News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
Sorted by date Results 330 - 354 of 3557
When reading Roger S. Lucas’ column of June 19, I was concerned about his use of the term ‘Eskimo.’ Having lived in Alaska for about 40 years I learned that many (though not all) indigenous Alaskans view the term as racist. Though the origin of the word is still in question, isn’t it better to avoid using it, just as ‘squaw’ is no longer used? Having worked for the Anchorage Daily News for most of those years (as a graphic designer, page designer and illustrator) I understand the daily challenges of editing, but this one I couldn’t le...
Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu won’t let anything stop their abhorrent killing of innocent civilians. Putin justifies massacring Ukrainians by gross disinformation. Netanyahu justifies annihilating Palestinians by Hamas’s horrific October 7 attack which, of course, deserved strong response. Any chance of stopping the two will probably have to happen internally. Internal resistance to Adolf Hitler’s atrocities was exemplified by world-renown German Christian Dietrich Bonhoeffer who felt God’s calling to help assassinate Hitler. Author...
It used to be that if you wanted to get the government’s help all you had to do was call U.S. Senators Warren Magnuson or Scoop Jackson. I did on numerous occasions, and they came through. A lawyer friend in Bothell had sponsored a Chinese couple and the man’s wife developed problems with her immigration status. She was born in Mainland China and fell under a different quota status. When my lawyer friend learned that I was going to be in Hong Kong, he asked me to check at the U.S. Consulate there and see what I could learn about her cur...
It was June 27, 1844, when a young man (aged 38) was running for president of the United States. His name was Joseph Smith, Jr. Many historians falsely attribute his slaying to his stance on plural marriage (polygamy). While that was a part of it, it was by no means the real causation. This was some 16 years before Abraham Lincoln’s platform. Smith had his own plan for buying the freedom of slaves. He advocated religious freedom, sound money in gold or silver, and the proper education of schoolchildren. Brigham Young and other apostles of t...
Between late nights attending Appropriations Committee markups, working to prevent the Chinese Communist Party from purchasing American land, and voting to fully fund our veterans’ programs, the past few months in Washington, D.C. have been quite busy. That is why, when the legislative calendar permitted me to get back to Central Washington last week, I was especially looking forward to coming home. While home, I visited with residents, local groups, and businesses and discussed some of the great things going on as well as some of the unique c...
Our country is at its best when we are united. After a decade of hardship during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when Americans were hoping for some relief, the Axis powers launched World War Two. America quickly ceased production of consumer goods and started producing war materiel. According to the U.S. Defense Department, there were about three million automobiles produced in the U.S. in 1940. During the remainder of the war, until August 1945, only an additional 139 automobiles were produced for civilian use. Automobile tires were ration...
Two stories in The Star this week revolve around a problem central to not only the Grand Coulee Dam area, but to the nation as a whole: housing shortages. More than any other problem, a lack of good housing is the biggest impediment the local area faces to economic development. Two proposals — Coulee Medical Center’s tiny homes project and the Center Senior Living initiative — would address different aspects of this similar problem. All the largest employers in the area deal with a lack of housing when recruiting workers to come here. The B...
Here is the rest of the story on those stupid traffic lights. Up to eight years ago, The Star newspaper ran an article stating that the city was going to purchase traffic control lighting for the city limits on SR-174, and they did. At that time, I remember having a conversation with the then mayor. I said there was no way I would ever get the lights and really figured they would go to the hospital. The only response was, oh no they won’t. Now eight years later, with the snap of a finger, they pop up on Main Street. If the mayor had the p...
My son Paul is a month into a five-month trip to Alaska. He called Sunday from a small campsite near Prudhoe Bay, where you can get to the gate but you can’t get in unless you have a permit or work there. There are about 2,000 workers at the oil site, mostly Eskimos who reside in nearby villages. The oil-and-gas site is expansive and the living quarters are huge, allowing for an influx of temporary workers. It is claimed that the oil companies are highly sensitive to environmental issues since the big Exxon Valdez oil tanker issue in 1989. A n...
Here’s a story that is growing bigger by the day: Cyber scams are on the rise. My elderly family member fell for a common scam a few weeks ago: His screen appeared to be locked by “Microsoft” and he was urged to call the number the phony security alert displayed. If you call that fake number, a fake Microsoft representative will ask you to provide access to your computer, so he can steal sensitive data or download malicious apps. To be sure, in the digital era in which we all now live 24/7, you must assume that every email, text and phone call...
The departure of a local volunteer board member this week (see her letter on this page) underscores for us an emerging trend that is the direct result of the onslaught of social media’s encouragement of extremes online that affect our real world for the worse. Social media’s expert finesse at manipulating humans’ innate physiological reactions to emotional stimuli was a subject of one part of the meeting of the Grand Coulee Dam School District Board of Directors Monday exploring ways to control student cell phone usage. Social media sites...
To the students offended by my actions after the board meeting regarding their classmates not allowed to walk in the LR graduation: As you can imagine this was very hard on all of us and coming to this decision had me heartbroken for all the families of the students not allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony. In the meeting I spoke on how it’s unfair to be placed in this position at all and how the blame fell on our shoulders in their eyes. When the meeting was over I approached a scene where another board member was being c...
My parents were of the “Greatest Generation”: Dad served in the Army Air Corps in the European Theatre, and Mom was a defense worker. They had grown up in the Great Depression, which was a time of political division and grinding poverty. There was a populist element in the country that wanted the United States to be isolationist, led by the heroic pilot Charles Lindburg. Industrialist Henry Ford was a quiet supporter of Adolph Hilter. A Catholic priest named Father Edward Coughlin had a huge national radio audience where he spewed ant...
Oh-K, I’m sorry. I should not have made everybody read my smarty mouth letters. I was really looking for a targeted reader. This huge pile of concrete has sat for years, I know the project had no plans to deal with this eyesore. I am not so naïve to think my letters would change their minds. Fact, nobody likes to be reminded of their obligations. Now they are really not going to look into this mess. This is pretty much what I figured would happen. My target readers list should be a superintendent or someone in upper management. So as Paul Ha...
Dreams did come true for Colleen Leskinen of Nespelem. Last week Colleen had an open house for her new daycare center. The daycare, just 50 yards from Colleen’s house, will be fully operable when state licensing officials make their official visit and signoff on the 2,400 square foot daycare building. Colleen is licensed for 35 children. She currently has 28. Building a new facility has long been a dream of Colleen’s. Her dream has come true. Her home and new daycare building is at the end of a long lane. If her dog Duke doesn’t announce your...
It’s not always clear who is going to learn what or when as consequences come down after rules are broken. But one possibility this week is that the community is learning to draw a meaningful line. Four students, by all accounts good ones, will suffer the consequences of breaking rules against alcohol at school functions and contrary to their own pledges: They won’t be allowed to walk at graduation this Saturday. Following two executive sessions, appeals from each of the four, and more appeals from some 30 or so of their supporters Tuesday nig...
Last Friday I received a phone call from Wir Smith, the adopted son of the late Dr. Pat Smith. I knew of Wir and his older brother Det from my trips to Vietnam in the period between 1968-1970. I had read about Dr. Smith in an article in the Seattle Times. She graduated from the UW School of Medicine and responded to a challenge to go to Vietnam and open a hospital in the Central Highlands. That was in the 1950s. It was not known at the time that in a few years there would be a war in the area. The article told of a group in the Seattle area tha...
We recently celebrated Memorial Day, a time of remembrance of those brave Americans who gave their lives to promote and protect the right of men everywhere to live free and responsibly in peace. My own Dad served in the army in Hawaii after the bombing of Pearl Harbor which began the Pacific campaign of WWII. We became a nation defending two fronts, one in the Pacific and the other in Europe where we joined forces with Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union against a truly deranged despot named Adolph Hitler. Had the Allies lost that war, o...
Every year on Memorial Day, a few citizens go to great effort to put on a tremendous display of patriotism to honor and remember those veterans who have passed on, dedicating new flags to those whose families wish to have them remembered with one. More than 600 American flags were flapping gently in the breeze Monday as speakers shared their thoughts on the day, and also during a moment of silence, which was a beautiful moment. It also meant volunteers put up and took down 600-plus flags, no easy task. But it is one that yields the kind of...
I’ve always been a simple person who needs very little to be happy. My first date with my partner was over 50 years ago. We talk about how if we had nothing but our family, would we be alright? We realize without a doubt we’d be just fine. We are all about quality relationships and being passionate about life and what we enjoy. With these thoughts in mind, we were very excited to be in Yakima this past weekend to cheer on our Raider teams’ athletes and coaches. Last spring after state softball was over, I told the head coach, Jaci Gross, to ke...
Service people catch the brunt of angry people. They have to take it out on somebody, I guess. You constantly read of incidents of anger interrupting airline travel. Usually, it is some small inconvenience brought on by someone who is having a very bad day. Incidents that you read about would have been unheard of in travel 50 years ago. I have traveled a lot, flying all over, and I never saw anger that you read about today. Airlines need to develop a D.B. Cooper drop from 30,000 feet to cool off some of these characters. Airline attendants are...
On Memorial Day, we traditionally honor Americans in our military who gave their lives in battle for our country. It is called the “Ultimate Sacrifice,” and they died protecting our freedoms and keeping us safe. In recent times, we have acknowledged our citizens in uniform who continue to suffer with permanent combat emotional and physical scars. They are alive largely because our battlefield survival is dramatically improving, and our accompanying rehabilitation expands. This Memorial Day we...
As many of you know, Central Washington is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world. From Sunnyside to Okanogan, our hardworking producers provide the food for our nation, and the world. Central Washington is currently the top producer of many agricultural products, including potatoes, tree fruit, berries, wheat, and various types of livestock and poultry. This success resulted in over $7.29 billion in sales in Washington’s 4th Congressional District alone in 2022. This is due to the over 7,890 farms across Central W...
Last Saturday was my 34th Colorama Parade. I will likely remember this one more than the rest. I had sat at my vantage point for over an hour before the parade started. It was really hot out. Just as the first part of the parade reached my location the heat got to me and I passed out. This is really about our local healthcare providers and how they help us when we have problems. On the scene almost immediately was Rick Paris and his ambulance crew. While I wasn’t tuned in to much, I remember how pleased I was that Paris was on the scene. I h...
I am the first to admit when I’m wrong. A city employee and I had a talk. He informed me that the concrete (see “Let’s try common sense on illegal dump” in May 8 issue) was not from the city road project, but from a private party. He knows who but doesn’t want to get in volved. So, my apologies to the city. But I still wish it would get cleaned up! Robert Fields...