News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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While taking a walk recently I had the opportunity to visit with my neighbor, Brad McConnell. Brad has lived next to me for nearly five years and this is the most extensive visit we’ve had. As we were talking about travel, he shared his experience in the Statue of Liberty. That’s right, “in” the statue. The Statue of Liberty is probably the most familiar patriotic symbol we have in this country. It is located on Liberty Island with New York City as a backdrop. Brad spent the better part of a day at the statue. A good part of the time, he was...
Native communities are disproportionally impacted by the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls (MMIW). Having engaged with the tribes and law enforcement officers throughout Central Washington; it’s clear they need more resources, assistance, and qualified personnel to safeguard our communities. In response, I introduced the Parity for Tribal Law Enforcement Act to enhance hiring, improve retention, and bolster the effectiveness of tribal law enforcement officers, ultimately leading to safer communities for all. Tribes a...
Several years ago, the Grand Coulee Dam School District decided to fence off its “bus barn” near the baseball field in Coulee Dam due to repeated thefts happening at night. Earlier this month, as city officials gathered at the Delano Transfer Station to learn about their new equipment, a good sized $50,000 wood chipper obtained with a grant, transfer station manager Randy Gumm wondered aloud about the advisability of keeping it there; he’s had a lot of problems with theft. Other city officials from Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam, and Elmer City...
Wind, solar, and other renewable energy projects offer a significant opportunity to revitalize rural communities and diversify the local economy. Increased tax revenue from renewable energy projects enables school districts, cities, and other entities to address local emergency services and infrastructure improvement needs while reducing the local tax burden. Additionally, farmers and landowners can earn additional income through land-lease payments from project developers, and new job opportunities arise during the development, construction,...
Mel Johnson is an oil painter I first met while living in Bothell. I used a framer in Lake Forest Park to frame pictures I liked. Knowing I was a reporter, he said that I ought to do a story about Johnson. He had a couple of Johnson’s paintings hanging in his gallery. They looked interesting so I called Mel and set up a time I could go over to his place and talk with him. That’s when I came to say “experience him,” rather than just meet him. It may seem cruel to say he was strange. But he was strange. It appeared that his paintings reveale...
Sometimes, there’s a gap between what is right and what is legal. Government is good at falling into those. Locally, the four mayors who comprise the Regional Board of Mayors are asking their councils to consider a problem: an Electric City employee at the transfer station whose wages are funded by the RBOM had his long-term wage agreement altered several years ago without his knowledge or consent and is now asking to be made whole on the “longevity pay” increases he didn’t get. Most council members in Elmer City, Grand Coulee and Coulee...
I understand the old “why should I have to if they don’t have to.” I’m talking about the police officers assigned to the USBR. I wouldn’t think they need protection inside the project grounds. Security is for the perimeter. Anyone driving by the blue light house in Coulee Dam must notice that the Grand Coulee police cars don’t seem to leave the house. So why would the officers not assigned to the dam have to leave their house? We have eight officers employed by Grand Coulee. You would think the town would be flooded with officers. But they gi...
The federal debt ceiling crisis was averted but tax cheats benefited. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 contained $79 billion for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS); $45 billion of it was to audit individuals or businesses making over $400,000 dollars annually, to catch those not paying their taxes. Funding cuts for many years rendered the IRS largely unable to audit the wealthy. Currently, the amount in taxes owed but not paid totals nearly $7 trillion over a decade; three-fifths is held by the top 10% of taxpayers, more than one-quarter by...
When we used to return to Southern Idaho to visit my wife’s family, we were usually treated to something special by her brother, Robert Compton. He is still known affectionately as “Uncle Bob.” This particular time we got in his car and headed to Jarbidge, Nevada. We headed down Highway 93 to Rogerson, Idaho, where we turned west on a very questionable road. The road xsxsign said 28 miles to Jarbidge. Jarbidge lies in Elko County, very close to the Idaho line. The road follows a canyon with high mountains around. Soon my brother-in-law turne...
That shaking you feel is not an earthquake. It is our country’s founders rolling in their graves. Here in Florida, on the front burner of the next presidential election, politics is all about how we use the bathroom. At Mar-A-Lago our nation’s secrets are protected by a sign, Top Secret, correction, make that “occupied.” Meanwhile, the Florida governor, who wants to be in charge of all those secrets, has signed a flood of legislation that threatens to block the plumbing. It is now a crime to use the wrong bathroom in Florida. And, accordi...
To supporters of the four Lower Snake River Dams, the latest news that President Biden continues to pursue dam breaching is not shocking, but surprising, considering the growing shortfall in electricity predicted in the western states and his desire to dramatically reduce carbon emissions. Biden’s March 21 announcement started another “Whac-A-Model” game to determine the dams’ future. The news was reported in a Wall Street Journal commentary by Faith Bottum titled “Biden’s Fishy Plan to Bre...
We recently attended the Isle of Flags Memorial Day celebration at Spring Canyon Cemetery. My wife, son and I raised a flag in honor of my father, Sid Roberson, who served in the US Army between the Wars. During my 18 years growing up in the area, I marched in several of the Memorial Day celebrations at Spring Canyon as part of the Boy Scouts. Our hats are off to all those who support this incredible effort. Ben Alling deserves a huge vote of thanks for organizing and doing much of the work. Every detail was taken care of! Between active duty...
Three-day holidays are the worst for people speeding into town. With summer, people are speeding to their favorite campsite. Sixty miles an hour is reckless driving in city limits and against the law. Where are the officers? At city hall. If there, not there, they don’t seem to be anywhere. When vehicles of authority drive by, I ask myself who it is. The only way to tell if it is police or federal government is by the license plates. Why are the new vehicles unmarked? And since when did the feds stop marking their own security vehicles. M...
After the latest reactive management decision from our local GCDSD Board, community and staff members who are furious about the superintendent selection asked me to share their total lack of trust in these elected officials. As someone who has five Raider graduates, loved and fully supported the GCDSD for years, this selfish decision does not surprise me. I just wanted to wait until after the 2023 graduation was over before I shared thoughts that I truly feel are also supported by the majority of community and staff. As taxpayers there is obvio...
If you could, you would end up with someone who has the human characteristics of Colleen Leskinen. Colleen lives a couple of miles out of Nespelem. She was mayor there for 14 years, but if you know her it is probably for her daycare program. Not long ago she applied for and won a state grant to erect a daycare center on her 80-acre farm. She has provided daycare for the area for a number of years, in her home. This fall her new daycare facility will be finished and Colleen will be authorized to provide services for up to 50 children. She...
China’s growing dominance of critical metals production and stockpiles is setting off global alarms. It has American manufacturers in a bind as they ramp up domestic electric vehicle (EV) battery production. Ores containing these elements are in deposits across our planet; however, the technology to process them is largely in China. As the China Communist Party (CCP) under Xi Jinping exerts its leverage, America and its allies are facing global economic and military challenges. China is t...
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a resounding victory for individual property rights for the people of Central Washington and rural America when they unanimously sided with the Sacketts in the Sackett v. EPA case. The decision brings clarity to landowners who have long been burdened by the draconian Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, which cast a cloud of uncertainty over their ability to fully utilize their property. Now, it’s time for the Biden Administration to repeal their flawed and unconstitutional WOTUS rule and f...
I want to give the Grand Coulee Mayor and the City Council members a big THANK YOU for putting in the new playground equipment and especially the basketball court. I drive by the park several times a week and have always seen children playing ball. What a welcome site to see kids outside playing instead of on their cellphones. Having a safe place for kids to have fun has been needed for so many years, and you have made this happen. Families are often stopped there for picnics now, which was not the case previously. It’s a beautiful park and o...
When checking into a motel or hotel have you ever wondered who had stayed in this place? In this country, places seldom reveal who has been there before you, like it would be an invasion of privacy. That’s not true in many places, at least in the Orient. Several places I have stayed in, like Taiwan, Calcutta, and Burma, apparently want you to know that they are visited regularly by the rich and famous. For instance, in Taipei, on the island of Taiwan, they make it a point to let you know who some of their most famous guests have been. The G...
When Oregon enacted the nation’s first bottle bill in 1971, it was intended to reduce litter on the state’s beaches, along roads, and in parks. It was a cleanup, not a recycling program. Today, the focus is recycling empty beer, pop, juice, and water containers and it is working very well, in large part because it pays people to recycle. Collect the “empties” and earn a dime for each plastic bottle or aluminum can. It adds up and often is enough money to supplement purchases of food and gas. Ore...
At home, the kitchen is at the heart of many American households. It’s from where we send our children off to school after cooking breakfast, enjoy delicious meals with family, and come together with friends and neighbors. While the kitchen serves a reliable place to gather, the Biden Administration is setting their sights on removing an unexpected target: gas stoves. In February, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposed an “energy efficiency standard” for gas cooking products — a blatant backdoor attempt to ban gas appliances. Accordi...
Last summer — about July, I’d guess — I got a phone call from Bubba Egbert. I knew Bubba by reputation, but at that point I’d had only one conversation with him when I’d gone to pick up my daughter after a day she spent hanging out with his sons. On the phone he said, “It’s looking like I may coach the football team this year, and I need an assistant coach in the school.” I tried to think of someone quickly — someone else, another teacher. I suggested a couple people, and Bubba hemmed and hawed a little. If I’m honest, I felt a little like I wa...
I was talking to a friend who told me she was pulled over on her ATV and told not to travel between Electric City and Grand Coulee. But it is fine to speed in town. I do not know the braking distance of a 100,000-pound tractor trailer. But judging from the amount of roadkill deer I have pulled out of town with my quad, it’s a long distance, and too frequent. The holidays are coming, and so are the trucks pulling boats and motor homes. Two years ago, I had to drive to Spokane five days a week. I noticed drivers don’t speed through Wilbur, tha...
If you are a basketball fan and have been around the sport for a while, you will know the name. When the Denver Nuggets won over the Lakers the other day, I recalled how I knew him. Dick went to school in Palouse and was part of a trio of lads growing up there, including myself and a boy named Jon Skovlin. Dick had a rich basketball life in Palouse and then four years at Eastern Washington, where he played for Red Reese. He then made his way to Denver, where he was instrumental in starting the Denver Rockets, a pro team that later became the...
All eyes have been on the U.S.-Mexico border in recent weeks as politicians and pundits assess the impact of changing rules for who can enter the United States. But the fixation on the border can distract from a bigger problem: America’s immigration system hasn’t kept up with the times. We need an immigration policy that advances our national interest, one that reflects our needs as well as our values. It should complement and support American foreign policy. It should respond to the current realities of workforce demands and international mig...