Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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The legislative session is over, and it had the potential to be very positive for salmon recovery. There was bipartisan support for habitat restoration. Legislators also had a huge amount of money to allocate because the tax on CO2 emissions generated far more money than anticipated. Despite that, the Legislature failed to make significant progress on salmon. It is one more wasted opportunity to protect an iconic state species. The most glaring example of the failure is in...
The 2024 legislative session is now in the history books. After 60 days, in which 201 House bills and 180 Senate bills passed the Legislature, we can report a mix of great successes and disappointments. We fought hard for public hearings on all six citizens' initiatives to the Legislature. Closer to the end of the session, Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate reluctantly agreed to hear three of the measures but sent the other three initiatives to the November...
As climate change concerns grow, researchers are turning to family tree farmers for assistance. They have been helping for a century, but their efforts have gone unrecognized. The American Tree Farm program has emphasized sustainability and managing lands for water quality, wildlife, wood, and recreation. In recent years, it has included climate change. According to the American Forest Foundation, families and individuals collectively care for the largest portion of forests...
By Norman D. Brock Attorney at Law, Brock Law Firm Editor's Note: This story was originally published in the March edition of Wheat Life Magazine. Many of our widespread agricultural base of clients have, over the last several years, been presented opportunities to participate in an energy lease, whether solar or wind. Many of these leases were entered into years ago, most especially wind energy leases, and now are producing very significant income streams for the landlord/fam...
Eleven years ago, when we started debating the climate agenda in Olympia, I sat on a study committee we called the Climate Legislative Executive Workgroup and asked an unpopular question: How much good will these policies do and how much will they cost? How dare I ask a question like that? The fate of Mother Earth was at stake. No expense was too great. Today, we are starting to get an idea of the cost. How would you like to pay $20,000? How about $50,000 or more? This is how...
Several years ago, the Washington Secretary of States provided to counties, at no cost, a device called an Albert Sensor. Albert is an intrusion detection device that was provided to counties with the narrative that it will help secure our elections. The installation of these devices required that counties enter into a contract with a third-party, non-governmental organization (NGO) called Center for Internet Security (CIS) located in New York. The premise was that CIS would...
Let’s take a few words that should be on the minds of all Eastern Washingtonians concerned over efforts to breach Snake River dams — agreement, restoration and sovereign, to name a few. Last Thursday in the White House, President Joe Biden signed onto the “Commitments in Support of the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative and in Partnership with the Six Sovereigns” agreement. The so-called “sovereigns” refers to the states of Washington and Oregon, and four tribes — th...
Let me begin with some political realities about your state Legislature. Republicans, and I am one, are in the minority. The Senate Republican Caucus, of which I am the chairwoman, has 20 members. Our Democratic colleagues have a 9-vote majority in the state Senate, which makes our jobs representing rural values and needs a challenge. Most Senate majority members are from King County and Seattle. So, their world view is different. I do my best to communicate the very real...
Welcome to 2024! Where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday that I was thinking that graduating from high school in 1977 would be an eternity in the future. Now I appreciate what they meant when my elders used to say they wish they could go back to days gone by. Oh well, with a little optimism, the future can be pretty good too. Last month I started the discussion of 70 years of change in beef cow type. Now, let’s continue but from the perspective of how the evolution o...
Funny how it took a move into the country before a Democrat would support efforts to clean up our forests. Last week, Senate Bill 6121 passed the Senate unanimously. The bill sponsored by Sen. Kevin Van De Wege — a Democrat who now lives at Lake Sutherland — encourages the removal of downed timber and other “fuel” that could feed a wildfire. He should be commended for being the first Democrat to step out of the party box and recognize the importance of removing downed timber,...
There was a time many years ago when our state was generally safe and did not have a serious crime problem. Unfortunately, as the saying goes, that was then and this is now. Washington is among the nation’s leaders in several crimes, including auto theft and retail theft. While the nation’s violent crime rate dropped slightly from 2021 to 2022, our state saw an increase, according to the FBI. According to a report by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chi...
I went to a community meeting about a proposed wind generation project encompassing Reardan and Davenport. First off. This project and the one in southern Lincoln county are huge. These have the economic power to rival or eclipse agriculture. Let that sink in a bit. Farming could take second seat to the concerns of power generation. The thought of seeing wind towers on the horizons of the county sickens me. Look around Colfax and see what I mean. One of the thoughts outside of the forum was why were they offering just a flat...
If you haven’t seen how ugly wind farms are you need to get out more. Go south to Colfax or Dayton and look at how they have destroyed the beauty of the rolling hills of the Palouse and breaks of the Tucannon in Whitman and Columbia counties, respectively. Even along the Columbia Gorge, do you see how it has destroyed the natural beauty. The only ones who win in this waste of dollars is the manufacturer of the turbine and the landowner upon which it sits. The losers are the rest of us who have to look at the eyesores and t...
When state voters adopted the state’s Public Records Act in 1972, they wanted to make sure state, county and city governments operate openly and are transparent to the people. They recognized the best way to ensure transparency and accountability is to require most government records are made available to the public. The PRA, however, was never intended to help some make money at the expense of governments. Unfortunately, there are a few “vexatious requesters” who learn...
As Washington stands at a pivotal moment in shaping its energy future, it becomes increasingly clear that adopting sensible, forward-thinking solutions is crucial for a reliable, cost-effective, and environmentally sound power grid. It’s time for our state to embrace energy policies that genuinely prioritize the well-being of its residents. The Power Washington plan, a comprehensive strategy I advocate for, is designed to confront and resolve critical issues within our e...
It’s the cold of winter. Temperatures hover, apparently, anywhere between -10 and 55 degrees Fahrenheit. On a Tuesday, Friday or Saturday night, where do Lincoln County citizens like to spend their time? At a local high school, taking in a high-level basketball game or wrestling meet. What funds those events? Levies. High school students have worked hard on researching agricultural issues, familiarizing themselves with ag-related skills and studying their knowledge of the a...
Each year Americans throw away more than three billion batteries constituting 180,000 tons of hazardous material. The situation is likely to get worse as the world shifts to lithium batteries to power a massive influx of electric vehicles (EV). It needs immediate attention. Everyday-green.com reported more than 86,000 tons of single-use alkaline batteries (AAA, AA, C and D) are thrown away yearly. They power electronic toys and games, portable audio equipment and flashlights a...
Two years ago, Washington State Parks bureaucrats in Tumwater hatched a plan to address so-called “overcrowding” at Palouse Falls. The plan was to close and relocate the campground to Lyons Ferry, require permits to visit Upper Palouse Falls and to end hiking and exploring in and around the main Palouse Falls basin. The effort also eliminated kayaking access on the upper Palouse River. And to make the effort sound legitimate, those city-dwelling bureaucrats called Palouse Fal...
“The possibility of a global environmental apocalypse has been dominating headlines and exercises a powerful hold on the imaginations of millions of people,” according to optimist and author Marion L. Tupy. Headlines of imminent catastrophe are resulting in public policy driving our nation and our state as well as many other western economies to the brink. The Clean Energy Transformation Act, passed in 2019, and the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) of 2021 form the arc...
It seems like every year the Democrats, who have voting majorities in the Senate and House, in Olympia introduce legislation to raise or create taxes, no matter how much revenue the state is already collecting from you and other hard-working taxpayers. The Ds are at again this session. The latest proposal from the other side of the aisle that should cause all of us to hide our wallets is Senate Bill 5770, the Senate Democrats’ very costly and long-term property tax increase p...
There are at least 216 gray wolves in 37 packs in our state. Thirty-one of those gray wolf packs are in North-Central and Northeastern Washington. Senate Bill 5939 – relating to protecting livestock from wolf predation – seeks to give affected livestock raisers a chance to mitigate the confirmed and probable predation deaths of their animals. The bill would allow owners of livestock to monitor a depredation and kill the first gray wolf that returns. The bill lays out the liv...
Unclear language in a few state RCWs may be leading to inequities in the public about the release of booking photos for jail and prison inmates. The main culprit is RCW 70.48.100, which essentially says that booking photos are confidential inmate records and cannot be disclosed without the written permission of the photographed person. There are a few exceptions, mostly surrounding sex offenders. The photo can be released if it depicts in a sex offender, and depending on the...
Monumental Dam has a concrete fish ladder. Its lock works for barge. Rather than breach the dam – or others on the Lower Snake River – how about using a tunnel-boring machine to notch an on the side an additional zig-zag fish ladder? The answer is cooperation or compromise – not contempt or hard-headed, extremism on breaching. Sen. Murray, Gov. Jay Inslee and President Joe Biden need to step back and look at the whole picture. Errol Kramer Odessa/Ritzville...
Monday featured opening-day ceremonies in the Senate and House chambers, followed by a joint legislative session in the House chamber on Tuesday for Gov. (Jay) Inslee’s final state of the state address. Because this is considered a “short session,” fewer bills will be introduced and considered than in last year’s 105-day session. The main objectives for legislators this year will be to create and pass supplemental operating, capital and transportation budgets. For me and my...
Persons who have dwarfism (also referred to as “little people”) frequently experience employment discrimination. Although they can perform any job task well – often needing only a stool – employers frequently reject them during interview. Bars and strip clubs exploit the resulting financial problems by hiring “LPs” for dwarf-tossing events, where bar patrons pay to physically throw an them in front of a crowd of laughing and jeering customers. LPs very frequently have skeletal (especially spinal) issues requiring multiple su...
