News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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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...
This community can be counted on to step up to address a need, but we don’t always know about them. This week, the Rotary club of which I am a member is pointing one out that has gone unmet for a very long time. Those of you who have lived in the community for a long time may remember when the old community theatrical troupe, The Planet Earth Players, put on the musical “Oklahoma,” decades ago. The curtain in the high school gym was very old then, and it’s a lot older now. Embarrassingly old. But it’s never been an immediate need. Kids don...
Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate, the late Elie Wiesel, once said of that horrific state-sponsored genocide that, “to forget the victims means to kill them a second time. So I couldn’t prevent the first death. I surely must be capable of saving them from a second death.” The world-renowned author sought to prevent victims from being forgotten through writing many books on the persecution through his experience and by helping establish the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Wiesel’s words underscore the gravity of the dut...
Millions of college graduates find themselves saddled with crushing debt, and more than a third of them won’t be working in their chosen profession. Many will be working for low wages. Meanwhile, millions of high-paid jobs are available in the skilled trades – electricians, plumbers, manufacturing workers, pipefitters, mechanics, appliance repair, computer techs, medical assistants and welders. Known as blue collar jobs, they routinely pay $45,000 to $65,000 a year or more. According to Salary.com, the average heavy equipment operator in Sea...
Sometimes life just happens. That was the summary of my sit-down chat with this powerful young lady getting ready to walk the stage and get her diploma at Lake Roosevelt. Alyssa Hobrecht-Flores is ready, and if her life to this point has taught her anything, it is that she can conquer it all. Here is a little bit more of my emotion-filled conversation that covered many areas with Ms. Hobrecht-Flores. Senior years have a reputation of being stress filled and fast paced. So when I asked Alyssa...
American narcissism-exceptionalism is the most habitual exporter of terror around the globe by the cruelties out of Congress and the White house. Exports of military arms and environmental poisoning of foreign Peoples and their lands creates collateral damage by destroying those Peoples’ ways of life. Yemen, Syria, Honduras, Venezuela, Brazil, Columbia, Guatemala, the former Czechoslovakia, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Palestine, Okinawa, Philippines, Standing Rock, Alberta Tar Sands, Canada declaring Sinixt Peoples extinct — all have been targets of...
In 2016, alone, 15.4 million Americans suffered the loss of approximately $16 billion due to identity theft. One way to protect yourself from identity theft is to destroy, through shredding, unneeded paper records and files that contain your valuable personal information. “What should I shred?” According to the Washington State Attorney General’s website: “In short, destroy all sensitive information including junk mail and paperwork that includes account numbers, birth dates, passwords, PINs, signatures and Social Security Numbers.” “How do w...
The song “I Can Only Imagine,” by MercyMe, has been a family favorite since it first came out. I have vivid memories of this song and the lyrics cut me to the core every time I hear it. Such powerful words that make you put yourself inside the music and visualize yourself in the song’s summary. It causes you to imagine yourself in that very setting. This song was one of my best friend, Frank Sieker’s, favorite songs, as well. A family friend sang this song at Frank’s wedding, and there is...
President Trump campaigned on cutting taxes, streamlining regulations and improving infrastructure. He also vowed to renegotiate our trade agreements, calling the North American Free Trade Agreement “the worst deal ever made.” On his first day in office, he signed an executive order aimed at reducing regulations and controlling regulatory costs. However, revamping our vast web of federal rules is much easier said than done. It is even more difficult when state and local rules are considered. The cost of regulations is a key American com...
Two months ago, my big brother, George Davis III, was hospitalized and diagnosed with Leukemia. This was a huge shock to our family and all his friends. I always saw my big brother as invincible; you could hit him in the head with a two-by-four and it wouldn’t slow him down. Then all of the sudden, he got slowed way down by something invisible to the naked eye. I wanted to do something to help. I knew George and his wife would be in need financially, so I decided to hold a benefit dinner for him. This past Saturday, the dinner was held at T...
In 1965 I got a job in California. Five months later, some new friends asked this Idaho country boy to go hunting with them in the Sierras on one guy’s family ranch, where I had to show three of them how to load their rifles. There were some very close calls. The same gun laws that kept people safe in Idaho didn’t even come close in California. I somehow survived, and this was among friends. Forty years later I strapped on a pistol for a walk in the woods. A visiting granddaughter started yelling “Gun! Gun! Gun!” What a wake-up call! Even in...
This letter is to address several false and erroneous statements in a guest column in your paper by Jack Stevenson regarding the AR-15 rifle. The AR-15 has been called “America’s most popular rifle” and there are somewhere between 5-10 million in existence in the U.S. It is a box-magazine-fed, semi-automatic rifle. The box detachable magazine was patented in 1864; the first successful design semi-auto rifle was designed in 1895; the AR-15 was designed by ArmaLite in 1956; so nothing about the box-magazine-fed, semi-auto AR-15 rifle is new....