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The animosity expressed by tone of voice, facial expressions and questions about undocumented people (i.e. illegal aliens ) at political meetings amazes me. I attended a “Conversations with Cathy” (5th District Rep. McMorris Rodgers) meeting in Medical Lake in October 2018 when disdain for the undocumented was expressed by one woman who shouted out “Build that Wall” and others appeared to agree. On Feb. 21, I attended another Conversations with Cathy meeting in Medical Lake. After Representative McMorris Rodger’s opening rema...
This is in response to the Feb. 21 story “Holding out for a hot breakfast” in the Cheney Free Press. Inmates and Gov. Jay Inslee don’t seem to get it. Incarcerated individuals are being punished, not sent to an all-expenses paid country club. They shouldn’t eat any better than the minimum wage workers of America and they definitely shouldn’t be catered to. I think what the state has provided is better than most grade school kids get who eat at home before school. I know my high school sons decided sleeping an extra 20 minute...
I went to college in New York. It was a long way from home, but West Point offered to let me play football in exchange for a quality education and a career. New York was quite a culture shock for a small town farm boy. The drinking age was 18, the voting age was 21 and the only thing that prevented us from smoking was the price of cigarettes. We did most of the stupid things that college kids do, but no one got hurt that I know of, and we didn’t break any laws. Times have sure changed. College kids are now deemed mature e...
After 12 years of being a working guy at Eastern Washington University sporting events for the Cheney Free Press and having complimentary admission, on Monday, Feb. 18 I became a paying customer. Went to the Reese Court ticket window and asked for general admission for the double-header featuring men’s and women’s teams from Eastern Washington and Idaho. Damned near choked when told that my bill was $28. Luckily, I visited the cash machine on the way, plus anyway, I gladly bought the ticket to help support my alma mater. But...
I want to share my high praise and appreciation of the city of Cheney street department for the skill and dependability with which they plow the streets of our city. They are quick to respond when it snows, and the city has invested in the “gates” necessary to keep most of the snow out of our driveways. Anybody remember the old days when we had to shovel a high (often frozen solid) berm from the end of our driveways after every plowing? Whenever I hear a plow on our street, I run to the window like a child running to wat...
This week I got a bit of a lesson in human insensitivity, or maybe one in our unique ability to turn the appalling into the mundane if exposed to it often enough. While driving to work the other day, I noticed an elderly woman in a wheelchair struggling to get onto the curb about two blocks ahead. She would back up, try to gain traction and wheel forward with all her might, only to get caught on the giant berms of plowed snow packed rock-solid into ice overnight. Back and forth she went, wheeling out onto the busy road by nec...
I am deeply discouraged by the news regarding several county sheriffs and county commissioners, among others, arbitrarily deciding that Initiative 1639 is unconstitutional therefore they are not upholding it as a law. Are these same individuals, who are supposedly sworn to uphold the law, now giving permission to all citizens to break any law they want if they don’t like it. Sounds like anarchy! The law has been voted on by a majority of voters wanting to improve the safety of citizens against gun violence? I voted yes for I...
America’s drift away from our market-based economic system is perplexing. Equally, mystifying is the new push to replace entrepreneurs with government bureaucrats in planning and controlling services and products offered to us — the consumers. Scrapping capitalism is a very bad idea. History shows that socialist and communist regimes dominated by strong-armed dictators, such as in Venezuela, and Soviet-style politburos are ripe for economic collapse and suppression of fre...
Along with millions of other Americans, I watched last week’s State of the Union Address. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but that wasn’t it. The President was uncharacteristically subdued. He didn’t pick any fights nor call anyone names. He was definitely un-Trump-like. The Democrats and the national press hate everything the President does, so it was no surprise when they discounted everything he said. Republicans, on the other hand, proclaimed it to be the best speech since Gettysburg. To me, it was kind of bland....
I have a friend who can cuss up a storm. Talk about making sailors blush — his blue language could peel paint on a battleship. In fact, my friend drops f-bombs so much, it’s more like he’s adopted the word as an adverb or adjective (interchangeable based upon the situation) rather than an expression emphasis on his opinion. My dad, on the other hand, was a sailor. Lieutenant junior grade, U.S. Navy, 1943-1946, South Pacific. He seldom swore, and never the “F” word. So on those rare occasions when he did cuss, you knew he w...
Lots is written about students exiting college saddled with hefty student loans; however, the impact on retired parents went largely unnoticed. Recently, Wall Street Journal writer AnnaMaria Andriotis reported Americans over 60 years old are coming out of retirement and going back to work just to pay for their children’s education. On average, student borrowers in their 60s owed $33,800 in 2017, up 44 percent from 2010. Student loan debt for seniors rose 161 percent between 2...
Four Washington state counties announced they will not enforce Initiative 1639, and more may follow. I don’t understand. I was taught in high school civics class we were a federal, constitutional, democracy. I remembered the words but didn’t quite remember what they mean, so I looked them up in the dictionary. The “democracy” part means we have the right to vote. In a pure democracy, citizens vote on everything. Any time there is a question, the people gather at the meeting place and vote on the issue. We have both too man...
I’m the executive director for the West Plains Chamber of Commerce. My job is to connect people, businesses and communities together with the vision of making our West Plains area a better place to live, work and play. I had the opportunity to attend the West Plains PACE awards ceremony last May and I think PACE is such a great program to honor students for demonstrating the traits that are in all of us and when practiced make our world a better place. For February, the character trait of the month is honesty, which is s...
Knife-wielding men killed by police. The latest example of police shooting and killing citizens in the Spokane area was Wednesday, Jan. 23. What in the world is wrong with this picture — several “trained” police in cars, armed to the teeth, approach an individual with a knife and they can’t subdue the person without killing him? It happened in Cheney last summer, as well. Couldn’t three officers distract the man and one other knock him over the head? At least he could survive. Other possible options are lassos, dart tran...
Every year at this time I am reminded what a caring community we live in. Feed Cheney’s annual fundraiser is coming up this weekend, and if past years are any indication we will raise the $6,000 needed to keep Feed Cheney operating at its current level. The fundraiser is called Souper Bowl of Caring, and always coincides with Super Bowl Sunday. If your church or other organization is not participating in the fundraiser, you may send a check to Feed Cheney c/o United Methodist Church, 204 4th St., Cheney WA 99004, with Feed C... Full story
I wish to express my appreciation to the city of Cheney road maintenance personnel for their prompt response to recent snowfall in the city. I know there are many competing demands for city government services, and we usually want things done right away when weather affects our lives. In my experience, road grading has improved dramatically in the last few years. I also appreciate the prevention of snow berms in front of my driveway. City management and road maintenance personnel are doing good work! Thank you much. Laurie...
The good news is Washington’s cherry crop is projected to be as good as 2018; however, absent tariff relief from the ongoing U.S.-China trade tiff, a key market will remain limited. When China’s tariff went from 10 percent to 50 percent last July, right in the middle of the harvest, exports to China went from the most profitable to the pits, Fox News reported. “Growers in Washington State, by far the largest producer of sweet cherries in the U.S., saw their bumper crop lose...
I visited a pot shop last week, something I thought I would never do. A senior citizen friend of mine has been experiencing rather severe knee pain and is trying to postpone an inevitable replacement. In the meantime, she has done almost everything: the magic shot series, physical therapy, horse liniment and continues to ask advice of friends and neighbors who have had similar problems. One friend experienced relief with cannabis oil and her primary care doctor advised her to, “Try it, you have nothing to lose.” She asked me...
Last week marked the end of a 35-day government shutdown — the longest in history. But while many federal workers are happy to see money coming in again, the relief is temporary at best. With the looming threat of another shutdown or the declaration of a national emergency in less than three weeks’ time, it’s impossible to feel the recent shutdown suspension is any kind of victory. According to analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the shutdown cost the economy $11 billion. While some of these funds...
What is missing? Why aren’t Medical Lake’s businesses or population growing? According to Doug Ross (Cheney Free Press 1/10/19), the blame lies in the limited water hookups for residential development (legitimate reasoning) and the fact that Spokane, Airway Heights and Cheney are short drives away. With fairly close shopping and services there, that means no enterprises can flourish here. Furthermore, Ross reminded the readers that even with the mid-90s housing development of Fox Hollow and Fox Ridge, there wasn’t any resul...
After long and careful consideration, I have decided not to run for President of the United States in 2020. I realize this may come as a disappointment to my supporters, and I will leave my future options open, but the timing is just not right. This should not be construed to mean that I am not qualified. Admittedly, I don’t know how to use Twitter, but I could learn. Joe Biden stated that he is the best qualified American for the job, but the only thing he does better than the average citizen is find the White House b...
Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention. That’s particularly true in difficult times when “business as usual” no longer works. As our national deficit approaches $22 trillion ($180,000 per taxpayer) and state and local governments deal with skyrocketing costs for health care, pensions, education and public safety, we will have to do things differently, or, in some instances, not at all. One way is to develop private-public partnerships to share costs and coord...
It’s a good time to be alive if you’re a craft beer aficionado, at least according to a recent Forbes report, which noted there were 7,082 registered craft breweries spread out across the U.S. in 2018. Vermont boasted the most craft breweries per capita at 11.9 per 1,000, 21-plus year old adults, and also produced the most beer at an average 151 pints of craft beer per adult. Considering it unlikely that every adult consumed their share, or even drank any beer at all, tha...
It looks as if the current government shutdown will set a new record with no end in sight. President Trump has avowed that he will not end the standoff unless there is funding for his wall. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is just as adamant that there will be no funding for the wall. Neither side shows any sign of budging. So, who is to blame? Is it the President’s fault for sticking to his campaign promises, or is it the Democrats’ fault for standing on their ideology? Maybe a bit of both, and maybe this budget confrontation is...
We Americans like to think of ourselves as problem solvers of a sort. If something is wrong, or needs fixing, we feel we can get to the heart of the matter and figure out a solution that is best addressed to solve it. There is a problem with immigration in this country — legal and illegal. Always has been, and if we don’t figure things out, always will be. Spending $5.7 billion to build a great, big, beautiful wall — even a not-so-big and beautiful steel barrier — is not a solution. Never has been, never will be. There a...
