Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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For eight years, Washington state has consistently failed to meet our CO2-reduction targets even as energy-intensive industries have closed or left the state. Washington companies like Amazon and Microsoft have successfully met their CO2 targets. The contrast between their success and the state’s failure is telling. Unfortunately, the governor’s new proposal continues the trend of proposing costly and ineffective strategies that focus more on political special interests than responsible env...
While the coronavirus and its devastating effects on people and economies worldwide were unfortunately the top 2020 stories, the massive impact of western wildfires can’t be ignored. It was catastrophic. The National Interagency Fire Center’s western states tally shows a record 8.6 million acres were incinerated in 2020 compared with 4.6 million acres in 2019. In Washington just over 700,000 acres were burned; however, California and Oregon were not as fortunate. By comparison, a combined 5.7...
Yesterday, my 13-year-old son asked me about the election, and the fraud charges leveled by President Trump and his supporters. I thought about my answer for a bit, then used the O.J. Simpson trial, and that jury verdict, as an example of how humans who want to believe something badly can be convinced that an enormous “preponderance of evidence” should be ignored. In the O.J. case, the evidence, both physical and circumstantial, was overwhelming. He was obviously guilty. Sadly, a jury predisposed to mistrust police and support a celebrity vot...
Christmas is an especially difficult time for anyone grieving for lost loved ones. Try adding a crippling killer virus into that mix. That is the tragic reality of 2020. Even though the traditional ceremonies attended by thousands went virtual this year, more than 1.7 million holiday wreaths were placed against grave markers of fallen service men and women. Normally, the fallen are remembered on Memorial Day, but thanks to a Maine family and over hundreds of thousand donors and volunteers, on...
For many years, under the leadership of editor Jerry Jones and Publisher Gordon Forgey, The Gazette was a model of what local newspapers could be. But now, under the Publisher Roger Harnack, it has gone precipitously downhill. His Dec. 17 editorial “Prohibition 2.0” represents a new low point. Mr. Harnack, you give tacit approval to “speakeasies” — business establishments that flout public health guidelines during the most severe public health crisis in a century. How dare you? Do you not understand that your stance endangers public safety? D...
I wonder why government wants to shut down our small businesses. Some of us need those places to eat. It’s nice to be able to look at the outside world, too, and that’s why we go out to eat rather than eat at home. I have never in my life had a doctor tell me to just go home and do nothing. They have always tried to get me feeling better so I could go out and work and contribute to the world. It’s really easy to say shutdown, but maybe there is an alternative. Why not point out the problem and see it can be fixed? The businesses in Colfa...
This virus scare has put us in a hole. The mainstream media has done an excellent job of inciting fear. Their success is due to the grand achievement of government schools squelching that dangerous “critical thinking” process. If people analyze the facts they would conclude this is no more dangerous than the average flu. The coronavirus has not increased the overall death rate. With the overall death rate unchanged, it is indisputable that the coronavirus has not created a disaster. The government’s behavior has created a disaster, but the v...
Pet Peeves: Old couch sitting for months on S Main Street...
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus? Virginia O’Hanlon Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of 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 ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his...
Would you believe in the future when a cement truck shows up to pour your foundation or patio, the mixture will likely contain ground-up wind turbine blades? As a part of new agreement between GE Renewable Energy and Veolia North America (VNA), old blades, consisting mostly of fiberglass, are shredded at a processing facility in Missouri and then shipped to cement plants across America where they replace coal, sand, and clay in manufacturing. “Last summer, we completed a trial using a GE b...
It’s been a difficult year for us all. I know that’s an understatement. But methinks I shouldn’t have to go into many details to explain why. Unfortunately, those reasons are still all around us. It’s said hard times bring out the best and worst in people. I’ve come to see the truth in that first-hand, and — put mildly — it’s disheartening. But, there have been bright spots this year, too. So, let’s focus on those. Ironically, to see a couple of those bright spots we’ve had to look up — literally. One of those is taking shape right now in th...
Okeydokes All the people who are spaying and neutering cats. The Thrifty Grandmothers. Those ladies do so much and give so much money to the locals. Pet Peeves Beware of Colfax speed traps!...
On Dec. 18, 1917, Congress proposed the 18th Amendment, which would later make it illegal to make, buy, sell or drink alcohol. Two years later, after ratification Jan. 16, 1919, prohibition became the law of the land. For nearly 14 years, Americans who wanted to have an adult beverage were forced underground. They danced, dined, drank and gambled in what became known as a “speakeasy.” Law enforcement and other public employees often knew about their clandestine watering hole and even joined the local folk exercising their constitutional rig...
One of the biggest challenges of the 21st Century is dealing with the progress of the 20th Century — especially old computers, monitors, cellular phones and televisions. These appliances depend on hazardous materials, such as mercury, to operate. After a 5-8-year life, many are tossed into dumpsters and sent to landfills where those hazardous materials can leach into the soil and groundwater. That was the opening paragraph of a column I wrote 20 years ago. However, today the problem is much l...
As a “pandemic” rages across the land, the Washington State University basketball team had to play the Eastern Washington University team, mask-less. We must demand an end to the blatant mistreatment of college athletes. These poor wards of the state, like expendable gladiators, are thrown in the ring to face the COVID beast unprotected. Shamefully, fans endorse this as they take a seat in front of the virtual “coliseum”, remote in hand, to be entertained from the safety of their homes. Shameful indeed. Thankfully, by decree, “Caesar Inslee” h...
I am saddened and disheartened by a letter published in the Dec. 3 Gazette. The writer accuses Auditor Sandy Jamison of fraud because she was not permitted to have actual oversight of the ballot-counting process. I wasn’t there, so I am not in a position to confirm or contradict her assertion that she and other designated poll watchers were so treated. If so, there may have been some improprieties on the part of Ms. Jamison in not being more accommodating. On the other hand, perhaps her greater concern was the health of employees and w...
A Dec. 3 letter may have been a little over the top. The writer was a formal observer of the vote counting in Whitman County. She said, “Fraud was very apparent here.” The observations she cited did not support that. If she had said that the conditions that she observed were perfect for concealing fraud, I would agree with her. I observed similar conditions when I was an observer of the count at a recent election. The only difference was, we had to sit with our backs to the far window. Like the writer said, it’s so darned far away you could...
As your Whitman County Auditor, I feel compelled to respond to the letter published in the Dec. 3 edition of the Whitman County Gazette. She claims that “fraud was very apparent here” in our county and that I had “just broke election law and the count was fraudulent.” These claims are unfounded. I have never met Ms. Culbertson, nor would I recognize her if she walked down the street. Her visit to the Elections Office, as an official Republican Party observer, occurred on Nov. 6. She spoke with my Elections Supervisor, not me. I wasn’t...
Over the last few weeks, 42 businesses in Whitman County have been visited by Liquor and Cannabis Board officers from outside of the area. They’ve driven more than an hour into our communities to investigate and cite local eateries, taverns and other places based on mostly anonymous complaints. In addition to acting on anonymous tips, those same officers, local business leaders say, refuse to allow them to copy or photograph the complaints. Apparently, they are acting on completely anonymous tips or they’re hiding the identities of cor...
Okeydokes: All the Christmas lights around town. Pet Peeves: Political signs up after election....
