Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 1127 - 1151 of 3750
Pet Peeves Laws against dwarf tossing. What’s going on at City Hall, and what’s it gonna cost us all? Okeydokes The man putting wood chips along dike between McDonald Park and Golf Course. Colfax PD for continuing to serve us despite slim resources available to them....
Maybe British Prime Minister Theresa May needs to change her country's Brexit focus. Instead of severing ties with the European Union, maybe she should address the relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States, and disunite them. It would be a Brexit from that so-called "special relationship" with the U.S. Never mind that a majority of the Brits voting chose to leave the E.U. As predicted, it has proven uncommonly difficult, to the point that there is some talk of holding another referendum. The pro-Europe forces might have an e...
The walls supposedly are always closing in on Donald Trump. The end is always beginning. He's going to quit. He's going to be impeached and removed. He's going to decide not to run again. Somehow or other, he's going to relieve everyone of the responsibility of ever thinking of him again, and especially of the responsibility of defeating him in an election. Such scenarios are a constant topic in private conversations. The allure is obvious. It is the promise of deliverance. After tormenting his enemies for so long, Trump's going to make it...
There has been shootings at schools for decades, but none like the shootings of today. The first mass school shooting was at the University of Texas, with 17 people killed, which included the shooter, Charles Whitman. He went to school with the intent to kill as many people as possible. The next mass school shooting didn’t occur until 1999, when two Columbine students killed 13 and wounded 21 others before committing suicide. Since then, school shootings have become much more frequent. Between Columbine and today, there have been 11 school s...
I would like to encourage every concerned Whitman County resident to attend the meeting on Feb. 4 at 8 p.m. at the Steptoe School, when a petition will be reviewed with the county commissioners concerning zoning and ordinances, road conditions, non-running vehicles and trash and garbage in yards throughout the our county. I hope to see you there! --Kristi Kinsinger, Spokane Valley...
Frank Watson (Jan. 24, 2019, "Declaration of a Non-Candidate"), your self-admitted deficits would make you the perfect GOP candidate. Frank, you underestimate your potential. --Mark Olson, Seattle...
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 mean time, 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 to pick up som...
The Gazette received a call last week from a local Federal agency. It was to inform us that its small bill could not be paid until the government shutdown ended. The office was closed, the heat turned down and few had access to the building. The answering machine warned callers that messages left would not be answered until the situation changed. How many thousands or millions of times this type of message was relayed across America is unknown. Also unknown is the hardship and fear the shutdown has caused workers and families. The toll is...
Pet Peeves Area gas prices The new Whitman Hospital compensation plan... What a joke!...
In 1932, as the Great Depression took hold and once-proud Americans were reduced to begging, Bing Crosby recorded a song called "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" It became a hit, even though Republicans tried to force radio stations not to play it because it was "anti-capitalist." And indeed it was. "They used to tell me I was building a dream With peace and glory ahead Why should I be standing in line Just waiting for bread? ... Buddy, can you spare a dime?" Today, the Republicans are at it again, or at least one Republican is. As the country...
The FBI took it upon itself to determine whether the president of the United States is a threat to national security. No one had ever before thought that this was an appropriate role for the FBI, a subordinate agency in the executive branch, but Donald Trump isn't the only one in Washington trampling norms. The New York Times reported the astonishing news: "Counterintelligence investigators had to consider whether the president's own actions constituted a possible threat to national security." U.S. presidents over the decades have made many foo...
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 coordinate programs. Take...
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 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 bathroom. I have known s...
Washington state celebrated Temperance and Good Citizenship Day on January 16. It has been a long standing requirement for schools to observe. The day was initiated in 1923. Ostensively, it was to push prohibition and avoidance of alcohol. That purpose was dashed with the repeal of prohibition, although moderation in drink was still a goal. Now, this day has a different significance. Temperance is not just about alcohol. Defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, temperance is: 1-moderation in action, thought, or feeling 2a-habitual moderation...
Okeydokes 2019 looking forward to electing a new mayor!...
Wouldn't it be astounding if we read the morning news one day and the headline was "Everything President Trump Said Yesterday Was Entirely True"? Put that one in the "not likely" category. Donald Trump has made lying an art form (a crude art form, certainly), to the point where we can't be sure that his name actually is Donald Trump. He's that untrustworthy. According to The Washington Post's "Fact Checker," Trump (or whoever he is) averaged 15 falsehoods a DAY in 2018! There should be a competition among politicians, obviously sponsored by...
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's so-called Green New Deal makes the obligatory nod to the original New Deal, but FDR's handiwork is much too modest an antecedent. The Green New Deal calls for a top-down revolution in the operation of American society so sweeping that it would be disturbing if it weren't so wholly ridiculous. It shows all the thoughtfulness of a college sophomore pulling an all-nighter to write a term paper for his Millennial Socialism 101 class. The Green New Deal, as explained in draft legislation to create a congressional...
Credit to the Gazette for choosing to include “Colfax students walk out in wake of gun violence, others stay inside” as one of 2018’s top stories published in the Whitman County Gazette. In joining many other students across the country who participated in the walkout on March 14th we had hoped to draw recognition to the rise and continuation of gun violence taking place in schools, as well as demand action from a stagnated Congress who was not taking steps to protect students. By including this piece as a top story of 2018, you have shown...
While many eyes are on trade talks between our country and China, America’s port leaders are positioning their seaports to compete for increasing volumes of container traffic. After container shipments surged in November---primarily from pre-tariff contracts—they plunged by year end--impact of U.S. and China trade war. Outbound container volume at the neighboring ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach fell 11.8 percent in November from the same month in 2017. It was a decline after seven str...
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. 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 a symptom of another much dee...
Christmas and New Years are over, and now neighbors are taking down their Christmas decorations. But in every neighborhood there is always someone who doesn’t participate. Maybe they were late getting their decorations up if they put them up at all. Maybe they don’t feel they have the time or energy to go through the work of taking down the decorations each year and so they leave them up all year. Maybe they don’t understand what all the hoopla is to get the decorations down in a hurry. Some...
President Donald J. Trump addressed the nation on Tuesday. All networks gave him free airtime for the prime time speech. Democrats immediately demanded equal air time for a response. Reportedly, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer said based on previous pronouncements by the President this address was bound to be “full of malice and misinformation.” Thus, they wanted to respond to it as soon as it was over. Democrats had already decided that they are against what the President was about to say hours before he said any...
Yes - there is indeed a national emergency. If unchecked, it could destroy our great democracy. It is called Donald J. Trump. --Dick Warwick, Oakesdale...
Pet Peeves Fire the commissioners ... they can’t even fill potholes on Steptoe Street, Steptoe, Wash....
