Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Sorted by date Results 1813 - 1837 of 1862
In the June 2 sheriff's report, I saw where someone got a telephone call saying they had won a Mercedes and $1 million dollars, and they called 911 to have them check it out. What a waste of tax payers’ money. Remember, unless you entered a contest that says you can win the above, forget it, as it’s a sham and the police have better things to do within Lincoln County. Chuck Wood Gig Harbor...
We recently visited Odessa on Memorial Day. The cemetery looked great, as did the city park. However, we can’t say the same about the streets with all the weeds growing on them and even on the sidewalks downtown. The front of the city hall even had weeds. Isn’t there a city crew anymore? Several junked cars were parked on streets. We thought unlicensed cars were supposed to be hauled away. Aren’t there any police either? Couldn’t believe some of the yards with knee high weeds and grass. This isn't the Odessa we remembe...
We’ve all heard the stories. An elderly woman is awarded $2.7 million after spilling McDonald’s coffee in her lap. A Washington, D.C. judge sues a local dry cleaner for $54 million for losing his pants. A neighbor successfully sues two teenage girls handing out free cookies, claiming they triggered an anxiety attack when they knocked on her door. These stories make the headlines, but each year tens of thousands of anonymous lawsuits choke our court systems — and we all pay t...
It’s a classic plot device of murder mysteries: an evil killer slips poisonous mushrooms into the frying pan of an unsuspecting victim who dies an agonizing death. But in real life, poisonous fungi typically sicken and occasionally kill people for quite different reasons. Recently I learned a lot about what can go wrong in the world of mushrooms from Dr. Denis Benjamin, a medical doctor who is also a fungi and poison expert. As the weather improves over so much of the nation,...
Remember when I wrote about “the definition of insanity” a few weeks ago? That it is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result? Well, I’m there. I hurt all over. Every year, about this time, I swear that I’m not going to have a huge garden again. That’s because about this time, I’ve just finished planting approximately 250 pumpkins, squash and gourds, 50 or so tomatoes, about the same number of peppers and eggplant, and that’s not even counting the seeds of peas, beans, kohlrabi, spinach, lettuce, radis...
What is wrong with this picture? The State of Washington loaned the PDA (Public Development Authority) $1.4 million dollars to build the Creston Bio Energy Plant. The operator left and the PDA was not able to keep up on the payments. The PDA then turns the project back over to the State of Washington. The state then sells the property for $213,000 to a private party. What a poor investment for the taxpayers. We spend $1.4 million on a plant only worth $213,000. How did this happen? No wonder the state is in financial...
In recent weeks, amid the breaking news of tornadoes across the southeast and plains states, there has been another story in the news, that of the so-called "Botox Mom," Kerry Campbell, aka Sheena Upton. This mother of eight-year-old daughter, Britney, hit the news when an article first published in the UK tabloid, The Sun, landed Upton a spot on Good Morning America and Inside Edition here in the United States after she boasted of injecting her daughter with Botox in order...
The U.S. is being inundated with historic floods from Minnesota to Louisiana as a massive amount of water from heavy rainfall and snowmelt races down the Mississippi River. With U.S. taxpayers shouldering the majority of the claims through the National Flood Insurance Program, Bloomberg reports the Mississippi’s surge could result in the highest flooding losses since the $16 billion in claims following Hurricane Katrina. Without our network of dams on the lower Columbia and S...
It’s time to get back to my original purpose – the pursuit of good health. Right about the time I got on my soapbox, I also went back to Weight Watchers. Now, I’ve lost count of the times that I’ve “gone back” to Weight Watchers. My mother made me join when I was a teenager, and it was AWFUL. You were required to eat fish four times a week, liver once a week and were limited to 4 eggs per week, along with a host of other restrictions. No wonder people lost weight: They were either starving to death or couldn’t stomach what th...
The U.S. Republican senators recently voted to keep giving $21 billion in subsidies to big oil and gas companies, which have made world-record profits -- $32 billion between January and March 2011 and more than $900 billion over the past 10 years. This Republican financial support of Conoco Phillips, BP, Chevron, Shell, and Exxon Mobil comes at a time when 74% of the American people (according to the Wall Street Journal) want this subsidy support ended and when at least 13 million Americans are out of work! (By the way, Mr....
I wanted to thank the young lady who wrote a few stories in the past weeks. She has been a GREAT addition to this newspaper. Her style and story made me smile and think of being young and full of imagination again (which I haven't done in a long while). I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to meet her in the post office. I can’t remember her name, but she is just a delight – so talented, so happy and so proud that someone liked her work. Well, young lady, please keep up the good work, and I look forward to the next sto...
By 2025, the TransAlta energy facility in Centralia must replace coal with natural gas to generate electricity, but Washington has no gas to offer. Fortunately, we have neighbors with an abundance of gas — natural gas, that is — to ship to us. In Washington, three-quarters of our electricity comes from hydropower. But 14 percent of it comes from coal burned at the TransAlta facility, which employs 600 people in good family-wage jobs and provides heat and light for 1.23 mil...
As events in Japan this past March showed us, “Big Ones” really do happen. Richter 9 is about as large as they come, an event so enormous it takes away the breath of even a geologist like myself. It’s no comfort to think that quakes of that same general size are likely along the western boundaries of the Lower 48 and also in the region where Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee come together. In short, major quakes here in the U.S. simply must be expected. And there are other...
I read with great concern the letter from Karen Brooks on being ignored when wanting to volunteer. Yes, it is hard to volunteer when you don’t know the people in the community. However, do not give up. From what I am understanding, there are many volunteer jobs open for Deutschesfest. One that I have done for many years is the motorcycle poker run. I have decided to retire from that job and would be happy to explain how to do it. I will even help get you started! Some people are afraid their position will be taken by an u...
I was told years ago that there would be around 10,000 people coming for the Deutschesfest. In the six years I have been here I have never seen that. I asked Dale Ramm what was the problem with the Fest. He told me we needed a big draw (attraction). I stated, “It needs to be a family event, not a drunken bash.” Hey Odessa, open your eyes you already have a draw! It is called “The World Famous Desert 100,” where 8,000 family oriented, off-road, motorcyclists come to have fun. Candy Starr told me that if the Chamber and town pu...
Okay, people. I’m already in trouble so I might as well keep going. Last week was my advice to new residents. Now it’s the locals’ turn. This could be the shortest column ever, with my advice condensed into two short words: Be nice. But, as you all no doubt know, I like to talk. Especially like this, when no one can talk back. First, when you are introduced to the new wife of a native son, please don’t say, “Oh, my God,” no matter how stunning the news. That’s not really #1...
State lawmakers in Olympia received a much-needed boost recently in the form of $320 million in new tax revenue, the result of a new tax amnesty program. The amnesty, first proposed in 2009 by State Auditor Brian Sonntag, was vigorously championed by the Association of Washington Business as a way to settle disputed tax assessments. To use a cliché, the tax amnesty program is a win-win. State and local governments gained vital tax revenue, and taxpayers, many of whom are...
As adults, most of us have childhood memories of those trips to the doctor’s office when we’d hear those words, "You'll hardly feel a thing", or "It won't taste that bad." For most of us it did hurt and yes, it did taste bad, but those vaccines that we were receiving through inoculations or tiny cups of not so tasty liquids, were just a part of life. They were what kept us from succumbing to innumerable diseases, some even contagious. And that lollipop from the doctor or a k...
I thought maybe I should dispense some free advice to those of you who are new (or some of you who are not so new) to our community. For those of you who might question my qualifications, here’s my resume: I grew up on a farm outside a town much smaller than Odessa, spending my first 18 years in Bickleton (population about 100). I was at Washington State University for four years, then lived in Yakima for four years. In 1981 I moved to Portland, where I worked and lived for o...
We have enjoyed Lise Ott’s writing in The Record. She has a good sense of humor, and we enjoy the stories that she has written. We would love to see a photo of that “Stars Over Irby” quilt. Keep up the good work and hope to see many more of her writings. Chuck Wood and Joanne Kingsbury Gig Harbor, Wash....
My cousin has been writing a column for The Northern Star, a weekly newspaper in Clinton, Minnesota (my mother’s home town) for years. He’s also published a couple of books and is generally considered to be one of the major successes in our family. At least, that’s what my mother said. Mom was a fan of the comparative style of parenting, using such tools as “Why can’t you be more like your sister?” and “Did you read Brent’s column this week - it’s really good.” Mind you,...
One of the major provisions in the federal health reform law calls on states to establish health insurance exchanges by 2014. These exchanges were envisioned as virtual “open air markets,” managed by new state agencies, where consumers could compare insurance offerings and choose the best health coverage at the best price. Good idea. But early indications are that states are using the exchanges to create their own vision of health-care reform, including everything from cro...
It’s obvious that miners focus on the highest concentration of gold or copper they can find. And geologists like me are always on the lookout for unusually high concentrations of metals in veins and rocks. We go where the best stuff is, and make a living helping to bring it to where it’s used in everything from the lead and zinc in your car battery to gold crowns for your teeth. I know the geological perspective about resources pretty well. But recently I had the chance to...
Reactions have been predictably strong to the following news story, excerpted here from UPI.com: WASHINGTON, May 5 (UPI) – The Obama administration is considering a plan that would require the study and execution of a plan to tax U.S. drivers based on the amount of miles they drive. The plan is included in the administration’s Transportation Opportunities Act and follows a Congressional Budget Office report backing the idea of taxing drivers based on miles driven, The Hill reported Thursday. In its report, the CBO said a vehi...
On volunteering in Odessa . . . The people who wanted to volunteer and were told, “We do not need you” are not shy and were persistent. They have lived here for three years. The husband works in Odessa. When they were finally asked to help at the beer tent during the 2011 Desert 100, it was on a Friday afternoon, and the husband took off from work. When they got to the tent, there were already three women working and no customers. When they got home, he called Marlon Schafer who said, “Oh, the help showed up and I forgo...
