Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Sorted by date Results 882 - 906 of 1893
To the Editor: In response to Patricia Bates letter regarding the U.S. gun culture: She states that congress can stop the violence simply by the laws they can pass, yet we already have laws prohibiting murder and assault. What further laws is she referring to? Does she think outlawing guns will solve the problem? Gun ownership is prohibited or restricted in England and France. Did it prevent shootings there? She has mistakenly stated facts about the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017. This bill, HR38, can be read in its...
To the Editor: Is it window dressing, bait and switch, or kabuki theatre? Our Representative for the 5th District in Congress, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, is sponsoring legislation to provide three more years of funding teaching health centers to draw medical students to complete residencies in isolated or underserved rural and urban hospitals. She has voted against Obamacare (ACA) more than 50 times and then voted for Trumpcare (AHCA) which will basically cut Medicaid to many rural residents, so people will not be able to...
To the Editor, Has there been enough killing? It doesn’t matter if it was one of 20 children and seven adults killed at Sandy Hook, the recent shooting of six Congressmen or any of the 93 daily deaths (average) from guns. No one in our nation should have to fear for their life, yet that is becoming reality in our country. This is an American issue and can be solved by our Congress. They can intervene and they can stop much of the violence and make sure we are safe, simply by the laws they pass. I hope each senator and r...
To the Editor: Why am I running for Mayor of Odessa? Well, first off, I think we should have pride in living here and want to make this town a better place to raise a family in. Last year, no one ran for this office. Why not? Don’t you have city pride in you? That is why I decided to run. Don’t let the council do your job. If you want a job, run for it. I am not worried about me. This town is already in good hands. I will work with the city council and employees we already have here. Why change what’s working good for us no...
To the Editor: On my bank’s website it says, “Work with a local loan officer to customize a loan for you.” Oh, I was inspired because I wanted a $2,000 piece of equipment. I love banking online, because all my information is at my fingertips. I spent a few hours printing out personal financial paperwork. However, there also can be some shocking bits of information. Example: I owe WHAT! No, I paid that and I can prove it; let’s follow the website trail. I did. During this time I was messing around I had signed up for a PayPa...
To the Editor: Based solely on his belief, the President created a commission to investigate the voter fraud of 3-5 million illegal ballots cast for Hillary Clinton. He has asserted that he would have won the popular vote were it not for these illegal votes. This is his “reality.” Here are the results of the 2016 presidential election: 137,100,229 people voted. Clinton got 65,853,625 of these votes. Trump received 62,985,101 votes. Johnson garnered 4,489,233 vote; Stein got 1,457,222; the Write-Ins for other people added ano...
Dear Dr. Universe: How do viruses affect animals? – Gianni, 10, Cayman Islands Dear Gianni, Our planet is home to more than seven million amazing animal species. While we have our differences, we also have something in common: We are all made up of a bunch of cells. My friend Jeb Owen told me all about it. He’s a scientist at Washington State University who is really curious about how insects eat blood and interact with animal hosts. He’s even been called a disease detective, tracking down viruses transmitted by insec...
Dr. Keith Paredes has seen it more times than he’d care to recall: A woman, bleeding heavily, comes to the ER. She needs an urgent surgical procedure, maybe even a blood transfusion, from a condition like untreated fibroids. She’s there because she hasn’t had a routine doctor visit for ages. There are many reasons people put off going to the doctor. One of the big reasons is cost — a huge arc in the current debate about whether and how to repeal and replace Obamacare, which sought to increase the number of Americans with qu...
To the Editor, Kudos to the FBLA and advisor Terri King for the excellence of the FBLA’s presentations and achievements! They all are so fortunate to live in a small, rural community that cares so much about its youth. Whether they realize it or not, the students are great role models not only for other students in Odessa, but also for all students in rural communities. The Odessa High School FBLA demonstrates that, with enthusiasm, dedication and perseverance, students everywhere can also achieve success. Success is not m...
To the Editor: Oh, the hypocrisy of it all. Our President Trump and his great unflinching supporter, our Congressional Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, promote the repeal and replacement of Obamacare with a bill that would throw millions of American families, including babies, off their healthcare and give tax breaks to the rich. In addition, they want to prevent Syrian refugees, which include babies, from entering the country without extreme vetting on top of already stringent vetting. However, Trump points his finger...
To the Editor, The 5th Congressional District has around 696,000 people, with about 324,000 working-age adults. For all the people’s hard work, the mean income for almost 100,000 households hovers around $47,000 a year. However, it takes around $150,000 for an ordinary middle-class family to live with the basics, without extravagances. The 5th District has about 74,000 people living below poverty, or 10.6 percent of the population. If we count just families with children under age 5, the percentage for those families l...
Much happens around Easter. Adults hide eggs, and children hunt passionately for them and the candy they hold inside. People spend significant amounts of money on that candy, as well as other gifts that may or may not fit in Easter baskets. At some malls, children can even sit on the fabled Easter bunny’s lap to tell him what they want for Easter. Much is also written about Easter. Some atheists write disparagingly against those who would even consider celebrating Easter. O...
Former 13th District Senator Harold Hochstatter used to say, “The issue isn’t the issue; who decides the issue is the issue.” Right now, that is never more relevant than when talking about a state income tax. In Olympia, Democrats will tell you there is no interest in a state income tax, yet just last week, they proposed a capital gains tax as part of their proposal to raise $8 billion in taxes over the next four years. Democrats will also tell you a capital gains tax is not an income tax, despite past precedence in court...
An open letter to principal Jamie Nelson, science teacher Jeff Wehr and the OHS science project students: We are so impressed with your first place wins. [Editor’s note: See April 6, 2017 edition of The Odessa Record.] Once again, Odessa students and staff demonstrate that small schools matter! And even more important, science matters! Your work, enthusiasm, and dedication illustrate the power of the inquisitive mind, the excitement of advancing human knowledge, the camaraderie of student scientists everywhere. Kudos to y...
To the Editor: She said what? Yep, on national TV, Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers said of President Trump, “I trust him. He is shaking things up.” Well, we must agree that he is shaking things up by cutting 3 million from meals on wheels for needy citizens, yet spends 3 million each weekend on golf jaunts to Florida. He shakes us up with his pattern of lies, such as falsely accusing President Obama of wire-tapped his phones, costing taxpayers to investigate and show he lied. A president who gets his intelligence bri...
To the Editor: Section 1 of the 14th Amendment guarantees due process and equal protection of the law to all persons in the United States. Numerous Supreme Court decisions have consistently defined “person” to be any person, citizen and alien (legally or illegally present) and thus provided due process and equal protection of the law. 1886 Yick Wo v. Hopkins stated that the 14th Amendment applies to all persons (legally or illegally present) in the United States. 1892 Nishimura Ekiu v. United States found that foreign nat...
To the Editor: Mr. Trump inherited a mess! The problems are not just from Mr. Obama! The immigration problem started prior to World War II when people were needed to work in the fields as men and women were needed for war effort. Our infrastructure goes back to Ike’s presidency as his program made it so nice to travel! Too many thought that program would last forever! Our military decimation goes back to the Clinton Era, and the Bush-Obama war efforts used without adequate replacement. L.B.J. was the first administration t...
To the Editor: Upon reading all the comments and letters from all the Democrat supporters claiming the Republicans were holding up progress all these years, we have finally got the safest and best country to live in. Now since have President Trump in office, all you read and hear is that it’s Trump’s fault; he’s to blame for everything. So under those circumstances we only have one person to watch. And our economy is sure to improve because of all the money the Democrats are spending on travel expenses, and the money being...
To the Editor: Sara Beltran-Hernandez, 26, was recently arrested in a Fort Worth, Texas hospital where she was waiting for brain surgery to remove a tumor. She must have been such a serious threat to national security while waiting for surgery or would have been an even greater danger to the United States while in surgery or recuperating for several months. After Sara was placed in a detention camp in Alvarado, Texas, her health deteriorated despite ICE claims of available emergency health care. ICE seems to be acting as the...
To the Editor: Under the powers of Congress, Section #8, Subsection #4, Congress has the power to make naturalization laws (laws that state the requirements a foreigner must meet in order to become a citizen of the United States). These have been in force for over 200 years. The amendments to the Constitution were added to protect the rights of citizens of the United States. Illegals are not citizens until they have been vetted through our immigration system. The 14th Amendment (1868), section #1, states that any person born...
A bill that would direct the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Washington State Department of Transportation to conduct an elk management pilot project to reduce elk highway collisions passed the state House of Representatives Thursday. Rep. Tom Dent sponsored House Bill 1353 to address the growing problem of the Colockum herd in the Kittitas County region. “This is a huge public safety issue along Interstate 90 and needs to be addressed,” said Dent, R-Moses Lake. “It is only a matter of time befor...
It is the first of the year and many of us stop and take a look at ourselves and think of changes that we might like to make. We call them New Year’s Resolutions. A new year is a chance to make some changes to our lives that we have let slip over the previous year. Perhaps a few pounds have shown up from nowhere, or some bad habits have made their way into our workout, okay maybe we just stopped working out. Whatever it might be, we ask ourselves the question, “Should we make these resolutions or not?” Turn this quest...
To the Editor: What happened to our Constitution? ICE rounded up 680 aliens last week. Some were labeled “criminals” without their day in court. No due process. No equal protection. Evidently, being suspected of a crime is the “new” high bar for deporting people. The administration asserts that this is okay because “legalities” can be sorted out later. Really? Section 1 of the 14th Amendment guarantees due process and equal protection of the law to all persons in the U.S.: “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall a...
To the Editor: Having feared death all my life, now that I am confronted with it daily, I no longer fear it. I fear only that the period leading up to my death will have been a waste of time, and the loved ones I will leave behind will be full of emptiness. Had I during my life feared death as little as I do now, I would have dared bigger and better things. Life can be so fleeting, so I live every day like it will be my last. I wanted to do something amazing and own it before I go. That’s my philosophy, since I was d...
People of Odessa, we have reached a turning point. Well, perhaps I should say that we have reached an intersection. It’s up to this community, not just a few people, to decide which way to go. Each and every one of you will have the opportunity to help make that decision January 29. For 45 years, Deutschesfest has been Odessa’s biggest and best-known community event, at one time bringing thousands of people to our town to enjoy a day or a weekend, to eat great food, meet gre...
