Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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Those of us who drive Hawk Creek Road on a daily basis by necessity were grateful when Lincoln County paved about 5.5 miles of the road between Gunning Road and Miles-Creston Road in 2023. We were mystified as to why the remaining 1.5 miles of the road were left unpaved, but we thought perhaps the County just could not find the money to finish the job. Now, after the county has repaved the same 5.5 miles of the road, leaving the same 1.5-mile stretch in a dusty, washboarded state of dirt road, we don’t know what to think. I...
In the 1840s, Irish Catholics immigrated to America in huge numbers and provoked a secret protest movement known as the Know Nothing Party, founded in 1844 as a precursor to the eventual Republican party. Know Nothings told of a conspiracy by Catholics to overthrow Protestant-based American government. This was an early version of today’s Republican claim that Hispanic Catholic immigrants will kick whites and other native-born Americans out of jobs and power in America. MAGA, or Know Nothing II, is thus really a Make A...
The Olympic Games is the mountain top of the athletic realm. After all, when you consider the thousands of young people who dedicate their lives to become a participant in those games and the millions of spectators who eagerly wait every four years to watch these wonderful athletes perform, it must be a world event. Then came Paris. In the opening ceremony, when then mockery of the “Lord’s Supper” — which in my mind had nothing to do with the Olympics — it avalanched the entire ceremony into the cesspool of humanity....
One of six initiatives introduced by Republican-allied group Let’s Go Washington, Initiative 2081 gave parents and guardians of school children certain rights, including the right to examine textbooks, curriculum and any supplemental materials used in their children’s classrooms. Although that’s innocent language, the 2024 Democratic-majority state Legislature was understandably suspicious. So, it passed a similar parental “bill of rights” that removed the initiative from the upcoming Nov. 5 ballot. Two other initiativ...
I wonder if any farmers who signed up for wind turbines did any research of their own or if they have taken serious note of WHY others are raising objections to wind turbines? Research shows that wind turbines have many serious negatives. I also seriously question why farmers in this area consider themselves “poor” when they have so many government subsidies supporting them. How many subsidies do nonfarmers get? So, people, how much is enough? And why is Mill Canyon being targeted? At least half of Mill Canyon is now sur...
I have read all your articles in the paper and I find that you are doing a very good job trying to balance both sides of the issues regarding the wind turbine proposal. I am on the side that is totally against them. I think the citizens of this county need to hear from others who have opinions very contrary to the farmers who have signed leases and the wind turbine companies. Plus I find it troubling when the wind turbine companies can’t answer simple questions directed their way. I am the one who asked them about the use of...
Two years ago I wrote a letter to the Odessa School Board asking them to remove my picture from our 1967 class graduation picture. I wasn’t given the respect of a response to my letter. Our class picture was damaged, by another class mate, who tore his picture out of the frame. I was willing to pay for that damage and the change I requested. I’m asking again that my picture be removed as I’m motivated to end my association with Odessa. Seems three out of four of you don’t believe in keeping our Democracy and the Democra...
Let’s have a look at the benefits of dams to human life with a special focus on Grand Coulee Dam. It is the largest hydroelectric producing facility in the U.S. and provides enough electricity to power about 2 million households every year, 68% of all Washington state households. Please keep in mind too, that it is just one of 145 hydroelectric dams in the state. Grand Coulee dam prompted the creation of the “U.S. Bureau of Reclamations Columbia Basin Project” which converted 670,000 acres (over 1,000 square-miles) of forme...
I remember Senator Patty Murray as the “soccer mom,” good for you. The lower Snakes River recent bill brings the tribes onboard. Monumental has a concrete fish way-ladder. Lock and Dam continue to work for barges. Adaptable for fish? Or use a big tunnel-boring machine to notch on the side of a zig-zag fish ladder? Cooperation’s/ compromise, not contempt or hard-headedness or extremism. You/ Governor Inslee/ President Biden need to take a step back some and look at the whole picture. Climate change (mankind only adds 3% to th...
I went to a community meeting about a proposed wind generation project encompassing Reardan and Davenport. First off. This project and the one in southern Lincoln county are huge. These have the economic power to rival or eclipse agriculture. Let that sink in a bit. Farming could take second seat to the concerns of power generation. The thought of seeing wind towers on the horizons of the county sickens me. Look around Colfax and see what I mean. One of the thoughts outside of the forum was why were they offering just a flat...
If you haven’t seen how ugly wind farms are you need to get out more. Go south to Colfax or Dayton and look at how they have destroyed the beauty of the rolling hills of the Palouse and breaks of the Tucannon in Whitman and Columbia counties, respectively. Even along the Columbia Gorge, do you see how it has destroyed the natural beauty. The only ones who win in this waste of dollars is the manufacturer of the turbine and the landowner upon which it sits. The losers are the rest of us who have to look at the eyesores and t...
Monumental Dam has a concrete fish ladder. Its lock works for barge. Rather than breach the dam – or others on the Lower Snake River – how about using a tunnel-boring machine to notch an on the side an additional zig-zag fish ladder? The answer is cooperation or compromise – not contempt or hard-headed, extremism on breaching. Sen. Murray, Gov. Jay Inslee and President Joe Biden need to step back and look at the whole picture. Errol Kramer Odessa/Ritzville...
Persons who have dwarfism (also referred to as “little people”) frequently experience employment discrimination. Although they can perform any job task well – often needing only a stool – employers frequently reject them during interview. Bars and strip clubs exploit the resulting financial problems by hiring “LPs” for dwarf-tossing events, where bar patrons pay to physically throw an them in front of a crowd of laughing and jeering customers. LPs very frequently have skeletal (especially spinal) issues requiring multiple su...
As a long-time Washingtonian I am alarmed and scared by the rise in crime in our neighborhoods and cities. Even in broad daylight it can feel unsafe just to go to the grocery store. Basic common sense dictates that fewer police officers make all of us less safe. With the wave of support for defunding the police and protecting criminals – instead of victims- these “progressive” lawmakers in Olympia are failing us and making us less safe. Washington ranks 51st – the lowest – in the country for police officer staffing....
Our problem is not that there is too much “fake news.” Our problem is that too many people believe it. Fortunately, there is an “antidope” — epistemology , the theory of knowledge or “how we know what we know.” Epistemology is a good solution because it has validity tests to distinguish between justified belief and opinion. And this distinction is central to most disagreements. Epistemology has simple and clarifying definitions, e.g., Truth has the property that corresponds with facts and reality. Can you imagine how m...
I had the great privilege of completing a summer internship in the now historic Hull-House in Chicago in the early 1960’s, more than 50 years ago. During that time, the Hull House was gradually closing, as the neighborhood it served had moved. I was astonished to learn that in “the olden days” (think 1920’s) the settlement house served immigrant families whose children worked in factories, and often did not attend school. Frequently, little children were tied to furniture all day, while their parents worked. We have come a...
With everybody’s property taxes in Lincoln County due recently, I can imagine we are all in a bit of a shock. We put our house in Davenport up for sale last year and the very next day, a new assessment of the property was mailed. Coincidence? Maybe. No dollar amount was listed, just the new assessed amount. I called and asked for an approximate amount of our new tax bill but was not given an answer. I guess I was supposed to feel better when I was told homes were reassessed only every six years in Davenport. There was an i...
Parents’ Bill of Rights? Sounds OK until you see who supports it and why. House Resolution No. 5, the Parents Bill of Rights, has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. Reading the “five pillars of H.R. 5,” one senses that in normal times this legislation, though unnecessary, would seem quite innocent. But these aren’t normal times. The second pillar, “Parents have the right to be heard,” is being greatly debased by many Republicans. Perhaps the greatest evidence H.R. 5 is bad legislation is that MAGA and Ho...
I read your article “Parents: Odessa students mistreated.” You misrepresented my role at the board meeting. Your article states, “A lone teacher spoke in support of the district,” when I specifically said, multiple times, that I was speaking as a parent, not a teacher. The article’s use of the word “lone” and the misrepresentation of my role at the meeting give my presence and support I offered less value than it deserves. While I cannot tell you which diction to choose when writing a non-biased article, I can remind you th...
I attended the Odessa school board meeting on March 22. I am an alum of Odessa schools and a teacher. Professionally speaking, I cannot fathom allowing my students to be harmed. Educators’ responsibility to student safety and respect supersedes any other. At times, classroom behaviors require sternness, but never screaming, putting your hands on a student, or demeaning them. There have always been small-town problems in Odessa schools. Gossip. Bullying. Superiority. But what is happening now goes deeper. It is allowing s...
America is where liberty and freedom are guarded by jealously, which is required by a “patriot” that defends it with their last breath. In today’s America, very few people think this way. But the few that do are painted as extremists, simply because mainstream America has fallen away from the understanding on why this country was founded by patriotic free men and women who fought and died for what we have today. Not only did they die, they spent their last coin to fund the American Revolution that was never repaid by the n...
With avian flu spreading among mammals and experts concerned it could make the jump to humans, our political leaders should support increased federal funding for cultivated-meat research. For those who don’t know, cultivated meat is grown from livestock cells, without slaughter. Since animals are removed from the process, this new protein would dramatically reduce our pandemic risk. Though the Food and Drug Administration recently approved the first cultivated-meat product, and it should hit the market soon, more g...
Washington State House Bill 1110 and Senate Bill 5190 are identical and are on track for approval. They will destroy city residential zoning codes statewide. This appears to cancel out planning authority and resident input at the city and county level. It’s not necessary to read all 15 pages of the bills. Begin with New Section 3 — Pages 9 and 10 will explain proposed statewide zoning regulations. On Page 14, New Section 7 makes it clear these changes are not subject to administrative or judicial appeals. Both bills essential...
Oh those caravans of invaders coming across the Southern Border. We must deal with them by sending them back to fix their countries of origin; leaving them to suffer and be harassed at the border; and/or transporting them to Democratically-run cities in the north where it is freezing cold, and they know no one. What an absurd way to “welcome the stranger”. Meanwhile, there is a labor shortage – older people are not working to full retirement age of 70; others are not interested in jobs that are not suitable because of hours...
What have we learned since the 2020 election? No matter how ill-founded the lie, if continually repeated for two years--the Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen--many people will believe it. Repeating lies has been utilized, sometimes successfully, by presidential candidates before. But previously it’s been used before election, not continually repeated for two years thereafter, never to subvert our democracy, and terminated with electoral results accepted. Besides promoting the Big Lie, Cathy McMorris Rodge...
