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What would an effective congressional representative do to improve lives in the 5th District? Be available, answer letters personally, attend important rallies and EIS hearings concerning the oil and coal terminals, visit the homeless, attend city council meetings, visit schools and colleges, and live in the district instead of visiting the Spokane area a few times a year. Cathy McMorris Rodgers votes straight along Republican lines and does very little to help our people. Instead, her recent activities include cavorting with...
For this month’s PACE (Partners Advancing Character Education) character trait, we will discuss the trait of diligence. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines the term diligence as “persevering application.” Ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius noted “The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.” American icon Mark Twain once said “Diligence is a good thing, but taking things easy is much more restful.” Founding Father Benjamin Franklin used diligence...
Recently, former Congressman George Nethercutt said that if Donald Trump got the Republican nomination for president, he would leave his selection box blank. As a former conservative Republican turned Independent, this is exactly what’s wrong with today’s Republican Party. They never do what they say they are going to do, and that’s why you’re seeing the voter’s revolt and the turn to Trump. Voters are fed-up with the do nothing Congress on both sides, as proven by their lowest ratings ever! I voted for George on his stanc...
I’m a word guy, and subsequently, a language guy. Arguably, language is the greatest invention man has ever produced. We wouldn’t be here without it, written or spoken. I’ve recently dusted off a set of language discs I hope will help me learn enough Spanish to get around and into trouble — and out of it — on my fifth mission trip to Guatemala this summer. Listening to the introduction, the narrator made the statement that most experts consider the spoken word language more so than the written. We learn most from the spoke...
It may only be early March, but by now, most of us should be starting to have concerns about who our choices for president will be when November’s election rolls around. Let’s take a moment to reflect on the campaign season so far — if “campaign” is the proper word to use. It’s difficult to refer to any of the Republican debates to this point as “debates,” at least according to Webster’s simple definition of the word, which is “a discussion between people in which they express different opinions about something.” Much of what...
Last Friday (Feb. 26), 32 professionals from around the Spokane region volunteered to speak to the juniors of Cheney High School at the second annual CHS Career Exploration Day. Students chose from a variety of career fields such as health sciences and aerospace. Cheney High School Career Staff would like to extend a special “Thank You” to all of those that volunteered their time to share their expertise, including five CHS alumni. We look forward to working with all of you next year! Elisa Rodriguez Career Specialist Che...
My letter a month ago regarding Islamic State (ISIS) recruitment received a response alleging kowtowing to ISIS. This misinterpretation clearly indicates the need to further detail my letter’s intent. The ISIS recruitment videos featured Donald Trump’s call to ban all Muslims from the U.S., and Ted Cruz had mentioned carpet-bombing of enemy-controlled areas, revealing examples of the two Republicans bigotry and disregard for innocent civilian life. My assumption was (is) those attitudes are un-Christian and un-American, por...
Until Feb. 18 I had never visited a so-called “Third World” country. It may have seemed as though after experiencing the crazy driver who passed me in the center turn lane while I was slowing to the 40 mile-per-hour speed limit while approaching Four Lakes? Or when I was behind the wheel and bouncing over those wonderful unpaved, pothole-strewn dirt streets in Spokane. The term Third World, now synonymous with many struggling poor nations around the globe, was originally use...
Any law becomes ineffective when punishment for violating that law fails to act as a deterrent. Or, to use the more colorful phrase, a law’s “got to have teeth.” Two weeks ago the Washington Senate decided to do something it hasn’t done in 45 years by unanimously approving “putting teeth” into this state’s Open Public Meetings Act. At the request of state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, those teeth took the form of increased penalties for knowingly violating the law, upping individual fines from $100 to $500. Senate Bill 6...
Public safety agencies across America face the same problems as other employers — finding enough qualified workers. The difference is our safety is increasingly at risk. Law enforcement leaders are working harder at recruitment, yet they are drawing fewer applicants. Big city departments are not alone. It is the same story in smaller communities such as Leesburg, Va., where the number of applicants dropped 90 percent over the past five years. A decade ago, the Seattle P...
How’s this for bad choices? A recent study by a Harvard group contended with the position of U.S. intelligence agencies that tracking possible terrorists was becoming more difficult because there are too many “dark spots” — places where data can be encrypted to prevent tracking. Harvard “reassured” the FBI, CIA and others that new technologies embedded in common objects will provide (or already provide) plenty of additional tracking opportunities. What are these? How about toothbrushes, toys (yes, Barbie dolls), televisions...
One of the laws being proposed in this legislative session is House Bill 2313 and its companion measure Senate Bill 6157, which aims to increase the minimum legal age of buying tobacco and vapor products from 18 to 21. Currently, Washington residents 18 years and older can legally buy tobacco and vapor products. According to wording in HB 2313, the Legislature recognizes that many people who purchase cigarettes for minors are between the ages of 18-20. Raising the minimum legal age to 21 will decrease the legal access minors...
In 1962, songwriter Bob Dylan composed “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.” It was a Vietnam War protest song suggesting the ambiguous answer to ending war and living in peace and harmony was “blowin’ in the wind”…somewhere. Today, wind power is an important part of our nation’s electricity generating system and it will be essential in the decades ahead. The question is how much of it can we reasonably produce to meet our nation’s growing electrical demand...
On Feb. 10, 2016, Peace Action — the largest peace organization in the United States — announced its endorsement of Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination for President. Peace Action is the descendant of two other mass U.S. peace organizations: the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE) and the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign (the Freeze). SANE was founded in 1957 with the goal of ending nuclear weapons testing. Soon, though, it broadened its agenda to include opposing the Vietnam War and other ove...
The keys to future elections in the state of Washington could be in the hands of those who may have just recently earned their drivers license. That is if legislation Secretary of State Kim Wyman is proposing passes, allowing 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote in a program that would be part of high school history and civics classes. The legislation, House Bill 2707/Senate Bill 6340, was introduced in both chambers on Jan. 19. The prime sponsors are Rep. Steve Bergquist, D-Renton, and Sen. Joe Fain, R-Auburn, with members f...
Last June, the Republican leadership in Congress, including Cathy McMorris Rodgers, was able to pass Trade Promotion Authority that gave President Obama unconstitutional ability to regulate commerce with foreign nations including the fast tract authority to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership. A Tufts University study says passage of this massive 5,554 page agreement loaded with new regulations would shrink our GDP by $100 billion, leading to a loss of 448,000 American jobs. On Nov. 9, President Obama notified Congress of...
In January, the American Association of Railroads or AAR published its first-ever state of the railroads annual report focusing on the industry’s economic value, innovations and emphasis on safety. The nation’s railroads have been around for about 180 years and maintain 180,000 miles of track. Trains move over 51 million tons of freight each day which is about 40 percent of the nation’s freight. Rail has been a vital transportation link in the Pacific Northwest since 1883. Tha...
Sometimes there are events in life that are straight out of a television show or a movie. On Jan. 2 an armed group affiliated with the U.S. militia movement occupied the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon. This was following a peaceful march in protest of the jailing of Dwight Hammond and his son, Steven Hammond, who were convicted of arson on federal land and sentenced to five years in prison. According to the Oregonian article “Oregon militants: Why the Bundys’ Mormonism matters,” Ammon...
On Jan. 25, Washington’s House of Representatives passed House Bill 2366 by a 64-34 vote, meaning there was support. According to a story by Washington Newspaper Publishers Association’s Olympia Bureau reporter Izumi Hansen, HB 2366 sets up a task force, with help from a consultant, to look into the issue of teacher compensation and provide recommendations to the Legislature on how to fully fund teacher pay in 2017. The bill also specifies action be taken to eliminate school district’s reliance on local tax levies by the e...
Feed Cheney will be holding our second annual fundraiser on Super Bowl Sunday — it’s called “The Souper Bowl of Caring.” Last year we met an ambitious goal of $6,000, thanks to collections taken at several Cheney churches and online donations. While the nation is spending enormous amounts of money on elaborate Super Bowl refreshments, clothing, decorations, etc. there are some among us who don’t have a bowl of soup to eat. Enter the The Souper Bowl of Caring. Feed Cheney works year round to meet hunger in Cheney, with a ho...
When casually asked to define an “honest person” the logical response is, “It’s someone who tells the truth.” But when honesty is revered as a character trait we need to go beyond a simple definition and ask: What attributes do we expect of someone who walks down an honest path during the days of his/her life? Fortunately, we have an excellent example to help us address this question — the 16th president of the United States. Yes, Honest Abe. Although it’s generally assumed that Lincoln received the moniker “Honest Abe...
“If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.” These are the words of historian Carter G. Woodson, as quoted in the article “Negro History Week” from the April 1926 edition of the Journal of Negro History. Woodson, along with members of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, played key roles in the creation of a week celebrating the accomplishments and history of African-Americans beginni...
The following is reprinted from the Panama City (Florida) News Herald and may or may not reflect the views of the Cheney Free Press editorial board. Back in the 1970s, Dr. Pepper sought to lure us in by suggesting its consumers could be part of a soft drink clique. “I’m a Pepper; he’s a Pepper; she’s a Pepper — wouldn’t you like to be a Pepper, too?” the actor David Naughton sang in the jingle featured in TV commercials. Substitute the word “birther” for Pepper and you would have a contemporary political clique. The birth...
It’s been interesting to follow the water crisis in Flint, Mich. and see where efforts to save a buck have turned to passing the buck. That city of some 100,000 has horrible problems with its water that began when in 2014 city officials chose to change water sources from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to the Flint River. But what has been more intriguing is the finger-pointing and the immediate rush to judgment calling for Republican Gov. Rick Snyder to resign when o...
Most mid-biennial sessions in Olympia don’t end up producing much in the way of substantial, earth-shattering legislation. But thanks to a pair of Washington State Supreme Court decisions, this year’s January – March legislative get together might be different. Those two decisions are regarding K-12 education. One is 2012’s McCleary verdict. Enough said. The other is last September’s ruling nullifying Initiative 1240, which was narrowly approved by 50.69 percent of voters in 2012 creating up to 40 charter schools in the st...
