Sorted by date Results 955 - 979 of 3214
Working in ticketing at the Spokane County Fair, I met a gentleman with a “Vietnam Veteran” cap. After I thanked him for his service, we had a pleasant conversation. He told me when and where he had served and added that he’d been diagnosed with cancer. When I asked if he was getting treatment at the VA medical center in Spokane, his eyes lit up. He said yes, and that his VA doctor had referred him for a specialized treatment in Seattle. He’d had no way to travel to Seattle, but they’d arranged a special flight to his appoint...
As a practicing attorney and member of the West Plains community I encourage everyone to vote to retain Judge Shelley Szambelan for Spokane County Superior Court Position 10. Judge Szambelan has the patience, intelligence, integrity, ethics, judicial demeanor and experience that makes her uniquely qualified to serve the people of Spokane County. Prior to her appointment to the Spokane County Superior Court bench, Judge Szambelan served on the Spokane Municipal Court bench for nine years. While serving the people of the city...
Recently, a group of concerned private citizens formed an organization called “People For Effective Government” or “PEG.” We come from all walks of life with one common goal: to bring more civility to public discourse and to encourage less partisanship in the body politic. We believe that most people’s political beliefs fall somewhere between the 30-yard lines and do not reflect the inflexible ideology of the extreme left nor right. We believe that those in public service need to find common ground in order to meet the challe...
I am sure I’m not alone in being stunned at how much Lisa Brown was paid by Washington State University. She earned more than $1 million in three years working for WSU in Spokane. On top of her $364,000 salary, it recently emerged that Lisa got an extra $40,000 a year just for staying in her job. It’s an amazing amount of money, especially when median household income in Eastern Washington is a little over $50,000. Lisa Brown’s bonus was more than many families earn in a year! Lisa Brown had no experience in managing any k...
The tax increases and policies that Lisa Brown has supported throughout her political career clearly show she believes in bigger government. Citizens must remember that every dollar the government takes from us is one less dollar of our own hard-earned money we have for ourselves to save or spend. We also must realize that the larger government becomes, the more it controls our personal lives. Cathy McMorris Rodgers has fought her entire time in office to protect our personal freedoms by limiting the size of government to...
What would you do if your child was found hanging out with thugs? I imagine first sitting the child down to attempt to uncover how it happened. Setting some limits and seeking help. Perhaps even moving depending on how severe the situation. What if it didn’t work and your child was like a “thug magnet,” every where you went thugs seemed to be at the hem of your family? You may give your all again and seek more help. Then what if you find out your child is a thug? Lying, stealing, hiding financial data and proud of it, having...
Local residents and Eastern Washington University students supporting Cathy McMorris Rodgers invite you to visit the campaign’s Cheney field office, located at 207 First St. We are open every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 4 – 7 p.m. We have signs, campaign literature and can provide walking lists if you would like to share Cathy’s positive message and accomplishments with your neighbors. We can also share your questions with the Congresswoman. Francisco Flores Cheney...
Thank you to all the patrons who attended our performances of “Love Letters” by A. J. Gurney, to Mike Hartman for catering a delicious meal once again for dinner theater, to Emmanuel Lutheran Church for the use of their building and to the Cheney Free Press and Ritzville Journal for their continued support of StageWest through articles and ads. Thank you. Judy Gross StageWest publicity director Cheney...
As long as I have known Lisa Brown, which is close to 30 years now, she has had a well deserved reputation for getting things done. When people tell me they are voting for Lisa Brown because they are very dissatisfied with the poor performance of Cathy McMorris Rodgers over the last 13 years I let them know that Lisa is way more than the least of two evils. That may be the case in far too many other races nationally, but here in Washington’s 5th District, we have a real choice. Lisa, with her boundless energy, amazing i...
In March I wrote about the visit to Washington of Saudi Arabia’s new leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. At the time most of the media were reporting uncritically about him and his regime. In fact, most were glowing in their praise of Salman as a “reformer” and “modernizer,” citing his allowing women to drive and his openness to pro-Western cultural change. I thought such views were near-sighted and failed to see not only that Salman was pulling the wool over people’s eyes about reform but also that Trump’s hea...
By FRANK WATSON Contributor I got my voter’s pamphlet in the mail this week. I have more than ample time to study the issues and fill out my ballot before the November deadline. Once I have my ballot filled out and mailed, I no longer need to pay any attention to the irritating political ads. That is the only benefit of voting by mail. I miss going to the polls. I voted by absentee ballot when I was in the service. I was usually stationed several hundred miles away from my precinct polling place, so I had no choice. That c...
I never thought I would be a dog person. Growing up, my mother was afflicted with devastating allergies that prevented us from having pets. As a teenager, I liked other people's animals, but was more confused by them than anything else. (Why is your cat always hiding under the bed? Why does your dog bark at the ketchup bottle?) Then I got my first dog. It's amazing how animals can change our lives. Not only medically - though pet ownership is shown to reduce blood pressure,...
I have never known Robbi Katherine Anthony by any other name, but that would have not mattered to me. Regardless of what her name is, it only takes one conversation with her to know that she has a beautiful mind. It takes a special kind of someone to literally invent things (she has patents), maintain multiple businesses and have the courage to run for county commissioner, all at the age of 26. Be she young or old, the people of Spokane County would be lucky to have her as a (District 3) commissioner. I know I am lucky and...
From the first time I heard Jessa Lewis ask for support in her run for state senator in the Sixth Legislative District in a talk given in Airway Heights I was almost stunned. I remember thinking, “This woman will succeed at whatever she sets her mind to.” And as she spoke on I realized her broad range of life experience has made her committed to elevating people from every sector of society, not just economically but in terms of being valued, by both society and by themselves. I thought, “This is exactly the kind of perso...
If you haven’t already seen StageWest’s current production of A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters,” do yourself a favor and grab some friends to go see it with you this weekend. It’s not a mushy romance, but rather a character study of two people whose lifelong exchange of letters began as children, born to wealth and position, writing thank you notes for birthday gifts and post cards from summer camp. Jamie Javorsky shines as Melissa, a flamboyant woman who does what she darn well pleases, and doesn’t mince words when writing to he...
We would like to express our most sincere thanks to several people and organizations for their immediate response and assistance involving the wildfire Tuesday at State Route 904 and Mullinex Road. We were staying in the Peaceful Pines RV Park which had to be evacuated due to our proximity to the fire. The outstanding managers of the park, Tracy and Pete, orchestrated a park-wide evacuation on short notice in a calm and organized manner. They followed up by phone and in person and even drove around Cheney to find us all and...
Tis the season. We have four seasons in Eastern Washington: basketball season, dry season, fire season and political season. We are slowly making it through the season for politics. As bad as it seems, it could be worse. We could be in a presidential election year. National politics are depressing. Issues don’t seem to matter. Am I the only one who is tired of having my favorite TV program interrupted by candidates bashing each other? If this continues into “Dancing With the Stars,” I am going to scream. How many good peopl...
Back in the 1970s, brother and sister pop singing duo Karen and Richard Carpenter had a memorable hit song, “Rainy Days and Mondays.” It seemed to play all the time and lamented that those two times “always get me down.” There’s a paraphrased version here at the Cheney Free Press called, “Breaking news and Tuesdays.” Our retort? They make us frown — and maybe swear, but that doesn’t have the same ring. What do they do? They can get you down, but there’s no time for that becau...
My name is Pebbles Choe, and I have attended the Medical Lake School District for my entire young school life. And currently I attend Medical Lake High School as a freshman. Last year, while I was attending Medical Lake Middle School, I had the honor of receiving PACE Student of the Month and later PACE Student of the Year based on the attribute “Responsibility.” I have learned a lot from middle school and all of the teachers were extremely kind and helpful. I also became more responsible as a student and as a person. Whi...
Eastern Washington University to receive $100,000 from EPA Eastern Washington University officials learned they will be receiving $100,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Education Grants Program to help fund the university’s Palouse Prairie Restoration Project. The project will involve than 300 community partners in restoring a native ecosystem and conduct integrated vegetation management on over 100 acres of land owned by the university west of its athletic facilities. Eastern officials had...
By NANCY STREET Contributor As a psychologist (Ph.D.) who has taught college-level psychology for more than 30 years, I want to inform the public of three different aspects of human behavior that could apply to the Christine Blasey-Ford – Brett Kavanaugh hearings that need to be emphasized. First, blackouts happen. At times an alcoholic can’t remember what happened, sometimes for three days straight. Hence, it is logical for Kavanaugh to believe “it never happened,” when it may absolutely have happened. He may be truthfu...
In the 1960s, there was a popular movie called: “The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming.” The plot was a Soviet naval commander runs his sub aground off a Massachusetts coastal island and sends two English-speaking crewmen ashore to procure a boat with enough power to pull them free. The Russian sailors didn’t exactly blend in and chaos ensued. That was fiction, but today, American farmers face the hard facts that the Russians are invading our wheat markets world...
Like many Americans, I watched the testimony of Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh before the Senate Judiciary Committee. At the halfway point, following Ford’s testimony, I was convinced Kavanaugh was toast. Ford’s demeanor as well as her words were compelling. In today’s America, a woman’s accusation is more credible than a man’s denial. Thus, at that point, I didn’t think he had a chance. I believed her. Kavanaugh’s rebuttal, however, was equality compelling. He presented himself as a victim, both injured and angry. In add...
I always find it fascinating when someone accuses politicians of playing politics. Webster’s first reference for the word politics describes it as a.) the art or science of government; b.) the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy; and c.) the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a government. Given those definitions, accusing politicians of playing politics is like accusing a football player of, well, playing football. It’s like trying to make a baseball pla...
Sexual assault should not be a partisan issue. That’s not a statement I ever thought would have to be spelled out in black and white, but rather a given based on human decency. But here we are. It’s a statement that seems to have been forgotten in the wake of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s bid for the Supreme Court, which has been fraught with accounts from multiple women accusing him of sexual misconduct. Professor Christine Blasey Ford came forward earlier this month to accuse Kavanaugh of attempted sexual assault, while just...
