Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Sorted by date Results 1582 - 1606 of 1962
To the Editor: What a wonderful way to celebrate Thanksgiving, in the midst of old friends and new friends made at the celebration at the Old Town Hall on Thanksgiving Day. I must say that Lise Ott and her “crew of many” did an excellent job, as they did last year, and I’m grateful for that. Not just for the food, not having to cook, serve or clean the mess is a big plus, but the dinner blessing, decorations, laughter, after-dinner games etc., etc., etc. In the wake of “problems” in our small community, it was just a pleasur...
Faithful letter writer Gerald Ray sent us two missives this week, so we have combined the two dealing with items currently in the news. 1) Our county is experiencing a severe drought that has seen cattleman reducing their herds because of a shortage of feed. They are watching in disbelief as California ships hay to China. China’s diet has changed and they have millions of cows that do not have enough pasture. Alfalfa exports to China have ballooned to an estimated 380,000 metric tons in 2012 from 2,320 metric tons in 2007. O...
Byron Behne watches the grain markets for the Odessa Union Warehouse. 11/26/12: Prices haven’t moved very much in the last week, as exports for corn and wheat remain poor, while soybeans are flying off the shelf. Winter wheat condition scores in the Great Plains continue to suffer with poor emergence due to continued affects from this summer’s drought. The security workers’ union reached a settlement with the Port of Portland, averting a 11/25 strike. However, grain handlers still do not have a deal with the Longs...
The Journal called it a knife edge election. It should have been (this is a divided nation). This was the last chance for the conservatives to elect a president with a Caucasian vote. This should be a wake-up call to the pompous Republicans who convinced Romney that you could insult 47% of our population and still get elected by looking Presidential. President Obama started the down and dirty race on the east coast and the Romney-Ryan ticket decided they should stay above that until it was too late. The facts were there and...
Byron Behne watches the grain markets for the Odessa Union Warehouse. 11/14/12: Wednesday was quiet compared to the big drops suffered in the previous few sessions, as Chicago futures lost two cents and soft white remained unchanged. Basically it’s been the negative momentum from Friday’s bearish supply-and-demand report, combined with general financial market turmoil that is doing all the damage. Expect things to remain unsettled while exports remain poor. 11/16/12: It wasn’t a very pretty end to the week as export sales...
A new study out of New Zealand shows individuals who started smoking pot in their early teens and who quit by their 18th birthday, 20 years later that their IQ was 7-8% lower than the mean, which means where median is 50 they have dropped to 29. People who smoke marijuana lose their initiative and drive. You become self-centered and interested primarily in yourself. Ambition is out the window. The drug can stay in your body for 30 days. Lingering affects can last for weeks. After euphoria wears off, depression is liable to...
I have an elderly aunt who was diagnosed with breast cancer many years ago. She was treated and remained cancer-free for years. But I also had a next-door neighbor who got the same diagnosis. She was treated, but succumbed to the disease not too long after. My experience is not unique. Those of us who have been around the block a few times know people who have survived breast cancer and people who have died from it. Why the differences in results from person to person? Part...
I feel funny today. By that, I actually mean that I don’t feel funny today. I can’t think of a single entertaining thing to say. It’s possible that a serious over-commitment of time on my part has something to do with it. Can you hear my theme song playing quietly in the background yet? Oh, yes, there it is, “I’m just a girl who can’t say no . . .” Of course I can. I just don’t want to. I apparently get some kind of sick satisfaction from being overwhelmed with responsibi...
Among the reactions to the November 6 elections, the most common among conservatives might be shock. That very fact might indicate that too many of us have been living in an echo chamber, reassuring each other about our mutually-held convictions without listening to those who are, at best, ambivalent about conservativism. For example, Mitt Romney’s message of economic freedom, utterly persuasive to the conservative ear, was unconvincing to members of a powerful new demographic who cast their votes overwhelmingly for Barack Ob...
Thank God. I mean that most sincerely, and it’s an appropriate sentiment to be sandwiched between Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving. I’m actually grateful more often than that, usually every day, but I am compelled to share my joy that the blankety-blank elections are over. No more phone calls from Mitt, Newt, state or national parties. No more hiding from the incessant political talk shows on TV. Or at least that’s what I thought. I appear to be something of an innocent in thes...
Byron Behne watches the grain markets for the Odessa Union Warehouse. 11/8/12: There’s another monthly supply-and-demand report out tomorrow, and it seems like it will be hard to be anything but bearish. Wheat and corn exports have been coming in far below what we need on a weekly basis to meet the USDA’s projections as buyers seem to be sourcing from everyone but the U.S. for the time being. World wheat prices have risen during the week, which has given a boost to prices here. However, we’ll need increased demand to make...
If you think the government is penalizing – or is it taxing? – people for not buying health insurance is bad, at least there are health insurance companies actually selling coverage. By contrast, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fined oil refiners $6.8 million last year for not incorporating cellulosic ethanol in gasoline – even though the product doesn’t exist. That’s right. As bizarre as it sounds, the New York Times reports that oil refiners were required to blend 6.6 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol ...
Thanksgiving is much more than a big meal with family and friends. It’s a time to reflect on, and be thankful for, all of the good things you have. Even with all of the uncertainty and turmoil in the world, you have so much to be thankful for. It’s important to be grateful, not just on Thanksgiving, but each and every day. Rather than lamenting what you feel is lacking in your life, begin each new day by developing an attitude of gratitude. Take inventory of your blessings and you will be surprised at just how much you hav...
I guess it’s time for an update on my health quest. I’d really rather not. I’d rather not partly because of the many unrealistic expectations I place on myself. Every day. Instead of celebrating the 23 pounds I’ve lost, I feel as though I owe everyone else in the world an explanation as to why it hasn’t been 40. Or more. The “smart” part of me knows that’s just dumb. The “dumb” part of me feels guilty for not being more successful. That’s the part that seems to have the upper hand most of the time. The part where all those...
Byron Behne watches the grain markets for the Odessa Union Warehouse. 10/31/12: Egypt bought Romanian, French and (surprise!) Russian wheat on their overnight tender as the U.S. was skunked again. However our wheat wasn’t nearly as far out of the ballpark as it used to be. Chicago wheat futures rallied on the day but gave back half of their gains by the close. Still no pattern-breaking news. The U.S. winter wheat crop starts out its life in slightly worse condition than last year’s did, which was on the low end of his...
To the victor go the spoils! A hard, poorly fought battle is finally over! I think most of us would have preferred to have heard more positive comments and ideas about how we are going to climb out of this bottomless pit. However, President Obama ran ads on the east coast that we were not worthy of hearing and Mr. Romney and Ryan decided to drop down to that level of campaigning. What ever happened to “planks” that the parties built their platforms on during the conventions? The treasurey announced on 10-31-12 that we wil...
Some say it’s the most complicated machine we’ve ever built. We rely on it not just each day, but each moment of each day. It reaches into our homes, factories, offices and stores. And at times it’s surprisingly fragile and subject to massive failure. I’m talking about the electrical grid. We’ve recently seen it tested by Superstorm Sandy. And I’ve been reading up on it in several sources, including an interesting book appropriately called The Grid by Phillip F. Schewe. I t...
Northwest MedStar, internationally recognized by the Association of Air Medical Services as the 2012 Program of the Year for their outstanding performance in safety, quality and leadership, is adding a ground ambulance to its Palouse base at the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport beginning in November. The ambulance will be used to support the ongoing air operations of Northwest MedStar and will not replace existing emergency ground services in the area. “We are pleased to hear news of Northwest MedStar adding a ground a...
I know this will come as a huge surprise to most of you. I have a character flaw. “Only one?” (I can hear you, you know.) Only one that I’m willing to talk about today. We’ll save the others for another time. Or other times, as it will probably take several. This particular character flaw became apparent (again) Sunday night, as we were participating in our annual pumpkin-carving party at a friend’s house. (We started this tradition years ago and have maintained it through s...
Byron Behne watches the international grain markets for the Odessa Union Warehouse. 10/25/12: Wheat prices fell Thursday as traders took profits off the previous day’s rally on confirmation of the Ukraine banning exports in mid-November. Export sales of wheat for last week totaled 21 million bushels, which was decent and most likely due to that business to the unknown destination done at the end of the week. New crop white wheat prices are at the strongest basis levels that I've ever seen for this time of year, with P...
To the Editor: Living on the west coast the voters have a problem of feeling rejected or unimportant as the electoral process doesn’t count the individual votes and so far too many of us stay at home and don’t vote. I can remember driving home from work and hearing the radio telling me that the national press has determined by exit polls that we have a new president. We need to try harder to break our old habits and vote, because there are other races that are important. Many of these races are important and I believe tha...
Last week an independent voter shared with me a concern that some people fear that socialism (business run by government) will ruin America. So let us first examine two definitions – one for capitalism, and one for socialism – as these seem to be the foundation for the concerns being voiced today. In very broad strokes, capitalism is based on private business dominating the economy for the purpose of generating wealth for the owners or stockholders by extracting it from working people who are paid only a small fraction of...
Vacation was a word rarely used in my house growing up. Like most parents in Eastern Washington during the 1900s, my mom and dad instilled the values of hard work from sunup to sundown. And when I co-wrote the script for the film “The Basket,” I showed the hardships endured by those generations before us to keep the family farm alive. Back then, as it is now, it often took the whole community to come together through back-breaking work, cooperation and even some help from the local banker to keep the business going and foo...
Does the word “dictator” scare you as much as it scares me?! To put us on the same page let’s get the dictionary definition of dictator: One who assumes absolute control without the free consent of the people. Does that remind you of the narcissist who slithered into the White House under the radar? If I’m not mistaken he swore under oath at his inauguration to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States! He must have had his fingers crossed behind his back because it seems he thinks the Constitution is just so...
Byron Behne watches the international grain markets for the Odessa Union Warehouse. 10/19/12: The wheat market got some bullish news on Friday, as the Ukraine is looking to possibly ban exports in the middle of November. There was also a fairly large sale of U.S. wheat to an unknown destination which included 4.3 million bushels of HRW, 1.8 million DNS and 2.13 million of soft white. This sounds like China and comes after they bought a significant amount of Canadian wheat earlier in the week. At the end of the day the gains...
