately held at bay. Statements from some who return to the coulee after long absences that “this place never changes,” and our own feeling that we’ve been using the word “potential” about the economics of the area for too long for...
There are biblical references to false statements and rumors. It is not a new issue, but currently the problem is amplified by an electronic twist. The printed word on paper has been a mainstay of the American experience since well before the American Revolution. Ben Franklin was in the printing business in the 1720s. The print medium, including newspaper, has survived the advent of radio, television, and computers. The news content of all of those media was generally subjected to editorial review to ensure accuracy. But a new development,...
I had the privilege of going to Keller last week to see one of my heroes. Yes, one of my heroes was in Keller; her name is Erin Gruwell and she is the teacher the movie “Freedom Writers” is based upon. As I sat there in Keller school and listened to how she got there and her story, I quickly realized that this all was not about her. It was about the students of Mrs. Clark, a teacher in the Keller School District. In a very cool turn of events and much like in the movie this little class in Keller, Washington wrote a letter to Mrs. Gruwell and...
The battle in Seattle over the city council’s imposition of a head tax on large companies is generating disparaging labels which local elected leaders likely will come to regret. As a mayor, the last things you want are “anti-business” or “job killer” red letters stamped on your city’s investment opportunity portfolio. A head tax is a “job killer” because it discourages companies from hiring full-time employees and encourages employers to replace people with computers and machines. According to the Puget Sound Business Journal, businesses in Se...
Readers will note a change in The Star lately. Longtime reporter Roger Lucas is changing roles in his latest attempt at retirement. The first of what we expect will be many opinion columns by Lucas appears on this page, along with his sense of humor and a certain attitude. The Star has only been the latest in a long line of newspapers to benefit from Lucas’ writing, his general knowledge of newspapering, and his remarkable productivity, discipline and work ethic. Before landing here needing something to do, he’d retired as the manager of a pap...
3I recently lost my dog in the Grand Coulee area, and with the help of your wonderful community, I got him back safely. I wrote a poem about the ordeal and wanted to share it with the all the people who so graciously helped. Thank you. Dave Bremmer A Lost Dog it was a Sunday like many, we went out for a drive the beautiful scenery, caused our spirits to revive we headed to Grand Coulee, it was not in our plans but a worthwhile endeavor, with time on our hands we peered at the dam, it was an extraordinary feat concrete and iron, where...
There’s a rooster in Electric City. And it is a direct violation of the city’s chicken ordinance, which allows a handful of hens, but no roosters. A clear violation of equal treatment under the law. The city council, who started this farce by refusing to allow people to have roosters, got the challenge at a recent meeting when a woman told the council of a dog problem she had and then reported that she heard a rooster crowing. That should have prompted an exodus from the meeting by city council members, fanning throughout the city to find the...
Sometimes you just have a good weekend. When things build upon each other and you know you are supposed to be right here, right now. That is the way last weekend unfolded for me and for others in our area. It started with an assembly at Lake Roosevelt. I was assigned to help the guest speakers and artists set up and get anything they needed. James Pakootas, Miah Bearcub, Lew Era, Darrin Cawston and TS the Solution all showed up, excited and ready to perform for the students of Lake Roosevelt....
In the state of Washington, there are more than 110,000 people living with Alzheimer’s dementia. As an elder law attorney I see many, many cases of families dealing with a loved one who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia. A good friend of mine was recently diagnosed with early-onset dementia at age 61. Anyone affected by this deadly disease knows the sense of loss, vulnerability, and stress this puts on a family. As a concerned citizen I joined the Alzheimer’s Association in advocating for more attention to th...
In 1878, John Wesley Powell, solider, geologist, explore and professor, placed an imaginary longitudinal line on a map based on his exploration observations. That line, he explained, represented the separation of the dry and arid west and the humid east of the United States. That line goes through all of North America and is the 100th Meridian. Powell was best known for his exploration of the Grand Canyon as well as other parts of the great west. Powell, who explored many areas of the west,...
We have all had that one person who has spoken so directly into our heart that it changed us forever. It might have been a parent, a grandparent, an uncle or an aunt. It may have been a boss, a pastor, a friend or a boss. Or it could have been a complete stranger, a guest speaker at school, at a conference or just someone you saw on television or online. The fact of the matter is that the words they spoke so impacted you that a change occurred right there in the moment. Tears may have flowed,...
Working families are, as usual, getting the short end of the stick from the new Trump-GOP tax law. Huge tax cuts that mostly go to the wealthy and corporations are exploding the national debt, and threaten deep cuts to essential public services like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and education. Not only are the tax cuts unwise, they’re unfair. Corporations saw their tax rate slashed from 35 percent to 21 percent — a cut of 40 percent. Their wealthy CEOs, who are members of the top 1 percent, are getting a tax cut that averages more than $5...
Few things in modern life are as complicated as healthcare. That fact was all too apparent last week as Coulee Medical Center officials presented their case for supporting the practice of delivering babies in rural hospitals, especially CMC. From a simple accounting perspective, obstetrics would make lots of sense to cut out if the budget is tight (and it is). But that could mean also getting rid of other services that support obstetrics, along with other services. CMC’s push to highlight the need is on the front page. And then there’s the opi...
“My brother is an addict. I am raising his daughter.” That is one of the many responses I received when I asked constituents of the 4th Congressional District how opioids and heroin abuse have affected people in our community. The responses are eye-opening to the heartbreaking cost of the opioid crisis in Central Washington: “The opioid crisis is destroying my family’s life,” and “my adult child has battled addiction for 20 years after taking post-surgery opioids at 18” are two more responses that are truly a call to action. Families are strugg...
This past weekend I found myself in many different situations as we packed in a lot of things over the few days we had off. On most Saturdays we go into Spokane and pray for those in need at the Healing Rooms, but this weekend we found those in need right here at home. Let me explain a bit more. A lot of us go to church on Sunday and then on Monday we go back to our normal lives. We have all heard the message that we need to be the same person at church as we are the other six days of the week....
My grandmother, whom we called “Nana,” always loved children. Many times, she asked me to give her great-grandchildren. In 2000, the moment finally arrived. But it didn’t seem to matter. Eagerly, tenderly I lay my newborn son in her arms. She sat motionless, her eyes void. No expression whatsoever. I searched her face, desperately hoping to see some sign of joy…of recollection…of understanding. Nothing. Her eyes were vacant. She could not speak. She did not move. The reason? My nana had Alzheimer’s disease. It was during this visit that I star...
With western wildfires growing in size and destroying more homes, farms and businesses, there is a need for new tools and approaches. The infernos are spreading so fast they are outstripping our ability to fight them in traditional ways. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Chronicle reported last November: “Over the course of just a few weeks, a major fire can pump more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than California’s many climate change programs can save in 12 months. Scientists debate whether California’s vast forests are emitting more carbo...
Change and rebirth are evident in more than the green buds on the trees in the coulee area. With a bright new coffee shop to hang out in, Colorama around the corner, new educational programs in planning at local schools, and progress made toward raising money for a new school stage curtain, there’s plenty of freshly budding newness to talk about. One other old thing is also new again: a fishing spot once favored by many has re-opened to public access. The rocks near the Third Powerhouse have been off limits since 9/11. But one c...
Are we biased? The short answer is yes – everyone is, like it or not. Our brains categorize people based on what we’ve learned from our family, community, television, social media, and other sources. Our brains, in part, function like a filing cabinet where we store “information” – accurate or not. For example, when I was a kid, I was certain the only way ice water would be cold was if it was stirred with a fork. Yeah, I know, not rational. But my dad always stirred his ice water with a fork, so it had to be true. We do the same thing wit...
For months, my Pacific Northwest congressional colleagues and I have been raising our voices and working on legislation to prevent increasing forced spill at the lower Snake and Columbia River dams from raising electricity rates in our region by $40 million. That forced spill order, the result of a ruling of a single federal judge in Portland, took effect at the beginning of April. Last week, our work resulted in passing bipartisan legislation, H.R. 3144, introduced by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, myself, and members of Congress from the...
I was honored this weekend to spend some time with some truly gifted men and women. I attended a training session put on by First Peoples Fund, in partnership with Northwest Native Development Fund (NNDF). The training was about how to hone your skills and market yourself in a variety of ways. This included budgeting and pricing of your art. But much more was covered, and I found some great people with greater stories. You know many of the names, but how they got to the little NNDF building on a sunny weekend in April is a novel ready to be...
Some politicians, pundits, and lobbyists launched vile attacks on the student survivors of the mass murder at a school in Parkland, Florida. That seems counterintuitive, since we usually exhibit sympathy toward innocent victims. The critics have contended that the students, who are not old enough to vote, have no right to address gun law issues. It has been suggested that the students should learn CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) instead of trying to prevent the need for CPR. It has been suggested that the students are trying to rewrite the...