News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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As a community, we are facing a significant decision between now and November 8th, Election Day this year. Whether we are willing to admit it or not, the outcome of this decision will affect everyone in our extended community — young and old alike. The result of this community-wide decision will clearly have an impact on the quality of education received by our school-aged children. As voters we must decide whether we will continue to financially support the public schools in the GCDSD area by approving a school levy…or not. The successful edu...
Recent letters to the editor accusing The Star of bias ring hollow to me. After all, the editorial page regularly runs columns by Republican Representative Dan Newhouse and conservative business leaders. Editorial pages are for everyone to express their opinions — including the publisher of The Star. Opinions as to who was the “best” or “worst” President are as varied as there are presidents, and have been around for all 246 years of the republic. All should be respected for what they are — opinions. It’s history that will make the final det...
With Russian President Vladimir Putin cutting off natural gas supplies, Northern Europeans are scrambling and reverting to firewood to heat their homes, boil water and cook. It is rapidly becoming a hedge against skyrocketing energy prices and uncertain fuel supplies. Cuts in shipments of Russian natural gas, used to power electricity grids and heat homes, is the biggest factor driving rates higher. Suddenly, Europeans are facing firewood scarcities and bulging orders for wood furnaces. West Ber...
My boss at the Idaho Statesman in Boise told me when he hired me that when his reporters traveled, they went first class. True to his word, he would always ask me where I was going to stay when assignments took me out of Boise. If he thought of a better place he would ask the lady who made arrangements to change mine. I remember when I was sent to cover the Rose Bowl he changed my hotel accommodations to the Hollywood Hotel, a small but rather luxurious place near Hollywood and Vine. I came to understand that my boss was talking about land...
Wondering why NASA sent a car-sized satellite to crash into an asteroid? Let’s take a look and see why. An “impact event” is when an astronomical object, like an asteroid, causes measurable effects on impact. When an asteroid hits Earth, depending on its size, it will, and they have, caused measurable results to many things, including the weather. Earth is regularly hit by meteoroids, the things we call meteors. Meteors are a meter or less (over 3.3 feet) in size. We see them shooting acros...
I’ve read a few of the recent letters to the editor and there seems to be some confusion on how newspapers function. Yes, one of their roles is to disseminate news and keep their readers apprised of events that may concern the public. These articles typically deliver facts and quotes from the principal players concerning the public matters. The Star seems to thoroughly cover the area in this regard. However, newspapers have an editorial responsibility, as well. Election season, newspapers all over the country come out for or against p...
In the spring of 2022, LR teachers and principal Natalie Kontos sat down and discussed the state of the school, behaviors, and teaching. Major changes were decided upon, and now that there has been several weeks of implementation, the payoffs are becoming evident. Instantly noticeable is the lack of phones in students’ hands. This zero-tolerance policy helps students to be more attentive to teachers, keeps the possibility of cyber bullying or planning violence/vandalism minimized during school hours, and fosters real-life conversations at l...
Why should the vendetta that John Adkins has against the GCDSD Superintendent, negatively affect our children’s education? Your participation in this year’s School Levy is critical to the future of our children. Your voice and support is what will pass this levy – we can’t do it without. Join us for an important School Levy meeting on Thursday, September 29th at 3:45 pm at the High School HUB. Pizza and beverages provided. This meeting is an opportunity to hear the facts about how this levy will benefit our children, our school distric...
Remember LR grad Cade Egbert. I see him from time to time and he always gives me a big smile. Cade was special as an athlete. He may not have been the most talented, but no matter what year you think of, he would be a starter for any of the Raiders past basketball teams. Cade was always exciting to watch and passionate about the game. He was ultra-competitive and fearless, but most importantly he was having fun. I’ve never seen a high school athlete attack the basket as hard as Cade. He would score, draw a charge or be shooting free throws. I...
We all know the role music plays in our lives. Want to raise your spirits? Turn on some music. I have started to hold nightly concerts for my own benefit that can start by 9 p.m. and last until the early hours. I will come back to that in a minute. While living in Bothell years ago, I used to go down to Seattle to an old book and record store — Filippis, no longer in business. In looking through the old 78s, I found a couple of early-day Sons of the Pioneers music. You know, Tumbling Tumbleweeds and such. I bought them along with comedy r...
From September 26 to September 30, we are recognizing National Clean Energy Week, an opportunity to celebrate the clean energy advancements taking place across the country. In Central Washington, we have extra cause to celebrate because we have not only embraced clean energy as a critical part of an all-of-the-above energy portfolio, but we’re leading the country in the use of these technologies. We are home to our state’s largest wind and solar farms, emerging hydrogen technologies, the Pacific Northwest’s only nuclear power plant, and our n...
Rep. Dan Newhouse’s call on this page for the U.S. Senate to pass his Farm Workforce Modernization Act repeats his longtime call for reform, and it’s by most accounts a reasonable and necessary legislation for all the reasons he states in his column on this page. There are factors he doesn’t mention that you might want to know, and I have one question. First, not everyone agrees the bill is a good one. Some farm workers organizations say it would cause hardships on their constituent population and even allow pitting them against one anoth...
A well-deserved thank you to Carl Russell’s article last week. I am so glad someone finally stepped up and made the paper realize how bias it is with their week after weekstupid jabs at Trump and the Republicans. I thought that we as Americans have theright to vote and follow any party we want. Being a Democrat or Republican is one thing, but still attacking Trump is another. Get over it! This newspaper should remain neutral and give insight to what is happening with all parties, and as Carl Russellmentioned, it is not like that, and the S...
We must fix our broken immigration system and combat the rising food costs every single American across the country is facing right now, and we must do it now. Agriculture producers across the country have been facing a labor shortage crisis for years, and recently, it’s only gotten worse. When I served as the Washington State Director of Agriculture, our governor made the decision to deploy prisoners to help pick apples—because there weren’t enough workers to do the job, domestic or foreign. And we’re no better off now than we were then. Curre...
My wife and I lived the first time in the coulee back in 1953-55. I was a lumber grader down at the mill located above the dam. A fellow by the name of Kirkpatick owned 90% of the operation, and a fellow who ran the logging part of the company the other 10%. Logs were floated down the Columbia River to the mill site. With winter coming on, Kirkpatick advised the workers that the mill would shut down until spring. Not wanting to sit idle all winter, I answered an ad in the Spokesman for a grading job in Livingston, Montana. I threw a few things...
There’s an unfortunate trend continuing in Washington and across the nation that must be stopped: the bad behavior of coaches, parents and fans at high school and middle school athletic events. We’ve all seen it: the yelling, harassing, berating, disrespecting and even physically assaulting referees, umpires, and other officials during and after games. And oftentimes, the harassment continues on social media. Perhaps you’ve witnessed it firsthand or even been one of those offenders yourself. Not only is this behavior unacceptable and embar...
We just completed Summer 2022. Before you say, “wait, summer isn’t over yet,” let me remind you there are two ways to look at our seasons. The information here is based on meteorological seasons, not astronomical. Meteorological seasons are based on the annual temperature cycle. On the other hand, Astronomical seasons are based on the position of the sun relative to Earth. Meteorological season are as follows -- Spring is March, April and May. Summer is June, July and August. Fall is Septe...
The Friday night of Labor Day weekend my wife and I both got home very late. Bubba Egbert and the Raiders won their football game and Mrs. A. was very thankful that Jessica Tufts is her assistant cheerleading coach. Bubba and Jessica are LR grads. Lori used to coach Jessica as a cheerleader. Bubba played collegiate football and his expert, leave-it-all-on-the field, no drama style will lead to success for the Raiders. I was returning from the Spokane Tribal Powwow where I saw many local folks. I visited with Soy Redthunder (such a wonderful...
From the time Trump came down the escalator to run for President, 99% of the news media ran very derogatory cartoons of Trump. The Star right along with them. But when he beat the establishment’s chosen one Hillary then the establishment went complete crazy. President Trump was one of the best Presidents in a large percentage of the population view. Yes, his tweets and some comments were not presidential. But remember he was not a politician he was a business man. He made promises and kept them, not like Politicians’ that promise but never do w...
Our oldest son Paul is on Yellowstone Lake on a two-week canoe venture. It is his seventh canoe trip on the lake that lies within Yellowstone National Park. He is alone in a part of the country where there are grizzly bear, moose, elk and deer. At night, while in his tent, he hears wolves howling. He judges these kinds of trips on the benefit, rather than the difficulty. And it defines such trips as being dropped in behind the Brooks Range in Alaska, where there are no roads, only the trails cut in the permafrost by migrating caribou. He was...
President Biden’s student-loan debt forgiveness plan is one of the worst decisions I’ve seen this president make. This debt “forgiveness” would have Robin Hood rolling in his grave—it takes from the poor to give to the rich while making things worse for American taxpayers across the country. Let me be clear: there is no such thing as canceling or “forgiving” student loan debt. This debt will be transferred to hardworking American taxpayers—many of whom did not take out student loans—and will only worsen inflation while rewarding overpriced coll...
The recent suggestion that the area consider forming an emergency medical services district is a good one and could lead to a better service for everyone in the area when help is needed. Local leaders should consider it carefully, openly, and with open minds. They should also be mindful that at its core, the idea may be another attempt at an end run around a fundamental problem this community has always had but never faced constructively: lack of unity, even artificially induced disunity. An EMS district could be a great solution if local fire...
Religious factions which intrude on any government, or pursues the governance of its own nation is a rogue religion. 9/11 is a perfect example of how a religion can be used for its own ends. Let us consider that religion is a calling from God. Whether we acknowledge Him or not, He is our Creator, the Father of all peoples, and as such He has authority over all of us. Yet, it has never been His sovereign intention to force His will upon us, but for everyone to be given the freedom to choose. So that those who would answer His call should do so...
This is a continuation of earlier comments that education in America is not properly funded. I had pointed out that we need to rethink the value of teachers and the way we fund education, teachers included. I read a distressing article the other day that said many of our large cities in the U.S. will have to relocate by the end of the century because they will be unlivable due to climate change. The writer pointed out that regions will get so warm as to make them too hot for people to reside there. What makes this, if true, so distressing, is...
Where does all the money for our county roads come from? You may be surprised to know that, in Lincoln County, only about 15% is generated from property tax revenue that is received from parcels of land in the unincorporated areas of the county. Parcels of land in our towns do not pay property taxes for county roads. About 21% comes from the federal government. Most of this money is for competitive projects that the county has applied for, as well as safety money for guardrails and emergency money for such things as the Porcupine Bay Road...