Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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In the recent mailing of the Colfax School District, “Focus on Schools”, we learned from the two Building principals about upcoming activities and current events Colfax students are participating in. In addition there was included information regarding the upcoming enrichment levy, to be voted on by Colfax School District residents, ballots being due to elections by February 13, 2024. I encourage you to read this mailing. Every two years we have the opportunity to vote for the passage of a replacement enrichment levy. Washington State does not...
As climate disruption becomes more evident, more people are empowered to advocate for climate mitigation. This advocacy is positive, but climate advocates must choose their words carefully for their message to be most effective. Advocates need humility because we don’t have all the answers. For instance, while the climate science fundamentals are well-established, it is a relatively new field and probably still holds plenty of surprises. Humility is necessary because renewable energy development will make mistakes, just like any other t...
As I sat and read Dan Soss’ obituary tonight in the 1.4.24 Gazette, I couldn’t help but go back to June 7th, 1975, when the existing nursing home was to become a boarding home/assisted living facility with most of the staff and nursing patients being transferred by us, our employees, friends, relatives, etc. to the just finished and licensed Whitman Convalescent Center. As the administrator, I was so fortunate to have an experienced staff who had worked with our residents, some for years, so they knew and trusted each other as we all moved int...
This is my reply to Nancy from Cheney’s Letter in the edition of the Gazette of December regarding her wish for peace in Gaza, the Holy Land, especially this time of year. Well, if you remember there was a solid and joyful peace in Gaza that for once as everyone, both Israelis and Palestinians could, after so many years and so many political promises, was here to stay! It was created and enforced by non-politician and pro-business President of this County, Donald Trump who used our excess in oil production to force Arabs to the peace table. U...
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 surgeries....
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...
I am writing to express my concern regarding the lack of attention given to non-partisan candidate Anthony Hudson in your coverage of the presidential race. As a blue-collar man with a message that has resonated with over 60 million people, Hudson represents a significant portion of the American population that deserves to be heard. It is disheartening to witness the prevalence of media bias in the current political landscape. While the media plays a crucial role in informing the public and shaping public opinion, it is vital to ensure fair...
Christmas season is upon us. From the time we were children, most of us heard carols, sung songs, sent cards with , “Peace on Earth, good will towards men.” Yet, we humans continue the violence and killing. This year it is especially terrible because it is taking place near the headquarters of religions that claim peace and where Jesus was born. Concerning the war on Gaza, experts keep saying that the situation is very complicated and solutions do not come easily. The conflict has been ongoing for years. Nevertheless, the war can be sto...
The fact that confidential mediation sessions concerning the future of the four Lower Snake River dams are occurring is no secret. According to the American Bar Association confidentiality is at the heart of a mediation session to facilitate open communication and promote settlement. The parties must be assured that they can share sensitive so their true needs and interests may be met. The fact that meetings are being held is public knowledge, not a secret. The reason for the mediation sessions is to reach a settlement of litigation between...
“Joy to the World” is a Christmas carol that we will hear and sing again this Christmas season. Yet every year there seems to be less joy in the world. We continue to deal with more wars, sorrow , strife , crimes and death. Is it because we have not believed the simple yet profound message of this song, “The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King”? William Penn said “ Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by Tyrants.” Our founding fathers believed Isaac Watts and William Penn. They replaced King George with King Jesus our C...
The Israel/Hamas situation is a perfect example of how losing touch with our religious and political traditions makes all of us sniveling idiots. Religion gone bad is the reason Jews and Muslims are at each other’s throats today, and the reason why American Christianity is complicit with all the inhumanity. Israel’s lop-sided military holocaust in Gaza is a flowering public relations disaster for democracy, Israel, Joe Biden, American Jewry, the American war industry, monopolist media companies, religion, the Republican party, you name it. Thi...
Dear Editor, (writer is from a Colfax family) Former President Trump’s agenda for 2024 is becoming increasingly clear. Mr. Trump established a long time ago an absolute power to hire and fire. (The Apprentice) Our sitting President then went on late in his term of office and after January 6th to argue an absolute immunity from prosecution. (Impeachment trials, fraud trial and criminal indictment filings) Candidate Trump now argues a right to absolute freedom of speech. (Gag order filings) This picture suggests a man devoted to an absolutist s...
The Building Integrated Grids With Inter-Regional Energy Supply (BIG WIRES) Act is a promising bipartisan bill in Congress that offers a wide range of benefits: reducing the risk of electrical power outages, lowering carbon emissions and energy costs, and increasing national security. The recent gas pipeline rupture in our region gave many of us a taste of how a blackout in winter would feel. Extreme weather events damaging power stations and overloading the grid are on the rise. The bill will require each U.S. transmission-planning region to...
Dear Editor, Before I vent, I want to thank Mr. Myers for reminding us of the cowardice of politicians. (Column, 11/9/23) Politicians/appointees ordered utilities and fuel suppliers to not tell their customers that the fuel price increase is from climate policy. Let’s keep the deceitful nature of the political beast in mind. The rest of the column is a deception. He raised my hopes with this: “To achieve Washington’s CO2-reduction goals, there are two competing approaches. First, he gives us the government’s approach: raise the price of carb...
Dear Editor, Is it illegal to restrict the hospital privileges of a surgeon to prevent harmful, specialized cross-gender surgeries? This question is pertinent to our local Whitman Hospital and Medical Clinics. What is the true foundation of law? Are current legal systems the result of billions of years of random, undirected iterations of ideas advanced by evolutionary forces resulting in highly refined systems, which will one day perfectly address the evil that plagues us? No. Quoting from the ESV translation of God’s Word, the following law st...
Despite having a senior granddaughter from Genesee and a senior great-niece from Colfax both competing in post-season volleyball, this rainy Wednesday morning should allow me time to conclude my remarks started in the October 6th Gazette edition regarding the Gazette’s remarkable achievement, despite being without the services of a guy that both the Wilmont and Forgey Gazette’s had and who to me is a Colfax legend. My great old time friend Jack McBride (wrestling coach par excellence, along with Richard Felber, Ed Olson, and several others Col...
It was about a year before Mr. Harnack bought the Gazette that my health took a slight downturn and I forgot, among other things, to renew my subscription to the paper. I had always had one since this is my hometown. I want to know how everyone is doing here. So it wasn’t until Tom Barlass came to the cemetery in a rage re: Norma Becker’s comment about her perception of the “grass and weeds.” Well, my concern at the moment wasn’t so much the article (which I hadn’t seen yet but the lessening of Tom’s face color from a beet red to a more normal...
I’m not thinking of political leaders. I’m referring to people. Whether they go to church is as irrelevant as their political party. What matters is whether they put their beliefs above evidence. Do they put tribe above truth? If they are unwilling to look at evidence, then the answer is beware. We all choose what we believe. But if we’re unwilling to put evidence above ourselves, we can’t even trust ourselves. We’re all tempted to do it. You know who I am talking about because we are related to them. They are our friends and neighbors...
Dear Editor, (from a member of a multi-generation Colfax family) The “big three” federal budget issues for Republicans and Democrats right now are border protection, Ukraine war funding, and disaster aid. Disaster aid is an issue that politicians of both parties can get behind. It’s like spending on health care. We first fail to prevent disease and disability by neglecting wellness programs, so then we have the great pleasure of paying for our mistakes in hospitals at a much higher cost. In consumer and industrial affairs, we first fail to pr...
The premature notice of withdrawals, delivered by the 10 departing schools of the PAC 12, should result in a $500 million claim against them and the conferences which induced them to so act. The claim should be brought by the PAC 12, controlled solely by OSU and WSU and for the benefit of these two schools. Unlike the other Power 5 conferences, the PAC 12 does not impose an exit penalty. Instead the PAC 12 bylaws provide: “No member shall deliver a notice of withdrawal to the Conference in the period beginning on July 24, 2011, and ending on A...
Our problem is not that there is too much “fake news.” Our problem is that too many people believe it. Fortunately, there is an “antidope” — epistemology , the theory of knowledge or “how we know what we know.” Epistemology is a good solution because it has validity tests to distinguish between justified belief and opinion. And this distinction is central to most disagreements. Epistemology has simple and clarifying definitions, e.g., Truth has the property that corresponds with facts and reality. Can you imagine how many arguments wou...
Voting Democrat will make things worse. I was born in Spokane and raised on a small ranch west of the city. My parents were lifelong Democrats. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Democrats had a much different party. Let’s look at today. If you vote for Democrats every selection, here are a few things you should know and consider: In 2015, I paid $1.87 for a gallon of gasoline. Today, I filled up at $4.86 per gallon. You voted for that. Our cowardly president surrendered in Afghanistan, killing 13 fine young marines and abandoning thousands of A...
I am really disappointed to write this letter but feel our community needs to know our hospital’s acquiesce to a rather vile surgical practice. Let me say that the outset I have always supported the hospital, it has made our community a desirable place to live and work. The doctors, professional staff, aides and schedulers are dedicated to their patients and deliver the highest quality of care. How, then, would such a highly professional and caring institution grant the use of their surgical facilities to a surgeon who intends to conduct (...
Aloha, I’m Mark Gudmunson and I am a longtime Colfax resident up to 2012. I am now a resident on the beautiful Island of Maui where I serve as the Senior Pastor of a Nazarene Church in Pukalani. We recently suffered devastating fires on Maui and our entire Island community is still in a state of shock during this time of recovery. We have received so much support and encouragement from so many people in Colfax and Whitman County that I wanted to say thank you! You are an amazing community that my family and I live so very much! We love and a...
I have been told by a reliable person that our local Whitman Hospital is now performing “transgender surgeries.” That is very disturbing on many grounds. But, letters to the editor only allow 250 words, so, for brevity sake I will address only one. First and foremost is the moral issue. Let us mix a couple of metaphors and pull aside a modern day smoke screen. It is a biological fact that there are only two sexes. Male and Female. Those are determined by our DNA. Yes, I know about the very rare DSD (Differences in Sex Development), but tha...
