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With Gov. Jay Inslee telling us his ongoing mandates — developed behind closed doors and imposed without public involvement — are a “raging success,” do we still need the public legislative process for governing? Should one individual decide all policy for Washington, governing by press conference, with no opportunity for the public to comment o lawmakers to offer alternative proposals? These are the questions I find myself asking recently. I’ve spent most of my professio...
I attended last week’s Cheney School Board meeting via Zoom as was listed as a way to attend the meeting. The entire meeting was so garbled as to not be understood. I emailed during the meeting to let them know what was happening. I did receive an email after the meeting telling me if I wanted to hear the meeting it was suggested that I should attend in person. It is disappointing that taxpayers have spent millions of dollars on new construction, remodeling and even specifically a technology levy. If this meeting is an e...
The hair on my neck stood up when I heard Speaker of our House, Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tell a member of the media that their job was to support her political agenda. Recalling the civics lessons that I had as a youth, I learned it is not the job or role of the press, in our society, to advocate a political position, but to provide factual information and to challenge those in power to defend their positions. Since I’ve not been in school for some time, I wondered if things have changed. I found the following passage on t...
It is not too late to submit your views to the Legislative Redistricting Commission. Citizens should get involved in the 10-year redistricting of the state based on the 2020 Census. Proposals for state districts are due by Friday, Oct.22, and your very important opinion can easily be sent by email and video, as well as by mail to [email protected]. Some of the four maps being considered put Cheney in the 9th District, not as it is presently in the 6th District, thus joining Cheney with the rural areas south as far...
Commentary earlier this month by Don Brunell frustrated me by his reasoning. He talked about Gov. Inslee’s ban on fossil fuels for new construction being “expensive for home and building owners, many of whom installed energy efficient natural gas heat pumps and tank-less water heaters.” Excuse me? The ban is for new construction, so it would not have any effect on the existing homes and other buildings. Then he talks about the cost of mitigating the carbon-dioxide and how reducing natural gas consumption will cause loss...
Unfortunately, what happens in Taiwan doesn’t just stay in Taiwan, it impacts us. So, when President Xi Jinping announced China’s plan to step up “unification “efforts, it gets our attention. U.S. ties with Taiwan, a Cold War ally, are a lightning rod in the testy relations between Washington and Beijing, which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province and vows to use military force if needed to annex the island,” the Wall Street Journal reported recently. Xi’s words are not idl...
Last week, the WIAA unveiled its state tournament allocations for fall sports. These allocations determine how many teams each district gets to send to the state playoffs in these sports, which around here, include football, soccer and volleyball. No changes were seen in soccer and volleyball. District 7, which includes Davenport and Reardan, was given one berth in girls soccer and three in volleyball for the 2B state playoffs. A fair allocation, as the number of 2B girls soccer teams statewide is slim, and three of 11 teams...
The last week has not been good for small businesses in our part of the state. The U.S. Postal Service began slowing “snail mail” services. Stores were ordered to stop using plastic bags and required to make their paying customers pay for a paper bag. And the state announced the minimum wage would jump to $14.49 per hour Jan. 1. If you don’t own or manage a business, this may seem overly dramatic. Who cares if it takes an extra day for your mail to arrive, right? It’s only 8...
I want the best for Medical Lake. We all do. I believe Terri Cooper has the vision to usher us through the growth that we will likely see in the next few years. Our choice to control growth needs a strong leader who is able to mediate and facilitate. I’ve known Terri for many years. We worked together as founding members of Re*Imagine Medical Lake. We worked shoulder to shoulder revamping Founders Day and other festivals to create community and promote tourism in support of small businesses. She is fiscally sound and b...
By Don C. Brunell Contributor Gov. Jay Inslee’s end run around the legislature banning natural gas in new homes and commercial buildings is a bad idea. Even though the state legislature adjourned last spring without passing his bill, he unveiled building codes which would accomplish the same thing by fiat. Inslee’s proposed regulations forbid the use of fossil fuels for heating and hot water in new structures. Prohibiting natural gas is expensive for home and building owners many of whom installed energy efficient natural gas...
I am writing this letter of endorsement in support of Terri Cooper for mayor of Medical Lake. I was employed by the Medical Lake School District for 34 years and over my career was as a teacher, assistant principal and high school principal. I’ve served on multiple boards and am currently the Medical Lake Citizens for School Treasurer and served six years as the chair of the Lilac Festival Parade and one year as its president. While I was employed by the Medical Lake School District, all administrators were required to l...
As a former councilmember with Shirley Maike, I am pleased to continue my endorsement and support for her re-election as mayor of Medical Lake. Shirley Maike has the demonstrated proven knowledge, skills and abilities to remain as mayor through her years of experience on the City Council and her current position in leading the city of Medical Lake. She was awarded a certificate in municipal leadership form the Association of Washington Cities. No. OJT is needed. Shirley is also a respected and strong member of our city. Her...
Have we become too divided as a country to properly honor those lost to tragedy? This question has crossed my mind multiple times in the last week, which was largely focused on recollecting the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. Saturday was the 20-year anniversary of the attacks. I was glad to see many tributes and well-written, thoughtful notes in print, online and via social media commemorating and honoring the 2,977 lost, including 340 firefighters and 72 law enforcement officers. Unfortunately, I also saw...
The Sept. 16 story, “WSU orders 4-H volunteers to get vaccinated” was listed in your news section and clearly consisted of the personal views held by your publisher (who wrote the piece). The author’s reference to the “Wuhan coronavirus” was wrong and irresponsible. This terminology perpetuates racial violence. Such personal views belong in the editorial or opinion section. Holly Lynch Cheney...
Arrogance is running wild in Olympia. It has consumed the State Legislature and the office of governor. This article addresses only the arrogance, not the specific policies, of these institutions. It is time for Uncommon Sense. In 1776, Thomas Paine published a 47-page pamphlet that, as much as any other factor at work in the American colonies, emboldened the populace to rise up against the monarchy of Great Britain. The pamphlet was called Common Sense. It was a runaway bestseller in its time, ubiquitous from pulpits to...
Talk about a bureaucrat with delusions of grandeur. On Sept. 3, Washington State University Extension Office Director Vicki A. McCracken took it upon herself to dictate that all 4-H volunteers now have to be “fully vaccinated” to continue in their position or face being “inactive.” She cited Gov. Jay Inslee’s edict that everyone connected to education – from preschool through the university system – must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18. Apparently, neither McCracken nor...
The Sept. 8 Cheney School Board meeting had some heat. Public comments were heard and limited to the opening minutes. These comments may be delivered in person or emailed prior to the meeting. An angry parent at the meeting complained about the education being delivered. He had a variety of complaints. But what stuck with me was his need to hire a tutor for his second-grade child to insure she could read. At a digital meeting last October, a parent submitted a question wondering what the district planned to do for students...
Sept. 11, 2001 – a day that no American who lived to see will ever forget. I was recently asked about where I was that day, and I remember it keenly, deeply. I think it’s a question every American has an answer to—a moment engraved in time. Since it was early September, it was right in the middle of hop harvest. My cousin and I were working to unplug the picking machine, a more-than-common occurrence for hop farmers, when his wife called, crying. Those first moments that morning were ones of disbelief. Then, justification—it...
It’s clear: Parents in Washington are sick of their children being used as pawns by radicals in power who wish to destroy family, children and faith. Widespread protests against mask mandates at school and vaccine mandates at work have erupted statewide, with many calling out Gov. Jay Inslee for his aggressive misuses and abuses of emergency powers. This has largely been a fight for religious freedom and individual liberty, but it is creeping onto another deeply disturbing frontier — the fight for parental rights. The see...
The long-term effects of the COVID-19 vaccines are unknown. The leadership is telling us the vaccines are safe; yet, the minimum 5-year observation trials for gene therapy drugs have not been conducted. The COVID “vaccines” are gene therapy drugs. Some doctors are warning us that the vaccines are sterilizing women and creating blood clots that lead to heart failure. Many of these doctors have been fired from their jobs and sued in the courts in an attempt to coerce others into silence. When criticism is met with an att...
Having lived in three developing countries for 17 years, I met very fine Americans — as well as arrogant and ignorant Americans. Representatives from the U.S. Embassy, USAID, Peace Corps, U.S. Military, UNICEF and UNESCO and missionaries are among those I encountered. Many stayed briefly, never getting to know the culture. Most Americans, including me, travel with American glasses, and don’t often see what is happening right before our eyes. For instance, in Sierra Leone, I saw women working the fields, and thought for two...
By DON C. BRUNELL Contributor When thinking of England’s fabled Sherwood Forest, the medieval images of Robin Hood and his band of archers and swordsmen hiding in the woods giving the Sheriff of Nottingham a hard time comes to mind. Who would envision a crew of young American oil workers concealed among the giant oaks drilling oil wells? However, the crude production from those wells was essential in helping fuel the D-Day invasion launched from English shores in 1944. Until Guy Woodward and Grace Steele Woodward published “T...
Every day, millions of workers enter people’s homes to provide care to those with disabilities and the elderly. These “direct-care” workers assist individuals with bathing and dressing, cooking and eating, taking medication, and getting exercise. For the people they help, they are lifelines to health, independent living, and economic stability. Yet our system for providing this care is in desperate need of repair. Medicaid serves approximately 4.8 million Americans with home- and community-based services, but there are still...
Jacquelyn Belock is a progressive candidate for Cheney City Council Position 3 and deserves your consideration. Her answers to the questions the Cheney Free Press published on July 22 got my attention, and I have now met with her and confirmed my intent to vote for her. She’s not afraid to do the right thing, even if it makes some enemies. You can read about her in the Progressive Voters Guide (progressivevotersguide.com) and at electbelock.org, where you can also request a yard sign. She is a paleontology instructor at S...
Is this it? Is this all we can expect now from the Cheney Free Press in terms of local area news and commentary? Publisher Harnack’s opinion piece on Aug. 12, 2021 (Parents should push back on Olympia masks in schools mandates) leaves a reader with big dose of “huh”? Of all the critical local issues swirling about, we get a commentary from Publisher Harnack on how parents should rise up and reject mask mandates for students to return to school. No discussion on why masks are again necessary, no discussion on why our child...
