News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Village Cinema is officially resetting its operations as the Village Cinema Performance, Events & Recreation Center, expanding what we do and how we serve our community. This next chapter opens the door for more than just movies. We’re building a creative, flexible space for performances, events, recreation, and community gatherings and all under one roof. This change allows us to bring even more diverse programming to the area while maintaining compliance with our updated public performance licensing. You’ll continue to see free and aff...
I want to remind our GCDSD upper brass that our schools belong to the community. Community members will continue to question dysfunctional, reactive actions that you make. Intimidation, retaliation or vindictiveness will not be tolerated. GCDSD ballot measures should not be supported when the upper brass continues to show zero responsibility with the funds involved. They need to quit boasting they are good stewards. They only have themselves to blame for the on-going crisis the organization is in. Over time, as I’ve shared thoughts, I’ve nev...
Last week, rumors of a proposal by the Trump Administration to import large quantities of beef from Argentina took the agriculture industry by surprise. The alleged plan suggests the United States will quadruple the amount of beef imported from the South American nation as a means of lowering beef prices for American consumers. While it is no secret beef prices are higher than years past, a decision to import beef from Argentina would be disastrous for American producers. The U.S. is already at a trade imbalance for beef with Argentina. In the...
I was born at the beginning of the Great Depression and survived it. I often write about how I had a good childhood in Palouse where I was born and went to school. I was the fifth of five in our family, four boys and one girl. My next youngest was my brother Bob, who was nearly five years older than me. They were all born in Minneapolis. Our house had a partial basement, with a dirt floor. My Dad was a carpenter, among other skills, and built racks to hold the canning foods my mother prepared that lasted part way through the winter, such as...
I’m proud to share that the 501(c)(3) paperwork came in and officially established the Village Cinema Foundation, a nonprofit I started to help preserve and improve the historic Village Cinema building in Coulee Dam. The Foundation’s focus is preservation, restoration, and capital improvements as a gift to the Town of Coulee Dam and the surrounding communities. Small towns like ours don’t always have the resources for major projects, so I’m working to bring in grants and outside support at no cost to local taxpayers. My first priority is the...
What is stopping me from subscribing to your paper is your editorial page bias. In my view a bunch of crybabies leftist people who spout false news. This side of the Cascades largely consists of Republicans. Surely the exceptions are the colleges. An editorial page should consist of views from both sides. Arlo Roell Editor’s response: The editorial page is at its best when it presents both viewpoints. When readers send letters in that represent them, they get printed....
Dear congressman Dan: Your paid vacation has lasted long enough. Get your lazy butt back to that other Washington and represent us. Oh, release the Epstein files while you are at it. Daniel Wixman...
I started fishing when I was in high school. A few of us would go up to places like Newman Lake, rent a rowboat, and try to troll for trout. Occasionally, we would catch something, but no real rewards. I have had only one successful fishing trip. On a couple of occasions, I caught a salmon on a charter boat, but I mean a real successful fishing trip. I had taken a job consulting for a newspaper owner who was getting her newspaper in Kodiak, Alaska ready to sell. Her receivables and payroll were both out of hand. She had hired some close...
The Pacific Northwest is blessed with strong hydroelectric infrastructure that makes it a prime region to establish a national system for hydrogen production. With over 150 hydroelectric projects producing affordable, reliable, and clean energy, at times we are left with excess hydropower that can be readily available to supply hydrogen projects, which in turn, can fuel heavy transportation and manufacturing projects. In April of this year, I wrote about the importance of the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub and how it will help boost energy and...
Recently, governors Bob Ferguson (Washington) and Tina Kotek (Oregon) asked the federal court to lift a stay (hold) on litigation primarily directed at tearing down the four lower Snake River dams. President Trump’s executive order stopped federal agencies from taking part in litigation. It halted “behind the scenes” efforts to spend billions to tear down Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams. Lately, breaching proponents switched their tactics to federal dam operations that curtail hydroelectric production and incre...
October 27, 1787, the first in a series of eighty-five essays by “Publius,” a pen name used by the real authors, Alexander Hamilton, James Mason and John Jay, appeared in the Independent Journal of New York. Those essays are known as the Federalist Papers. The essays, in part, addressed a widespread concern, that a national government, distanced from the people, would grow despotic (i.e. dictatorial or authoritarian). They eloquently and comprehensively argued that distributing power across the various branches of government provided che...
There is no denying that our schools face challenges. Attendance, achievement gaps, and accountability are real, and we cannot shy away from them. But it is equally true that these challenges are not being ignored. Every day, across our district, dedicated educators and staff are working tirelessly to lift up students and move us forward. Teachers are finding creative and culturally responsive ways to close learning gaps. Paraeducators are in classrooms, side by side with students, offering encouragement and academic support. Administrators...
Happy Indigenous People’s Day, friends. We need you, our allies, friends, and community, to be aware of the strategic and disheartening decision that has landed at the feet of many organizations like NNDF. The current administration has decided to abolish the CDFI Fund. To dismantle the CDFI Fund will have a disastrous domino effect for all of us ... not just for Indian Country, but for small businesses, aspiring and established, on and around Reservations, as well as families that benefit from financial resources provided by organizations like...
Even politically engaged constituents of our Republican US Representative Michael Baumgartner may have been puzzled by his abrupt referral to the “Working Family Tax Cuts” bill in his recent Friday Emails. Weekly since September 19, identical sections began with “As part of the Working Family Tax Cuts bill, applications are now open for states to apply for funding through the Rural Health Transformation Program, a historic $50 billion investment aimed at strengthening rural health care across America.” If you’ve never heard about the “Working...
When Trump ran into trouble during his first term, he reportedly cried out, “Where’s my Roy Cohn?!” Alas, his favorite thug-fixer-lawyer had been dead since 1986 (having perished just six weeks after he was disbarred for fraud). Nobody in Trump’s embattled orbit was qualified to pick up the torch and run with Cohn’s credo, which, was quite simple: If they hit ya hard, hit ‘em back twice as hard. Back in the day, Trump told the press, “If you need someone to get vicious toward an opponent, you get Roy.” Now he has Cohn 2.0, courtesy of slavish s...
Anyone following state news lately may have observed the following “bridge events”: 1) SR 165 has been closed permanently at the Fairfax bridge over the Carbon River due to bridge support failure. This has closed the northwest entry into Mt. Rainier National Park. 2) The bridge on SR 410 between Buckley and Enumclaw has been closed for bridge truss repair after a Vac Truck struck the bridge. 3) The SR 169 bridge over the Green River gorge area between Maple Valley and Enumclaw has been closed for girder repair. The latter two have resulted in...
Every time I turn on the news, I hear that nothing gets done in America because “we’re so divided.” Meanwhile, I have neighbors, family members, and friends of all political persuasions, and we are perfectly able to collaborate and communicate. Blaming division in the country sounds like BS to me. That line gets repeated so often it’s practically a lullaby; soothing, familiar, and completely misleading. Yes, Americans are entitled to disagree. That disagreement is part of the dynamism of this American experiment. It’s precisely why we elect...
We had a family gathering this past week and the topic became my wife’s recipe for chocolate frosting. Among scores of recipes my wife kept in a steel box was the frosting recipe that was on family’s minds. My oldest daughter, Kathy, took the recipe box to type up a number of recipes and see to it that the entire family got copies. It took her some time to do it because the recipes were handwritten. The chocolate frosting recipe was among them. When we had family gatherings my wife would always bake a chocolate cake and make the frosting. Som...
Politicians have been lying since the dawn of our formerly vibrant democracy. Random examples abound. John Adams and his pamphleteering surrogates said that Thomas Jefferson if elected would shut down all the churches. JFK tried to pump up his anti-Soviet credentials by inveighing against a Republican-created “missile gap” that in truth did not exist. Bill Clinton said, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” But nothing in our history can compete with the industrial strength lies that emanate with fascistic discipl...
I tip my hat to a job well done by Kelly and her entourage who make the Run the Dam so successful each year. They make a complex task seem simple. Our local prep talent Caden Portch won the 5K race with family members in tow. I’m not sure how Randy Spotts and Rick King passed through security. Locals tell me they see me running. I appreciate their kind words, but let’s get real, at best it is not even a jog. It is an old-man trot. I’ve had people walk past me — embarrassing! Recently, a girl and her little brother with training wheels on his bi...
As we barrel towards a government shutdown due to Senate Democrats’ refusal to pass a clean continuing resolution (CR), essential programs and services here in Central Washington are now at risk. Congress has the responsibility under our Constitution to fund the federal government, and allowing a shutdown is a disservice to the American people. If the government shuts down, farmers and ranchers in the Methow and Yakima Valleys will lose access to Farm Service Agency employees due to furlough. Farm operating loans, conservation and crop d...
From the Star Archives – October 5, 1950, Safeway Building gets Paint Coating – “Painting of the exterior of the new Safeway building west of the city hall in Grand Coulee is now completed, and work of installing the display cases and interior fixtures is in progress. The grocery firm expects to have the new establishment ready for opening within a few weeks, and plans are underway to make the opening event a gala occasion.” Source(s): The Star Archives Compiled by Bob Valen...
Having good neighbors makes me a very lucky person. Across the street I have the “Dahlia Lady,” Denise Anderson. While writing this I am looking at the prettiest bouquet of flowers you can imagine. Every few days Denise brings over a beautiful array of flowers. She is certainly the “Dahlia Queen” of the city. Well, make it the state. This has been going on for years. The flower’s pollen is a problem for her to keep the flowers in her own home. So, no problem here. She will walk the dahlias over a couple of times a week. I almost always ha...
The mood of the nation is ugly and getting worse. Deadly violence from guns, knives, fire-bombings and vehicles is rising. Social media is toxic. Things have to change for all of our sake. The tone of the discourse is hateful. For those of us who started as journalists in the late 1960s, we are left wondering if public trust can be restored and civility is again possible. Over the last 40 years our family has vacationed at the same place on the beach. While the buildings have been refurbished, the complex is still largely unchanged. As long as...
The assassination of Charlie Kirk is a tragedy and part of a horrifying wave of political violence in America. Kirk was a husband and father of two small children. He was revered by numerous conservative college students. One could be hard pressed to name many conservative political personalities in America who were more well-known or popular on the right, especially among younger people. When I first heard the news, I was shocked. This is a person who was not a family member, relative, close, personal friend, or anyone whom I knew personally....