Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Sorted by date Results 576 - 600 of 1751
The Davenport Times publishes letters to the editor of civic nature relating to area, state and national issues and politics. Letters should be limited to 250 words, and cited facts should be attributed to the source of information. Letters may not contain personal attacks, profanity or cite other media. Please keep letters to a single subject. We do not publish “thank you” letters; contact our advertising staff. Writers will be limited to one letter per month. No chain letters — either written by one person and signed by mo...
Government overreach needs to be reined in Gov. Jay Inslee’s house-arrest order for the populace, Proclamation 20-25, is in conflict with the Bill of Rights. Our rights of the free exercise of religion, of the people to peaceably assemble, of due process of law, as well as our Ninth Amendment rights to pursue happiness by earning a living and to travel freely outside of our homes are sacred. These individual rights are enshrined in the Constitution of the United States. Under the Supremacy Clause, the Constitution p...
The Odessa Record publishes letters to the editor of civic nature relating to area, state and national issues and politics. Letters should be limited to 250 words, and cited facts should be attributed to the source of information. Letters may not contain personal attacks, profanity or cite other media. Please keep letters to a single subject. We do not publish “thank you” letters; contact our advertising staff. Writers will be limited to one letter per month. No chain letters — either written by one person and signed by mo...
Cleanup should be delayed I am writing becasue of a letter published in the Odessa Record on March 19 on cleanup efforts under threat of a lawsuit. As of wright now, the world is dealing with the coronavirus outbreak and there have been strict guidelines put in place by the governors and U.S. President Donald trump for all to stay safe and not contribute to the spread of the virus. So, at this time, I am saddened, disappointed and frustrated that this would even be a suggestion/order by the city of Odessa to do cleanup. I...
Political cartoon was offensive A recent edition of The Times included a political cartoon that compared the “technology divide” in providing distance learning in Western Washington to that in rural Eastern Washington in a manner that I, and some of my employees, found quite disturbing and offensive. Perhaps the message of this cartoon was to illustrate the disparities in technology access between the two sides of our state. However, the message from this cartoon might also be that Eastern Washington districts can’t or don’t...
Our nation’s founding fathers were no stranger to pandemics. They knew of many viruses and diseases — yellow fever, smallpox, measles, scarlet fever, to name a few. Yet, when the Constitution was written and signed, our founding fathers chose not include a caveat for a health emergency as a means to suspend the inalienable rights of U.S. citizens. Indeed, they took steps to prevent such an effort in the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exerc...
Given the ongoing shutdown in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, like nearly all local businesses, we had to make some difficult decisions last week. Among those was the decision to reduce staff. At the same time, we decided to continue to provide the same amount of content. And with things changing so quickly, we’ve started updating our webpage, www.odessarecord.com, more frequently. For our subscribers, access to the webpage is free. All you have to do is call our main o...
In a small town, we can go weeks without really feeling local government’s influence in our lives. However, vigorous code enforcement brings Odessa government into our lives as a solution looking for a problem. Yes, I understand code enforcement is an official mechanism to maintain cleanliness and order in town. But do the ends always justify the mean? Put more bluntly: How many of our rights are we willing to sacrifice for appearance? Your disapproval over weeds, junk or other eyesores does not equate with a legally a...
Some years back, in the biggest town in a small county outside our 9th District, there was a clothing store. Upstairs was the office of the area's weekly newspaper. Week after week, year after year, the clothing store published the same advertisement in the newspaper, displaying its name, address and a drawing of a coat rack, to signal what people could buy there. No brand names, no sale prices, nothing else. The message this ad sent was clear and reassuring: "We're still...
Benjamin Franklin's famous quote often arises in the context of government overreach. In this age of Wuhan Flu – or COVID-19, as those pushing political correctness would say – it still applies today. On Monday evening, Gov. Jay Inslee followed the lead of California Gov. Gavin Newsome and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown in ordering residents to remain in their homes and businesses and offices to close their doors at least two weeks. The order came only three days after he cha...
Stop buying all the toilet paper. Seriously, knock it off. It's not necessary. Across the state—in large and rural communities alike—grocery stores' entire toilet paper aisles are empty. Not a single four-roll package remains for people who need it. So who has it? People who likely already had enough. Contrary to popular belief, we do not have a toilet paper shortage. According to the Washington Department of Health, there's nothing causing additional use of toilet paper and...
To the Editor: Chris Armitage is running against Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers as a Democrat for the 5th Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is well educated, with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and a master's degree in homeland security. He has been trained in the military, spent seven years in the air force and was stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base, so he knows the 5th District very well. He has also been deployed to the Middle East, so he has first-hand experience living and...
Unintended consequence or bureaucratic power grab? Given the things being ordered behind locked doors of government offices, I’ll take the latter. Tonight, March 25, when the clock strikes midnight, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife is banning all fishing and boating statewide. This closure comes on the heels of a previous order to ban all camping on publicly owned, state-managed lands. The closures, Department of Fish and Wildlife officials say, is in keeping with G...
When long-time editor Mark Smith left The Times, I had a chance to write some stories in Davenport until a new editor was found. In the short time I was here, I met several teachers, city officials, business owners and community members and saw first-hand what kind of community Davenport is. I got to cover such stories as the Christmas lighting contest and the Davenport girls’ soccer team winning the state championship. Then, a new editor was found and I returned to Ritzville full time. As you have read by now, Chris P...
It’s times like these that bring out the best and worst in people. Unlike previous crisis, this one surrounding the spread of novel coronavirus and the disease it carries, COVID-19, has elements of politics mixed in. It also is fueled by the proliferation of social media avenues. Combine those two elements, and good information surrounding the disease is often drowned in a sea of at best misinformation and ignorance and at worse outright lies and deception. Who benefits from this will be up to history to judge. But there a...
An open letter to Mayor William Crossley, the Town of Odessa and Councilwoman Kramer: I am Artie Banko. I live up on Second. You are a member of the Odessa Town Council. You are doing residential property cleanup inspections. You listed dozens of properties but left out Harvey Delzer’s property at 412 Birch. The town has a file of complaints a foot thick, and nothing is being done. You even listed one at 404 Birch, just a few properties away. This has been going on for decades. The Town of Odessa is even in violation of i...
If you think the run on toilet paper is just an American thing, think again. On March 10, Business Insider (BI) reported: “The spread of the coronavirus has brought with it panic-buying of food and household essentials, despite the attempts of governments to discourage stockpiling. But no item has made more headlines than the humble toilet roll.” “From buying enough toilet rolls to make a throne, to printing out blank newspaper pages to serve as extra toilet paper, peopl...
While this plea may not carry much weight I’m going to present it anyway. Ringo my beagle has an eating disorder, meaning that if an entire bag of food were somehow left within reach of his snout, he just might eat until he burst. But that’s not the point. Somehow when we got him as a pup nearly 14 years ago on Father’s Day we were told that he was typical of many beagles. They eat, eat, eat and slowly become big and round. Through careful exercise, Ringo has remained a constant 35 or so pounds. He became my wife’s regular...
Engrossed Senate Bill 5395, the sex education bill mandating “inclusive” curriculum beginning in kindergarten has been hotly contested this legislative session in Olympia. But with the House and Senate both backing the bill, it’s likely to become an issue locally. Under the bill sponsored by Sen. Claire Wilson, an openly lesbian Democrat from Federal Way, all public schools statewide would be required to start teaching a curriculum that includes gay, lesbian, transgender and o...
Older adults in America are facing a crisis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 20% of adults over the age of 55 are suffering from mental health issues. These disorders include anxiety, depression, and substance use disorder. Millions more likely go undiagnosed, as the National Academy of Medicine. has found that less than 40% of older adults with mental and/or substance use disorders receive treatment. The ongoing opioid crisis has only contributed to this trend, and it is estimated that 5.7...
During a recent Democratic Party debate, candidate Pete Buttigieg made a comment that just about floored me. He said, “The American Dream is alive and well – In Denmark!” Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobachar both nodded in agreement before Bernie Sanders picked up the torch. He touted the advantages of Democratic Socialism claiming life in Denmark to be far superior to here in the good old USA. Joe Biden stood there wondering what was going on, and Mike Bloomberg began bragging about the economic and environmental virtu...
Washington and Oregon lawmakers want to end their legislative sessions; however, accounting for the costs of carbon emissions is a major road block. In Salem, rural Republican senators are boycottingsession and thereby denying majority Democrats a quorum to vote on a “cap and trade” bill. The measure calls for an 80 percent state reduction in greenhouse gases (GHG) by 2050. The system would be similar to existing programs in California and some Canadian provinces. The state would set a cap on total GHG emissions. Ore...
We are half-way through the state’s two-year 2019-21 budget cycle, and the latest revenue forecast shows Washington’s elected leaders have an additional $1.5 billion to spend in the current budget cycle. As expected, majority Democrats in the House and Senate yesterday announced supplemental budget proposals to spend this additional tax money. I have been reading through the two proposals and to my surprise they both include targeted cuts to charter public schools. Other pub...
Details on President Trump’s 2021 budget plan were released recently and, as it has in the past, this administration continues to put forth proposals that undercut rural communities. Among the proposed cuts we strongly oppose are those to the Conservation Stewardship Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and authorized by the farm bill. This program offers invaluable support for farmers and ranchers to build on their existing conservation efforts and the cuts would block an important path they rely on t...
Last week, we visited the Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizona. It is part of our National Parks “bucket list.” The trip was a real eye-opener. The Canyon is spectacular. It is hard to believe over a billion years ago it was flat ground and covered by ocean waters. In ancient times, there was too much water. Today, it is a deep gorge with a ribbon of water running through it. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, over a mile deep and 10 to 18 miles across. The fam...
