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Unintended consequence or bureaucratic power grab? Given the things being ordered behind locked doors of government offices, I’ll take the latter. Tonight, March 25, when the clock strikes midnight, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife is banning all fishing and boating statewide. This closure comes on the heels of a previous order to ban all camping on publicly owned, state-managed lands. The closures, Department of Fish and Wildlife officials say, is in keeping with G... Full story
One of the positives to come out of the current coronavirus crisis is that people are realizing what the most important and essential things are. When you only have time or resources for the top priorities, those priorities have to be more defined. As the model for schooling has drastically changed, the curriculum has been stripped bare, reminding us the true purpose of schools — teaching the so-callled “3 Rs” reading, writing and arithmetic. Remember the uproar over the state’s mandated new “inclusive” sex education c...
Remember way back when in the 1960s when, upon returning to the classroom in the after summer break that your teacher might have asked you to pen a few paragraphs on “How I spent my summer vacation?” The past few weeks got me thinking about a hybrid version of that assignment I call “How I spent my COVIDcation, subtitled “Things I did NOT and did do while sheltering in place.” Turns out there’s a pretty sizeable list with some good and other activities not so much. Where...
The Cheney Food Bank – your community food bank to help those in need – is open on Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. the first four Wednesdays of the month. During the months of January-March, we served 316 households totaling 681 people. Currently, there is need for high protein foods such as peanut butter, canned tuna, and chili. We are grateful for those who call us (235-2325) to ask about donations (dry goods and/or monetary). Monetary donations are most appreciated since they allow us to purchase needed food. If you...
The governor has just extended the stay at home orders. Since hospitals, doctors, nurses, first responders, care givers, school and others will never say they have enough supplies, then the order will be extended again and again. They can always say that more people will die if we do not stay confined at home. All humans die eventually of something as you can see from the obits. COVID 19 is just another way. I have seen many die from the flu, vehicles accidents, disease, wars etc. Let’s shut down everything to be c...
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and shutdown of businesses and activities, Free Press Publishing is having to cut back page count and staff hours, hopefully just temporarily. It’s not a decision we made lightly; it’s a decision out of necessity. Newspaper companies are already shutting down around the nation, including multiple papers in the Puget Sound region, in the Columbia River Gorge and elsewhere. But we’re here to stay. Please bear with us a few weeks as we ride out this economic tidal wave. We’ll be back be...
Some years back, in the biggest town in a small county outside our 9th District, there was a clothing store. Upstairs was the office of the area’s weekly newspaper. Week after week, year after year, the clothing store published the same advertisement in the newspaper, displaying its name, address and a drawing of a coat rack, to signal what people could buy there. No brand names, no sale prices, nothing else. The message this ad sent was clear and reassuring: “We’re still here.” It’s a complete understatement to say the f...
At these hard times, I am concerned how people are being educated on health issues we are facing in today’s society. Through my experience of this COVID-19 pandemic I have witnessed people doing things that have clearly been stated by health professionals that won’t help with the virus. I also know people who are in their 20s that believe they won’t be affected by the virus so they continue to live recklessly. I think it is important for people to be properly educated on health issues by using reliable sources such as the C...
Based on current events regarding the COVID-19 virus, I have noticed that many people are struggling to get clear information on what is happening and how we as a community can be proactive. One issue that concerns me is that various news stations, social media networks and other forms of communication are spreading different interpretations and opinions of what is going on. The confusion this can cause is most likely why some people are panicking, and others are staying calm. When people are told statistical values for how...
I was a long-time subscriber and firm believer in local print media. As depressing as these days are, nothing is more depressing than discovering the owner of the Cheney Free Press having no problem with renaming COVID-19 in racist terms. Does the Free Press staff actually use these words? Little wonder then facts a la carte Frank Watson was or is allowed to bloviate his nonsense. Wholly objectionable. No, there are no two sides to this when racism and fascism are concerned. Tom Marion Cheney...
Chris Armitage is running as a Democrat for Representative in the 5th Congressional District against Cathy McMorris Rodgers. He is well-educated with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s degree in Homeland Security. Chris has been trained in the military, and has spent seven years in the Air Force, stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base, so he knows the 5th District very well. In addition, he has also been deployed to the Middle East, so has first-hand experience living and working in that region. Chris has...
Stop buying all the toilet paper. Seriously, knock it off. It’s not necessary. Across the state—in large and rural communities alike—grocery stores’ entire toilet paper aisles are empty. Not a single four-roll package remains for people who need it. So who has it? People who likely already had enough. Contrary to popular belief, we do not have a toilet paper shortage. According to the Washington Department of Health, there’s nothing causing additional use of toilet paper and producers say there has been no cut in toilet pa...
Losing control can lead to a lot of things like fear, panic, suspicion, emotions of that nature. That’s one of the aspects of the spread of the coronavirus and the disease it carries, COVID-19. Despite our best efforts, there are things we can’t control about the disease. The things we can control, indeed are being asked to control, so disrupt the normalcy of our lives that they leave us feeling helpless and angry. But we can exert some control on this disease if we understand and accept that will mean sacrifice, at lea...
As we are all aware the coronavirus is taking over everything we do, whether it’s our social media, TV and daily lives which includes shutting down school and work. Every day we are seeing new death reports that only scare and hype up people more. The problem with this is that when the media reports these deaths and creates the media hysteria it has, they are not sharing any of the actual facts, which is that the people who are dying are typically older or have compromised immune systems, but yet they continue to fail to l...
As a member of the “Fourth Estate,” our newspaper staff regularly comes in close contact with people from all walks of life. Knowing that, we are doing our part to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, COVID-19, colloquially dubbed “Wuhan flu” and “WuFlu.” Like you, we are washing our hands, covering coughs and sanitizing everything in sight. We’re also taking the unusual step of closing our offices to public access, in an effort to protect the staff that is keeping yo...
It’s times like these that bring out the best and worst in people. Unlike previous crisis, this one surrounding the spread of novel coronavirus and the disease it carries, COVID-19, has elements of politics mixed in. It also is fueled by the proliferation of social media avenues. Combine those two elements, and good information surrounding the disease is often drowned in a sea of at best misinformation and ignorance and at worse outright lies and deception. Who benefits from this will be up to history to judge. But there a...
Nobody knows how deep the impact of the coronavirus will be, but one thing that it is destined to test is how effectively people will work from home. Washington is at the point of the spear. Of the 22 U.S. deaths attributed to COVID-19, there are 19 in our state. To avoid further exposure, employers are encouraging telecommuting, canceling meetings, events and travel, and, taking extra caution to sanitize work locations. Seattle-based Alaska Airlines is among the carriers...
Frank Watson tells us in his Thursday, March 5 commentary, that, “…patriotism really is a good thing.” Read on and discover that what Frank means is that if you agree with him, you’re patriotic and if you don’t, you’re not. But Frank is not so much commenting on patriotism as he is on socialism — a favorite axe Frank enjoys grinding. Frank is taking Bernie Sanders to task for advocating accessible and affordable health care for all Americans (Medicare4A), and vastly improved education, including tuition-free undergraduate...
While this plea may not carry much weight I’m going to present it anyway. Ringo my beagle has an eating disorder, meaning that if an entire bag of food were somehow left within reach of his snout, he just might eat until he burst. But that’s not the point. Somehow when we got him as a pup nearly 14 years ago on Father’s Day we were told that he was typical of many beagles. They eat, eat, eat and slowly become big and round. Through careful exercise, Ringo has remained a const...
Washington and Oregon lawmakers want to end their legislative sessions; however, accounting for the costs of carbon emissions is a major road block. In Salem, rural Republican senators are boycottingsession and thereby denying majority Democrats a quorum to vote on a “cap and trade” bill. The measure calls for an 80 percent state reduction in greenhouse gases (GHG) by 2050. The system would be similar to existing programs in California and some Canadian provinces. The sta...
During a recent Democratic Party debate, candidate Pete Buttigieg made a comment that just about floored me. He said, “The American Dream is alive and well – In Denmark!” Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobachar both nodded in agreement before Bernie Sanders picked up the torch. He touted the advantages of Democratic Socialism claiming life in Denmark to be far superior to here in the good old USA. Joe Biden stood there wondering what was going on, and Mike Bloomberg began bragging about the economic and environmental virtu...
AIRWAY HEIGHTS – The city of Airway Heights moved the regular Monday night council meeting to Tuesday, Feb. 18, due to the President’s Day holiday. The Spokane Transit Authority (STA) made a presentation on significant route changes under consideration for the Airway Heights area including: discontinuing service on Fairchild Air Force Base with the bus stopping outside the gate only, citing low ridership and difficulty for drivers to get on base; shrinking the paratransit service area, increasing frequency to the air...
Last week, we visited the Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizona. It is part of our National Parks “bucket list.” The trip was a real eye-opener. The Canyon is spectacular. It is hard to believe over a billion years ago it was flat ground and covered by ocean waters. In ancient times, there was too much water. Today, it is a deep gorge with a ribbon of water running through it. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, over a mile deep and 10 to 18 miles across. The fam...
By PAUL DELANEY Staff reporter SPOKANE — Under cover of darkness. Sneaking in the back door. Or better yet, call it making good on a pledge. Quietly, my old byline that was officially retired to the Cheney Free Press archives Dec. 31, 2018 has returned. After a little over a year in my self-imposed role of a “recovering journalist,” the request came from CFP managing editor John McCallum asking what it might take to coax me back into the game in a relief role following the departure of Lee Hughes. BTW, Lee heads “home...
