News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Congress is responsible for funding our country, and we have some difficult decisions to make. I came to Washington D.C. to advocate for the priorities of my constituents, and I have heard loud and clear that the people of Central Washington want to ensure we aren’t further saddling our future generations with crippling debt. The Budget Control Act (BCA) set spending caps for Congress to abide by. Under this law, if the spending caps are exceeded, a government-wide sequester of both mandatory and discretionary funding would occur. This would me...
For decades, Big Pharma has raised drug prices with impunity. Here in Washington state, the average annual cost of brand name prescription drug treatment increased 58% between 2012 and 2017, while the annual income for Washingtonians increased only 9.9%. Prescription drugs don’t work if patients can’t afford them. That’s why the Senate needs to pass the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act when they return from August recess. It’s time. We thank Sen. Cantwell for her support of this bipartisan bill in the Senate Finance Committee. We urge...
In this issue we welcome back the latest iteration of Them Dam Writers, a group that has sought to provide local history to local people for decades. The column in the lower right corner of this page will, several times a month, present you with a photograph along with text explaining its significance. These days, the group is more far-flung than in its most recent past, with a couple of its members writing from Coulee City or another state. Nevertheless, they share an enthusiasm for local history. We hope our readers benefit from their...
We have two kinds of water problems: too much and not enough. The oceans cover 70 percent of our planet, and they contain 97 percent of the water on Earth. Samuel Coleridge in the Rime of the Ancient Mariner: “Water, water every where, Nor any drop to drink.” The remaining 3 percent is freshwater (no salt), and approximately 69 percent of that freshwater is ice at the South Pole (Antarctica) and the Greenland Ice Sheet. The remaining fraction of freshwater provides life to all of the vegetation and animal life that requires freshwater. The wat...
In oil rich West Texas, shale producers and pipeline owner Williams Co. are fighting over whether new “burning off of natural gas” permits should be approved. It is a battle between companies which are usually aligned. Flaring happens primarily when there is insufficient pipeline capacity to carry natural gas from wellheads to natural gas markets. Allowing the gas to build up at the derrick is a serious safety risk. Even though Williams already has an extensive pipeline network in western Tex...
Every once in a while, an opportunity walks down the street, looks you in the face and extends a hand. A pivotal moment looks upon you and smiles. This is when making the wrong choice can be detrimental to your future, to someone else’s or to someone watching. An opportunity also can wear many different hats and look very differently. It could be a word of advice, an employment change, a chance to spend time with someone or to have dinner with interesting people. There are many other faces of o...
The first train to Grand Coulee was a momentous occasion, as it marked the beginning of serious construction on the dam. The 30 mile line was to be built by the mighty Northern Pacific Railway, which had a branch that ended in Coulee City. They wanted exclusive rights to haul all construction supplies to the dam by rail, at which the U.S. government balked. A private contractor built the line instead, connecting to the NP at Coulee City. Over two million pounds of cement were hauled in,...
Last week, the House of Representatives voted on the Raise the Wage Act, which would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, despite warnings from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office that this would result in the loss of nearly 4 million American jobs. In Washington state, we have already seen how mandating a higher minimum wage is negatively affecting our economy. With a state-wide minimum wage of $12 per hour, Washington mandates one of the highest rates in the country, and it will increase by another $1.50 in Janua...
I’d like to thank Officer Jordan for making my day Thursday, July 18. I know I’m always dropping brain cells along the road; however, I never thought I’d drop my wallet. Officer Jordan delivers my wallet to me before I even knew I had lost it. Awesome! I would have spent years trying to remember where I had placed that thing. Disaster averted! My remaining brain cells are smiling. A BIG THANKS to Officer Jordan and to all of our local police and emergency responders for doing what you do!! Gary Martin...
I am a lousy fisherman, getting boxed out, except one time. That was out of Kodiak, Alaska, fishing for halibut. I was on a charter boat that had twin engines and a lot of speed. We were 50 miles out, where the skipper said that the area had a good halibut bed. I was in Alaska to assist the owner of the Kodiak newspaper in preparing her property for sale, and every weekend she set me up with a new experience. The skipper of this experience had a boatload of people and had prepared all the poles for each of us. He explained that landing a...
As every young man already knows, poop is a regular subject matter in conversation. All chats with friends eventually turn to the poop subject. It happens with daddies too. Insert clever pun here: “That’s a crappy conversation,” or “That’s a lot of crap.” There, we got that out of the way, now we can get serious about the subject. In nature, all living things poop. Plain and simple. Pretty much anything that eats, must get rid of it somehow. That’s the way we were all designed from the whale to...
You can only milk a cow, or an asset, for so long before you have to put something back in. Cities and towns, whose elected officials feel the pain of their tax- and rate-payers, eventually get forced to deal with that problem. Local cities are no different. Currently, Coulee Dam has had its share of struggles with an added historical burden that makes the pain seem worse. A case in point came to the fore briefly at last Wednesday’s city council meeting. The Community Building, that concrete edifice which houses the Melody Restaurant, R...
It seems we are stumbling along with a mix of Spring and Summer weather. Cloudy days, spats of rain and temperatures going up and down. We’ll get to the June weather data later. Many scientists said one could not extract centuries-old El Niño weather events from Tropical Pacific Coral Reefs – it just couldn’t be done. Well, for some scientists when a problem is posed, they move ahead with innovative techniques and find an answer to the problem. Down Australia way, a group of scientists have p...
On Friday, a very special lady will celebrate her ??th birthday. I am smart enough to not put the actual digits in the paper for everyone to see. That would lead to me never having another birthday myself. As we come to the big day, I dream of what I would do for her if money were no object. So here is what I would do for my lovely bride if the keys to the treasure room were ours. Easy enough to start with the basics: new car, dream home and trips, but those would be boring. So let’s assume s...
One of Congress’ most important Constitutional responsibilities is providing for our military and national defense. For the past 58 years, this has been a bipartisan affair. Members of the House and Senate from both sides of the aisle have come together to pass a bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that provides for our military and troops who fight to protect and defend us. Last week, instead of voting on a bill that would ensure our troops have the resources they need and deserve, the House of Representatives voted on the D...
Nice editorial, Rog, excellent in fact! The Wilbur Geezer letter too. Is anyone forwarding/sending these to Newhouse and our Senators? Are any of the Geezers writing our reps in Congress? If not, maybe you should post their addresses in your next editorial, and suggest all affected and interested folks drop our reps a line. Ken McDowell Editor’s response: The man behind the petition drive earlier said he has sent all his information to Reps. Newhouse and McMorris Rogers of Washington’s 4th and 5th Congressional Districts. But here is their con...
Sometimes new friends can result in strange gifts. I was in Vietnam just after the Tet offensive in 1968, partially to pry about the war and to visit parents of students I had met at the University of Washington. I had visited one set of parents two days earlier, only to have them come to the hotel I was staying in to ask me to come to their house that evening. They said they had someone they wanted me to meet. I went to their house and met a medical doctor who had been held captive by the Viet Cong for four years. He was finally able to...
I like to take pictures. A lot of you know that, and I don’t get out as much as I like to. I especially like to take pictures of birds, second, only recently, to taking pictures of my granddaughter. Karrie and I have been traveling a lot back and forth to different places depending on where our creator calls us and during these trips we are always looking for a photo opportunity from our feathered or furry friends. I also am addicted to bird cams on YouTube. I have been watching the nesting proc...
What happens in China, doesn’t always stay in China. In fact, when it comes to tough new garbage and recycling restrictions, they may migrate elsewhere sooner than you might think. For example, Shanghai is one of the world’s largest cities with 26.9 million people. It is suffocating under mountains of trash its residents generate daily. It lacks an effective recycling and disposal system. “Instead, it has trash pickers to sift through the waste, plucking out whatever can be reused,” The Economi...
The next time you tee up your ball at Banks Lake Golf Course, take a second and say a word of thanks to the three Port District commissioners who made it possible. The three, Jim Keene, Gary Haag and Leonard Sanders, deserve some kind of award for how they see the Port District’s obligation to serve the public. Commission President Jim Keene said it nicely when he stated: “The golf course is an important part of our community.” The commissioners have run the course for the past several years, the last two profitably. The Port District poure...
The action at Geezer Beach might be viewed as a deliberate provocation. Tyranny should be opposed at any level. The incremental erosion of personal freedom extends to every citizen. The apparent disregard for public opinion by the bureau creates an adversarial climate. Consider the childlike argument put forth in recent press releases. It begs the question, how many adults occupy positions at the bureau? At some level of authority someone should be able to effect a compromise or rescind the decision. At the very least, somebody should attempt...
Sometimes you just must get in the car and go. Well, if I’m honest, we had business to tend to in Vancouver, Washington, but Karrie had not been since she was a kid and I had never been. As we traveled down the road, we soon were seeing country we had never seen, and it was beautiful and breathtaking, especially along the Oregon and Washington border as we traveled along the Columbia River. A thought popped through my head once that this water had once seen the Grand Coulee Dam and was now h...
This Fourth of July, America will celebrate its 243rdbirthday. Our country has come a long way since 1776, and there is still more progress to be made. Our independence and our patriotism are what set the United States apart from the rest of the world, and we have a lot to be thankful for. As we gather with our family and friends to celebrate our freedom, we should also celebrate some of our nation’s finest treasures: our national parks and public lands. Washington state is fortunate to be home to 15 National Park Service (NPS) parks, which g...
Did you listen to Smokey the Bear? He wasn’t just talking to children; he was talking to you there, mister, flicking your cigarette ashes out of the car, lighting fireworks to enjoy their exploding lights and sounds, mowing the lawn because it needs mowing. I think many Americans have a bit of fire-related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the fires in recent years. Has anyone else been on evacuation notice recently? Has anyone else had a vacation marred by smoke? Decided not to go out on the boat because you couldn’t breath? Felt like lockin...
The stated reasons for banning vehicles from geezer beach seem devoid of logic and common sense. The implication is that geezers and geezeretts are hopeless, bumbling, incompetents who need to be protected from themselves. Geezers typically didn’t require government supervision to acquire longevity. They don’t need or want some faceless bureaucrat to be their defacto mommy. Most elderly citizens are well-defined individuals who have successfully navigated through obstacles and adversity for many decades. They have demonstrated sel...