Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 3332 - 3356 of 3749
SO BACK to the marble halls they’ll come, the lawyers and the farmers, the teachers and the salesmen, transformed by marks on a ballot into citizen legislators. They’re becoming a vanishing breed. Because the legislature takes more and more time, the kind of people who can or will give of themselves is changing. Eventually it will boil down to a few categories. There will always be the special interest legislator, there to pursue benefits for his industry or profession or resist efforts to downgrade them. There will be the retired and/or wea...
I’ve finally gotten to the point in my life where it’s no longer good enough to just talk about dieting — I need to talk about dieting seriously. Apparently, as people get older, something happens to their bodies that medical doctors describe as “unfair.” (I’m not saying I’m “old.” At my age, it’s more that I’m “in denial.”) To counter these totally unfair medical conditions, it’s necessary to change our diets so that they become more “healthy” and less “good.” As an experiment, I decided to journal my results, keeping a “diet diary” so...
#!*! People who get gifts, like wedding and birth gifts, who never send thank-you notes. #!*! All those (jerks) on Highway 26 who do not dim their headlights for approaching vehicles. ++++ The bright lighted cross on Tekoa Mountain. #!*! The new half-million dollar elections building. A $35 a year post office box would have been cheaper. Send your Pet Peeves and Okeydokes to the Gazette P.O. Box 770 Colfax, Wa 99111...
Ed Rendel, governor of Pennsylvania, recently called America a country of wusses. He was inspired to speak out because a snowstorm postponed a NFL game. Just before his announcement, a survey reported that 54 percent of Americans thought the decade ending Friday has been the worst ever in American history. If a majority of Americans think this is the worst decade ever, we just may be a bunch of wusses. Or we just may be a bunch of uneducated people. These last ten years—the first decade of the new millennium—have brought some difficulties. The...
Problem solving The Thrifty Grandmothers are trying to solve the problem of keeping the alley clean. We have installed a gate which will be open during the day. The donations are greatly appreciated and are essential for the success of the store. The Grandmothers are proud to be a part of a community which enables us to supply money for worthy causes. This is only possible through donations and those who faithfully patronize the shop. The Grandmothers sincerely hope this will solve the problem and we can continue to serve the community in a...
Warning! Stop reading this column! Go back! Contains words! OK, well, you can’t say I didn’t try to warn you. I just read about a Miami man who has filed a lawsuit against a restaurant there for failing to warn him not to eat the tough, pointy leaves of an artichoke. The man, a medical doctor, had to be rushed to the emergency room, and is suing for, among other things, “loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life.” Apparently he feels that the restaurant should have posted signs warning him not to eat inedible things, like, say, the parking...
President Obama’s most recent drilling moratorium along the East Coast and in parts of the Gulf of Mexico fortunately may have helped our state’s crude oil supplies in the short term. While the president recently stopped offshore oil exploration from Delaware to Florida, the moratorium did not include existing leases in Alaska’s Chukchi and Beaufort seas. However, the future of energy development in the region is uncertain. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar told Alaskans the Dept. of Interior will honor existing leases, but he is undec...
ITEM—The mentally ill man charged with killing a stranger with a hatchet Nov. 22 is suspected of another slaying a day earlier, according to King County prosecutors. Michael LaRosa, 26, a paranoid schizophrenic, was reportedly off his medications and hearing voices when he killed Joseph LaMagno, 58, after both men left a Capitol Hill grocery. He is being held on $5 million bail. COMMENT—Countless times in my career, I have written about schizophrenics who are “off their medications” and commit crimes and asked why in the world we don’t d...
Over a hundred years ago, a young girl wanted to know if Santa really existed. Her friends were telling her not to believe. So, she wrote her newspaper to get the truth. This is the famous reply from the editor, Francis Church. Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been afflicted by skepticism in a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s are little. In this great universe of our...
Photographer’s view The uniqueness of the Palouse brings photographers from around the world to capture its beauty each and every year. The rolling hills, green and golden crops, red barns, lone trees, canola fields, bluest skies and wonderful puffy clouds are truly every photographer’s dream. As one of those photographers who is entranced by the magnificence each time I have visited, I wanted to say how I appreciate all the farmers, hired hands, truck drivers, equipment makers, suppliers and every other support group for all the hard work the...
If I were to submit my 16-week-old puppy to an IQ test, I’m pretty sure this is how it would turn out. Question One: Your owner screams “No!” whenever you squat and urinate on the carpet. He picks you up in mid-stream (literally) and races out the door with you. When you recover from the trauma of it all and squat in the grass, he praises you and gives you a treat. He takes you for long walks, the whole point of which seems to be for you to squat in the grass. What can you conclude from this bizarre behavior? Puppy Answer: He wants me to pee o...
Both Washingtons are in a financial bind. In our nation’s capital, President Obama and Congress are running trillion-dollar budget deficits, and our national debt will soon exceed $14 trillion. How much is that? To pay back $14 trillion, you’d have to spend $1 each second for the next 448,000 years. Meanwhile our state’s budget deficit is expected to exceed $1 billion for the current two-year budget cycle. It is expected to grow to more than $6 billion by the time Gov. Gregoire and the Legislature write the 2011-13 spending plan. Two years...
NEWS OF THE DEATH the other day at 91 of former Sen. Jeannette Hayner of Walla Walla brought back memories of a day in Olympia never to be forgotten. It was obvious when the Senate Republicans came out of their caucus on that May day in 1979 that something was very wrong. Floor leader George Clarke of Seattle, a ruddy-faced, gray haired man, slumped in his seat, white and shaken, staring at the wall. Leader Jim Matson of Yakima and caucus chair Charles Newschwander of Tacoma were conspicuous by their absence. Word passed swiftly that the three...
#!*! People who do not shovel the sidewalks or driveways in front of their business or home. ???? Shouldn’t the Pet Peeves submitted about the Thrifty Grandmothers be brought up at one of their meetings? Send your Pet Peeves and Okeydokes to the Gazette P.O. Box 770 211 N. Main St Colfax, Wa 99111...
At last week’s budget hearing, two commissioners complained they did not have a copy of the preliminary budget. Auditor Eunice Coker said she had sent the figures two weeks earlier. Apparently, the figures had been e-mailed to the commissioners, but the two just did not know what to do with them. Commissioner Greg Partch, in fact, complained that he could not read them because they were not in finished form, and, as he said, they were not printed off in color. Well, he got his wish. The preliminary 2011 budget is awash in red. The deficit is e...
Unproven data Whitman County residents have a chance to promote positive economic development in our region. We are faced with a unique opportunity to provide supportive comments to the Planner regarding the Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the Palouse Wind project. After reviewing the DEIS from Whitman County’s website, I submitted a letter to the county planner that focuses on facilitating the approval of the statement. My comments focused on the fact that the Draft EIS for Palouse Wind is a systematic and impartial analysis of p...
I am in favor of any government-funded scientific study that proves me right. The ones that imply I might somehow be wrong, however, are probably based on flawed methodology and are certainly a waste of money. Take, for example, a recent experiment where a “wet paint” sign was taped to a wall that was painted with a glossy finish so that it appeared that it might be wet paint. In point of fact, the paint was dry, so the sign was sort of a really poor practical joke. The purpose of the experiment was to see how people would react to a “we...
Electric cars are the new wave in automobile technology. Many see them as the way to cut greenhouse gas emissions because they plug in rather than fuel up. Nissan’s Leaf and Chevrolet’s Volt are coming to car showrooms, the first in what is expected to be a wide variety of electric vehicles. To promote the use of electric cars, Congress authorized a $7,500 federal tax credit for the purchase of an electric car, and the state of Washington exempts electric cars and most hybrids from the state’s sales tax. Our state also received $1.32 milli...
I DON’T KNOW why terrorists even bother to consider blowing up Christmas tree lighting gatherings and such when they can wreak so much havoc by hiding explosives in their shoes or their underwear. Do you realize how your life has been altered by the likes of Umar Farouk Abdulmutaelab and Richard Calvin Reed? Two guys made airplane flights miserable to contemplate for millions of Americans. Not that flights weren’t going downhill already with charges for luggage and food you wouldn’t give a stray dog. These guys were as different as day and n...
++++ To DOT for cleaning up Main Street. ++++ Tim Ely’s exhibit at the Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane. Extraordinary! ++++ Kind neighbors who moved snow off our walkways and driveways. ++++ The nice man who cleared off hospital employee cars after the first storm. #!*! Whitman County Information Technology turning their building into a kennel. What about dog bites and fur in the computer fans? #!*! Vehicles that park in the NO Parking Zone in front of the grade school and jeopardize the safety of children. Send your Pet Peeves and O...
The Colfax Christmas Parade ended with fireworks on Thursday. Santa Claus made multiple visits on Saturday to the various town festivals. ‘Tis the season. This is the season a lot of money will be spent, too. Consumers open up their wallets more than at other times of the year. Rural residents should be conscious of where that spending is done and make an effort to shop locally as much as possible. Local merchants and economies depend on local shoppers. The effects of loyal support can last a year. Local businesses generate sales taxes and p...
W. Bruce Cameron My 8-year-old nephew, Ethan, has an Ultra-Black-Ops Commando Infiltrator Action Figure that comes with a Gatling gun and assorted other wholesome weapons. The doll’s name is Lt. Cobra Barracuda. “It’s not a doll, Uncle Bruce,” Ethan says scornfully. Ethan’s next-door neighbors are twin 10-year-olds, Jenna and Jaynee, who have long been playmates of his despite the fact that they are girls. Ethan recently went to a birthday party at their house. “Which one of them had a birthday?” I asked him. “They’re twins, Uncle Bruce,” Eth...
Turbine comment The Whitman County Planner has asked for comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for an industrial wind turbine development. I have submitted to the county government the following response: The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Palouse Wind industrial wind turbine development ignores some very critical information. The EIS should acknowledge the fact that industrial wind turbines produce great quantities of high-level, low frequency noise pollution. The introduction of high levels of low...
Even though voters rejected Initiative 1082, which would have allowed private insurers to write workers’ compensation insurance in our state, the need to reform the system has become even greater. It has become too costly for employers and too cumbersome for injured workers, and in fact in 2011, rates will increase an average of 12 percent. When our state’s workers’ compensation system was established in 1911, it was designed to prevent injuries and deaths, treat injured workers quickly and effectively, be efficient to administer, and settl...
