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Local supporters of Lisa Brown for Congress invite you to join them for coffee and doughnuts on Tuesdays from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the Cheney field office for the Lisa Brown campaign, 1010 First St., Suite A. Bring your questions for Lisa and they will pass them along. Buttons, signs and assistance with voter registration are available there Monday – Friday from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Stop by and visit with a volunteer. Christie Bruntlett Cheney...
I want to thank Cathy McMorris Rodgers for speaking at the pro-life Rally in Spokane Valley. Her speech was touching as well as inspirational. Everyone in the room was moved to a standing ovation, numerous times. Cathy touched on the importance of valuing every life — pre-born and born, as sacred and something to be celebrated and nurtured fully to its God-given potential. She, like many of the other speakers, acknowledged the difficulties many face with raising children. As a mother and grandmother, I can fully relate. S...
Last evening (Sept. 10, the Cheney School District teachers staged an informational picketing of the district administrative offices supporting their negotiations team during an arbitration meeting with the administrative team. Teachers are requesting a substantial raise from the McCleary funds allocated to this district. They need and deserve it as they have not received an actual salary raise in 10 years. Last year the number of days they were required to work was increase so their yearly contract was increased, however thi...
When one approaches the Tri-Cities, it is impossible to ignore Lampson International’s monstrous cranes in its Pasco assembly yard. Those gantries stand out like the Space Needle in Seattle and reach over 560 feet into the sky. Like the Space Needle, Lampson is built on a solid footing. Last month, Construction Review Online (CRO) ranked Lampson as the world’s third largest crane company. “Lampson International has been a world leader in the Heavy Lift and Transport indus...
Cathy McMorris Rodgers is the most dedicated, energetic and effective elected official I have ever seen. As chairman of the Pend Oreille County Republicans, I’ve seen a lot of them. Cathy covers her district, one of the largest in America, with a relentless dedication that flows from her deep and passionate commitment to the people of Eastern Washington. I have seen her repeatedly connect on a personal level with ranchers, farmers, veterans, loggers, single parents and people from all walks of life struggling to make it. S...
If you would talk to some of my Air Force buddies from the Vietnam era, you would find that I dreamed of being a teacher and football coach for a long time. When I had sufficient time in military service, I decided to obtain my teaching credentials and pursue my dream. I could have chosen any state in the union. I owned a home in Nebraska left over from my assignment to the base in Omaha. My parents wanted me to return to my roots in the Midwest, but I chose to settle in Eastern Washington. I had been stationed at Fairchild...
I get very upset about the dishonest, scare-mongering tactics from Lisa Brown’s campaign. I saw them again in the mail card that arrived at my house this week. Lisa claims that Cathy McMorris Rodgers has voted to cut Social Security and Medicare. No, she has not! It’s especially dishonest to make these claims when these programs are such a lifeline for friends and family and for some very vulnerable people. Cathy understands how much they matter. That’s why she has supported the hard work to make them safe and susta...
With today’s tension and rancor, we need a dose of Yogi Berra’s wit and wisdom to put things into perspective. Let’s start with “You can observe a lot by just watching” because seeing what is happening now is very disconcerting. We need less sarcasm, and to alleviate the vilification of one another that we constantly witness in the news and on social media. To quote Yogi: “It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.” Yogi’s humorous way of...
On my classroom door there’s a sign. It reads: “In my room I want you to feel empowered, connected, respected, valued, challenged and supported. How am I doing?” Early on I direct the kids’ attention to it, discuss it, and revisit it. But as time gets on, I let it be. I no longer want to bring attention to it; I no longer talk it. I strive to walk it, to embed it, to live it. It is the culture I wish to create in my room. It is the standard that I set for myself as the leader in our classroom community. And as that leader,...
While waiting outside the Spokane Valley City Council in July, I met an elderly woman who was very proud that she grew up in Idaho and now lived in the Spokane Valley. We had a brief discussion about immigration, and she just couldn’t understand why all the migrants were coming to the United States with their children. “Why don’t they just stay in their own countries and fix them, instead of coming here?” she queried. I responded by asking her, “Well, why do you think they come here?” and she said that they want our stuff....
Last April, Washington wheat, apple and cherry growers hoped U.S. and China trade negotiators would resolve differences and prevent imposition of damaging tariffs on our state’s leading crops. Unfortunately, that did not happened and the costs are adding up. Thousands of Washington farmers now find themselves on the front lines of a battle between the two largest economies in the world. Here’s what has happened so far. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump imposed a 25...
One of Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ signature campaign promises has always been that she will help get veterans the care they deserve and that she has the military’s back. Cathy has fulfilled this promise in bounds. In just the last few years, Cathy has been instrumental in getting military personnel the largest pay raise in nine years. Cathy also sponsored the “Faster Care for Veterans Act,” which will modernize the system used by the VA. Among other things, veterans will now have the option of scheduling their appoint...
Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency released the details of its new plan to roll back federal pollution restrictions on coal-burning power plants in an attempt to buoy the languishing coal industry and replace stricter Obama-era regulations. The Trump administration’s new energy proposal, called the Affordable Clean Energy rule, is intended to replace Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which would have phased out most coal-fired power plants by 2030. In contrast, the Affordable Clean Energy rule would shift power plant reg...
A friend and I were engaged in a bit of fanciful wishful thinking the other day when he asked me how I would improve our country with a $100 million or so. I quickly ran down the list of national problems we are rapidly leaving for our grandchildren. A hundred million wouldn’t do much for the national debt, so I scrolled down to our utter dependence on fossil fuels. I’m not concerned that our oil and coal reserves will run out in my lifetime, but the supply is finite and will eventually be depleted. In the long term, we hav...
There’s an article on the liberal website Vox.com called “America might be ready for democratic socialism. It’s not ready for the bill.” It should be required reading for Lisa Brown — and reporters at this paper shouldn’t stop until they get her to answer for it. Why? Because she’ll be voting with a party and Democratic minority leader — or Speaker of the House — seeking to implement that democratic socialist vision. The article says in order to do so, Congress could try to “Mix and match ... tax policies and it still repres...
While most of our attention in the Pacific Northwest these days is on trade wars, tariffs and wildfires, there are critical talks underway between the U.S. and Canada over future allocations of the Columbia River system’s water. The two countries are renegotiating the Columbia River Treaty which went into effect in 1964. It is a 50-year agreement under which both nations can redo, providing there is a 10-year advanced warning. That occurred and negotiators are now busy meeting...
Some comments on Frank Watson’s 8-16-18 opinion piece. In the article he stated: “Schools receive most of their income from real estate taxes. Those in the district who own homes are taxed while those who rent are not.” He continued “I may have missed something but the rich guy who owns the apartment building is taxed while the tenants are not.” That statement makes it sound like renters get off tax free. That’s not the truth. True, the tenants are not taxed directly, but they pay through their rent. Rents are high becaus...
I visited my favorite supermarket the other day and got lost in the produce section. The price of apples had gone up 50 percent. They were from New Zealand and sported green “organic” labels. They were supposed to have been raised according to nature’s way and healthier than those costing much less. I ended up buying some because I couldn’t find any at the regular price. They tasted just like the regular ones I bought last week When I was a kid growing up on the farm, we used only organic methods. It wasn’t because Grandpa wa...
Pardon me if this sounds like beating a dead horse. But the opposite is what I hope to accomplish with the following words. This is an effort to spur the horse on in the never ending race that journalists are supposed to run — that being to report the news in its entirety and opine only where it is prudent. A week ago newspapers of all stripes across the country went on the collective offensive to defend themselves against charges of being the “enemy of the people,” by Preside...
Cathy McMorris Rodgers has been a strong advocate for people with disabilities. She is one of the leaders in Congress, and the whole federal government, on bringing awareness to Down Syndrome. She brought to Congress’ attention the fact that less than one-hundredth of 1 percent is devoted to Down Syndrome research, and the fact that nearly every person with Down Syndrome develops Alzheimer’s or dementia. Cathy called on Congress to put more into researching Down Syndrome, so that people with that extra 21st chromosome can...
Recently I sent a letter to Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Part of the letter says: “I just needed to tell you how encouraged I was when I met some young people from your campaign at the anti-racism rally at the County Courthouse on Aug. 2 and while we were talking they told me that racism has no place in American politics and is in fact un-American.” On Aug. 4 I bumped into Cathy at the Hillyard parade and she told me that our land should be the land of opportunity for everyone. I was encouraged again by that and...
A few weeks ago, I was in a serious discussion with a young friend who claimed that the Washington state tax system is unfair to the poor. I asked how he came to that conclusion, and he said the rich in Washington pay a lower percent of their income in taxes than the poor. I pondered that for a second and asked where he came to that conclusion. You guessed it. He said, “Well, everybody knows that.” I told him that I didn’t know that and would need to think on it. He got mad and stomped out. I knew that his claim had to have...
Greetings and salutations. John McCallum here — your friendly, neighborhood enemy of the American people. I know there are some out there who would agree with the president’s reference to those of us in the news media. There are many who would say he wasn’t referring to everybody in the media, just specific news organizations. So for the record, here is a copy of his Feb. 17, 2017 Tweet: Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump — “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of...
The plight of a grieving orca who continues to carry her dead calf for weeks is reported by the Seattle Times. In Spokane, the Spokane Spokesman-Review lets people know for the first time the Legislature is forming a task force to exempt lawmakers from portions of the Public Records Act. The Columbia Basin Herald in Moses Lake warns that air quality for the county fair may be unhealthy because of wildfire smoke pollution. The Omak County Chronicle reports that Wally Richards is this year’s Omak Stampede grand marshal. The N...
Driving across the mountains and entering the West Plains felt to me like the whole world had heaved a sigh of relief. Out from under concrete skyscrapers and away from bumper-to-bumper traffic, moving back to Eastern Washington was as much of a transformation as leaving it behind had been nearly 10 years before. I grew up spending my childhood enjoying the best our county has to offer — riding the carousel at Riverfront Park on weekends, running through wheat fields in fading red sunlight and splashing in the river until t...
