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Last week Rose Kline reminded me of her earlier rants against President Trump going back at least to August 2016. Norm Luther also reminded me of his past efforts. I do not know either of these two, but do know that Norm is a longtime Democrat operative who routinely mails multiple copies of his efforts to local Eastern Washington newspapers. In Rose’s letter, I noted 17 slurs, opinions and charges made against the president. Of those, at least three are demonstratively incorrect (Muslim ban, Israel, Australia) and at l...
As thanks is given to voters for the successful passage of the Cheney School District $52 million bond for schools (Feb. 14), I hope gratitude will extend to Bill and Sue Johns who passionately expressed — at their own expense — cost saving ideas regarding this bond and its predecessor in 2015. The Johns were not the only voices offering different opinions but they were faithful to highlight cost considerations. Cheney taxpayers are now responsible for $131 million ($79 million in 2010, $52 million in 2017) in school bon...
Do you value your public lands? Our public lands are a part of our American identity. They provide vital sustenance for fish and wildlife and for people. Do you remember your first visit to Mount Rainier? How awesome was that? How about to Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge? I remember both. My first trip to Turnbull was in the fall when flocks of tundra swan were flying over, whooping and circling to come in for a landing on the Pine Lakes. The image is in my head as if it were yesterday, though 43 years have passed. You...
A “friend’s” Facebook post recently made a plea to “Hug a journalist today! There’s a reason Freedom of the Press is the FIRST Amendment to our Constitution. Stand up for that freedom and don’t let anyone try to take it away from us!” It was accompanied by a graphic to “Stand for press freedom,” an obvious hint that somehow recently — after Jan. 20 I’m guessing — the media in this country is being persecuted or censored and fears losing its First Amendment rights. Seems...
It is with deep appreciation that I recognize receipt of a generous donation to the Cheney Depot Society from the estate of Yvonne Chatburn. The donation will go to support the goal of the Society to relocate, restore and repurpose Cheney’s 1929 Northern Pacific Railway Station. Ms. Chatburn’s gift will be matched by an equal donation from our major benefactor, Peter O. Hansen, M.D., currently practicing in Kenai, Alaska. The society welcomes all to contribute to the cost of relocating and restoring our historic depot. All...
I have been blessed to have friends from many countries throughout the years, and believe it would be great for our country and the world for others to have those opportunities as well. Being immersed in university environments since the age of 18, and living overseas for 17 years, I have gradually accepted the belief that we are all brothers and sisters. Since Muslims seem to be on the radar right now, I remember with great fondness the graciousness of Muslim families — from Pakistan, Indonesia, India, Nigeria, Libya, Palest...
It’s a dream come true for terrorists. Without any effort of their own, they have been given the best recruiting tool possible: the U.S. president. One constant of Donald Trump’s ego-maniacal, unstable behavior is his belief that he can intimidate anyone to follow his directives. Obviously it has the opposite effect on terrorists. Even before he was the presumptive Republican nominee for president, ISIS recruited terrorists using videos featuring his call to ban Muslims from the U.S. How much more effective this rec...
As long as Mr. Donald Trump is in office, all people’s lives are at stake worldwide because he has no idea what he is doing. He has congressmen raising their eyebrows and other people on the hill, they are not sure how to deal with him and all his craziness. The Muslim ban, and it is a ban, Israel and now Australia, who have been there for us. There is no strategy in anything he does, he is so erratic, so very wishy-washy. There are more people worldwide who are completely confused than not. His words and actions are t...
Recently, some of America’s most respected statesmen announced a different strategy to reducing carbon pollution — one which is based on incentives as opposed to penalties. Believing that carrots work better than sticks, the Climate Leadership Council (CLC) announced a new plan to enact a federal tax on carbon emissions with an accompanying payment program to U.S. citizens. The centerpiece is a “carbon dividend” which, as they put it, would increase the disposable income...
Sometimes a trial balloon on an idea should be floated, and this is one of those from the Cheney Free Press editorial board. This balloon is labeled as follows: What would happen if the eligibility age for Medicare was dropped from 65 to 60? Granted there are many factors to Medicare eligibility, not just age, and there are four different parts. But just for the sake of discussion, what if it was just a blanket reduction in age to 60, with all else remaining the same? And what about moving the retirement age up too, making...
By now, most of you have received your Feb. 14 ballot for the expand and renovation and security improvements for the Cheney School District. Please take the time to fill out your ballot and drop it into the box by the library, without the cost of a stamp, or send it off in the mail. This bond is significantly more comprehensive in terms of benefits and security for all the schools in the district and identifies the growing need to address overcrowding at the high school. In addition, this bond will pay for land for a...
Invest! We have an opportunity to invest in our kids. It is always a great idea to invest for retirement. Investing for your future is a great way to plan for what the future holds. We in the Cheney area have that opportunity NOW! By supporting the upcoming construction bond for the schools in our area, we are investing in not only our schools, but our community and our kids. There is no better place to invest. We can all be a part of the future. I am so excited that with this bond proposal my beloved wood shop will be...
I am the father of two boys in the Cheney School District, writing in support of the Feb.14 bond measure in the Cheney School District. My wife and I moved to this area in large part because of the positive reputation of the district. We are fortunate to live in an area with tremendous growth and that growth comes with growing pains. Cheney has a fantastic school district and they are in need of additional space and safety measures to serve our children. The Cheney School District has proposed a responsible plan to invest in...
I’ve probably voted for all of two tax increases in my lifetime and I’ve certainly not always been pleased with public education, but now is the right time to approve the Cheney school bond. The high school portion of the bond has been reduced. The overall bond is higher than last time as the district wisely included small expansions and safety upgrades to each of the five elementary schools. I encourage Airway Heights residents to get on board with this bond. A second high school should not be built until there are eno...
Dear Cheney School District patrons, what an awesome opportunity you have — you have the power to impact the safety, security and learning space for our area students for years to come. You hold in your hand a ballot for a bond issue that provides much needed classrooms as well as secure entries at multiple schools. The bond also addresses the continued growth projected for our district by including funds to buy property for future school sites. Not all area school districts are growing. Cheney is growing and I believe one r...
I find it odd that there are some who want to waste time debating the pros and cons of the upcoming Cheney School District bond. I have attended several bond meetings, asked questions and listened to different opinions. Each meeting has been productive with subsequent meetings building off of questions and concerns brought up in previous meetings. To me an open honest discussion is far more beneficial than a debate. I have come away from each meeting feeling like the district has really honed this bond into what the needs of...
So, let me get this straight. We just sold a school building for around a million dollars, but we want over $50 million to replace roughly the same number of classrooms we just sold. Idea: school district A has a 1A student body in a 2A school based on a base housing closure. School district B has a 2A student body bursting at the seams with the potential to become 3A. Simple algebra: 1A + 3A = 2A + 2A. Why not change the 108-year-old boundary between school district A and school district B to accommodate demographic...
I recently learned that there are no private schools in Finland. The rich and poor alike send their kids to the same public school, thus all are motivated to build, support, and provide the best possible school system in their neighborhood. Many of you might already know that Finnish students consistently rank No. 1 in the world for reading, mathematics and science. In comparison, America ranks 21st out of 34 countries represented in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in those same academic areas....
The effort to get rid of the death penalty in Washington state appears to be gaining some momentum. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Gov. Jay Inslee introduced Senate Bill 5353 in the current legislative session. If passed, the bill would repeal the death penalty and instead require life imprisonment without the release or parole for criminals convicted of aggravated first-degree murder. This is the latest movement to abolish capital punishment in Washington. In 2014, Inslee put a moratorium on executions in the...
The Airway Heights area only has one school. Sunset Elementary was built in 1951, belongs to Cheney School District and is the oldest school in the district. There is not a middle school or high school in this community. Not one school has been added to this area for 66 years! For the third time CSD has placed a bond on the ballot to expand Cheney High School while ignoring requests to build a high school closer to the Airway Heights area. Generations of children have been negatively affected by this indifference. Re-write...
Is this a hostage situation? In the previous bonds Cheney School District asked only for money to fund renovation to our high school. The latest bond proposal adds classrooms and security measures to our elementary schools. Why weren’t these included on the two previous bonds? At what point did the district have an “ah-ha” moment? Imagine it. “Hey, there aren’t secure entrances to the older elementary schools and look they are using portables!” These needs appeared to be hiding in plain sight. Using the elementary...
Cheney High School was built for how many students? The district says it is still 900, and I say by 1994 it was brought up to 1,200. Let’s go back to 1972. According to the Cheney Free Press ( 3/23/72), the capacity was about 900. In 1983 according to the Cheney Free Press (3/3/83) a bond failed for 20 new classrooms serving 1,200 students. In 1992, after two bond failures, a bond that I worked on passed, which doubled the size of the high school and added 23 classrooms (Cheney Free Press (1/16/92). This brought the c...
I want to share my thoughts about the bond supporting the Cheney School District. My husband and all of his siblings graduated from Cheney High School in the 1970s. They all felt that they got a good education. I moved here from Western Washington when I came to school at Eastern Washington University. I’ve lived here for many years now and have seen my son graduate from Cheney High School in 2007. My husband, Jim, and I both felt that he got an excellent education and so does he. While I haven’t supported every proposal tha...
After a month and a few days into life in Washington state where the minimum wage took a hike upward from $9.47 to $11 per hour on Jan. 1, it was time to see what was happening. Statewide the measure passed by just under 60 percent, and not at all surprising, voters in King County, where a $20 bill vanishes instantly for a sandwich and a beer, I-1433 was up by 72-28 in a Seattle Times report. As the guy who covers business here on the West Plains, this is, and will be a subjec...
There are many reasons for voting “Yes” on the 2017 Cheney School District facilities bond this Feb. 14. For starters, the $52 million price tag, $54.2 million before subtracting $2.2 million in unhoused student funding from the state. Yes, that is more than the $44.88 million the district tried twice to pass in 2015. But if you’re comparing those numbers, you’re not comparing apples to apples. That 2015 bond was for work at the high school only. To be accurate, you must subtract the $18.25 million for 25 more classro...
