Sorted by date Results 1936 - 1960 of 3216
As summer draws near, it is important that our community members be mindful of the amount of water we are using. The issue of wasteful water practices is derived from the lack of awareness that some individuals have when it comes to just how much water they are wasting. On average, a person will unknowingly waste up to 30 gallons of water each day. To eliminate wasteful water practices, we need to increase water efficiency. We can do so by making small changes to our daily routine. For instance, by turning off the faucet...
Only in Washington D.C. can near unanimous agreement on a policy mean there is danger it may not occur. Consider the pending expiration of the ban on Internet access taxes and whether or not Congress will act in time. As reported by the Wall Street Journal: “The idea of taxing email is no more popular today than when President Bill Clinton signed the Internet Tax Freedom Act into law. But a dedicated congressional minority now wants to allow states and localities to tax email — unless these governments are given new powers to...
I would like to write about how the County Commissioners have been squandering our taxpayer’s money. Let’s take a look at what they have been up to over the last few years. 1. $245 million dollars for a new jail, if it passes. 2. $7.5 million dollars on Spokane Raceway Park, that hasn’t made a dime since they bought it, and could cost hundreds of thousands more in environmental cleanup. 3. $2.5 million dollars to buy the old Solar World apartment complex in Airway Heights to save Fairchild. 4. $18 million dollars on failed Pr...
Community members have sometimes complained about their brand new clothes being ruined due to the huge puddle of mush that comes around every winter and spring due to rain and snow. The bottoms of pants get soaked along with a strange white line which remains on the back of pants until it is thoroughly cleaned. However, that is a minimal concern in comparison to the experiences that come with mobility problems for the disabled. Why do people portray helping people in wheelchairs as a bad thing? Of course, the issue at hand...
Based on a recent article in the April 17 Cheney Free Press — “Cheney council finds county weed proposal noxious”— and comments made by the Cheney City Council, I would like to explain the Washington state Noxious Weed Law and the role and function of the Spokane County Noxious Weed Control Board. Ultimately what has been happening is that incorporated cities and towns such as Cheney have been receiving the same service as the unincorporated areas of the county, Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake, but bearing little of the cost....
How times have changed. From 1960 until 1980 I voted for several Republicans, including Richard Nixon against Jack Kennedy in my first presidential vote, and Washington Gov. Dan Evans three times. On some issues, such as the corrupting influence of big money, the Republican Party then was left of the Democratic Party now; e.g., President Eisenhower warned about the military-industrial complex and maintained the 90 percent income tax rate on the richest. Today’s Republicans seem intent on turning government into an o...
“A river seems a magic thing. A magic, moving, living part of the very earth itself.” Or so wrote Laura Gilpin, an American photographer who ironically had my same birthday, April 22, but way back in 1891. Gilpin, I’ve discovered really had it right. For the better part of the past 40 years I have been wedded to the moving water of rivers. It’s also as long as I have been married. Not long after our wedding my wife took a trip to Portland, Ore. to visit her college “bestie...
Do we own a “right to be forgotten” regarding things in our past? Do we own all the information generated about ourselves? A recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union in a public records case out of Spain might have provided a resounding “Yes” to both questions. On May 13, Europe’s highest court gave individuals the ability to expunge their online records of past indiscretions such as old debts, previous arrests and other unflattering incidents by requiring search engine companies like Google to honor the...
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee recently signed an executive order creating a task force to design a “carbon emission limits and market mechanisms program” that establishes a cap on emissions, and includes “measures to help offset any cost impacts to consumers and workers, protect low-income households and assist energy intensive, trade-exposed businesses in their transition from carbon-based fuels.” Inslee’s “emissions limits and markets” program is, like a rose by any other name, a cap and trade program. The Western Clima...
StageWest Community theatre has wrapped up our 2013-2014 season with a successful run of Jack Sharkey’s “Honestly, Now” directed by Phil West and produced with special arrangement by Samuel French Inc. We had a largest ever dinner theatre on Saturday May 3 with an audience of 39. There were many compliments to the wonderful food provided by Mike Hartman and Willow Springs Restaurant. StageWest had a great 2013-2014 season and we would like to thank the congregation of Emmanuel Lutheran Church for their gracious use of their...
By Al Stover Staff Reporter This past Mother’s Day made me reflect on all of the ways my mother helped take care of us as I was growing up. Being the primary breadwinner in our family, she worked to make sure my sister and I had everything we needed, whether it’s making sure we had a roof over our heads and food on the table. In my senior year of high school, she paid for my tuxedo for prom, my yearbook and my fees to make sure I graduated along with the rest of my class. I was fully capable for paying for all of those thi...
Every year the Cheney Free Press awards a $500 scholarship to a male and female Cheney High School graduating senior. All that is required is their parents have to be a subscriber and they must write an essay about why they would like the scholarship. In the past we have had several male and female applicants, but that has dropped in the past couple of years. This year we had just two, one male and one female, both of whom are very qualified applicants. The decline in Free Press scholarship applicants created concerns with us...
Public transportation is as popular as ever. Ridership just reached its highest level in 57 years. Americans took 10.7 billion trips on subways, buses and trains in 2013. But this trend may hit a roadblock if Congress does not take action in the coming months to reverse a tax inequity that took effect this year on commuters who use public transportation. Fortunately, the Senate Finance Committee recently voted to put public-transportation riders on the same tax footing as drivers. The rest of Congress must follow suit. As...
The feeling of unease is still palpable. Last summer in Guatemala we were preparing to sit down for breakfast at the hotel we were staying at just outside the town of Purullha. We were preparing to make a second journey to visit the Pocomchi Mayan people in the Baja Vera Paz Mountains of north-central Guatemala. Sitting waiting for the plates of tortilla shells and bowls of refried beans — yes they serve those for breakfast and they’re the best in the world — I noticed a couple come into the dining area looking for a table...
The federal government sends out nearly $77 billion each year to physicians participating in the Medicare program. The taxpayers footing those bills deserve to know where the money is going. And data about Medicare payments can be crucial in rooting out organized fraud or poor oversight of Medicare spending. That’s why last week’s release of a massive payment database by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is so valuable. For the first time, Americans can see where Medicare dollars are being spent in their com...
This is about thinking outside the box. For years, newcomers and some old-timers have complained about the number of trains and the noise they make going through Cheney. I think they have forgotten why Cheney is here. We wouldn’t have our town if it were not for the trains. We are grateful for the railroad superintendent in the 1880s, donating land on the hill for the first teacher’s college in Washington. Students began arriving from faraway places, all by train. They then hiked up the avenue to register for classes. The...
I would like to bring to attention the lack of recycling bins in the Spokane/Cheney area. Items that could be reused are taking up unnecessary space in our landfills. Not only would adding recycling bins help the environment, it would also help the community by adding jobs and saving money. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in green jobs and services accounted for over 3.1 million jobs in 2010. As environmental awareness increases, the need for green practices and employees does as well. Recycling...
Cheney Kiwanis appreciates the large turnout of kids at the 2014 egg hunt at Salnave Park. Kiwanis also thanks the following organizations for the assistance in presenting the hunt: Cheney Care Center residents who placed wrapped candies into over 5,000 plastic eggs. Omega Delta Phi fraternity and Kappa Delta Chi sorority (both at EWU) for providing many gift baskets, placing candies into about 2,500 plastic eggs, hiding eggs and doing clean up. Cheney High School Key Club for hiding eggs and doing clean up. Cheney Fire...
Dogs are starting to become human accessories, tagging along wherever their owner goes. While it is not uncommon to see service dogs in public — because they do act as guides for their owners — some people bring their animals — dogs — to public places, not only the parks and beaches, but also grocery stores and businesses — places where dogs have no reason to be there. Even at events where dogs are prohibited — like Hoopfest — people still bring them, despite the possibility of getting stuck with a fine or being asked t...
I’ve been a train fan for as long as I can recall. Not sure when the bug was planted, but it could have been one Christmas when I got my first Lionel model railroad as a 5-year-old. Or maybe it was when my mother and I hopped a westbound passenger train for what I remember as my first train ride. It was a trip from Spokane all the way to Cheney, all of what, about 20 miles? Funny the things that make impressions on a kid and remain in the memory banks decades later? So as t...
By DICK RESCH Contributor The United Nations recently released a 2,000-plus-page report on climate change with a straightforward conclusion — global temperatures are rising, and human activity is the primary cause. The report’s 259 authors warn that catastrophic heat waves, droughts, and floods will grow more common unless governments take steps to limit greenhouse gas emissions. But there are serious political limits to what governments can do — especially with the global economy flagging. Fortunately, some private firms are...
Last Saturday I decided it was time to venture out of the apartment and head to Eagles Pub to have a beer in celebration of the Milwaukee Brewers beating the Pittsburgh Pirates. Eagles’ is a regular spot I head to whenever I’m downtown, but on this night I decided to revive an old tradition. The pub is a destination for karaoke every Friday and Saturday, and on this particular night I dusted off the vocal cords to sing AC/DC’s “Big Balls.” Some of the other patrons in the bar were cheering, though that’s probably because the...
Amidst the thrashing of filling out those last-minute 1040 forms and plenty of other concerns, the Internal Revenue Service tax filing deadline came and went a week ago Tuesday, April 15. A 4-million word tax code can certainly affect how a smoothly running life travels down the road. But this week has a pair of notable, but, perhaps, little known bookend dates unofficially linked to taxes, too. Monday, April 21 was national Tax Freedom Day while Friday, April 25 represents the day we in Washington state have satisfied...
Either I’ve invented a new form of sleepwalking, let’s call it “sleep traveling,” or I’m not taking enough pictures. We get a lot of emails here at the Cheney Free Press. A lot of it’s good, requests for advertisements, press releases, informational opinion pieces, story leads and so on. A lot of it is crap. It would be great to filter it, this Spam (I actually like Spam, the mystery meat), but alas, we can’t as it could block other messages we do wish to receive. So we endure. And in enduring, as I said above, I do believe...
It’s been said it can take years to build up trust, only to have it destroyed overnight by one small act. In a column on PACE’s character trait for April, trustworthiness, Better Business Bureau communications specialist Matthew Sewell links the ability to establish trust with the way we use technology and all forms of media today. Sewell hypothesizes the more time we spend with media, the less time we dedicate to connecting with our peers face to face. “By extension, it could be deduced that we are less likely to trust anoth...
