Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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There are dams that should come down and those that shouldn’t. Hopefully, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducts its review of the 14 federal dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers, that will become abundantly clear. Here is the difference. Demolishing the two dams on the Elwha River west of Port Angeles was a good thing. The dams were built in the early 1900’s to bring electricity to the Olympic Peninsula at a time when salmon and steelhead were plentiful in other Pacific Northwest rivers....
[Editor’s Note: Former Marine Corps General James “Mad Dog” Mattis has been selected by President-Elect Trump to serve as U.S. Secretary of Defense. Gen. Mattis is an Eastern Washington native and currently resides in Richland.] Donald Trump has professed that he’s not much of a reader. He told The Washington Post over the summer that he had not read biographies of presidents because he does not have the time and that he makes the right decisions “with very little knowledge other than the knowledge I [already] had, plus the words ‘common s...
Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg called on President-elect Donald Trump and Congress to ensure that U.S. companies have the tools necessary to compete in a global economy, from a reformed tax code to financial support from the moribund U.S. Export-Import Bank. For Chicago-based Boeing, the largest U.S. exporter, that means a reformed tax code, a fair global trade system, regulatory changes that make it easier to close foreign defense sales and re-opening the ex-im bank for business, Muilenburg said Friday in remarks to the Illin...
In October, malls and department stores throughout the country get the season started with a flourish. The halls (I mean aisles) are decked with boughs of holly, and the campaigns to lure holiday gift shoppers are in full swing. Retailers have big sales and advertising is dominated by red and green. I grew up in suburbia, and even all those years ago, it seemed obvious to me that the Christmas season was designed primarily as a commercial campaign to get people to buy more stuff. But out here in the wilderness we call the Touchet Valley,...
Last week, The Post reported that Paul Horner, “the 38-year-old impresario of a Facebook fake-news empire,” believes he turned the election in favor of Donald Trump. For many, the claim signals an alarming turn into uncharted political territory. But fake news is part of American history. In fact, it goes back to the founding of the republic. In 1769, John Adams gleefully wrote in his diary about spending the evening occupied with “a curious employment. Cooking up Paragraphs, Articles, Occurrences etc. - working the political Engine!” Adams,...
Book Review: “Let Them Eat Dirt” By B. Brett Finlay and Marie-Claire Arrieta If you read about children’s health, you’ve heard a lot of this before: Microbes, vilified because they cause infectious diseases, can be beneficial to a child’s well-being. Our society’s penchant for hyper-cleanliness is actually making our children less healthy and more prone to allergies. But microbiologists B. Brett Findlay and Marie-Claire Arrieta make that case with an unusually convincing display of evidence - as well as historical anecdotes and a parent-friendl...
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The Vietnam War ended more than 40 years ago, but it continues to claim soldiers' lives. Nearly every spring, new names are etched into the black granite walls of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which pays tribute to the more than 58,000 U.S. service members who lost their lives in the conflict. Jim McGough is one of them. As a 19-year-old infantryman, McGough was with his unit near the Laotian border in 1971 when they came under fire. A grenade exploded nearby, tearing up his feet and lower...
In the modern era of small-time newpapering, it’s important, of course, to have the gumption and perseverance to go out and talk to people and write stories. And also, to have the wherewithal to sell advertising. But beyond that, all you really need is a good computer, good software and a good internet connection. Now you’re in business. When Tom Baker took over as owner, publisher, and editor of The Times more than 50 years ago, you needed every bit of newspapering skill you do now. But in tha...
Donald Trump has won what might be the greatest “change election” in decades. Republicans leaders are only now waking up to the fact that the change Trump’s voters want will end up changing the GOP, too. Trump’s voters were not voting for less government. Instead, they believe the promise of American life has been taken from them by elites of both parties who neither know nor care what they are doing to their fellow citizens. Trump stepped into this massive credibility gap with the message that he was different. In his talks, tweets and rallies...
If you’re despondent over the election, consider this reminder from F. Scott Fitzgerald: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” The “opposed ideas” we need to juggle simultaneously concern who we are as Americans - a multiracial, multicultural nation coming to terms with our galloping diversity, or an us-against-them nation more torn apart by race, age, gender, geography, immigrant status and socioeconomic circumstance than at any ti...
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This all started back in August when I was walking my walker down the hallway and my legs went rubbery. The pain in my back that I had been tolerating turned out to be something more serious than I thought, and after a surgery to inject some plastic into the bone cavities, I had hoped to be more mobile. The doctors found some speckles of bone fragment around my spinal cord, and another surgery followed, with the hope that soon the feeling would return to my legs and I'd be on the road to...
Fox News, CNN and MSNBC enjoyed a surge in viewership with Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and his narrow victory is still provoking passions across the political spectrum. The question now is who will benefit the most from interest in Trump’s transition to office. Will it be first-place Fox, home to Trump fans like Sean Hannity and interrogators like Megyn Kelly? CNN, which almost closed the ratings gap with Fox among younger audiences during the campaign? Or MSNBC, whose liberal bent could prove a draw for anti-Trump viewers? “Th...
Dear Editor: The Board of Directors and I would like to thank the patrons of Waitsburg School District for acknowledging that “our kids deserve whatever it takes.” It is so gratifying to know that soon our students will be able to learn in classrooms that have improved air quality and provide for a more quiet learning environment. Having an upgraded kitchen will provide for less waste of food due to malfunctioning equipment as well as improve the efficiency and operations of the kitchen. Finally, the field house will not only be a valued and...
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One word describes this U.S. presidential election: dismal. That has ominous implications for the important tasks of governing over the next several years. Elections in which big issues are joined have value because they provide a governance agenda to be debated and decided. Both sides bear responsibility for the sorry state of politics this year, but the overwhelming blame belongs to Donald Trump. He has largely waged a campaign of venom and cruel insults that was substantively shallow. If you waded through his deepest policy thoughts your...
This election had been eating at Chris Drake. A staunch liberal in his 20s, he became a Republican by 30. But now 45 and an independent, he couldn't stomach either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. And despite his libertarian leanings, he decided that Gary Johnson lacked the basic "depth of knowledge" to serve as president. Then he saw the bumper sticker. A joke, sure, but it made sense: "Neil deGrasse Tyson/Bill Nye 2016." There it was. His write-in choice for president. "Can we just have some...
A significant segment of Americans sees this nation in decline, if not free fall. Never has the United States been in such bad shape, they say, and it is getting worse. Nothing could be further from the truth. I would ask today’s naysayers to identify a period in our recent history when the nation was in better shape - economically, socially or in any other way than now. It certainly could not be any time between 1925 and 1950, a period of economic depression, war and its aftermath. I am 88 years old. I was born near the end of the 1920s and g...
Listen, punks. You think you can slap on some makeup, pick up an ax and take down a profession? You think one rubber nose and a few prank phone calls can co-opt an art form? You think malice can triumph over joy in these colossal clown wars? Bobo don’t think so. Sure, you’ve had your little fun - scampering across social media, delighting local news producers with reports of scary clowns threatening schools and targeting children. But on Tuesday, Halloween will be over and you’ll probably crawl back into your shadowy bunkers and 11th-...
Dear Editor, Since my announcement in May that I was running for Walla Walla County Commissioner District 2, I have called for continuing the freeze on Commissioner’s salaries. The salary even at the current level is well over the median income for working families in the county. Commissioners do not deserve an increase until the people of the county are doing better. We have county employees who provide valuable services to the public cut back with mandatory furlough days. The Sheriff’s and Prosecutor’s Offices share only 24 hours a week...
Dear Editor, I could talk about when I first met Randal Son, about his family, or his life. I could address his general character. But, that doesn’t give us much indication of his ability to do the job for which we are electing him. While interesting to hear these things, what we need is an example of how Randal Son approaches the problems he is bound to face as Commissioner. Does anyone recall those annual Humane Society fundraisers where Randal Son would spend his November days and nights outside in a dog kennel no matter the weather until e...
Dear Editor, This letter is to support the candidacy of Randal Son for County Commissioner in Walla Walla County, Washington. In these changing times, the priorities and issues that affect rural counties have taken on a new significance. Randal is a tireless advocate for rural interests. He has a solid understanding of the interconnected issues involving agriculture, forestry, industry, and water. He has demonstrated his capacity to work for the common good, by bringing information into the open to inform citizens and to promote transparent...
