Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
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Recently we were faced with the decision to need swing bed care. It was fortunate to have such a facility at East Adams Rural County Hospital in Ritzville. The overall care was exceptional. The effort put forth by the traveling nurses and NAC to make the hospital run smoothly was impressive. We also want to thank the therapist, support staff, board, and mountain man Frank, for providing such a positive experience during a challenging and difficult time. Kindly, Karen Thiel’s family...
We would like to heartily commend the County Department of Public Works for the yeoman work they do every year in keeping our roads passable. Both the drivers—who are out long hours in bitter weather—and the office staff— who schedule and assign priorites—deserve, and have, our heartfelt thanks. In the rural areas outside town, we would be literally housebound without their continuing efforts. The work they do seems too often literally thankless, but be assured that it is appreciated. Eric & Lynn Walker...
In response to Mr. McCallum’s opinion article “Look beyond border to solve immigration,” I agree that a wall wouldn’t solve all of our problems, but with added technology, surveillance and more agents, it would solve many of them. Congressmen, Border Patrol agents and concerned Americans—especially those near the border—support a stronger barrier between Mexico and the United States. Why? Not only to keep our country safer from criminals, drugs and human traffickers, but also to safeguard our education and health care system...
According to an article published by Breitbart on Feb. 4, “Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse introduced the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (S. 130) to protect babies who have survived failed abortions. Sasse went to the floor of the Senate Monday to ask his colleagues to pass the bill by unanimous consent, but Democrats objected.” The article continues that, “Senate Democrats—led by Washington Sen. Patty Murray—blocked a bill that would require babies born alive during abortion to receive reasonable medical c...
Dear Ritzville Community, First of all, we want to dispel rumors pertaining to the closing of the H.E. Gritman Senior Center. We have no plans to close the Senior Center. We believe it is too important, not only to our seniors, but to our community as well. The Senior Center is also a Community Center. It is not just a place for those over the age of 55; we have had activities for all ages. Although the focus of our center is to provide healthy lunches three times a week mainly for seniors, anyone is welcome to join us for...
Washtucna Heritage Museum would like to notify the public in regards to the winners of our recent two-month raffle of three items. The Chrome Book donated by Gigamedics was won by Debi Balfe of Ritzville. The queen-size quilt made by Kathy Coon Meline was won by Sam Kelly of Washtucna. The large toy combine donated by Ritzville’s Odessa Trading Company had lots of interest, and it was won by Marva Schoessler of Ritzville. Thank you for everyone’s generous support of the Museum. Sincerely, Karin Clinesmith, Washtucna Her...
Dear Editor: By proclamation of the governor, January is School Board Recognition Month. It’s a great time to recognize our elected community members who selflessly give their time and energy in support of high-quality public schooling for our youth. School board members of Lind-Ritzville Cooperative Schools are entrusted, by two great communities, with responsibility for an annual budget of $9.9 million, 554 students, 127 employees and 4 schools. School boards are charged with making decisions that can sometimes be quite d...
One of the consequences of Venezuela’s economic ruin is infectious diseases are reaching epidemic proportions and spreading to neighboring Latin American countries. Venezuela, a country of 30 million people, sits on large oil reserves but when global crude prices plunged, its economy was clobbered and inflation skyrocketed. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasted an inflation rate of 2,350 percent for 2018. The breakdown of Venezuela’s health system has turned wha...
Thanksgiving is a wonderful American holiday. But as we celebrate it in 2018, we do so as a deeply divided country. This has been very evident with the recent midterm elections. Although the two main political parties seem to be drawing further and further apart in their visions of what the future of the United States of America should look like, it is sometimes pointed out that what unites us far surpasses what divides us. I believe this is true, but what can be done to reverse the widening chasm of what continues to tear...
The recovery of the gray wolf is a success story for the Endangered Species Act, and the best available science should determine whether species remain listed. I am proud that the House voted last week to approve of legislation I co-introduced with Rep. Sean Duffy: H.R. 6784, the Manage Our Wolves Act, which will return management of the gray wolf species to the states. The states are best-equipped to provide more effective and accountable management that responds to the needs of the ecosystem, other species, and local...
Michelle Erdman Stumpf and Kellie Thompson Ottmar came together to put on a silent auction benefit dinner for us. A group of women—Shanon Davis, Marianne Lazenby, Kellie Ottmar, Michelle Stumpf, Brittany Dew and Karen Jacinto—all came together, planned, prepared and went business-to-business to get donations, which just came together effortlessly. Donations poured in. The community then pulled together and the donations and help poured in. We had an Italian dinner and silent auction to benefit Cameron Osborn and his family. H...
First, I would like to clarify that the correct name for the foundation is East Adams Rural Healthcare Foundation, not Hospital Foundation. Whoever is running the website for EARH needs to get Kellie Ottmar and I off the website as being officers of the foundation. Our separation, as well as Doris Larson’s separation, pretty much removed us from the foundation. It has been almost a year since Doris and I have been at EARH and several months for Kellie. Second: The S.A.I.L. classes have been revised but it is not new, as it h...
Boy oh boy, it sure sounds dire when you read the fliers from Initiative 1631. It will be hard to pay all the price hikes the big oil companies say we will pay, even though the oil companies are making billion dollar profits. Don’t forget to consider how much more it will cost us if we wait longer. It is said that we have about 12 years to reach a point we can’t recover from easily. In the meantime, the polluters will be happily making billions and letting our health and pocketbooks pay for it. We can always add more law...
The October 18, 2018 article that appeared in the Journal, “Immigrants in Washington: A profile for the Midterms” (furnished by the American Immigration Council), espouses the following “immigrant” contributions to our state economy via federal, state & local taxes, along with consumer spending. Presented are the state’s published population figures for 2014 and the percentages presented in the article. The article claims “immigrants” are 14 percent of Washington state’s population and 17 percent of our workforce. The...
We need your help. Those in the communities of eastern Adams County who care about healthcare, please respond. The East Adams County Healthcare Foundation is in need of volunteers. The legacy of having an auction and donations coming in will cease, and scholarships for potential healthcare individuals will be lost as well as support for the EMT’s. The need to keep healthcare and first responders in our communities up-to-date and many equipment needs met is very important to all of us. If you are interested please contact o...
StageWest Community Theatre of Cheney would like to thank all the residents of the Ritzville area who attended our performances of “Love Letters” by A J Gurney. Your continued support is so appreciated Thank you Mike Hartman for catering a delicious meal once again for dinner theater, and the Cheney Emmanuel Lutheran Church for the use of your building, and Cheney Free Press and Ritzville Journal for your continued support of StageWest through articles and ads. --Judy Gross, Publicity Chairman StageWest Community The...
If you haven’t already seen StageWest’s current production of A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters, do yourself a favor and grab some friends to go see it with you this weekend. It’s not a mushy romance, but rather a character study of two people whose lifelong exchange of letters began as children born to wealth and position, writing thank you notes for birthday gifts and post cards from summer camp. Jamie Javorsky shines as Melissa, a flamboyant woman who does what she darn’d well pleases, and doesn’t mince words when writing to...
Seven years ago, I walked through the doors of The Ritzville Journal to start my career as a journalist. I knew the role would help shape my future, but did not have any idea how much the next few years would impact my life. It has been an absolute pleasure to serve our local communities, and is with a heavy heart that I announce this will be my final publication as Editor in Charge of The Journal. After extensive deliberation, I have decided to resign from my position in order to make necessary changes in my life. Change is...
This letter is in response to Mr. Wade with hope that it will bring him more than a “basic fundamental understanding” of the new state funding plan. The reference to how teachers can make more by working in other districts is nothing new to the educational system. Districts in higher property value areas could collect additional funds, which afforded them the ability to provide additional paid days to their teaching staff. This gave those teachers higher salaries than their counterparts located in areas with lower pro...
Lisa Brown is your typical left wing politician out trying to buy votes with our money by promising to vote against cuts in Medicare and Social Security benefits. As an economist she knows, but fails to mention, these programs are unsustainable without sizable infusions of tax dollars, benefit reductions, or both. These programs now account for nearly $2 trillion or half of the $4.1 trillion federal budget. Medicaid spending alone has skyrocketed since 2010 when ObamaCare passed, going from $273 billion to $383 billion this...
The EACH Foundation needs your help. In case you are not aware it is the East Adams County Hospital Foundation. It provides scholarships and needs of specialty equipment for hospital as well as EMT support and furnishings in the Hospital itself. This foundation is in danger of not existing due to lack of volunteers and input from the community. Can you help? If so, contact EARH 659-1200 and leave your contact information. If there is enough interest we will continue the support the Hospital needs to stay viable and active as...
Back in 2007, when I was a first-year teacher in California, I made about $39,500. That was over 10 years ago. When I started at Washtucna two years ago, I made close to the same amount. From my basic fundamental understanding of how the new state funding plan works, instead of an overall pay scale, each district now is responsible for negotiating the salary for its teachers. How each district does that is up to their union’s reps or administrations. It’s come to light in the past few days that many districts are in hea...
We want to acknowledge this wonderful community. Your help during our recent accident was outstanding. Rose Jones, PA-C, at East Adams Rural Healthcare did an absolutely flawless job in the emergency room, despite other interruptions. We are so fortunate to have our hospital, and we don’t always acknowledge it until we are facing a dire emergency. The nurses and aides, as well as the EMTs, were so helpful and very professional. Special thanks to Shannon and Reid Phillips, as well as Brian Doyle. And to the car full of t...
My grandmother, Davida Hille, was one of my favorite people in the world. She passed away a few years ago. It has been very difficult for me. One thing that helps though is to see all of you. All of you remind me of her and the time I have spent in Washtucna. Although I haven’t known many of you since I was a child, it is nice to see and talk with you. It is so nice to see the friendly faces of the Gilchrests, the Meises, the Jessops, the Guskys, the Clinesmiths, the Hoffmans, all of my extended Hille family and many more. T...
A live performance you don’t want to miss is at the high school auditorium in Davenport through Sunday’s matinee on July 29. Many of the actors are professionals with strong singing voices and lively dancing. I envy their auditorium with stadium seating, incredible acoustics and lighting. The band, the set, the costumes accompany the delightful shenanigans of the characters. Roger and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma is a great American musical and the Wheatland Theatre Co. in Davenport did a first rate job in its presentation. For t...