Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
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To build a new home in rural Whitman County, landowners must obey “viewshed” rules that prevent new homes from impacting the views and privacy enjoyed by their neighbors. They also must comply with “highly visible property” rules that discourage folks from building on hilltops. They must sign and notarize an affidavit acknowledging that farming comes first here, and that they and their heirs accept that. Neighborliness comes from the heart, not from laws. But I am happy to comply. I don’t want my freedom as a landowner to offend my neighbors...
*Regarding the article in the Gazette “Senator Schoesler keeping tabs on gun case” published April 18* Much as I appreciate the Gazette, political opinion regularly creeps into what I would prefer to be objective news reporting and I cringe every time. Here, the easy tell is gratuitously describing Mr. Johnston as “an unelected Supreme Court commissioner” (no parallel note that Bob Ferguson is Washington’s elected attorney general?). In fact, Johnston is THE Washington Supreme Court Commissioner, an important state office that he has upheld we...
Farming has been as good as farming can get for many years. I am the owner of nearly 1000 acres of Palouse soil. Stuart Wilson, my son, is currently farming that acreage. I have loved the land, every inch of it, since my youngest age, working often with my father and mother, being involved in using the various pieces of farming equipment and in following the practices required. Now, after 87 years, I am doing my best in my official capacity as land-lady. As for me, I would never want to disturb my neighbors with ugly usages of my land. What is...
As Washington’s CO2 tax, known as the Climate Commitment Act, heads to the ballot this fall, this logo highlighting projects that received funding from that tax will become more prevalent. And you are paying for it. The use of taxpayer-resources to promote the CO2 tax follows the decision by the Legislature to send one-time checks of $200 to utility customers funded by the Climate Commitment Act just two-months before the November election. It is part of a pattern we are likely to see accelerate as the vote on I-2117, which would repeal the C...
The Whitman County Commissioners will be meeting Monday morning, April 29th, 2024. April 30th is the day that we all associate with the payment of our property taxes. Regrettably, our federal tax dollars are about to be used to reduce the value of our property and change life in the Palouse for the foreseeable future. Federal subsidies placed in the hands of powerful foreign interests intend to mark our beautiful skylines with obnoxious intrusions that will deface what we all love and provide no lasting benefit to those of us that live here....
Carmela Conroy gives Eastern Washington voters the unusual, important opportunity to elect a foreign policy expert as their U.S. Representative. As a foreign service officer for 24 years, she served in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Norway, New Zealand and Tom Foley’s Japan office. Voters must weigh foreign policy experience much more than usual in their 2024 voting decisions. Foreign policy expertise is also prerequisite for ending the tragic Israeli-Palestinian conflict that Trump has accepted uncaringly. Like retiring Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, no...
Under federal law antibiotics are banned in the food supply, yet food companies feel compelled to market their absence in meat products. One fast food chain recently announced a change to its meat sourcing standards and many customers are questioning the change. Whether foods are labeled “antibiotic free” or not is irrelevant in the discussion of the existence of antibiotics in meat products. There are strict policies enforced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding the use of ant...
In a backwards approach to helping tenants, the Federal Government is capping rent increases on subsidized housing at 10% in a bid to reduce the cost of rental properties. The result, should the measures be adopted, will be exactly the opposite and rents will go up. When you place caps on rent, instead of letting the market drive the pricing, the supply of rental property declines and the result is higher demand and higher prices for rent. There is a short-term impact to rental costs, but as...
The use of taxpayer-resources to promote the CO2 tax follows the decision by the legislature to send one-time checks of $200 to utility customers funded by the Climate Commitment Act just two-months before the November election. It is part of a pattern we are likely to see accelerate as the vote on I-2117, which would repeal the CO2 tax, draws near. The new Climate Commitment Act logo is from a web page created by the Inslee Administration that includes branding guidelines for what fonts...
It turns out that, as we have been saying for years, honeybee populations aren’t declining, but are actually increasing. A recent article in Vox notes that the talk of honeybees disappearing was “greatly exaggerated.” Admitting that his previous stories predicting the collapse of honeybee populations hadn’t aged well, the reporter explained that a recent agricultural census found that the 31 percent increase in honeybees since 2007 is “a larger increase than any other domesticated animals....
While wind and solar farms generate “greenhouse gas free” electricity, there are ongoing concerns over their impacts on our environment especially as a rapidly growing number of worn-out blades and panels are landing in landfills. Those blades, housed on giant wind towers reaching over 250-feet in the sky, are starting to reach the end of their useful lives (15 to 20 years) and are being taken down, cut up and hauled to burial sites. Even though over 90 percent of the decommissioned wind tow...
In last week’s Whitman County Gazette, Vestas/Steelhead Americas/Harvest Hills Wind claimed their “goal is to be responsible to community” and “to partner with the communities”. This is disingenuous PR messaging and we’re not fooled. They do not have our best interest in mind. If Harvest Hills Wind truly wanted support for their project, they would have been transparent from the day they entered the county. A true partner would have initiated an early dialog with the residents of Whitman County on site selection, protecting land/home v...
Let’s have a look at the benefits of dams to human life with a special focus on Grand Coulee Dam. It is the largest hydroelectric producing facility in the U.S. and provides enough electricity to power about 2 million households every year, 68% of all Washington state households. Please keep in mind too, that it is just one of 145 hydroelectric dams in the state. Grand Coulee dam prompted the creation of the “U.S. Bureau of Reclamations Columbia Basin Project” which converted 670,000 acres (over 1,000 square-miles) of formerly arid waste...
A state public-relations campaign is underway suggesting that because the state Legislature passed a bill allowing people to use a WA Cares Fund benefit to receive long-term care outside of the state, it’s a sure thing you’ll benefit. That’s not a sure thing. I received an email from the state about the legislation Friday. It read, “Planning to leave Washington in the future? Now you can take your WA Cares benefit with you, thanks to a new law passed last month and signed by Gov. Inslee today....
Each year, for a session lasting either 105 days (in odd-numbered years) or 60 days (in even-numbered years), legislators gather in Olympia to introduce, debate and vote on bills. While many people focus their attention on what the Legislature does each year, there is one final and crucial step in the legislative process that happens – the governor decides whether to veto part or all of a bill, or let it become law. Since this year’s legislative session ended March 7, Gov. Inslee has been sig...
Have you ever hiked Kamiak Butte County Park? Have you enjoyed the expansive views of the rolling fertile food-producing agricultural fields of the surrounding Palouse countryside? Did you know there is an Industrial Wind Company (Harvest Hills Wind) who wants to place 45+ ginormous wind turbines around the south and west side of Kamiak Butte? They want to place these monstrous machines (reportable could be 600-700 feet tall) in prime farm ground (which is designated as agricultural ground of state-wide importance). These wind turbines will be...
“Polluters pay. People get a carbon cashback” sums up the impact that the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (EICDA) would have. The EICDA was re-introduced in the House of Representatives last September and is currently languishing in committees. Briefly, the EICDA puts a price on carbon at the source of the fossil fuels – the well, mine, or imported tanker – therefore making it simple to administer and uniform across sources of greenhouse gases. It would take the revenue from the price on carbon and distribute it to every individ...
Farm numbers across the U.S. are dwindling and the mountain states are no exception. Our country lost 7% of farms from 2017-2022, and all of the mountain states were above the national average. As a farmer in the region, I understand the stress of this profession, and if our country continues on its current trajectory our region's agricultural future looks bleak – more consolidation and less food security. From 2017-2022, Idaho, Montana, Washington and Wyoming all experienced a decrease in the t...
Easter is when potted Easter Lily plants start showing up in nurseries and supermarkets like poinsettias during the Christmas season. They adorn the altars and pulpits of most churches on Easter Sunday, but why don’t sightseers flock to fields to enjoy the spectacular sea of white blooms? The answer is a small group of family lily farmers who are bulb producers. They need to clip the flowers to concentrate the plant’s nutrients on bulb development. Fields of white flowers on the ground are not...
