Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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All about sales tax In the Gazette dated March 15th, there was a letter from a resident of Moscow who argued against the proposed Hawkins development. As has been noted in the editorial of that same date, the decision by the Board of County Commissioners to have county government bear a heavier burden to finance the infrastructure has stirred controversy. As the previous Whitman County Planning Director, now retired, my opinion of the matter has been solicited by a couple of county residents. I desired originally to keep my opinion to myself,...
When you talk about state health insurance exchanges, people’s eyes glaze over. (See, it’s happening right now.) The subject seems far too complicated and confusing. But we need to talk about them because, as you read this, state bureaucrats in Olympia are making decisions that will affect the cost and availability of your health care benefits. Your insurance company isn’t taking part in the state exchange? It doesn’t matter. The rules will still affect your choices and your costs. State exchanges are a creature of the federal health care la...
Colfax’s police chief will be retiring soon. The city has been advertising for candidates. In fact, the application deadline is Monday. All the professional requirements of the candidates will be scrutinized. Naturally, too, the personality, philosophy and demeanor of the applicants will be taken into account as will their perceived suitability for rural police work. Unfortunately, there is one factor that will not be considered. That is whether or not the new chief will live in Colfax. Local residency is not a city requirement. It cannot be a...
WELL, THIS TIME I guess he really means it. When Democrat Congressman Jay Inslee announced last year that he was going to run for governor again this year (he ran in 1996 and lost in the primary and was hinting at another try in 2004 but got cold feet) my response was I’ll believe it when I see it. But resigning his 1st district seat effective March 20 to devote fulltime to his guber (I really hate the word gubernatorial) campaign proves this is where he hopes to go. Personally, I don’t think he can beat Republican Rob McKenna who is giv...
It started in 1935 with a $3.8 million loan to Cuba for the purchase of U.S. silver ingots. That loan, backed by the U.S. government, was the beginning of the Export-Import Bank. Today, the bank helps finance export sales by thousands of U.S. manufacturers. While it is little-known outside our nation’s capital, the Export-Import Bank is a lynchpin of our economy. It provides direct loans, loan guarantees and insurance to help finance sales of American goods and services overseas. In 2011, the Export-Import Bank provided $32 billion in f...
If anyone does a year-end wrap-up of the worst ideas of 2012, losing the presidential election deserves to be high on the list. A note of gloomy wishfulness has entered Republican thinking of late. Maybe a loss in November (if Mitt Romney wins the nomination) won’t be so bad because a cleansing fire will rid the party of moderates once and for all. Or, from the opposite point of view (if Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich were somehow to get nominated), a devastating defeat will teach the party’s purists a lesson. In any event, a Republican Con...
The county commissioners have taken a lot of heat over their support of the Hawkins retail mall project at the state line. In fact, they are being sued over it. Now, strangely enough, the debate over the project is changing. What started as claims of improper actions by elected officials has evolved into criticism of the project itself and the very idea of growth in the county. Critics are saying the Hawkins mall would hurt local businesses and would only provide low-paying retail jobs. Some have gone so far as to claim it would have an...
Adversity often brings out the best in people. We find ways to pitch in and solve problems that government can’t. Since the recession began, non-profit organizations have seen a big increase in volunteerism, and as state and local governments are forced to slash public services, volunteers are coming forward to pick up the slack. For example, after the City of Las Vegas laid off half of its park maintenance staff, neighbors put together volunteer work crews to pick up trash, wash picnic benches, trim shrubs and paint the curbs. The City of O...
Testament Our office was asked to host a team for the State B tournament in Spokane this year. Since I was born and raised in Whitman County, it was decided it would be a good idea. Being our first year doing this, we had no clue of what to expect. We had a great pleasure of hosting the Colton girls. The coaches and girls were incredible. The parents of each girl should be proud of their representation. I’ve never encountered better young people in my life. What a wonderful testament to the village that raised these girls. L.R. Rusty M...
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, thinks that Iran is a “rational actor.” He is indisputably correct. Tehran couldn’t have made itself into the world’s foremost exporter of terror and extended its tentacles throughout the Middle East without resorting to rational calculation. That’s obvious. What Dempsey is implying, though, is that a regime capable of such calculation can necessarily be deterred if it gets a nuclear weapon. That’s an unsupportable leap. If the Soviets, the famous “evil empire” bristling with thous...
W. Bruce Cameron Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published in 2007. When I was at the absolute pinnacle of my professional career, I was the flower chairman for the Miss Kansas-Miss Missouri Beauty Pageant. I was 14 years old. I had other friends with jobs, and maybe even jobs with titles like “assistant manager,” but I’d never even met a “chairman.” In my mind, I’d been vaulted to the top of the executive food chain - my next promotion would be “emperor.” I landed this plum yet critical position because my best friend’s fath...
What’s that old saying? “One step forward, two steps back.” Just as our economy is starting to move again, rising gas prices threaten to put the brakes on the recovery. Gasoline is at the highest price ever for this time of year. AAA reports the average price in Washington on Feb. 22 was $3.68 a gallon. That’s up 14 cents in a week and 21 cents in a month. Analysts say gas could hit $4.25 a gallon or higher by late April. Rising prices for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel increase the cost of virtually everything because millions of product...
WELL, Black History Month is almost over and I’ve been thinking about who to offer as a role model for young blacks, leaving Barack Hussein Obama Out of it because I know of somebody better. I give you Sam and Marion Smith and the Smith kids of Seattle. I knew Sam Smith when he was in the legislature in the House in the 1960s, which he left to become a Seattle city councilman in 1967 I learned all about him from his son, Ron, when we were airplane seatmates returning from the Democratic national convention in Atlanta.. He had gone to the c...
John Huntsman was one of the many Republican candidates for the party’s presidential nomination. He is no longer running. He quit after a disappointing finish in New Hampshire. The man realized he didn’t have what it takes to get the nomination. For one thing, he recently said that he was not willing to make some of the deals he was asked to make. He is soft spoken and thoughtful. His experience ranges from being a two-term governor to the United States Ambassador to China under President Obama. Unlike the other Republican hopefuls, he did not...
OVIC stance We write to emphasize that neither as individuals nor as the Board of Directors of the Organization to Void Illegal Conduct (OVIC) are we opposed to the Hawkins project. We favor economic growth in this area and the opportunity for any entity that is willing to make the effort to have the right to take the risk. What we are opposed to is the attempted underwriting of this project with public funds. Entrepreneurs, business people, need to bear the risk for their proposals, and if successful, reap the reward. It is not the taxpayers...
Last week, Judge David Frazier ruled that the county commissioners could not hire an outside lawyer at county expense for their defense in the lawsuit by the Organization to Void Illegal Conduct. Commissioners Pat O’Neill and Greg Partch are facing charges by OVIC for illegal meetings, illegal use of public funds and entering into an illegal contract. All these charges stem from the deal the commissioners struck with Hawkins Company over a new shopping center at the state line near Moscow. They obviously need a lawyer, but they don’t want Count...
There is finally a bit of good news from Olympia. The state’s Revenue Forecast Council reports that tax revenues for this biennium will be $96 million higher than projected last November, and state tax collections for 2013-15 are projected to grow by 6.6 percent. But we shouldn’t get too excited. Even with this additional revenue and the cuts the Legislature made in December’s special session, lawmakers still need to make up about a $1 billion deficit to balance the budget. Even if they manage to close the gap this time, the basic probl...
First they come for the alcohol, then for the tobacco, then for your sugar. When the day arrives when you have to undergo a background check and endure a three-day waiting period to enter a Dunkin' Donuts, you can trace it back to this moment. Namely the publication in the journal Nature of an article calling for regulating sugar as a health hazard, although stopping "far short of all-out prohibition" (that would be too extreme). One of the authors is Robert Lustig of the University of California, San Francisco, who hopes to be to the...
Dear Savvy Senior Is there an age limit on being an organ donor? At age 73, I’m interested in being a donor when I die, but am wondering if they would still want my organs. What can you tell me, and what do I need to do to sign up? Willing But Old Dear Willing, There’s no defined cutoff age for being an organ donor. In fact, there are many people well up into their 80’s that donate. The decision to use your organs is based on health, not age, so don’t disqualify yourself prematurely. Let the doctors decide at your time of death whether your or...
Dear Savvy Senior, I’m worried about my father’s driving. At age 84, his driving skills have diminished significantly, but I know he’s bound and determined to keep going as long as he’s alive. What tips can you recommend that can help me help my dad stop driving? Nervous Daughter Dear Nervous, For many families, telling an elderly parent it’s time to give up the car keys is a very sensitive and difficult topic. While there’s no one simple way to handle this issue, here are a number of tips and resources you can try to help ease your dad aw...
As Congress continues to struggle with our nation's massive $15 trillion debt, another looming crisis has slipped off the radar screen: Social Security. Social Security is running almost $50 billion in the red each year, deficits that are being covered by reserves in the General Fund. But because the number of people getting benefits is outpacing the number of people footing the bill, the program will be insolvent in 20 years. Social Security started in 1935 as a sort of widows and orphans fund. The boss and worker each paid a 1 percent tax on...
IT’S NICE to see that even the uppity Seattle Times can pull a Dewey. Or did you miss the headline in the Feb. 2 edition “Gingrich to get nod from Trump.” True, the story did say a couple of inches down after Donald Trump will announce his support of Gingrich on Thursday in Las Vegas, “according to a senior campaign official.” A wiser head in the newspaper business would have had a question mark in the headline. The Times obviously bought the endorsement since it also wrote “That nod may mitigate the early impression of disarray in the Gingric...
The Republicans are trying to decide who to run against Barack Obama in the upcoming presidential election. They have variously embraced Michelle Bachman, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry as alternatives to front runner Mitt Romney. Each of these has had time in the sun, and each has been anointed as the most popular “anybody-but-Romney” candidate. Soon, they fall out of favor. The party’s love affair with them does not last long. It is more like a one night stand than a relationship. The new favorite candidate’s rise pretty much match...
Help Prevent Elder Abuse Dear Savvy Senior, Can you write a column on the shameful crime of elder abuse? I’ve worked for Adult Protective Services for many years, and it seems like this ongoing problem doesn’t get enough attention. Concerned Citizen Dear Concerned, I certainly can! Elder abuse is an immense and often hidden problem that all Americans need to be aware of so they can recognize it, and know what to do if they suspect a problem. According to the National Center on Elder Abuse, around 3.5 million seniors are victims of abuse, but...
What to do This Hawkins thing seems to be on most people’s minds. Most folks seem to be upset with the Commissioners over it. I’m going to suggest, if not a solution, at least something to do about it. First I’d like to say that I believe that the commissioners want to do what is best for the people. What they did was not with malicious intent. They firmly believed that what they did would work out for the county’s benefit. They may still believe it. We’ll never know if it would have worked out well because it looks like it will never be...
