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“Agitators are generally involved only for themselves.” My observations combined with reading some history of agitators provides me with a completely different opinion of these people than Frank Watson expresses in the Aug. 29, 2019 issue of the Cheney Free Press. Consider the agitators such as George Washington, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and cohorts. Today we have Elizabeth Warren, four young Congresswomen, Bernie Sanders and Mandy Morris, all of whom are bringing to our attention many of the social problems...
My hubby and I have been Cheney residents for 40 years next January and the whole time we’ve read the Cheney Free Press to first learn about our community, and then to keep track of the many issues facing our community. Even though we’re county folks, Cheney is our home community. In a time when so much fragmented - as well as opinionated - information is shared, we still rely on the Free Press to know about issues important to Cheney whether we agree — or not — with decisions concerning those issues. So keep up the good wo...
Lawmakers have recently increased efforts to introduce legislation that would impose strict reporting requirements on medical research involving monkeys and other non-human primates. The goal is to substantially reduce such research. These restrictions could endanger lives. Primate research has led to some of the most important breakthroughs in medical history — and promises to unlock treatments for the world’s deadliest diseases in the not too distant future. Consider a groundbreaking treatment for glioblastoma, the dea...
Hopefully Puget Sound Energy (PSE) will receive final permit approval so it can complete its Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant currently under construction on Tacoma’s Tide Flats. For background, LNG is natural gas chilled to a liquid state, (-260° Fahrenheit), for shipping and storage. The volume of natural gas in its liquid state is about 600 times smaller than in its gaseous state. The comparison is similar to condensing air in a beach ball to a ping-pong ball. In its li...
I thought the court decisions against the makers of Roundup were over the top, but I was absolutely astounded at the recent ruling against Johnson & Johnson. These judgments are not only out of line, but tend to spawn even more outrageous claims in the hope that money will rain down on litigants and their lawyers. World health agencies have repeatedly stated Roundup is not a threat, with one lone exception that said the active ingredient in Roundup (glyphosate) might contribute to cancer. The U.S. Environmental Protection...
“Leaves are falling all around, it’s time I was on my way.” Thus sang leader singer Robert Plant on Led Zeppelin’s classic 1969 song “Ramble On.” OK, so leaves aren’t falling — yet. And I’m not really on my way anywhere. But with Labor Day behind us, we are officially on our way into the election season. I know, I know, that’s not a season on most people’s radar, at least not until leaves really do fall and it starts getting cold. It’s hard to think about checking ballot boxes when it’s still pretty hot outside. Many people...
Tens of thousands of Americans apply to U.S. medical schools each year. Only a fraction gain admission. The University of Arizona, for instance, posted a 1.9 percent acceptance rate in 2018. UCLA, Florida State University, and Wake Forest accepted fewer than 3 percent of applicants. Many U.S. medical schools are proud of their microscopic admission rates. But they have negative ramifications for the nation’s healthcare system. The United States will need up to 121,900 more physicians by 2032 to care for its aging p...
Thank you, John McCallum, for the article you wrote about my parents Pete and Jewel Baccarella on Aug. 8, 2019 in the Cheney Free Press. It brought back a lot of memories. I would also like to thank my brother and sisters and the Cheney family and friends that support my parents every day. Thank you for celebrating my father’s 72nd birthday and his retirement party at Centennial Park on Aug.17 with us. It made the occasion perfect. Thanks again. Elizabeth Drumm (Pete’s daughter) Ramstein Air Force Base Ger...
Thank you to everyone who helped my wife Jewel and I celebrate my 72nd birthday and retirement party at Centennial Park Aug. 17 and make it a special day. I would like to personally single out those who helped make this day possible and very memorable: Bene’s Brick N Char food truck – owner Derek Baziotis, truck manager Carlos Vera, Ionic Coffee — Mobile Coffee Bar — owner Todd Cummings, Shelley Tomlinson Johnson, chief operating officer at the Tomlinson Group of Companies; Gary Shamblin – singer and entertainment, Cheney Pa...
To tweet or not to tweet, that is the question. I have found over my considerable years that when you have nothing to add, you should keep your mouth shut. Our President seems to have missed that lesson. When congresswomen Tlaib and Omar were planning their trip to Israel, he had nothing to add, but he did anyway. He tweeted something silly about allowing the two congresswomen to visit Israel would be a sign of weakness. A sign of weakness for whom? The liberal press immediately condemned the President for picking on two “wom...
Not only is the current Trump administration refugee policy cruelly inhumane, it also courts long-term economic disaster for our country. Japan already suffers greatly from the problem of too few young workers to support its aging population. At least two other major countries, the U.S. and China, are approaching the same problem with their similarly low birth rates. So where to get more young workers? By increasing refugees rather than burdening the world with more population problems by raising birth rates. The throngs...
By now, anyone with access to a television or computer has heard of the catastrophe facing the Amazon rainforest in the form of blazing fires consuming forested land and the creatures that inhabit it. As of press time, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) had reported at least 74,000 fires in the Amazon this year — an increase of 84 percent since this time last year. Statistically, the Amazon rarely burns on its own — its foliage is typically too wet to ignite, so fires are often found to be caused by human...
July 4th, 2019, Independence Day – is a day to celebrate our freedoms. What many people of Washington state don’t know is that our senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, voted to limit our freedoms – freedom to boycott, divest and sanction (BDS).They supported Senate Bill 1, “Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act.” This bill contains “Combating BDS Act” which encourages states and local governments to deny contracts to any business, nonprofit organization or individual boycotting for Palestinian fre...
Frank Watson is wrong. He is writing in the Opinion section of the paper, so like anyone else, he has a right to express his opinion. That’s what he’s doing in his Aug. 15 piece on guns in America. Unfortunately, his premise is incorrect; the Second Amendment right to “keep and bear arms” is not absolute, no matter what Col. Watson “feels.” “Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment right is not unlimited.... [It is] not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whate...
I’m still looking for an alternative for Donald Trump in 2020. I agree with almost everything negative that has been said of him. He is obnoxious, he makes unnecessary enemies, he is undiplomatic, he does not command loyalty, he generates hate, etc., etc., etc.… BUT, and it is a big but, many of his initiatives are spot on. We have allowed our friends to take advantage of us. China doesn’t play fair. Border security is both a matter of law and a matter of national interest. We must do what is best for America. We don’t...
By DON C. BRUNELL Contributor While drones are coming of age in firefighting, they are also establishing a foothold in restoring fire-scorched forests. Firefighting drones grabbed the spotlight last April 15 as viewers around the world watched Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris go up in flames. It has stood for over 850 years, through wars, natural disasters, and everything in between including the fire. At first, it appeared the iconic building would be completely destroyed; however, French firefighters used thermal vision drones...
The Swedish climate activist 16-year-old Greta Thunberg recently set sail across the Atlantic on a solar and wind-powered racing yacht to attend climate summits in the U.S. She was offered the use of the yacht because she refused to use a transportation method that would further contribute to global warming. That got me thinking about what-ifs. What if there was no more oil to power planes or ships? Our modern world came into being because of petroleum, which has allowed...
Spokane County Fire District 3 and the city of Cheney co-hosted a 40-hour week long Fire Inspector 1 class last week (July 29–Aug. 2) that incorporated 29 firefighters from 12 different agencies within the state of Washington and as far as Whidbey Island. These 29 students had one of the best classes around! They had a variety of different occupancy classifications from Eastern Washington University academic facilities to the newly constructed Amazon warehouse that they were able to walk through and gain knowledge of d...
More battery operated cars and trucks are making their way on to streets and highways, so why not trains? That may not be too far off if Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) tests are successful. BNSF and Wabtec (formerly GE Transportation) are developing a battery-electric high-horsepower road locomotive — the type that moves freight trains between Seattle and Chicago. Once all the equipment and support systems are in place, the plan is to run tests between Stockton and B...
The way we produce, consume and discard food is no longer sustainable. That much is clear from the newly released UN climate change report which warns that we must rethink how we produce our food — and quickly — to avoid the most devastating impacts of global food production, including massive deforestation, staggering biodiversity loss and accelerating climate change. While it’s not often recognized, the food industry is an enormous driver of climate change, and our current global food system is pushing our natural world...
In late April, communities across Washington State welcomed back their local legislators from Olympia after the conclusion of the 2019 Legislative session. The 2019 session was a long, 105-day session and the Legislature finished their work on time concluding at midnight on the 105th day. While many issues were resolved over the course of the session, a major issue for the city of Airway Heights this session was to identify funding to help complete the Highland Village Housing project. The project is designed to remove an enc...
I was disappointed to learn that only 1 percent of Medicare beneficiaries with dementia have received a personal care plan that has been available to them since 2017. Apparently many physicians are unaware of this code and service that can help their patients. Alzheimer’s Association advocates have asked members of Congress to cosponsor the Improving HOPE for Alzheimer’s Act, which will give doctors information about how they can develop a care plan for each patient who has dementia. I am grateful that Congresswoman Cat...
Let’s say this first, just to get it out of the way. Most of the problems facing this country brought once again into the limelight from the two mass shootings over the weekend were not created by the current occupant of the White House. The same can be said about the issues Donald Trump’s apologists are trying to steer us towards in order to deflect blame he may bear for exacerbating them. But the inconvenient truth is that Trump bears a lot of responsibility for making things worse. Indeed, he and his followers take pri...
By FRANK WATSON Contributor When our legs began to complain about the climb into the overhead bunk of our camper, my wife and I bought a year-round cabin on the Pend Oreille River. It has become our get away when the normal pressures of life need release. One such day last March, we decided to go to the cabin and take a day trip to the Kalispel Swan Festival. The newspaper told us the ice was still on the lake where the swans normally stop. We were a little bummed but decided to come anyway. To our delight, the swans had...
One would think a small-town garlic festival would be the least-likely candidate for the site of unspeakable violence. But that illusion was shattered Sunday, July 28, when three people were killed by a gunman at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California. Two of those murdered were children. At least 12 more were injured. The incident is yet another tally mark on the long list of mass shootings that have plagued the U.S. in recent years. It’s to the point where they don’t rattle the public anymore; news consumers sig...
