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Most Americans cannot relate to the lives of our sisters and brothers who live in Third World countries. Though only occasionally traveling overseas, we often select Europe as our destination — a cruise on the Danube or a trip to Italy. Thus, imagining what it is like to live in real poverty is almost incomprehensible. After living in three different African countries for 17 years, I have experienced extreme poverty. In most African villages, owning a bicycle or a radio is a sign of wealth. When I visited the village at C...
Our governor and attorney general are at it again. They decided to sue the president over his policy to separate the children of illegal immigrants when the parents are detained. The paperwork was prepared and ready to submit when the president caved under public outcry and reversed his policy. Rather than waste a good opportunity to file a lawsuit, our state leaders modified a couple sentences and filed suit claiming that reversing the separation policy wasn’t enough. I wonder what they really want. The only possibilities I...
It doesn’t matter which side of the political spectrum you’re on, everyone talks about “American values.” What does this phrase mean? It could mean different things to different people. It could mean something different depending on the environment it’s discussed in, the time of day, the type of people doing the talking, how much alcohol is consumed. But there are such things as American values. Concepts many hold dear, that define how we feel about ourselves, what we believe and why we are here. Let me take a stab at this,... Full story
There is a certain tyranny to the 24-hour news cycle, a specific grip on human awareness and attention. We have been rightly consumed by the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant parents from their children, and the media have been filled with pictures and stories of anguished families, along with voices of critics from across the political spectrum. Yet though President Trump has retreated on the issue, he has still successfully used the powers of his office to dominate the media. He and his staff have been a...
I frequently decompress by laying back in my overstuffed recliner as I read the paper. I was doing fine until a sentence in a nationally syndicated column caught my eye and raised my blood pressure. This well known columnist said he didn’t want to understand the conservatives, he simply wanted to defeat them. Wow! So much for finding the middle ground. This ultra-adversarial attitude is becoming more and more common. At my family reunion a few months ago, one of my relatives proclaimed she hated those damned Republicans. ...
In response to the letter about banning pit bulls (Cheney Free Press, June 7). I’ve worked with them in stressful shelter situations, and found them to be just like any other dog. How their owners treated/trained them greatly influences how they will act. The Pitties I worked with were wonderful, calm, and very good dogs. Perhaps your neighbors would benefit from a visit of SCRAPS personnel who could encourage the owners to participate in some training classes, as well as socialization classes. It sounds as if they’ve been la...
The Fourth of July will soon be here once again. Few people really know much about the actual history of how the original colonies declared their freedom from being ruled by England and all that was involved. We need much more education about the founding of our country and what it should stand for. Anyway, I continue to look forward to the time when every person’s freedom will be honored, including the freedom to have a quiet, sane and safe holiday celebration. I continue to advocate for public fireworks displays in place o...
The Cheney Outreach Center is a separate 501c3 agency not affiliated with the Cheney Community Service Council or Cheney’s Food Bank’s individual 501c3 status. Donations made to Cheney Food Bank can only be used by the food bank and not Outreach. Donations made to Outreach can only be used by Outreach and not the food bank. Outreach partners with the food bank to eliminate duplication of service and assure that client needs are addressed. Outreach serves low-income individuals, seniors, disabled, families and children liv...
In a May 10, Cheney Free Press column, Frank Watson wrote an opinion piece about the problems he found with teachers in public schools. His observations are based on his several years of teaching and biased by his personal background. My comments will be from a different frame of reference. First is the history of unions in our country and the positive impact they have for the working people. Teachers unions have continued to better our social structure. The best example is the union contract, which provides a rulebook for...
Yesterday, June 11, I read an interesting fact: “In 1964 Dwight D. Eisenhower and Harry S. Truman became honorary chairmen of Planned Parenthood.” In 1968, President Nixon called population growth “one of the most serious challenges to human destiny in the last third of this century.” That is two Republicans and one Democrat who recognized the great value of national Planned Parenthood chapters. Formed in 1916 in New York, this organization has served lower income girls and women that have fewer insurance options, and has...
It is popular to pick on our president. He makes it so easy that anyone can do it. The recent meeting with the North Korean dictator should have been praiseworthy, but president Trump’s unorthodox leadership style brought criticism instead. I have worked for some very good bosses and a few bad ones. The good ones were all predictable. I found it easy to support them, because they kept their staff informed. I knew what they were thinking and what they were going to do. Mr. Trump, however, enjoys surprises. His offer to stop j...
Personally, there’s nothing like the crashing waves, the bubbling of a moving river or the pure solitude of a high mountain meadow to be able to reflect. While many seek church, I’m sold on God’s creations in Mother Nature. As those waves crashed night and day — and another spectacular, yet rare, sunset due to VOG, volcano-induced sulfur dioxide nasty air — it offered the perfect cocktail for serious thinking time. Oh, that’s along with the fleeting thoughts of favorite so...
Although the U.S. mass media are awash with stories about America’s “booming economy” the benefits are distributed very unequally, when they are distributed at all. Buoyed by soaring corporate profits and stock prices, the richest Americans have reached new and dazzling heights of prosperity. As of May 2018, the growing crop of billionaires included corporate owners with unprecedented levels of wealth like Jeff Bezos ($112 billion), Bill Gates ($90 billion) and Warren Buffet ($84 billion). Some families have also grown fanta...
By FRANK WATSON Contributor Seattle is leading the effort to save our planet from ourselves. They have joined Portland and a host of California cities in the battle against plastic drinking straws. A school boy noticed discarded straws outside fast food outlets and wrote an essay spurring environmentalists into action. The fight has spread from the classroom to city councils and state legislatures across the land. The first success I noticed was in Portland’s conversion to biodegradable straws. Some mornings I need my c...
I could sit here and write about politics this week since there seems to be a lot going on, but I just really don’t enjoy diving into that. And who wants to really and truly read about it? Not me. So I am going to talk about graduation and the festivities instead, because frankly that is just more fun. This past week I attended the Cheney High School commencement because my younger brother was graduating. Of all the ceremonies I have gone to, I do have to give credit to CHS on getting everyone in and out in less than two h...
A Spokane County Fire District 3 brush truck applies water to some spot fires that broke out on Interstate 90 between the Cheney/Four Lakes and Medical Lake exits last Wednesday morning. Emergency response officials suspected a passing vehicle with defective equipment, such as brakes, may have started the fires, which were quickly contained....
Pit-bull owners say their dogs are just loving and loyal. But if your neighbor owns one you might have a different opinion. In the duplex across the alley from our home, tenants recently came with two pit-bull puppies. They seem obedient to their owners but regarding me they seem increasingly aggressive and territorial as they grow, and apparently their territory is wherever they are. I was cleaning some debris from the alley and my neighbor opened their door and their pit-bull shot across their property line growling at me...
I am writing in support of Dave Wilson, my choice for the open seat in Spokane’s 6th legislative district. Dave has the passion and commitment to serve with distinction. He has lived in the district for over 35 years, raised all six of his kids here, started and ran a successful business for over 30 years in Spokane. He knows the district and he knows Spokane. Dave has also served in leadership positions on several community and professional boards. He has a highly organized campaign that is second to none, as well as e...
Here’s a switch! Rather than closing another pulp and paper mill, a new one is under construction right here in Washington. Columbia Pulp’s plant on the Snake River will use a new technology that pulls cellulose out of the abundant straw left over from wheat and alfalfa harvests. The $184 million plant near Dayton is scheduled to open later this year. Traditionally, pulp comes from wood either grown specifically for paper making or as byproducts from sawmills. When fully ope...
I am usually fairly easy to get along with. I accept most things, even dumb things, without getting my dander up. But, when presented with unsupported claims based on widespread rumors, I have been known to lose my patience. I was venting the other day to a friend of mine who was, is, and always will be a woman’s rights activist. The subject was a political ad that claimed women only make 76 percent of what men make for identical work. I questioned the claim as either a gross misrepresentation of partial data or an example o...
There’s a saying, “You are what you eat.” In this case, our daily news diet. Currently, our intake seems to be all Trump, and almost exclusively Trump. Even if something comes up that takes our attention away from the current White House occupant, president Butternut Squash will emit a Tweet with dog-whistle frequency that calls the national press corps back to yap as his ankles. But Trump isn’t the only newsworthy subject happening right now. Nor is the continued fallout from the #MeToo movement, the Parkland shootin...
In his May 17, 2018, guest commentary, Col. Frank Watson (USAF, Ret.) takes exception to Robert Mueller’s investigation of the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russian operatives in their interference in the 2016 presidential election. Watson claims the investigation is politically motivated and a waste of taxpayer money. Watson’s arguments are so riddled with errors and irrelevancies that it’s hard to know where to start. Let’s start here: Robert Mueller, a Republican, is a special counsel, not a “Special Prosecutor....
I am writing in regards to the Priggee cartoon in the May 24 edition of the Free Press. The one I’m assuming is the two couch potatoes are complaining about President Trump’s “Mr. Five deferment-bone spurs and who’s in bed with Russian oligarchs and Chinese phone companies.” Since we’re talking about those who avoided military service, could you please enlighten me as to which branch of the armed forces former president Obama served in? Or former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hilary Clinton? And another Pre...
John Bolton and Mike Pence must have known what they were doing. President Trump’s national security adviser and vice president could not have been oblivious that advocating a “Libya model” for North Korea’s denuclearization would go over badly with leader Kim Jong-un, who presumably does not wish to be overthrown and killed after giving up his nukes, the fate that befell Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi. Trump’s public release of his bizarre letter to Kim canceling their June 12 summit meeting in Singapore (many commentat...
Congratulations. You have successfully completed your public education and are about to enter the real world. It isn’t that school is not the real world, but it is a special world where you are not fully responsible for your actions and most mistakes have no real long-term consequences. You are considered children still learning the difference between right and wrong. That changes when you walk across the stage and receive your diploma. From the beginning of time, all cultures have had a rite of passage children go through t...
