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  • Response to LaForge's column about censorship

    Updated Aug 14, 2014

    Regarding John LaForge’s column regarding censorship of the use of American atomic bombs on Japan in 1945, he got it tactically correct, but strategically wrong. The atomic bombs were used strictly for strategic reasons. Let me explain. At the Tehran Conference in November 1943, the Allies agreed that the Soviet Union (i.e., Stalin) would attack Japanese forces in Manchuria on Aug. 9, 1945 — which it did. However, by then, we did not need the Soviet’s help against Japan, but an agreement was made and kept. So, we wante...

  • Thank you for supporting Cheney Junior Rodeo

    Updated Aug 14, 2014

    We would like to send a heartfelt thank you to all of our sponsors and especially to our volunteers who worked tirelessly to make sure everything went well for the kids during the Cheney Junior Rodeo. You people are awesome. Sherry McNall Cheney...

  • Fear prevents us from facing our country's challenges

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Aug 14, 2014

    “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” Plato, Greek philosopher, 427 – 347 B.C. “Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, U.S. poet, essayist and lecturer, 1803-1882. I never realized how fearful a culture we have become until I left for a while. To be sure, there are things to be afraid of in our country, especially on a personal level. But for the most part, much of what we’re afraid of we shouldn...

  • Community loses activist and former museum director

    Updated Aug 14, 2014

    Mary Jane Booth passed away Sunday, Aug. 10. She is remembered as a driving force on a number of community actions, and as a 56-year member of the Tilicum Club and the Cheney Historical Museum. Mary Jane had a way of cajoling people to volunteer in activities and organizations with humor, a touch of guilt, and persuasion. She was never shy about offering suggestions or her opinion, and she was a positive force for change in those organizations, from the Faculty Wives Club, Tilicum Club, Cheney Gun Club, to the Friends of...

  • Temperatures contribute to increase of fires

    Updated Aug 7, 2014

    Paul Delaney (Cheney Free Press, 7/31/14) takes exception to the contention that “climate change is the culprit for longer, bigger and more intense wildfires.” According to Delaney, it’s all about forest management. Well, Washington isn’t the only state fighting longer, bigger and more intense wildfires. Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Utah are all fighting wildfires in triple-digit temperatures, in drought-stricken areas. According to the NIFC, we are experiencing an unusual wildfire season,...

  • Censorship and myth-making enshrined ignorance of Hiroshima and The Bomb

    JOHN LaFORGE, Contributor|Updated Aug 7, 2014

    The US atomic destruction of 140,000 people at Hiroshima and 70,000 at Nagasaki was never “necessary” because Japan was already smashed, no land invasion was needed and Japan was suing for peace. The official myth that “the bombs saved lives” by hurrying Japan’s surrender can no longer be believed except by those who love to be fooled. The long-standing fiction has been destroyed by the historical record kept in U.S., Soviet, Japanese and British archives — now mostly declassified — and detailed by Ward Wilson in his book ...

  • The power of truth and lies in our world

    From The Panama City Herald|Updated Aug 7, 2014

    A recent email had us thinking of Mark Twain, John Adams and Stephen Colbert. Let’s start with Twain who wrote: “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” That’s the right sentiment to describe the email which claims that Col. Oliver North warned then Sen. Al Gore about Osama Bin Laden during congressional testimony in 1987. The hoax spread like wildfire after the Sept. 11 attacks. It was so popular that North debunked it himself by pointing out (among other th...

  • Forest management the real culprit in today's wildfires

    PAUL DELANEY|Updated Jul 31, 2014

    No pun intended, but wildfires seem to be a hot topic lately. It’s a time when Mother Nature can wreak havoc on already parched forests and fields across the West with a passing lightning storm just as easily as a careless human with a hot exhaust or an errant spark. I grew up from a young age in the outdoors and the forests of the Northwest and still revel in being there. From looking at old family photos of uncle Gordon manning a lookout in the Okanogan National Forest in t...

  • Heed Smokey the Bear's wise words this fire season

    Updated Jul 31, 2014

    We pride ourselves, when living in the Inland Northwest, that we do not have to endure Mother Nature’s wrath, as do other parts of the country. We don’t have tornadoes like the Midwest, nor hurricanes like the South and Atlantic Coast. We’re relatively safe from earthquakes, even though there’s a newly discovered fault that runs along Hangman Creek and the Spokane River. Floods come and go, ice storms are rare and we’re pretty well-versed at dealing with snow. But if there’s one natural force that could — and now does — th...

  • Do not vote for Cathy McMorris Rodgers

    Updated Jul 24, 2014

    Please don’t vote for Cathy McMorris Rodgers. She lies. She says she’s for equal pay, but she voted against equal pay laws four times. She voted twice against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and twice against the Paycheck Fairness Act. These laws would have further closed the gender wage gap, rooted out discrimination in pay disparities, and strengthened penalties for that discrimination. At present, women are making only $.77 for each $1 a man makes. She’s working in a privileged system that allows her to make more than...

  • Thank you from Cheney Library

    Updated Jul 24, 2014

    The Friends of the Cheney Library thanks everyone who came out to buy books in the hot weather on rodeo weekend. The proceeds from the sale are used to buy program supplies, special furnishings and other items used in the Cheney library. We also thank all the generous community members who donated books for us to sell — without your donations there would be no sale. Donations can be made any time the library is open. And a special thanks to members of the following groups for helping us set up the sale: Cheney City staff f...

  • Even a hammer-wielding thunder gods has to change

    AL STOVER, Staff Reporter|Updated Jul 24, 2014

    Change is inevitable, especially when it comes to comic books. Every fan of the medium knows that. Yet many fans still complain and kick their feet in rage when a publisher changes something in their books — particularly when it involves a character. Last week Marvel Comics released an image of Thor the thunder god, one of their oldest and most iconic characters. It featured the classic armor, the blond hair and the god’s hammer Mjolnir. However, the person in the armor was a woman instead of the man that has been around eve...

  • Healthy eating habits need to start at home

    Updated Jul 24, 2014
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    The Healthy Hunger Free-Kids Act was established in 2010 by the Obama Administration to fund free meals in public schools as well as establish new nutrition standards that would benefit students. Although the act attempts to ensure that students get a balanced diet, many children haven’t embraced the new meal standards. While smaller schools have done well — Cheney has saved around $3,200 a year in their lunch program, according to the Spokesman Review story “Smaller school districts adapting best to new lunch regulations” ...

  • Letters

    Updated Jul 18, 2014

    Lyndon Johnson had it right after all Ed Feulner, in his guest commentary for the Cheney Free Press, July 3, 2014, says that he’s learned, “you can’t improve something unless you can measure it.” He then goes on to label Lyndon Johnson’s ‘Great Society’ “an abject failure” without measuring anything. According to Feulner, “an ever expanding portion of the population” is receiving the largess of LBJ’s War on Poverty. Apparently the management course Feulner credits with teaching him about measuring things didn’t include t...

  • Seeking lessons in last trip to Guatemala, for now

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Jul 18, 2014

    Next Wednesday, July 23, I leave again on a mission trip to Guatemala. It will be my third consecutive trip, fourth overall, and likely my last for a while — at least a year. It’s an amazing adventure to be in that country, to travel and experience the culture, to see a different society in action, and to interact on many levels with its people. But believe me, it’s no vacation. It’s exhausting frankly. Not just being country, traveling for long stretches on bad roads, traversing washed out areas, sometimes standing in the...

  • It's well past time for five county commissioners

    Updated Jul 18, 2014

    Plenty has changed in the last 25 years in Spokane County. Most notably, we’ve grown by nearly 120,000 people, some of the most rapid growth ever. In the upcoming Aug. 5 primary election, the citizens of the West Plains will select the top two candidates among three to move onto the November general election and face off for District 3 county commissioner. Voters will select between incumbent Al French, former commissioner Bonnie Mager and newcomer, Mary Lou Johnson. But while much has changed in the past quarter century, o...

  • Fourth of July holiday a great time to reminisce

    PAUL DELANEY, Staff Reporter|Updated Jul 10, 2014

    Seems that the Fourth of July is the perfect time to revisit history. So as I sat around the campfire at Apgar Campground along the shores of Lake McDonald, just inside the confines of Glacier National Park, it got me thinking about Independence Days that have stood out in my mind. Many Fourths had been spent in similar laziness along Deadman’s Creek up in Ferry County enjoying time with my family who lived to camp. That’s camping as in setting up tents, sleeping on the gro...

  • Volunteering starts with the individual

    Updated Jul 10, 2014

    During the summer, there are community events — big and small — that bring citizens together, including Medical Lake’s Founder’s Day, the Cheney Rodeo and the Cheney Jubilee. These events are run by organizations and unpaid volunteers who sacrifice their time and resources to make the events happen. But the number of individuals volunteering for these and other groups have declined in the last few years. In fact, volunteering has decreased across the United States. According to a report from the Bureau of Labor and Statist...

  • Thank you Cheney Care staff

    Updated Jul 9, 2014

    We would like to thank the staff at the Cheney Care Center for all the help and support they gave to both our mother and our father over the last several years. Director Keith Fauerso, Shannon Reitan and all of the staff at the Assisted Living Center are wonderful people who genuinely cared about our father. The nursing home staff was equally supportive of our mother. We always felt comfortable in leaving our parents in the care of such kind and caring people, and for this we are very grateful. Tom and Marian Whitfield...

  • Professional wrestling has something for everyone

    AL STOVER, Staff Reporter|Updated Jul 9, 2014

    Sunday night I decided to let my inner child take over and watch the WWE’s — formerly the WWF — “Money in the Bank” event.The show had its big moments and it took me back to what I enjoyed watching wrestling when I was younger. I’ll admit it. I’ve been a fan of professional wrestling ever since I was in elementary school. I was enamored with larger than life characters like Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker and Sting taking on villains like the Iron Sheik, “Nature Boy” Ric Flair and “Macho Man” Randy Savage — or “Macho King” as...

  • SCOPE fundraiser successful

    Updated Jul 9, 2014

    We wish to thank the following businesses for supporting your EWU/Cheney SCOPE with our annual fundraiser and rest area donations: Blackhawk Veterinary Hospital, Mitchell’s Harvest Foods, Copy Junction, Sandi’s Expression, Rosa’s Pizza, Les Schwab, Chet’s Flowers, Cheney Veterinary Clinic, Sears, Latah Trading Company, Foxy Horse and Hound, Jimmy John’s, Vision Haus, Pet Paradise, Snap Fitness, Owl Pharmacy, Cheney Trading Company and Farmers Insurance. Your EWU/Cheney SCOPE helps with bicycle helmets, O.F.I.D.C. (fingerpr...

  • Taking the measure of Lyndon Johnson's 'Great Society'

    Ed FEULNER, Contributor|Updated Jul 9, 2014

    One of the lessons I learned in my first management course is you can’t improve something unless you can measure it. So let’s apply that to government. As ambitious government programs go, it’s hard to top the “Great Society,” which recently marked its 50th anniversary. President Lyndon Johnson, after all, vowed “to give every citizen an escape from the crushing weight of poverty.” That’s a tall order. So five decades, nearly $22 trillion and roughly 80 welfare programs later, it’s fair to ask how we’re doing. The short an...

  • Cheney Athletics would like to thank everyone for their support

    JIM MISSEL, Contributor|Updated Jun 26, 2014

    The Cheney High School Athletic Department would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that supports Cheney High School athletics. Athletic contest workers, which include ticket takers, announcers, clock operators, concession workers, at the home athletic contests to make them successful. The Cheney School District director of maintenance, Jeff McClure, and his department, who take care of the athletic facilities, which includes the watering of fields, painting, mowing of fields and maintenance of all athletic...

  • Gridlock in Washington D.C. may begin at home on Washington Street

    John McCallum, Editor|Updated Jun 26, 2014

    We have met the enemy and they are us. I’m not sure who said that, or even if it’s an actual quote. But when it comes to why there is such a huge inability to form a governing consensus among lawmakers in our nation’s Capitol, we might want to look no closer than the image in the bathroom mirror. According to a Pew Research Center for the People & the Press report released June 12, the number of Americans who express consistently conservative or consistently liberal opinions has doubled in the last 20 years from 10 perce...

  • Foreign intervention strays from core beliefs

    Updated Jun 26, 2014

    When in the last 50 years has the intervention of the United States done a country good? It’s a difficult question to answer. After all, foreign policy should be about developing and maintaining relations through diplomacy, not through the barrel of a gun or a cruise missile. Since 1964, the U.S. has been involved militarily in a number of areas. We’ve had boots on the ground in Vietnam, Grenada, Lebanon, Iraq (twice) and Afghanistan. We’ve bombed targets in Laos, Cambodia, Libya and Serbia. Maybe there are a couple succe...

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