Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
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RITZVILLE – Combines are finding their end-of-season parking spots as harvest winds down in the area. "Harvest is pretty much over around Ritzville" said Stacy Hunt, Grain Division Manager at Ritzville Warehouse Co. Harvest started early due to little or no rainfall in the spring, and extreme heat in early summer, he said. A year ago, the 2020 wheat harvest was considered above-average. But 2021 is down 40-50% over the previous year, he said. Regarding quality of the crop, H...
I know that many of you get freaked out when you are out and about and see someone enter a store that you are frequenting and they are not wearing a mask. While others look at people wearing a mask and wonder if they are probably not vaccinated. It has come to this point in the pandemic where we all have trust issues. We all know at least one person that refuses to get the vaccine shot(s) because they have heard too much negativity and fear what might happen to them in the...
A deer stands at the base of a cliff at the Revere Wildlife Area south of Lamont on Friday, Aug 13....
WASHTUCNA — Visitors and area residents will be able to enjoy Palouse Falls and Lyons Ferry state parks along state Highway 261 without paying a fee Wednesday, Aug. 25. Washington State Parks will open all of its parks for free access that day, a requirement of the legislation that created the agency’s Discover Pass, a pay-for-play program designed to supplement tax allocations for maintainence of publicly owned lands. The state Departments of Fish and Wildlife and Natural Resources will also allow free access Aug. 25 to pub...
SPANGLE — Two Northeast 2B league football teams are among the Top 10 being ranked in the state as the season prepares to kickoff. According to ScorebookLive.com’s rankings, The Northeast 2B-North powerhouse Jenkins Cougars made the cut at No. 6. The Northeast 2B-South perennial juggernaut Liberty (Spangle) Lancers are ranked No. 7. The Colfax Bulldogs, Davenport Gorillas, Lind-Ritzville Broncos and Reardan (formerly Indians) compete in the division. In the Class 2B ran...
WEBB'S SLOUGH - A debut is in the making for the next sprint boat races in St. John on Aug. 28. Dangerous Curves is a team of locals, Mike Thomas and Clint O'Keefe, who formed last year and waited out the pandemic-canceled 2020 season. Then the night before the opening race at Webb's Slough in June, they put the boat in the water for a test run and it did not go as they hoped. "Catastrophic failure," said Thomas. The boat sucked in water, ruined two pushrods, and bent a...
DAVENPORT – Masks will still be a part of sports this year, but face covering rules won’t be as restrictive to start the 2021-22 school year. The state Department of Health released new guidelines that mandate masks in some athletic settings, but not in others. The guidelines come on the heels of the state once again requiring masks in K-12 schools this year, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status. Athletes won’t have to mask up during competition or practice for any outdo...
North Adams Street in Ritzville is closed near the airport as work continues on the Pete's Lift Station Rehabilitation and Sewer Main project. The project is funded by a grant from state Department of Ecology....
Betty Jane Faure, 96, was born in Ritzville on Jan. 7, 1925 to Emil and Jessie Selcho. Both her siblings, Brian Selcho and Jeanette Wahl preceded her in death. Betty passed away peacefully on July 26, a day after suffering a vascular event. She was reunited with her loving husband, Ed, who preceded her in death earlier this year. Betty will be remembered for her endearing Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. She found comfort and strength in her relationship with God and his...
RITZVILLE – After a year hiatus, the Ritzville Community Parade returns to Main Street on Saturday, Sept. 4. The festivities begin at 10:45a.m. with the Kiddie Parade. The main even steps off at 11 a.m. Journal sports columnist Dale Anderson will announce the parade from a reviewing stand at the intersection at Main and Washington streets. At press time, a grand marshall(s) had not been named. Ritzville’s Distinguished Young Woman representative, Dakota Killian, will be on hand, along with various emergency vehicles from loc...
SPRAGUE – Dr. Youself El-Kaddar’s new book, “Doorways,” has been several decades in the making. Ever since he was a boy, El-Kaddar had explored his and his family’s passion for writing. Now, the retired chemistry professor and Sprague resident has published a five-story book and is working on a fictional novel. El-Kaddar, now 71, spent his childhood and early adult life in Libya, where he and his parents are native to. He said his mother and father had a passion for education...
The Sprague summer reading program, sponsored by Feed Sprague, wrapped up July 31. The kids made slime and play dough and toured the Catholic Church and the Railroad Depot. They all earned points for reading, listening and following instructions. State patrol officer Jennifer Barrett made an appearance as seen above, and representatives from Fire District No. 1 provided waterworks on a hot summer day....
Liberals in Congress are actively campaigning to force price controls on drug manufacturers. The House has already passed bills that would limit the amount of money pharmaceutical companies can charge for drugs. The fate of this proposed legislation is uncertain in the U.S. Senate. At the same time, the Biden Administration and others on the political left are attacking the companies that have made the COVID-19 vaccines. They seek a waiver to the 1994 TRIPS Act, which was accepted by all countries in the World Trade...
McMorris Rodgers undermining medical advice Clearly it is public officials like our own Cathy McMorris Rodgers who most irresponsibly undermine trust in the COVID-19 vaccines and other life-saving recommendations made by medical experts during the pandemic. Her false, fear-mongering public pronouncements on this vital subject are all too characteristic of her. For example, in a rebuke of Biden’s announcement of likely mandatory COVID vaccines for military members, she called any effort to mandate a vaccine an overreach by t...
Mr. Ed Schweitzer, who founded and leads Pullman-based Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, recently pointed out how the new long-term care tax will have an extra-bitter taste for people who call Idaho home but work in our state, in border cities like Clarkston or Pullman. Those include a significant number of SEL’s employee-owners, he wrote in a letter to Gov. Inslee, who will be forced to pay the tax but can never benefit from it if they don’t reside in Washington. His let...
OTHELLO — Three people were hospitalized late Tuesday evening, Aug. 10, following a two-vehicle crash on state Highway 26. Jonathan Garcia Gamino, 21, of Othello, Heidi L. Kesler, 37, of Elma, and a 17-year-old Elma girl whose name was not released were transported to hospitals, according to the Washington State Patrol. The crash occurred at 9:58 p.m. when Gamino allegedly failed to stop for a stop sign at the intersection of Reynolds Road and state Highway 26, the patrol s...
Farmers eligible for emergency loans RITZVILLE — Following last month’s USDA designation of 14 Eastern Washington counties as a natural disaster due to drought, the Farm Service Agency is offering emergency loans to producers. The severe drought emergency declaration makes producers in Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Franklin, Garfield, Grant, Kittitas, Klickitat, Lincoln, Spokane, Stevens, Walla Walla, Whitman and Yakima eligible to apply. The agency will be accepting and reviewing loan requests until Feb. 22, officials said. Uti...
RITZVILLE – Adams County Health Officer Dr. Alex Brzezny updated Adams County Commissioners on the resurgence of COVID-19 during a meeting Aug. 11. “Adams County was late to the delta (COVID variant) surge,” but it is now in Adams County, D. Brzezny said, noting case rates for the last 14 days are 300 cases per 100,000 population and expected to rise. That makes Adams County a “high-transmission area,” he said. The district was tracking 55 active cases, with 1 in 4 tests for coronavirus coming back positive, Brzezny s...
LAMONT - A local man was named in June as a board member for the Washington Association of Wheat Growers. Dave Swannack replaced Randy Suess as Whitman County president and on the board, the association reported last week. Swannack was one of two new appointees to the board - the other is Leif Claassen of Asotin County. "It's important farmers get involved (in industry organizations) because we are going to lose everything we farm for if we don't get involved," Swannack said....
OTHELLO - The parental uprising over masking students is spreading to Adams County. From 4-7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 18, parents will be protesting Gov. Jay Inslee's edict requiring public school students to wear masks on campus. The "Support Mask Choice" protest will take place at 1025 S. First St. The protest is an outgrowth of a protest last Thursday in Spangle, in which more than 450 people turned out to oppose the governor's order. That event was organized by several parents...
RITZVILLE – It’s been a series of fits and starts for the local branch of the Adams County library. After being closed to indoor service for more than a year due to coronavirus shutdown orders, the library reopened for public access in late July, only to close a few days later when the air conditioning system failed and outdoor temperatures soared to 100 degrees. Now, the Library is open, again, with fans running, and still waiting for the air conditioner to be replaced. “Our patrons want to be here” Library Director Venesia...
SPANGLE - More than 450 people stood on the Liberty High School baseball field Thursday evening, Aug. 12, singing the National Anthem. A World War II-era P-51 fighter flew overhead, piloted by Jared Segebartt of Moscow, Idaho, as the "Stars and Stripes" waved in the wind. Some in the crowd waved American flags; others hoisted signs demanding the governor rescind his edict requiring public school students to be masked when classes resume in the coming weeks. On the dais, 9th...
RITZVILLE — One person was killed in a one-vehicle crash that blocked westbound lanes of Interstate 90 on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 15. Stacy K. Pickering, 34, of Moses Lake, was pronounced dead at the scene, the Washington State Patrol reported. She was a passenger in a 2001 Ford Windstar driven by Donald R. Burgeis, 36, of Moses Lake. Burgeis was transported to a local hospital; he is facing a charge of vehicular homicide, the patrol reported. Two other passengers — a 12-...