Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Sorted by date Results 401 - 425 of 617
I want to encourage the citizens of Washtucna to consider filing to be a candidate for the commissioner positions in Park and Recreation District No. 2, which runs the Washtucna Pool. We want commissioners who are not only interested in the maintenance and management of the pool and its program, and have a vision for its future, but who could also serve with the good will and trust of their neighbors. In the past year the commissioners ran two levies, which failed to pass with the legally prescribed majority of votes....
Education in the United States has been floundering for many years. I believe that it started when they did away with the eighth grade examination, started kindergarten and stopped having potential teachers pass a comprehensive test. The test was an instrument that gave school districts a good indication that a candidate was knowledgeable and it gave the teachers a valid reason to claim they were a profession. Kindergarten as it is now used, is a financial waste! Parents should be given a list of skills that their children ne...
To the Editor, I felt sorry for the fellow who wrote that when he voiced his opinion, he was told to get out of town. I was shocked to hear another person agree. When he was told to leave if he didn’t like it here, he got angry sure, but he was also devastated because he wrote that he had lived in Ritzville for six years and when would he be considered a part of the town? Clearly he wants to participate and offer his opinions. Usually having a strong opinion means you are vested in something (Ritzville in this case) and c...
To the Editor, President Obama once fretted about 10 or 11-year-old girls being able to purchase Plan B One-Step birth control pills, but he has now changed his mind. With his blessing, the Department of Health and Human Services set aside the advise of medical experts and a federal judge has cleared the way for boys and girls of any age to purchase the medication. No parental or doctor advise is needed. The U.S. Department of Justice can appeal the ruling of Federal Judge Edward Korman’s ruling, but I have to wonder if he wo...
We have hot spots all over our country and the world, so where is our president? He is visiting his wealthy friend in Hollywood to raise money for 2014, and pushing for gun control. Gun control is something he started pushing in 1996 as a young politician, and fundraising started for his party when he was the keynote speaker at their national convention. Did he speak to his well-heeled Hollywood friends about taming down the violence in their productions that are labeled PG-13, or their impaired driving convictions? No, he...
Yet again, I have been amazed by the generosity and ability of our communities to come together to do great things for children. Led by Tim Smith and Derek Schafer, over 50 volunteers came together on March 9 and 16, and many days after, in order to update the baseball and softball fields at the middle school in Lind. In addition to the donations of time and labor, there were also monetary donations from the Lind Little League Association, The McGregor Company, Lind Lions Club, NuChem, Schafer Ranch and Coyote Flats Farms....
Some say the family of the lad who noticed the Emperor had no clothes, was asked to leave town. It seems that the self-important folk of the village were not amused to having such things noticed. It is enough it seems to be of great importance or even middling importance in the village but to accept responsibility for the leadership of the community was much too much. A pair of letter writers was printed recently in The Journal. Their purpose it seems was to offer a balance to local issues raised in letters written to this...
I’m tired of seeing letters in this paper criticizing the hospital district board members and their actions. Where were the letter writers when the board was holding its latest open meeting? I was there, and I sure didn’t see you. At the meeting on March 28th, there were exactly five of us in the audience – a guest, a district employee, and three members of the public. The really irritating thing though, is that the letters contain misinformation, misunderstandings, and absolutely nothing constructive. If you don’t have an...
According to our own government’s 2012 survey we have almost 700,000 government employees. Barely a third believe that promotions are based on merit. Less than that said steps are taken to deal with poor performance and just one – fifth said that pay raises are linked to good performance. The budget control Act of 2011 that was bi-partisan suggests that: 1. We need to collect the $786 billion that Americans already owe in delinquent loans, fines and penalties. 2. Collect the $300 billion that Americans also already owe in...
“Buy local.” Righ…t! In deciding how you are going to vote on the upcoming hospital bond, keep an eye on the track project. The track and field renovations will be done by Design West Architects and financed by Cashmere Valley Bank. Are these local businesses? Will these businesses be employing local citizens? I understand, government funded projects must be awarded to the lowest bidder. However, that is precisely the point. Had this project continued as a private charitable effort, it could have used at least some local...
When Pearl Harbor was bombed, a determined F.D.R. and Congress wanted to strike back quickly and decisively. They needed to build and Army, Navy and Air Force as quick as possible. Thus, the cost plus program was established. This program gave existing factories and businesses the incentive to switch to producing the machines (plane, vehicles, ships, etc.) as quickly as possible. There was no risk for the business world as the plus was a guaranteed profit so there was no chance for them to lose money. The plus contracts varie...
I read with some concern the article in the March 21 edition of the Journal regarding the “Soul Café.” The article did not mention the proposed location of this facility, which I understand is to be at 306 North Division, in the Old Baptist Church building. One of the proponents I contacted stated that it was not to be a “soup kitchen,” but did not deny it would be a drop-in center for homeless, etc. Which then raises all sorts of questions such as hours of operation and just what type of persons the clients need safe hav...
A friend who I have known most of his life is about to retire and he asked me the question that millions must be thinking, “Why should someone work all throughout their life when they can make almost as much be being dependent on our government?” I told him that I felt strongly that a persons pride and self-satisfaction were important to those whose parents had taught them values. Unfortunately, we have too many potential workers who do not have pride. This is why we have 11 states that have more residents dependent on the...
In Genesis I: Verse 26, “God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” Surely having dominion does not mean to contaminate and trash God’s creation. Dominion means we are to be stewards of all God’s creation, whether we believe God created it or not. The Nuclear Industry and our government have blatantly failed in this God giv...
Often there appears a letter to the editor referencing the acts of our hospital board, school board or city council. One does wonder why those who are so unhappy don’t move to another city or town. I always believed that if you grumbled about something it was your duty to try to make things better and yet election after election, I never see these people’s names on the ballot. Maybe it is time to stop grumbling and step forward. Sue Gardner, Ritzville...
For shame President Obama! The Veteran’s administration has been serving veterans for many decades. There have been problems as there is with any large department. They had a budget of $140 billion for 2012, even though you and the senate haven’t produced a (required by law) budget for almost four years. Oh well, by now many of us know how you feel about laws and rules. You and your staff can’t possibly be proud of the more than $100 million that was spent by V.A. staff that was learning how to be better union members. It mu...
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 1,736 individuals living in Ritzville during the 2000 census. There were 777 households and 470 families. By the 2010 census, the population was 1,673 individuals making up 751 households and 444 families. Perhaps prior to 2013, the majority of those leaving Ritzville have not actually left the city but have simply moved to one of the two local cemeteries. Some of those leaving are the youth who graduated from the Ritzville public schools and were forced to leave to find...
According to President Obama, and his budget office, the sequester cuts are indiscriminate and spell out specific percentages that will be subtracted from federal “projects, programs and activities,” or PPAs. The White House says it must now cut across the board regardless of how important a given PPA is. Not so fast! PPAs are a technical category of the federal budget, but the sequester actually occurs at the roughly 1,200 broader units known as budget accounts. Some accounts are small, but others contain hundreds of PPA...
Let this letter be a warning to anyone who expresses their views in writing to be published. Executing your first amendment rights to free speech does not set well with some long time residents in this area and they will definitely let you know that your kind is not wanted. Because of my letter to the editor opposing Project 56, I have twice been verbally abused in public. Both times resulted in a yelling match in a public gathering place! The first encounter was over a month ago and the last one was just last week. The...
The citizens of east Adams County are going to have to make some very difficult decisions regarding public property and services in short order. Some have faced decisions like these by saying, “You can’t fight city hall” or trust a paternalistic government to make the decisions and hope that everything works out all right. These people need to reevaluate those views. Let’s take the hospital as an example. Up front, I would like to note that I was very impressed by the openness and candor of the board members and staff t...
After listening to President Obama’s State of the Union address, I felt that it could have been labeled the Christmas address. There were several things that would be nice to have but in real life, sometimes people have to be told that we just can’t afford to do certain things, or we can’t afford to purchase certain things. Sometime that is difficult to do, and unfortunately President Obama is not old enough to have experienced that in his lifetime. President Obama is a person who would have been very successful in life...
In the Feb. 28 edition of The Journal it states: “The district has long known the aging building and its antiquated infrastructure was an issue. In the past couple of years, those issues have become urgent tasks following a series of inspections by the state that have earmarked a number of issues.” Our hospital building is 60 years old. The problem is not the age of the building. The problem is willful neglect. The public meeting held last week featured numerous large photographs meant to illustrate the need for action. Tho...
I grew up in Lind, and I can remember times when there was a community member in need and people from both communities responded quickly and selflessly. I can remember being at harvests and the whole farming community came when a farmer needed help. If you were able to hold a broom or a hose in 1980, odds are you were sweeping and cleaning roofs and sidewalks when Mt. St. Helens blew in. People just pitched in and helped. It didn’t matter if you were from Lind or Ritzville. If someone needed help, they got it. Our children ha...
American manufacturing is more dependent on the metals and minerals access than ever before. Yet, we are tied with Papau New Guinea for the time it takes to permit a new mine. Seven to 10 years is the average delay period. Waiting for technology metals will severely hamper our ability to innovate our advance weapons systems that are increasingly metals intensive. The U.S. has domestic resources for 18 of those 19 metals and minerals that we now exclusively import from abroad. However, a maze of government regulations has...
Where’s Hospital Commissioner Snyder’s resignation? Am I the only one that heard his election promise, “As long as I’m a hospital commissioner, there will be no new hospital!” Now it seems he is on the building committee, and asking this community to pass a bond issue to build a new hospital. Where are the local contractors that were going to be used to repair and refurbish our present hospital? Wasn’t he going to keep the repair dollars in the community? How is that working? It sounds to me like Mr. Snyder is the consumm...