Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Sorted by date Results 1612 - 1636 of 1864
Dear friends, I am writing you today about a challenge ahead of farming communities throughout Eastern Washington. The challenge is real, and it affects more than those involved in advocacy groups and organizations. Our challenge is apathy and ignorance. Not just apathy within our own communities and governments, but apathy outside our circles. As farmers, we have been silent about the obstacles we’ve overcome and the importance of our work. I used to think it was “someone else’s job” to tell the story of farm life and agr...
The term “spring planting” takes on a whole new meaning when the crop is a biofuel. While it may finally put some types of weeds to a productive use, a report from the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) cites the need for careful selection and monitoring of the crops being grown for energy production. In states with warmer climates, it says some are overtaking native species. It hasn’t happened in the Northwest, although the fast-growing giant reed has been planted for biofuel use in the Columbia Gorge near Boardman, Ore....
The Ritzville Community Theatre (RCT) will reprise their December 2011 production as a fundraiser for the Harrington Opera House this Saturday, April 21 at 7:00 pm. Three In A Row---A Game Show was written by Miles Athey and Harry Schafer of Ritzville. Harry is also the director. It is an audience-participation take-off of the old TV show Hollywood Squares. Seven "stars" in squares are lined up in a row. The M.C. and the hostess select two participants from the audience. The participants select a "star" and the "star" is aske...
We all know that person. Sometimes we are that person. He or she is the one who always sees things in the black and white of an old photograph negative. And usually they see the dark side. They are the person I frequently try to avoid, as encounters tend to be unpleasant. I always come away from conversations with this person feeling as though I’m not good enough. And it tends to be the kind of not good enough that doesn’t inspire me to be better. It tends to be the kind of...
This is awful! I got on the scale this morning, and have gained back all but 7 of the 20 pounds I lost since last May. I’m disgusted. I’m ashamed. I’m hungry. I’m sure I should be mad. I should be motivated. I should be determined. I should be able to just stop this madness. So why don’t I? I imagine there are thin people who are reading this and thinking, “Good grief! Here she goes again!” Believe me, I’m thinking the same thing. Part of me believes that those thin people can...
Byron Behne watches the international grain markets for the Odessa Union Warehouse. 4/5/12: Friday on a Thursday! Grain markets were closed for Good Friday and so were the Odessa Union’s offices. The grain trade was mixed with soybeans continuing their post-report rally, corn closing up a penny, and wheat down fractionally although the deferred months were down a bit more on good crop condition ratings from earlier in the week. The dollar has been rallying this week, which has put pressure on most commodities but, the g...
I had a meeting tonight at the Fraternal Order of Eagles, so I recorded the story of the Grand Coulee Dam. I hope Eddy (Kern) wasn’t disappointed on the amount of time that he was in the history, because we enjoyed every minute of the hour and a half. He looked great, and we enjoyed listening to his part of the history of the building of the dam. Chuck Wood Joanne Kingsbury Gig Harbor...
I urge your readers to contact their Congressional representatives and demand that Congress fix the problem it created in 2006 for the United States Postal Service. In 2006, Congress decreed that the USPS must fully fund current and future employees’ pension and health care costs to the tune of $5.5 billion a year. The Republican-dominated Congress required this funding to be done in 10 years to cover the costs for the next 75 years! I know of no business that pays 75 years into the future for its employees’ pension and healt...
On April 21, 1962, the Seattle World’s Fair opened. The “Century 21 Exhibition” ran for six months, drew 11 million visitors, turned a profit and left the Northwest with a wonderful Seattle Center. A half century later, many of the fair’s landmarks remain, and the Center’s 73-acres is a gathering place for people from all walks of life. It is Seattle’s Central Park. The Space Needle has become Seattle’s icon. Conceived in an architect’s notebook, it was constructed in...
When Matt and I went into business together I hadn't planned for it to go this way. Alder St. Fitness and Tanning, LLC was a dream of mine. I enjoyed running our business, seeing new faces and watching members achieve new goals. The smiles on their faces are what I enjoyed most about this business. Unfortunately, Matt and I grew further apart as Matt turned to abusive ways. I felt the great need to take my children to a safe and more positive place outside of Odessa. I had learned that Matt wasn't around and the gym wasn't...
I am sure that many of you receive questionnaires like I do. They want to know what you think the largest problems are that our federal government faces. We should be very concerned about our unfunded liabilities! We have Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Postal Retirement System, that are in deep trouble, as baby boomers reach retirement age. We have hundreds of thousands of veterans who will need medical care, after too many deployments to our 21st century wars. We have millions of children who have been born to...
Last year, Fotis I. Antonopoulos, a successful Web designer in Athens, decided to set up his own e-business to sell olive oil products. It took him 10 months, winding his way through the city collecting dozens of forms and stamps of approval, including proof that he was up- to-date on his pension contributions, before he could get started. But, according to The New York Times, even that was not enough. In perhaps the strangest twist of all, his board members were required by...
I’ve been thinking about what I would want people to say about me at my funeral three years from now. Don’t start celebrating prematurely – I’m not dying, at least as far as I know. No, this is an exercise from a book called “Managing Your Mind, The Mental Fitness Guide,” by Gillian Butler, PhD and Tony Hope, MD. I think the theory is that if you want people to say something nice about you when you die, you need at least three years to set them up for it. I picked the book up...
Odessa's got talent! What a great idea to have an all school musical. I can only imagine how much fun and hard work to get all those sets, which were so outstanding, as well as getting the students of all ages into the play. I enjoyed "Beauty and the Beast" as everyone did. Phyllis Weishaar Odessa PS - Who was that little shepherd boy? Editor's Note: The shepherd boy was played by second grader Drew Hardung, son of Joel and Danielle Hardung....
About 10,000 years ago Earth’s climate lurched from bitter Ice Age conditions to the much balmier time in which we live today. We don’t fully understand what caused that great climate shift, but we know it was near the time of that great temperature transition that people started to farm. And one of the crops people in some parts of the world learned to tend was wheat. In the Western world, our love affair with wheat is as intense as it is old. Peasants have lived on bre...
The solid earth is riddled with faults. Each fault is a plane of weakness in the rocks that make up the outer rind of the Earth. Some of those faults have been mapped by geologists, but others are unknown to even the most advanced science we have today. And now, courtesy of officials in Ohio, at least one state of the union is going to have new regulations that could hold energy companies to account for some “side effects” caused by previously unknown faults. The tale hin...
Here I go again. I wasn’t able to go to the Chamber Banquet Saturday. I can pretty much guarantee that no one would have wanted me there. I was assured by my spouse that it was a wonderful event; that the food was excellent and the program was entertaining. I still feel guilty, because I was supposed to be there. Fortunately, my very good friends Clark and Charlene Kagele were willing to change their weekend plans at the last minute so that Clark could fill in for me as M...
Byron Behne watches the grain markets for the Odessa Union Warehouse. 3/15/12: Wait, there was a grain market today? I really think that the first two days of the NCAA tournament should be national holidays. Apparently there was someone trading grain today because Chicago grain futures finished with strong gains on the day. Egypt bought some U.S. and Canadian wheat in a surprise overnight tender, and Iran showed up on the export sales report again this week with a couple million more bushels of HRW. White wheat sales were...
On March 15th 2012 Odessa Memorial Healthcare Center had an exit conference with the Washington State Department of Health’s State Survey Team. Our hospital did extremely well, and it is apparent that OMHC is providing the highest quality of primary care possible to our community. We might not have every service available that larger healthcare facilities have, but the primary care services we do have are performed extremely well. The citizens of Odessa should be very proud to have such a high-quality healthcare facility i...
During a time when state supported colleges and junior colleges are having state funding reduced it seems to me that they are overlooking a possible solution. They could reduce the enrollment by being selective on who they admit. They can justify being more selective because nationwide only 50 percent who enroll will graduate. Naturally there are colleges who have better graduating rates. You can get on the internet and see which colleges have the best rates and after how many years. You will find state supported 4 year colle...
Byron Behne watches the grain markets for the Odessa Union Warehouse. 3/7/12: Obviously the grain markets were highly disappointed that the Colts cut Peyton Manning today and subsequently dropped about 20 cents a bushel in Chicago wheat and 16 cents a bushel in corn. Actually, it was just a continuation of the previous day’s negative momentum that pushed prices below some support levels and got the ball rolling downhill that much faster. Those prices dipped on concern about China’s slowing economic growth and the ever pop...
I recently had a discussion (some might say an argument) with a transplant to our community. The discussion opened with a disparaging remark (not one made by me) about the lack of availability of apparently anything this person wanted (ranging from fresh vegetables at a local restaurant to a pair of socks) in Odessa. Well, duh. I’m really sorry, but if you choose (and I can’t emphasize that word enough) to move to a town of 900 that is 40 miles from a settlement of any siz...
The Odessa Friends of the Pool met recently to wrap up our 2011 fundraisers and look forward to our 2012 season; both fundraisers and goals. As the treasurer, I was able to report that last year we were able to donate $22,000 to the Town of Odessa! The donation was an accumulation of three years’ worth of fundraising with the goal of relining all four of the pools. We were able to meet that goal because the community of Odessa, its businesses and individuals, are amazing. When we formed the Friends of the Pool in 2005, we o...
It started in 1935 with a $3.8 million loan to Cuba for the purchase of U.S. silver ingots. That loan, backed by the U.S. government, was the beginning of the Export-Import Bank. Today, the bank helps finance export sales by thousands of U.S. manufacturers. While it is little-known outside our nation’s capital, the Export-Import Bank is a lynchpin of our economy. It provides direct loans, loan guarantees and insurance to help finance sales of American goods and services o...
Adversity often brings out the best in people. We find ways to pitch in and solve problems that government can’t. Since the recession began, non-profit organizations have seen a big increase in volunteerism, and as state and local governments are forced to slash public services, volunteers are coming forward to pick up the slack. For example, after the City of Las Vegas laid off half of its park maintenance staff, neighbors put together volunteer work crews to pick up t...
