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It has been a devastating wildfire season across our state. In his letter to the editor (Cheney Free Press) on the topic dated 9/17/2015, Mike Ault makes some valid points, but he missed some important facts. The fact is that our Fire Department participated in several deployments during June and July. But, when we billed for reimbursement of firefighter labor costs during those deployments, the state withheld 35 percent of what we requested. Our overtime costs were already far over budget and there are no discretionary...
I just read an article in the Cheney Free Press about the building that was known as “Hagel’s House of Horrors.” This building is scheduled to be demolished because it does not fit into your (Spokane International Airport) “master plan.” I can’t tell you how upset I am about this historical building that’s due to be demolished! This building was constructed in 1905 and was the Jamieson Frequency Changing Station. It was the substation for the electric trains that ran between Spokane and Medical Lake from 1905 to about 1922...
Where did the fire trucks go? Nowhere. I am a retired firefighter with 35 years of service at the Cheney Fire Department. A year ago I relocated to the west side of the state. Recently, I called back to ask some of my former crew members how they were handling the rash of statewide wildfires and to my shock and disappointment I was informed that Cheney had not sent any trucks or personnel. I was perplexed as to why the city would not send any equipment or personnel in such a dire state of emergency. We are in a summer of...
Some of you may have noticed a slight difference in the Cheney Free Press’s coverage lately. If you haven’t, it will become more apparent over time. In the past, areas of news coverage here at the paper have typically been divvied up geographically, meaning someone will be covering government, community and education news by city. For instance, I have covered Cheney government and education while staff reporter Al Stover has been covering the same in Medical Lake, as well as government and community news in Airway Hei...
Football is back and everybody is giddy over it. And yet, as always, there are things happening in the sport watched and played by millions of Americans that make you scratch your head about what it’s doing to our culture. Two of those events wasted little time imposing themselves on our national conscience, taking place on the opening weekend of high school and collegiate play. One was close to home, the other a little further away. Both of them evoked passions over what is known as “the cheap shot.” First, the one close...
The Cheney Police Department (CPD) is a small, but professional police agency, staffed with caring and compassionate public safety professionals. For several years, the CPD has been a state-accredited police department and serves as a model to others in this area. However, behind this façade of excellence and exceptional service, the CPD suffers from a lack of funding support in several key areas. As I near the completion of my fourth year as your chief of police, I find myself examining the state of the police department....
A pair of news items last week has left us wondering if we aren’t becoming too sensitive in our approach to race and cultural relations in society. The first was the incident of five Whitworth University women soccer players who were suspended by their head coach for posting photos of themselves on social media in costumes that included the use of blackface makeup. Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used by performers to portray black people that began being used in the early 19th century. The practice contributed to t...
Last week (Aug. 27) the Free Press offered a Guest Editorial – an opinion – from a liberal newspaper in a union-dominated blue state failing three times (in four years) to defeat conservative Gov. Scott Walker. The piece attempted to connect Walker to Donald Trump and immigration policies deemed “extreme, logistically and politically impossible,” while touting paths to citizenship for illegal aliens as “humane and smart.” Holding a lawbreaker accountable for a crime is inhumane? It’s smart to reward lawbreakers with exactly w...
It’s certainly not the same kind of encore I cheered for a little over a month ago at a Jackson Browne concert. Unfortunately the front and center return to the stage that has had everyone talking and tearing up lately has been a ravaging wildfire season that leaves last year’s suddenly pale in comparison. Just 13 months after the Carlton Complex blackened a record 252,000 in Okanogan County, two lightning-caused blazes, the Okanogan Complex Fire covering the hills north of...
The following editorial from the Colorado Springs Gazette may or may not reflect the views of the Cheney Free Press editorial board. Friday night (Aug. 28), a Harris County, Texas, deputy sheriff was shot, execution-style, while refueling his patrol car. The only motive appears to be the badge he was wearing. It was a senseless, tragic death. Deputy Darren Goforth, 47, had a wife and children. Wednesday (Aug. 26), a Louisiana police officer responding to a call about a stabbing was fatally shot. His name was Henry Nelson,...
Over the past few years, there has been growing recognition of the challenges of Alzheimer’s disease but the funding to find a cure lags dramatically behind what’s necessary. My family has become familiar with the devastating effects of this disease, as we lost my father, a World War II veteran, recently to Alzheimer’s disease. We now realize how many families are being affected by Alzheimer’s and the numbers will grow substantially in the years ahead. In 2010, Congress unanimously passed legislation that set a goal of find...
Earlier this month, billionaire Charles Koch had a surprising message: In a speech to his fellow conservatives, he said politicians must end taxpayer-funded subsidies and preferential treatment for corporations. Why is this surprising? Because the demand came from an industrialist whose company and corporate subsidiaries have raked in 10s of millions of dollars’ worth of such subsidies. The Koch-organized conference at a luxury resort in Southern California reportedly attracted roughly 450 conservative donors who have c...
What’s wrong with this picture? On Wednesday, Aug. 19, at 5:15 p.m., I took a walk from Sutton Park to the Cheney High School through the Eastern Washington University campus. It was hot, it was windy and it was smoky. The sun was covered with a haze. Never had I seen anywhere look like this except during the two weeks I spent in Chengdu, China, three years ago. Added to this experience were four trains (carrying oil? coal?) blowing their horns, one of which I heard as I rounded the corner at the Cheney High School and B...
The following editorial from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel may or may not reflect the views of the Cheney Free Press editorial board. Donald Trump will not be the Republican nominee for president; in the end, the party’s elite will see to that. But Trump’s bullying tactics — and now his bullying ideas for immigration reform — are pushing some of his rivals to take extreme positions. Such as Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Walker has been moving in that direction for a while now, telling firebrand conservative broadca...
For those of you opposed to abortion, would you consider making a money donation to Planned Parenthood “designated” for long-term contraception for young girls? I’m sure they would be happy to accept that. No teenager needs a baby to care for as her adult dreams are forming, and many cannot afford this more expensive kind of contraception that lasts for years. We all need to take positive steps to prevent abortion ever arising as an option. Roz Luther Spokane...
We’ve got one more month of summer, which means it’s we’re still in a long fire season. Currently fire crews are battling more than 20 fires in the state. The Chelan Complex Fire has burned over 100,000 acres. In Stevens County there are three major fires that have burned over 13,700 acres. On the Colville Indian Reservation, the North Star Fire has burned over 30,000 acres. In the last month, the West Plains has experienced several brush and structure fires, including two within Airway Heights and one that consumed 270 acres...
In this day of blaming everybody for what is wrong with the Veterans Affairs health system, I would just like to publicly state that never have I received such professional care and treatment in a timely manner in the past few months as at our local VA hospital. I wish I didn’t need it. Many have much more serious physical and mental challenges than I at the present time. From the moment one reports to the facility, you are met by a roving volunteer ambassador and escorted to the area where the treatment or appointment is m...
Thursday, Aug. 13, was a day when math made a lot of headlines in our part of the world. Former Eagles quarterback Vernon Adams passed his test in Eugene allowing him to finally fulfill his final requirement towards graduation from Eastern Washington University and get his shot to play quarterback with the Oregon Ducks. Meanwhile in Olympia, the Washington state Supreme Court issued their grade to the state Legislature over efforts to fully fund K-12 education. In the opinion of the seven justices who interpret the law, they...
One hundred twenty-five years ago in August 1890, the Cheney Enterprise merged with the Cheney Sentinel newspaper under the ownership of James Fitzgerald. During the first decades, Cheney had two, sometimes three newspapers. Learn more about our area’s history at www.cheneymuseum.org....
Whatever position one takes on the Iran “agreement,” it is already becoming an issue of what exactly does it mean to the country as a whole. It was Disraili who exclaimed in the latter days of the British Empire that Britain had no permanent enemies and no permanent friends — only permanent “interests.” What exactly that meant at the time in terms of military strength, was measured in how many first line battleships and battle cruisers should Britain have against any “potential” future enemy. The formula came out as two to...
“I don’t have time to be politically correct.” An interesting statement made by billionaire real estate mogul and poll-leading erstwhile presidential aspirant Donald Trump at last Thursday’s first Republican debate. Trump’s comment, while replayed over and over, ad infinitum on the numerous news channels has been somewhat diluted by other utterances. These are, not necessarily in any order or level of importance: the unfairness of Fox News’ questions, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, Kelly and blood from “wherever,” Trump’s alleg...
Even the smallest comment can ruin your reputation. Airway Heights Mayor Patrick Rushing came under fire last month after making Facebook comments on his personal account, comparing President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle to “monkeys.” The action, which Rushing referred to as a “banter between friends that got out of control,” resulted in unwanted national attention and over 700 complaints to the city. He has refused to step down, despite residents, City Council members and staff expressing no confidence in his abiliti...
Whoever came up with that widely popular notion that “60 in the new 40,” I hope they’re right. Because as you pull this edition of the Free Press out of the mail box or newspaper stand for some leisurely reading I’ll be somewhere along a trail by the Lostine River in Northeastern Oregon headed for Mirror Lake, with an elevation just short of 7,400 feet. The ultimate goal is the tip-top of the 9,572 foot Eagle Cap, the namesake peak of the wilderness area in the Wallowa...
The July 30 Guest Commentary by Dr. Richard Badalamente demonized corporations as “scandalous” liars — snake-oil salesmen. If you are skeptical of man-caused global warming claims the commentary also characterized YOU as gullible, ignorant, unenthusiastic, shortsighted — incapable of or unwilling to make hard choices in favor of long-term future concerns, opting instead for “self-absorbed,” “immediate gratification.” In his May 14 Guest Commentary, he also used similar ad hominem arguments to marginalize two men through the...
Supporting our military personnel is all the rage these days, especially after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and the wars and military actions that followed. And yet, unless you’ve actually served in one of the armed forces, the majority of us don’t have a really good idea of what it’s like to be in the United States Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard. There is a way, however, that non-military citizens can get a small glimpse into the lives of our service men and women — the Honorary Command...
