Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Sorted by date Results 1742 - 1766 of 1862
The laws of physical science teach us we can neither create nor destroy energy. But it’s also a simple fact that we can surely waste it. And that raises the possibility of saving money by refusing to let energy slip through our fingers. Typical families in the U.S. spend about $1,900 each year on home utility bills. That’s $160 per month. Your bills may be higher if your household consumes a lot of energy, if you heat with oil or if you live where the cost of electrical pow...
ABC News recently released a video of an armed robbery of a Walgreen's Pharmacy in Benton Township, Michigan which took place in May. The video showed two masked, hooded robbers brandishing weapons entering the nearly deserted store at 4:30 a.m. They grabbed an employee as a hostage and dragged him around the store. Pharmacist Jeremy Hoven tried to call 911, but then one of the two robbers jumped over the pharmacy counter and pointed his pistol at Hoven, who drew his own...
I was pretty sure that I’d be writing about Deutschesfest this week. You know, about how it couldn’t happen without me. But aside from not being over-committed for a change and gaining 8 pounds in four days, I have nothing to say. It’s done. The party’s over. I leave it to wiser heads than mine to debate the outcome. No, I’m going to talk about something else this week. Because while I was downtown in my dirndl, my dogs vanished. I saw them early Sunday morning when I let the...
Originally published in "Common Dreams," September 14, 2011 The crisis of poverty in America is one of the great moral and economic issues facing our country. It is very rarely talked about in the mainstream media. It gets even less attention in Congress. Why should people care? Many poor people don’t vote. They certainly don’t make large campaign contributions, and they don’t have powerful lobbyists representing their interests. Here’s why we all should care. There are 46 million Americans – about one in six – living below t...
Looking at the opinion polls, it’s easy to be depressed these days. Three out of four likely voters say America’s on the wrong track, consumer confidence has tanked, investors are sitting on the sidelines and job growth has stalled. In short, this is not a recipe for optimism. In his most recent survey, Seattle pollster Stu Elway found that voter confidence has sunk to an all-time low, the worst he’s seen in 20 years. Elway writes: “Economic recovery is a little like the fiv...
Occasionally I’m guilty of just a tiny bit of cynicism about people and their motivations. And sometimes I grow weary of news reports about the nasty behaviors of which some folks are capable. But any and all residue of my negativity evaporated instantly when I read of a cadre of truly courageous volunteers in Japan. The Japanese who affected me so strongly are retirement-age citizens who are offering to help with the Fukushima clean up. They are doing so, they say, because t...
"The middle class would not exist without organized labor." So proclaimed Vice President Joe Biden at a recent speech in Ohio. He's right. And with unemployment stuck above nine percent, the need for strong unions has never been greater. I am the CEO of an international life insurance company. If you think a management perspective automatically means opposition to labor unions, think again. I am humbled to witness the impact of millions of workers' voices as they proudly affirm, "Workers matter, and we are one!" America's...
We live in a world of instant gratification these days. I want out. Wait! I don’t mean I don’t want instant gratification. I just want to take it away from everyone else. Or at least some of them. A friend recently told me of receiving text messages from another person. If the sender didn’t get a response within five minutes, she just sent another text. And another. When did we decide that the whole world must be at our beck and call? When I was a kid (I don’t seem to be able to write any of these columns without citing...
President Obama and the newly appointed Congressional federal debt reduction committee will need to look under every rock to find ways to save money and do things differently. Now, they're getting some help from the private sector. In June, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services awarded a four-year $77 million contract to Northrop Grumman to develop a detection system capable of stopping fraud before it happens. Based on systems used in the private sector to...
I know it’s hard to believe, but I don’t have much to say this week. Maybe six months of venting is enough. Even though I’ve strayed from my original topic (does anyone remember what it was?), I haven’t forgotten it. The clock is ticking down and I’m not a whole lot closer to my goal of being healthier by my 60th birthday. I have managed to lose 20 pounds since the middle of May, when I first began commuting to Weight Watchers meetings in Moses Lake. I haven’t been as dil...
We’ve all seen it – the low slung trousers revealing underwear, a style that has become fashionable for young people to wear. Until now, it has simply been a matter to shake our heads over, but there are politicians and law enforcement officials who are ready to take a stand. Kathy McManus of the Responsibility Project reported that “as a nation that pulls itself up by its bootstraps, we are also a nation that needs to pull up its pants.” McManus reports that “the style of...
Your online history of The Odessa Record states that Ted Anderson converted the paper from letterpress to offset printing. This is incorrect, since Walt Larson owned and operated the paper using the old printing press and linotype equipment. It was under his ownership that the paper was converted to offset and printed in Moses Lake, Davenport and Ephrata. I personally ran the Linotype and the folder of the old Letterpress cylinder press. It was scrapped in Moses Lake. The Linotype and Job printing platen press were donated...
My life changed drastically 10 years ago. Never forget 9/11. I was at work flying as a medivac nurse out of the Seattle area when my pilot woke me in the morning and told me I was going to war. I had no idea how much it would change my life. I had no idea how it would change all of our lives. As we approach the 10-year anniversary of this horrific attack, I must reflect. At the time I had a fairly normal life, working my job, raising my children, cutting fire wood, doing normal stuff. That day my life changed. I was...
People don’t appreciate what they have until they lose it. For example, if your water line breaks and you go without showers for a couple of days, you have a whole new appreciation for the water company. Too often, Americans focus on what we don’t have, and we take the simple things in life for granted. But the freedoms and standard of living we’ve always known are not guaranteed. Just look at what has happened in other places around the world. For example, today Gdansk and G...
When I was a kid I was “born again,” a process that involved being fully and totally immersed in water. Much more recently I was on the home stretch of an 8-mile walk in the hot sun when the minister I was walking with kindly poured her drinking water on my hot little head. Seldom does water feel so good as when splashed on an overheating noggin in the summertime. As soon as my hair was sopping wet, I certainly felt born anew, able to complete the walk with at least a tiny smidgen of spring in my step. Just a cup or two of...
Destiny Skidmore, how can you compare Bob and Bonnie Dewey to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is being sued left and right for their labor practices. You know nothing about these people or about labor law. “Help your neighbor!” has nothing to do with business. Bob and Bonnie Dewey come from a small town also; they do have the same family values. But they are in business to make money. Go to the food bank if you can’t afford food or get an EBT card. Newcomers continue to come to Odessa for the cheap housing. You have a drug store, a healt...
Subject: A good interpretation of the Federal Budget If anyone is puzzled by the effort to "substantially" reduce federal spending and is confused by the absolutely huge numbers involved, the following is a primer to understand why this issue is so critical to our country's economic health. It also portends to the mountain of federal debt faced by our children and our grandchildren. Federal Budget 101 The U.S. Congress sets a federal budget every year in the trillions of dollars. Few people know how much money that is so we c...
I have way more ideas than I have energy or know-how to bring to fruition. I have ideas for quilts. I have ideas for redecorating the house. I have ideas for how to gain control of the garden. And I have lots of ideas for the “betterment” of Odessa. Not that Odessa needs “betterment” – it’s a lovely community. Odessa has held up to the decline of rural America much better than many other communities. But I don’t think we can afford to rest on our laurels, and I think about i...
You may have missed it, but amidst the global economic turmoil, riots in London and our volatile stock market, there is some good news. Boeing has completed flight tests on its long-delayed 787 Dreamliner and has asked the Federal Aviation Administration to certify the plane for production. The company is hoping to earn FAA approval in time to start delivering planes in September. Despite the delays, the 787 remains a major source of future income for Boeing. Boeing...
I have officially arrived at that part of the summer when I question my ability to make good decisions. Actually, I question it more than once every day, but August is special. Sunday morning, after picking two sinks full of gorgeous, delicious beans, I realized that getting them into the freezer this week was just not going to happen. Sunday afternoon was my book group discussion meeting. Then I needed to collect items and organize a plan for the Canniwai Grange booth at the...
Normally, I don’t let other people’s opinions bother me. Everyone has them, and I don’t always agree with them. That’s life. That being said, I have to admit that I was personally offended by Ms. Skidmore’s opinion on newcomers to Odessa. I have only lived in Odessa for a year now. I don’t have family that was (always) here, but family here nonetheless. I needed a place to start over, get back on my feet and get my son away from overcrowded classrooms. I found all of that here in Odessa and NEVER have I once stolen from...
Every year when my subscription to The Record is due I think I should let it drop. However, I know I would miss reading of events there. It is hard to believe that I have been gone from Odessa over five years but I still miss my life there and all the friends and acquaintances I know. I enjoy reading Lise's article each week. Best wishes to all. Shirley Hoefel Ainsworth, Neb....
Have you ever heard those stories about the person who starts to resemble their pet? It appears that human couples are similar in that they begin to take on one another’s personality traits over time. Alex Crees, writer for AskDrManny.com, reported on the results of a study released earlier this week, funded by The National Institute on Aging, which indicates that couples not only “adopt similar music tastes, or turns of phrase, couples also tend to pick up each other’s unhea...
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture America’s farmers are among our nation’s first and finest conservationists. And at USDA, we support their work to protect natural landscapes by improving water and air quality, and preserving wildlife habitat, forests and soil. This work is also helps drive economic growth and creates jobs – particularly in rural communities. Farmers taking steps to help the environment can improve their bottom line. And maintaining the health of American landscapes supports an outdoor recreation industry worth $...
My friend Sharon Rogers lives in suburban Virginia. On Tuesday she and her husband were leaving their house to go to a late lunch when she felt something like thunder sweeping over the neighborhood. “I thought it was a military jet going over too low,” she told me on the telephone. “I said to myself ‘It’s another damn general being buried in Arlington.’” It was no jet, but a Richter 5.9 earthquake that struck near Mineral, Virginia. Why, you may ask, should there have be...
